Zendikar is a wild, untamed world fabled among planeswalkers. Ancient forests conceal trapped ruins. Catacombs leak poisonous vapors into the sky. Magma bursts unexpectedly from a placid lake. The landscapes are breathtakingif you can survive the dangers. Zendikar hides treasures beyond imagining, but only an elite few can survive long enough to find them.This is a place where rules are broken: Violent forces roll across the horizon, constantly altering the shape of the land. Massive stones float on air. Vampires dwell in cultured, decadent cities. But elsewhere, the trappings of civilized life are rare. A sturdy machete will keep you alive longer than a chest full of gold.Even Zendikar's mana is uniquemore intense, more powerful, more desired by those who know how to wield it. Like other planes, the lands flow with mana that mages use to power their spells. But Zendikar's mana is different from other planes of the Multiverse. Crackling with spell-like effects, the land pulses with incredibly potent mana. Planeswalkers flock to Zendikar in search of these remarkableand dangerouslocales.All of Zendikar is dangerous. The world seems almost as though it's trying to kill its own denizens, whether with monsters, natural hazards, or traps laid for the unsuspecting. Everything on the plane is precarious, unpredictable, or just plain lethal. The world seems dead-set on protecting its unique treasuresboth the literal ones and the most prized, most ephemeral one: its mana.Like other planes, Zendikar's lands flow with mana that mages can use to power their spells. However, Zendikar houses a "primal" mana. This spell-like mana seems almost alive to those who wield it. It has caused Zendikar to be a dynamic world crackling with intense magical effects. Sometimes the sea blasts forth geysers of elemental water that form floating islands; the peaks of mountains lurch up and down to crush those who would scale their heights; forests alter their own flow of gravity or patterns of growth.To planeswalkers, this unique mana is an irresistible prize. To most of Zendikar's people, planeswalkers are foolhardy, power-hungry creatures who will risk life and limb for an elusive, unreliable prize.Ancient, rune-carved monoliths called hedrons are strewn across Zendikar. Up to ten miles long, some of these stones drift in the sky; others are buried in the ground, some whole, some broken. They are remnants of a strange and ancient civilization that wielded unimaginable arcane powerenough to suspend gravity, to upheave the land itself, and to change the plane's life to suit its purposes. But long ago that civilization collapsed for reasons few know. Now these crumbling remains are scattered across Zendikarsome buried in the land, some slowly wearing away on the surface, and some still hanging in the sky. Mysterious glyphs hint at truths long forgotten. Unspeakable monsters lurk in the quiet of these hidden monuments of a forgotten past. These ruins and artifacts still emanate power, although most denizens of the plane know better than to disturb them.Zendikar's unique mana, the hedrons, and its own fierce ecology all combine to form erratic terrain subject to sudden, violent changes. The land itself seems alive, and its surface and botanical life sometimes writhe as though in pain, causing tectonic chaos, extreme weather, and abrupt destruction. All this volatility is collectively referred to as "The Roil."For the sentient creatures of Zendikar, The Roil is simply a natural phenomenonthe way things are. To planeswalkers, it's obvious that this volatility is what keeps the plane dangerous and wild, free of large cities, sophisticated commerce, and other trappings of well-developed civilization. Zendikar is untamed ... and perhaps untamable.The vampires of Zendikar feed off of the energies in the blood of living creatures - energies that are particularly strong in times of terror and pain. Their skin feels cold to the touch, and they are consumed with dark passions and blood hunger. Vampires are long-lived - around two hundred years on average. Their most distinguishing trait is a pair of hook-like horns that grow from their shoulders.The vampires dress themselves in leather and insect carapaces ornamented with silks and gauzes. They often decorate their skin with paint made from blood and minerals. Complex layered clothing appeals to them, and they long ago adopted almost aristocratic styles of costuming. Because they aren't warm-blooded, they suffer no discomfort wearing heavy outfits in even the fetid air of Guul Draz.Vampire settlements are perhaps the most cultured places on Zendikar. Many vampires value art, ritual, and even primitive theater, and their sense of macabre ornamentation has a dark appeal even to some non-vampires (although other races tend to admire from a distance). Each of the powerful families is under the rule of a different Bloodchief, and any visitor to their lands is well advised to have the protection and patronage of a family, especially if they intend to attempt to live amongst the vampires.Long ago, the Eldrazi took the plane's proud vampires as a race of servants, adapting their very anatomy for servitude. Hooklike horns grew from the vampires' shoulders, convenient handles for the Eldrazi to dominate their slave race and, for millennia afterward, carnal symbols of the vampires' heritage of persecution. The vampires, forced to conspire in the campaign of destruction against their own homeworld, had their identity and tribal memory scarred forever.Vampire SocietyPulse trackers terrorize adventurers, driving them through the jungle toward certain death at the gates of Malakir.

