Magic Untapped takes a look at the story of Johan, a powerful and power-hungry mage from northwest Jamuraa.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome back to Who Is on Magic Untapped as we explore the lore of characters from throughout the Magic: The Gathering multiverse. I’m Barry White.
In this episode, we examine the story of a fearsome legendary character found in the Magic: The Gathering set Legends.
Here is the story of Johan.
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Johan, a ruthless and cruel mage who had mastered the destructive side of red magic, had one goal in life: To conquer all of the Dominarian continent of Jamuraa.
The tyrannical ruler of the Northern Realms – an area in the northwest of the continent, he wasn’t content to with his corner of Jamuraa. He wanted it all under his thumb. And he was willing to do whatever it took to make it that way.
The mage began expanding his territory, taking out various city-states along the way. At one such battle, he encountered Hazezon Tamar, the governor of the city-state of Bryce in the Sukurvia Desert. Also a talented mage, Hazezon defended his city again’s Johan’s forces. In the battle, he brought forth an enchanted sandstorm that scattered much of Johan’s forces. Between that and rampaging sandworms, Johan was forced to flee.
Riding a fire drake, he lands in the oasis of Efrava – a land populated by catfolk. There, disguised as an unassuming human, be meets a tiger warrior named Jedit Ojanen. The disguised Johan used a magic charm on Jedit and manipulates him into convincing the elders of the tribe to allow him to become Jedit’s guardian. Reluctantly, Efrava’s elders agree.
Along with a second tiger warrior, Johan and Jedit explore the oasis in the guise of Johan wanting to chart it. What the mage was actually doing was attuning himself with the area’s leylines to strengthen his magic. Once this treachery was discovered, Johan escaped, killing a few Efravan guards in the process. Jedit set off after him.
Johan travelrf beyond the Great Wall – a 200-foot-tall manmade stone wall that separates the forests, planes, and mountains of the majority of Jamuraa with the wastelands and craggy coast of southwestern Jamuraa. He was being lured there, as it would turn out, by Shauku, a vampiric cult leader known as the Endbringer, whom had learned of Johan and hoped to enslave him as one of her thralls.
Johan, though, caught on to Shauku’s plotting and escaped, deciding to travel back east and back to the Sukurvia Desert to resume his conquest of the continent. Once again, he raised an army which would do battle in his name, this time adding skyships to his forces that would allow them to traverse the desert without fear of the menacing sandwurms that reside there.
As Johan gathered his forces, spies were checking in on his every move. And, while the spies could do nothing to stop Johan’s momentum, they were able to convey intelligence to the various city-states that would find themselves in the mage’s wake. This included, once again, Bryce. Under Hazezon’s supervision, a number of the city-states also began constructing their own sky fleet in defense against Johan’s army.
These preparations made Johan’s battles extremely tough and his army faced a number of losses along the way.
What would be the final battle of what historians would call Johan’s War occurred at Efrava where Johan faced a coalition of not just cat warriors who had banded together against him, but also many of the human societies who saw the mage as a serious threat.
Initially, the battle was going well for the coalition. From his skyship, however, Johan used his magic to turn the tide in his favor, incapacitating Hazezon in the process. Mercenaries fighting for the coalition led by Hazezon’s wife, Adira Strongheart, boarded Johan’s ship, but the mage was protected by powerful magic. He easily slew Adira and repelled most of the mercenaries.
In desperation, Jedit (whom was among the mercenaries), rushed Johan and tackled him. The both of them fell from the skyship and began to plummet towards the desert below. The drop nearly killed the cat warrior. Johan, protected by his spells, found himself unharmed.
As the coalition forces were falling all around him, the mage stood back up and prepared yet another spell to ensure his victory. The sand around him began to quake. A sandwurm emerges and Johan is swallowed hole.
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After the fall of Johan, his leaderless forces scattered.
The coalition, too, went their own ways after the battle with the remaining Robaran Mercenaries leaving to explore in the name of their fallen leader, Adira. Hazezon returned to Bryce where he would continue to serve as governor for another decade. Jedit went on lead Sakurvia’s now-united bands of catfolk and would father a proud line of tiger warriors, leading them all back to their native land of Scarwood where they rebuilt the Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and found a mighty empire that still stands on Dominaria to this day.
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