Here’s our MTGinktober for “Landmark,“ starring Kamahl, Fist of Krosa; Pollen-Shield Hare; Stinging Barrier; and Vine Trellis! Kamahl-Hare is a remarkable combo with tim Walls.
Thanks so much for tuning in this year, hope to see you next time. Also, I can take a couple requests if I didn't hit your favorite character this time around, though the archives have some 200 images at this point? Next year might be my tenth and last run!
Click this post’s Source link for this piece’s Making-Of.
More MTGinktober here.
Daily art updates on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky.
Would love, love, LOVE the new Phyrexians to show up on Mercadia post-mending only to find out that Orim already immunized the whole plane against their nonsense
Stuck on the plane of Mercadia, the Weatherlight crew struggled to find a way to fix their ship. Mingling with the natives, they learned of myths that told of an ancient and powerful being, Ramos, who brought his people to Mercadia. Soon they learned that they need his artifacts to fix and improve the Weatherlight.
Upon reaching Ouramos, they learned of this being's true origins. A rumbling came, and from the ground rose a giant, metallic dragon who spoke to them: Ramos himself.
Dragon Engine
Ramos, Dragon Engine by Joseph Meehan
Ramos is a being revered by several Mercadian peoples, appearing in several origin myths. In reality, he is a Phyrexian dragon engine reprogrammed to protect and save people from the Brothers' War.
Millennia ago in Dominaria, the Brothers' War ravaged the continent of Terisiare. Urza repurposed one dragon engine to protect and carry people away from the chaos. The dragon engine took merfolk and a ship loaded with humans with him. Slowed down by the weight of the refugees, the dragon engine did not outfly the blast, and the blast brought him back to Phyrexia. Knowing that his charges won't survive there, he went through a planar portal to Mercadia.
As he arrived on Mercadia, he saw that some of those he carried had already died. His heart, which would later be known as the Power Matrix, fell into the ocean. Before he crashed, he dropped those who were still alive along the way - into the oceans, the nearby beach, the forests, and then the dead among the marshlands. He crashed into a city, killing everyone and levelling his surroundings. Five shards broke away from his core, and he did not move.
The dragon engine stayed inert for a while, but life eventually returned to the crash site. He built an altar for those who died, and the five shards became known as the Bones of Ramos. The survivors eventually built their own cities, becoming the Cho-Arrim, the Rishadans, and the Saprazzans. Remembering a faint memory of a certain savior, they revered Ramos as such, with their own myths surrounding him.
When the Weatherlight crash-landed on Mercadia, their ship was taken by the Cho-Arrim, who believed the ship was the body of Ramos. While among them, Orim, the crew's healer, learned of the Cho-Arrim origin story and prophecy - that of a battle between two gods, Ramos and Orhop, with Ramos emerging victorious. Saddened by the ruin he has wrought, he brought the people of his world into a better one but was struck down on the way, breaking up their ship in three and scattering the people throughout. According to the story, Ramos will return once all three pieces have been united - soul, body, and mind - and his people will be united as well.
Among the Saprazzans, the crew learned of yet another myth regarding Ramos - that of a bright king whose reign extended to all but the stars. In his obsession, he started neglecting his duties, and his kingdom was divided. Ramos confided with artificers, and in a fateful night, when his people had enough, he revealed himself transformed. Ramos burned with light, holding the Power Matrix and absorbed the light of the stars. He rose upward and filled the night sky, taking his people with him beyond the skies until he unraveled into five pieces - the Bones of Ramos. The people were scattered among the lands of a new world, and where the merfolk and the Power Matrix fell, Saprazzo came to be. Should the Bones and the Matrix be united, Ramos will rise again and return with his people to their old world.
The Bones of Ramos lay in Ouramos, a large bowl-like crater surrounded by forest. The crewmembers of the Weatherlight were attacked by dryads who lived nearby and guarded Ouramos. After pacifying the dryads, one of them shared their knowledge of Ramos to Gerrard Capashen. Possessed by this knowledge, he revealed Ramos's true origins: he was a Phyrexian creation stolen and tasked by Urza to save lives, and then arrived at Mercadia and brought the refugees there. As they proceeded to the altar where the Bones lay, a rumbling came and Ramos burst from the ground. They discovered that he was a dragon engine.