The lacerators cut themselves before each hunt. They must feed before the sun rises or bleed to death.

Curious, thoughtful, and analytical, the merfolk are natural explorers. Although the merfolk are born in the water, their appearance is more human than fish. They have muted skin colors, including ivory, beige, silver, and pale gold. They have residual fins on the backs of their arms and calves. The fins are sometimes streaked with brighter colors, such as green and blue. They have human-like hair in shades of silver, gold, and light browns. But like their fins, the merfolk's hair often has streaks of bright color as well.Although merfolk are a common sight in the settlements and trading posts of Zendikar, they are a race in decline. Merfolk tend to be more solitary than other races and don't cultivate large communities. But even merfolk who spend most of their time exploring will establish a home base, a place they return to before setting out again.The merfolk believe that the world is divided into three realms: Emeria, or the Wind Realm, which was once ruled by the goddess Emeria and includes the sky, the wind, and the clouds; Ula's Realm, the underwater realm; and Cosi's Realm, which comprises everything else.The merfolk recognize these divinities as the forces that drive the world, usually adopting the creed of one of the three as their own. Emeria, also the name used to refer to the ruined floating castle in Tazeem believed to be where the goddess once dwelt, brings an ethereal wisdom to her devotees. While merfolk are not native to Emeria's sky realm, they connect with her airy mysticism, many of them following her creed and striving to learn ways to restore her to rule in her floating castle once again.Followers of Ula, the water-realm deity, pride themselves on being blunt and straightforward in their dealings with others. Ula-creed merfolk operate the famed research facility at the Lighthouse at Sea Gate and make excellent navigators and ruin scholars.Ula is a "pure" merfolk who dwells at the bottom of Halimar. He is the true ruler of water realm: the seas, the oceans, rivers and lakes. The same upheaval that destroyed Em's castle also robbed Ula of his memory, but it left him with the knowledge of the task he must complete, the wrong he must avenge. He swims endlessly through the Halimar trying to rediscover what he was meant to do. Ula's Guardians are two massive leviathans who protect Ula as he swims aimlessly through the dark water. Chronicles of UlaZendikar is so dangerous and inhospitable that all other terrain is considered to be under the rule of Cosi, the Trickster. Cosi is believed to take the form of handsome humanlike being with a mischievous grin. He carries two kor-inspired hooked ropes that he uses to meddle in mortal affairs. Cosi has a chaotic nature. He will lure, scheme, and deceive for no reason but to incite chaos. Misfortune is usually blamed on Cosi's meddling.Almost no one admits to being an adherent of Cosi, the trickster. Blamed for the misfortunes of the world, Cosi is seen as a force of chaosand yet the merfolk believe in his dynamic, incredible power. If someone could channel the untapped forces ruled by Cosi, they say, that individual would be one to fear, indeed.
Merfolk armor is streamlined, as intricate as coral, and revealing, as they need good mobility in the water (good thing they have toned swimmer's bodies!). Their clothing and metal rings serve more than a decorative purpose; they can be used to bind up the loose fins on their forearms and calves when out of water. Merfolk wizards and non-wizards alike tend to favor staves, spears, and javelins, preferring weaponry that can hit the mark both underwater and above. Some merfolk master travelers accumulate a veritable reef of accreted artifacts, gems, and other magical discoveries, and almost every merfolk is a storehouse of information. Their dedication to the art of writing is unmatched among the races of Zendikar; their written language is highly developed pictorial system, thickly layered with meaning, so scrolls of tanned hide are commonly found on their person.
