Sheoldred

Sheoldred (Phyrexian: gOcdrd, IPA: [ʃøldrd]), known as the Whispering One was the Praetor of the Black Faction of New Phyrexia. In the year 4562 AR, she led an invasion of the plane of Dominaria, where she attained several important military objectives in preparation for New Phyrexia's Invasion of the Multiverse. After her return to New Phyrexia, however, she lost a power struggle against the Mother of Machines, Elesh Norn. Sheoldred was subsequently captured by Norn's forces and beheaded by Ajani Goldmane.

Description

The black-aligned faction, led by Sheoldred, had one goal: enslave. Believers would serve. Unbelievers would be made to serve. All would bow to Phyrexia.

Sheoldred appeared as a feminine humanoid torso emerging from a huge-mouthed, many-jointed fiend. Her movements were spiderlike in their grace, her limbs finding purchase among the mycosynth and metallic structures of the Core. Her body was covered with plates of oily, corroded metal. Her voice was a soft, grinding whisper, and she was kept informed at all times by a constant stream of informants, spies, and underlings. Sheoldred could separate her body into two pieces. Her relatively humanoid torso was locked into an access inlet built into her monstrous lower half. Though few had seen it happen, Sheoldred could shed her large, predatory, more motile lower body and slither-skitter to a new home. While connected to her lower body, she spoke through its mouth.

She was graceful, cruel, and the cleverest of the thanes. Her tactics were primarily covert and underhanded, frequently leveraging lies or misinformation. She earned her praetor position by manipulating the other thanes against each other. She hid her knowledge in irregular, whispering puzzle boxes known as "astral coffers".

Sheoldred's philosophy was the closest to Old Phyrexia of the praetors. Sheoldred believed in acquiring power through any means necessary. One of her main tools was the creation of sleeper agents.

History

Mirran-Phyrexian War

Besides her rank as a praetor, Sheoldred was part of a unique affiliation in Phyrexianised Mirrodin, known as the Seven Steel Thanes. The thanes serve little more than as warlords of the Black faction, with no observable utility for the rest of Phyrexia, and actually, each thane intends to take over the plane. Using knowledge and secrecy to advance herself, Sheoldred intended to become omnipotent, but being in direct competition with equally ruthless thanes like Geth it was equally possible that she would fail. She outsmarted Roxith when he failed to access one of her coffers and was killed. She established her territory in the Dross Pits and ran a grand coliseum there.

Ultimately, Elesh Norn laid waste to her domain. Sheoldred would go on to serve Norn during Phyrexia's multiversal invasions. Despite her defeat, Sheoldred remained a powerful rival to Norn, which is why the Grand Cenobite sent her on these missions to distract her.

On Dominaria

At some point, Sheoldred traveled to Dominaria, attempting to obtain ancient artifacts as well as possibly conquer the plane. Arriving in the Caves of Koilos, she recuperated from wounds sustained by traveling through the Blind Eternities and was discovered and rebuilt by Rona and the Society of Mishra. She now possesses the ability to separate her humanoid torso into an array of spiderlike constructs to escape pursuers. She was responsible for the mass production of sleeper agents, which infiltrated all Dominarian societies and weakened them, allowing her to build an actual army, the largest New Phyrexian operation outside of the plane. During this, she made use of old Phyrexian artifacts, resurrected Ertai, and compleated the planeswalker Ajani Goldmane. She led the attack during the Battle of the Mana Rig while affixed to a dragon engine and captured Karn, returning him to New Phyrexia.

Upon her return, Tezzeret carried Sheoldred back to her lair in the Dross Pits.

Phyrexia: All Will Be One

Within a few weeks of her return to New Phyrexia, Sheoldred moved against Elesh Norn in a bid to seize power. She allied herself with Urabrask's rebellion against the Mother of Machines, as did the Thanes Geth, Roxith, and Vraan. Norn declared her an apostate, and she was later captured by Ajani.

Death

As Norn launched the Invasion of the Multiverse, a defiant Sheoldred was brought before her. The Mother of Machines declared that there was no place in New Phyrexia for those who would seek power over unity, and ordered Ajani to decapitate her with his axe. He obliged Norn's wish, resulting in the first known death of a New Phyrexian praetor. The effects this might have on Phyrexia's black faction are currently unknown.

Planes visited

Similar to her fellow praetors Vorinclex, Jin-Gitaxias, and Urabrask, Sheoldred could travel to other planes using the Planar Bridge.

• New Phyrexia
• Dominaria

Gallery

• 
  Magic: The Gathering Arena avatar.

Story appearances

In-game references

Trivia

• Sheol is Hebrew for Pit or Underworld. It is mentioned in the Torah and is a neutral underworld where all dead go regardless of the deceased being good or evil in life.
• Sheoldred was originally planned to appear as the "Whispering Witch" in the never-realized second set of the Eldraine block.
• Sheoldred preferred to use a sentence ending hook different from the standard . that was more commonly used in old Phyrexia.
• Sheoldred may be the narrator of the Scars of Mirrodin trailer.

References