Strictly Vorthos – The Weatherlight

Howdy folks! It’s Joe and we’re here again for another deep dive into Dominaria history! Pretty soon we’ll be jumping into M19 and talking about Elder Dragons, so this is our last little hurrah on Dominaria.

This week we’re talking about one of the pieces that ties the whole thing together, the history of the Skyship Weatherlight.

Creation of the Weatherlight

After the events of the Tolarian Academy explosion, Urza realized that experimenting with time travel was not going to cut it in defeating the Phyrexians. He needed a better plan, a grander plan. One that involved the entire plane of Dominaria. To do so, he needed to make alliances with the right people. Having already discovered from Jhoira that a very rare metal could be made in Shiv, he journeyed there and found that there was a foundry there that could create and shape Thran metal.

Urza made an alliance with the viashino and the goblins of Shiv, finding that the foundry (later known as the Thran Mana Rig) could also create and produce Thran powerstones as well. Urza then made the journey to the forest of Yavimaya, to commune with the forest and ask for its help.

Yavimaya, under the watchful eye of its avatar Multani, placed Urza in a state of suspended animation for roughly two years, tormenting the planeswalker over his involvement in the destruction of Argoth. Eventually, Multani relented, seeing the danger that Dominaria faced against the Phyrexians. He agreed to help Urza.

So, with a design in mind and a number of ingredients (Thran metal from the Mana Rig, the Weatherseed from the oldest magnigoth tree in Yavimaya, a large Thran powerstone created in the Mana Rig), Urza began the plans for a growing, plane-shift capable skyship.

Thus, Weatherlight was born.

The 300 foot long skyship’s maiden voyage was into the heart of Serra’s Realm, where it utilized the collapsing energy of the white mana stored in the plane to energize the Thran Powerstone at its heart, allowing it to planeshift away.

For some time, the Weatherlight served under the care of Jhoira of the Ghitu, until she decided to return to Shiv. From there, it returned to the care of Urza himself.

The Beginnings of a Legend

Urza’s experimentation eventually gravitated into developing a human component, the perfect example of humanity to wield his Legacy as well as become the inheritor of the Weatherlight. Urza, hoping to keep Phyrexia’s eyes off the Weatherlight, gifted the ship to a wealthy Zhalfirin family, where it ended up in the hands of Sisay. Sisay gathered a healthy crew, using the Weatherlight to seek out the pieces of the Legacy that she had heard about for so long in her family’s tales.

After some time, Sisay inevitably picked up the human component of the Legacy, a Benalish man named Gerrard Capashen. Gerrard stayed with the Weatherlight for some time, leaving after the death of the elf Rofellos. Sisay took the ship and located a long-forgotten piece of the Legacy, the golem Karn.

After Karn’s retrieval, Sisay was betrayed by Starke to Starke’s master Volrath. The Weatherlight‘s captain was kidnapped, spirited away to the shadowy plane of Rath. Gerrard returned, reactivating Karn and taking charge of the ship to head to the plane of Rath to save Sisay.

Rath and Storms

Weatherlight arrived on Rath to immediately face a rival like no other: Predator. The Phyrexian skyship, under the command of Greven il-Vec, attacked the Weatherlight and her crew, damaging many of her systems beyond repair and knocking Gerrard overboard. Hanna managed to get the ship set down, but there was plenty of damage including a crack in the Thran Crystal that powered the ship’s planeshift capabilities.

The crew would eventually reunite with Gerrard, taking to the sky once more to assault the Stronghold in order to rescue Sisay. The ship would find itself locked in combat once more with Predator, but thanks the integration of the Skyshaper, it was able to outfly the enemy flaghship and escape through a portal to another realm.

The Weatherlight crash landed on the plane of Mercadia, where it was interpreted by many of the native peoples of the Cho-Arrim and Rishadan/Sapprazzo’s of a sign of the coming of the Uniter, their god Ramos. The ship was attacked and stolen by the Cho-Arrim, and was later retrieved by the Mercadians. It was during this time that the ship was heavily outfitted with more of the Legacy’s powerful artifacts in the forms of the Power Matrix and the Bones of Ramos. The ship and her crew escaped Mercadia, Thran Crystal intact, returning to Dominaria… just in time.

The Phyrexian Invasion

Weatherlight burst back into Dominaria at the very moment of the Phyrexian invasion. Guns blazing, it attacked the Phyrexian fleet. The Weatherlight was at the forefront of every conflict during the Invasion, while Karn worked tirelessly in her hold to continually improve and become the most complete version of itself.

The ship was destroyed by the Primeval Crosis, but through the completion of the Legacy, it was reborn as a thinking, sentient being. Weatherlight was filled with life, connecting with Karn on a level he had never known.

Then Yawgmoth arrived. The Father of Machines stepped onto Dominaria as a cloud of death, killing everything in its path. Weatherlight sacrificed itself in an attempt to save Dominaria, finally perishing off the coast of Urborg.

Reconstruction

For many years Weatherlight lay off the coast of Urborg. Sixty years after the Mending occurred, Jhoira of the Ghitu formed an expedition to raise the ship from its watery grave. All that was left of the ship was the Thran metal skeleton, the bulky coils of its engines, and the original Thran powerstone.

The powerstone was restarted by the Serran Angel, Tiana, while a new hull seed was granted to Jhoira by the elemental avatar Molimo. The ship was raised and rebuilt in full, but without the capability to planeshift. Jhoira took the reins as captain of the ship once more, taking the ship to fight the Cabal in Urborg under the command of Belzenlok.

Wrapping Up

That’s all the time we have this week folks! Join us next time as we start delving into the history of one of the most violent conflicts of all time and its participants: The Elder Dragon War.