The goblins of Zendikar are similar in appearance to goblins found in other planes. between 3.5 and 5 feet in height, but with a slender, more elongated build. Their arms are unusually long, allowing them to brachiate through forest canopies and along cliff walls, and their skin is more leathery than typical goblin skin. A goblin's skin will range from a brownish red to a moss green, depending on his tribe and his exposure to various subterranean elements.Goblins practice a strange form of meritocracy when it comes to governance. By far, the most useful trait in a leader is practical survival knowledge, so the goblin that leads the tribe is the one who has managed to retrieve the most interesting or powerful object from a ruin site. As such, ambitious goblins are always trying to outdo one another, and delve deeper and deeper into ever more dangerous ruins. Goblin leaders therefore tend to be youngthere are old goblins, and ambitious goblins, but there are very few old and ambitious goblins.Goblins always carry their most impressive prize with them, and a goblin that hasn't yet retrieved an interesting relic from some ruin or wilderness locale is not considered a full member of the tribe. However, most goblins are fearful by nature individually, so they are willfully gullible when told that a given object is an important artifact. They enable each other's cowardice through a tacit agreement to the effect that, "Yep, that hunk of rock you found feels pretty powerful to me," thereby enabling each others' acceptance by the tribe."Grit," an unidentified mineral commonly found in volcanic rock and magma tunnels, is often pounded into dust and eaten by goblins, and it serves to partially calcify their skinenough to toughen them up against the elemental forces they are constantly subjected to. As goblins age, therefore, their skin develops a stiff, leathery quality like elephant skin. An older goblin starts to look greyer and stonier over time.Much of goblin society is centered around the role of the shaman, and some goblin shamans, known as the Gas-Talkers of Akoum, will intentionally breathe the volcanic gases that erupt from deep within the ground. While goblin physiology is more adapted to these gases than, say, elves or humans, the results can still be very harmful. Great, chaotic magical energy is trapped in the volcanic caldera below, and as such, the gases often imbue the shaman with magical power and/or visions, if only for a little while. These "gas-talkers" are revered, but often from a safe distance.The kor are a race of nomadic humanoids that have light blue or pale white skin. Male kor have chin barbels (sensory organs that look like short, catfish-like tendrils).One group of Kor dwelled on Rath, where they, alongside the human Dal and Vec, had to choose between evading the ruthless evincar or allying with him. Two groups of Kor include the noble en-Kor and the sneakier il-Kor. The kor are native residents of Zendikar, and Zendikar may well be the origin world of Dominaria's kor.The kor follow a nomadic lifestyle, chasing the winds across Zendikar, hunting the mikungaa leathery, vicious species of flying eel that soars on the Roil-churned air currents. Hunting the windrider eel is tricky business for people who don't themselves fly, but the kor have a secret advantage. They believe deeply in the importance of connection: connection between the individual and community, between the spirit and the unknown, between the self and the land, and between hunter and prey. The kor rely on their gear to extend this idea of connection into the physical realm; they use lines, ropes, and hooks to literally connect themselves to their surroundings. As any skyfisher knows, a good line isn't just a symbol of a spiritual bond, but the perfect thing to snare an enemy or to hook a two-ton flying eel behind the gills.This reliance on gear fits hand-in-glove with the kor's nomadic nature. They travel light, taking with them only what they need, so they need their equipment to be tough, well-designed, and multipurpose. From their kitesails to their quickly-struck canvas tents to their trusty grappling hooks, kor gear sets the standard for explorers' essentials.The kor live a spare and nomadic existence. They travel mercilessly light, carrying with them only the essentials, valuing the portability of individual skill and strength of character over more "static" virtues. "We were not meant to put down roots," they say. "The heart is a moving organ." Despite their constant motion, the kor revere locations in a deep sense. They travel in small bands along one of several pilgrimage routes, visiting dozens of sacred sites across Zendikar. Each pilgrimage circuit takes decades, and many are lost to Zendikar's dangers along the way.The kor are masters of ropes and hooks, using them to travel and to hunt, and incorporating them into their spirituality. They rarely use unreliable devices such as crossbows to propel their grappling hooks onto cliff faces or into flying game, relying instead on simple, sturdy rope and the skill of the arm. A hooked line is also a social and sacred symbol for the kor, representing their connection to each other and to the world around them.The kor are known for their gear-savvy; for them, practical preparedness is a spiritual duty. Their entire culture is founded on the principles of interconnectedness and nomadism, symbolized and enabled by their reliance on hooks, ropes, and lines. Kor arms and armor tend to be rather lighter than human warriors', a