Carthalions of the Ice Age

The Carthalion name has a long lineage, though not always a famous one. Still, in times of adversity it seems that there is ever a Carthalion standing ready to do battle with the forces of chaos. Perhaps the greatest such time of adversity was during the Ice Age of Dominaria, when the icy hand of death gripped the throat of our world. Three Carthalion heroes rose to greatness in that time, and in fact all wereinstrumental in preventing the Ice Age from destroying us all.

The first of these heroes was Jason Carthalion. This young wizard was the champion of Oriel Kjeldos, head of Clan Emerald and one of the rulers of the Glacier Kingdom, Storgard. We know little of Jason, save that he was but an inexperienced spell-wielder when honor called upon him to duel his childhood friend Freyalise of Clan Ruby. (Family legend has it that the vicious planeswalker Tevesh Szat was embroiled in the conflict as well, but his role is unclear.) The two clans were in opposition over some long-forgotten matter, and Freyalise was by far the more powerful of the two. Yet in the end, Jason triumphed over his foe and Clan Emerald stood strong behind its mighty Carthalion champion.

Five centuries later, the kingdom of Kjeldor had risen from the descendants of Oriel Kjeldos, and among the kingdom's many valiant knights was a young man named Jaeuhl Carthalion. Jaeuhl was known far and wide as the bravest and most honorable knight of all Kjeldor, or so family history tells us. He was recruited by none other than Freyalise, who since her duel with Jason centuries before had been reborn as a planeswalker. Freyalise had a plan to turn back the ice age and restore warmth to the lands of Dominaria, but she could not do it alone. The planeswalker Tevesh Szat had returned, and was bent on a terrible plan. He sought to unlock the power of the many artifacts lying beneath the glaciers in the ruins of Terisiare and channel this power into the ice itself, charging the glaciers with tremendous power and making the Ice Age last forever. Freyalise knew she could not possibly stand against the awesome force of Tevesh Szat, and so she charged Jaeuhl – whose ancestor had bested her years before – with foiling Szat's plot while she attended to some matter elsewhere.

Legend tells us that Jaeuhl agreed at once, and gladly. He ventured out into the ice armed with his many powerful spells and entered the ruins of an ancient Terisiare stronghold where Szat and a horde of Phyrexians were carrying out their plan. Jaeuhl dispatched the Phyrexians quickly, and entered into a battle with Tevesh Szat himself.

Szat, of course, is perhaps the most notorious of all the planeswalkers. His power is sufficient to bring empires to his knees, but in the icy ruins he learned what true power was: the power beating in the breast of every glorious Carthalion! It is said that Szat and Jaeuhl dueled for days on end, neither sleeping nor eating, and that Jaeuhl had the upper hand from the start. At last, Jaeuhl delivered the final blow and Szat fled screaming and cowering before the awesome power of Carthalion might.

Victorious, Jaeuhl strode out of the wastes to the cheers of teeming throngs of Kjeldorans. Their greatest hero had returned successful, and the long nightmare of the Ice Age was over!

But Carthalions know the merits of peace as well as war. And so, Jaeuhl took a wife: Kaysa, a young Ley Druid who had assisted Freyalise in some minor matter while Jaeuhl was saving Dominaria. Kaysa and Jaeuhl were married, and in the fullness of time there was to them born a daughter: Jasha. Jasha grew into a woman of strength and courage, and eventually succeeded her mother as the Elder Druid of Terisiare. She led the land out of the Ice Age, and into a new dawn. In doing so, she kept alive the tradition of heroism and strength exemplified by the Carthalion line – and long may it endure!

—Ezer, Spellsquire of Lord Carthalion of Ephren, 1248 by the reckoning of the Sages of Minorad