Ramos knew of Gerrard and why they have come here. He wouldn't allow his Bones to be taken, but Gerrard argued that the Bones can fulfill the Ramosians’ hopes within the Weatherlight, bringing the Cho-Arrim, Rishadans, and Saprazzans together again. In the end, Ramos gave the stones to him, but warned that they will lose their power when they leave Ouramos. What Ramos said did come to pass; however, they found that the dryads can help revive the stones. During the dryads' song, Ramos cried out and joined in, imbuing the Bones with his essence. Even though the stones glowed weak after, their potential remained.
Much later, above Mercadia City, the upgraded Weatherlight was about to land a breaking blow against Volrath's skyship, Recreant. They stopped abruptly upon seeing Ramos approach. Not wanting to lose his ship again, Gerrard let it seem as if Ramos destroyed the Recreant. Recreant crashed into the fields and the Weatherlight retreated upward as Ramos drew nearer. He circled above the city and landed, the Ramosans rejoicing that their Uniter has arrived.
Ramos is a colossal creature, measuring a hundred feet from the ground up. He has a beaked head with reptilian eyes and two curved horns. He has a long neck, narrow wings with a wide wingspan, and a tail several times longer than his neck and body combined. His body appears segmented, with sets of metallic plates covering what appears to be a glowing core body of energy.
Pieces of a Whole
Legacy Weapon by Terese Nielsen
The planeswalker Urza had a life mission: to defeat Yawgmoth, Father of Machines and Lord of Phyrexia. For this cause he assembled a collection of artifacts that, when taken together, accomplished this goal. Together, they were called the Legacy.
This collection grew during the Skyship Weatherlight's travels, the skyship itself a part of it. Several other components of the Legacy were, to name a few: Gerrard Capashen himself, a product of a eugenics program started by Urza; the Mightstone and Weakstone, Thran crystals that can power and weaken artifacts, stones that replaced Urza's eyes; Karn, the silver golem created by Urza for time travel experiments, later the focal point of the Legacy; the Skyshaper and Thran Forge; the Touchstone; the Thran Tome; the Null Rod; and the Juju Bubble.
The Bones of Ramos and the Power Matrix were incorporated on the Legacy and Weatherlight during the crew's stay in Mercadia. Infused with the essence of Ramos, the Bones allowed the fusion of the ship engine and the Matrix, providing the ship with much more power than before.
Dangers
Dragon engines were the mightiest artifacts in the age of the Brothers' War. Armed with them, Urza and Mishra fought until the land of Terisiare sank beneath them. (from Mercadian Masques by Francis Lebaron)
Ramos is a dragon engine - a war machine. It can be assumed that he has a devastating breath weapon and tremendous physical strength and endurance, capable of tearing through enemy lines with ease. He is agile and can fly at high speeds despite his size. His Bones and Power Matrix, when taken together, produce an abundance of energy.
Despite these, while seemingly hostile at first, Ramos is actually one of the more benevolent dragons of lore. Since Urza's repurposing, his actions have always been concerned with protection and aiding. His mission was to save anyone he can, and he pursued this goal even after being badly damaged by the blast. Seeing that he didn't accomplish it fully, he was filled with sorrow for those he cannot save. He even made a shrine at Ouramos as remembrance for the fallen.
Ouramos and the surrounding Deepwood Forest is Ramos's dwelling. He has always been there since the time he crashed onto Mercadia. Since awakening from dormancy, he had sought to restore everything he had destroyed, gathering the dryads and reanimating the dead that came with him as his guardians. However, with his Bones torn away from him, he cannot fully use his potential, and while Ramos did dream of healing all the damage he has wrought on Mercadia, he didn't. He had sat lonely, sorrowful, and without purpose throughout the centuries.
Perhaps Gerrard was successful in convincing the dragon engine with the his impassioned speech. For the Ramosians, the Weatherlight signaled the arrival of a Uniter capable of bringing them together and uplifting them. And indeed, Ramos gave his blessing and powered the Bones with his essence. The Weatherlight had indeed united the Ramosians, rising up to Mercadia City. In the end, Ramos returned as a magnificent god above Mercadia City, and answered his people's hopes.
He was dormant for centuries since his arrival at Mercadia and became active when he appeared before the Ramosians. What has become of Ramos now? Who knows. Then again, having people to protect and the power to do so, it is easy to imagine him still thriving in that corner of the Multiverse surrounded by his charges' descendants.