requirement of their eternally traveling nature, but almost no kor is found without his or her trusty hook. The grappling hook is the perfect blend of weapon and tool, an ally of rope and iron in a world where it can be hard to find those of flesh and blood.Every kor family on Zendikar elects a child, typically the second-born, to abandon to the wilderness as a sacrifice to pacify the natural forces of Zendikar. Some of the abandoned children, called world-gifts, die quickly, but many of them manage to survive long enough to new lives outside the kor nomadic families. A world-gift kor typically adopts the language and customs of the culture with whom he or she matures. Tragically, most never feel at home among the "static" races; driven by wanderlust, many world-gift kor end up venturing back out into the wilds at some point in their lives, but are never welcomed back into kor society.The kor of Zendikar worship a small, simple pantheon of deities, each one based on an aspect of nature. Kamsa, the goddess of the wind, called "the breath of the world," fills the kitesails of the kor and fills the skies with game such as windrider eels. Mangeni, god of the sea, "blood of the world," fills the canyons and streams with pure, rushing water, but also punishes the stagnation of misguided builders who attempt to set down overly permanent roots in one place. Talib, the god of the earth, "body of the world," crushes the unworthy in rockslides and gravity wells but also provides herbs and fungi to forage along the kor pilgrimage routes.The Kor forsake roots for the winding of the path; forsake voices for the silence of the mind; forsake all else for the poverty of isolation. -Nomads en-KorThe Tajuru tribe of elves is the largest of the elven tribes on Zendikar, acting more as an extensive nation than a tribe. It counts among its number hundreds of far-flung clans across Murasa and other parts of Zendikar. The Tajuru are the most open to people of other races, seeing their skills and perspectives as valuable new tools for survival. Tajuru elves are also more open to new lifestyles, be it living in a mountaintop citadel or roaming grassy plains.The Tajuru are famous for their seemingly innate skill with tools and their use. Many of the crude but functional technologies that allow for survival in extreme locales (hang gliders, rope bridges, pulley-operated transport, zip lines, and so on) are the result of Tajuru innovations. Indeed, the risky branch-top "roads" of Kazandu, the passage path through Sunder Cove, and other similar "civilized" thoroughfares throughout Zendikar were created and are maintained by numerous Tajuru clans along their length.The Tajuru clans owe allegiance to the speaker Sutina. She rules from the Tumbled Palace on the cliffs of Sunder Bay. This crumbling edifice of ancient origin is clutched in the bows of a huge and thorny jurworrel tree that has lifted it off the ground and has been threatening to drop it into the ocean for as long as anyone can remember. Speaker Sutina is often seen on the cliffs of Sunder Bay when the tide-altering monster Lorthos makes its destructive rise to the surface. If there is a connection between her and the beast, none but Sutina and her closest advisors know it.The Eldrazi are nightmarish, titanic, theric creatures native to the Blind Eternities. They exist only to feed, and they feed on the energy of worlds: mana energy, life energy, spell energy, natural energy. Thousands of years ago, three Eldrazi monstrosities descended on Zendikar, drawn by the plane's fierce and primal mana. They spawned entire subraces of minor Eldrazi, called "brood lineages," to help them pillage and consume, and proceeded to lay waste to the plane.In their quest to uncover ancient treasures, Planeswalkers have awakened the Eldraziparasitic titans of the ther, imprisoned on Zendikar for thousands of years. Seemingly unstoppable, these world-eaters threaten the entire Multiverse, and their very presence has changed Zendikar.Eldrazi are incomprehensibly alien, and their mental processes are unfathomable. Only the Eldrazi mind thinks in the warped paths required to open the Zendikar hedrons and tap the power within. The barest taste of Eldrazi power shatters both realms and identities.The eldrazi titans are native to the Blind Eternities. Once they arrive on a plane to devour its energies, they spawn brood lineages of lesser Eldrazi that spread out and multiply. The brood lineages arent capable of moving on to the next plane as the Eldrazi titans are. Each brood lineage has a characteristic look that follows the look of its progenitor, including visual cues, skin textures, and themes.Iona was one of the great archangels on Zendikar who were powerful enough to resist the Eldrazi's reign and maintain their sight, their loyalty to the downtrodden, and their ability for voluntary action.To this day Iona fights to defend Zendikar from the Eldrazi forces that would devour it, but even her legacy has become tainted by the power of the Eldrazi. Her formidable power does nothing to fend off the bizarre colorless magic of the Eldrazi titans. And the epithet given to her by her adherents, the "Shield of Emeria," ties her to a distorted vision of ancient Emrakul. Everything she's done to fight the Eldrazi has ironically served as a tool for the theric horrors' cause.No more shall the righteous cower before evil.Beneath the gaze of angels, only the righteous may stand without fear. (Iona's Judgment)It holds a whisper from Iona: "Persevere." (Angelheart Vial)