| “ | So now, they revel in their victory... While I make my place in the sky... among the GODS! | „ |
| ~ Xenagos, reflecting on his ascension |
Xenagos is a satyr planeswalker alligned with red and green mana and the former lord of Skola Valley on Theros. Following the ignition of his planeswalker spark, he became disallusioned with his life of hedonism and plotted to upset the control the gods of Theros held over the world.
History
Xenagos had a history of violence and egotism which began before he was even born– he killed his twin sister while still in his mother's womb. In time, Xenagos was eventually born to Raissa, a female satyr living in the peaceful Setessa region of Theros– a world ruled by a pantheon of powerful gods. His mother knew that her son would be destined for something very special, and attempted to raise her child (something considered unusual among satyrs) so he could achieve his destiny.
She would regret this decision.
From the very beginning, Xenagos displayed a wanton disregard for life, killing another child as a toddler. The murder forced Raissa and Xenagos to flee Setessa for the carefree satyr homeland of Skola valley. However, this uprooting did nothing to quell Xenagos's murderous instincts– if anything, they escalated. At age six, Xenagos began trying to murder his own mother– though his efforts resulted in repeated failure. Xenagos claimed to be impressed with his mother's tenacity in overcoming his attempts on her life, while Raissa began questioning what kind of fate her son was really meant for. However, the answers she recieved were confusing and frightening– consisting of visions of her son challenging the gods themselves.
Rise as King Stranger
As Xenagos matured, he fell into the typical life of hedonism all satyrs of Theros adopted, revelling in a carefree life of uninhibited pleasure. However, this liesure was short-lived. While participating in the Bakkeia– a hardcore celebration of ritual madness, violence and sacrifice– the ecstacy of the revel caused his planeswalker's spark to ignite. Now free from the confines of Theros, Xenagos took advantage of his new perspective– revelling across the multiverse and exploring all new kinds of pleasure. However, Xenagos slowly came to a grim realization. During his travels, Xenagos visited many worlds with a vast diversity of beings. But all of these worlds had one critical thing in common: no gods. While on Theros, the gods were all-powerful, the rest of the multiverse was out of their reach– thier power meaningless outside the context of Theros. In the scheme of the multiverse, the gods of Theros were utterly insignificant– and Xenagos even more insignificant. For an arrogant satyr, this revalation was too much to bear. Traumatized and disillusioned with his meaningless revels, Xenagos returned to Theros. It was at this point that he assumed leadership of Skola Valley, and adopted the ephitet "King Stranger."
Ambitions on Theros
Xenagos's experiences in other planes had killed his interest in the hedonistic lifestyle of his satyr kin. Now finding the revels of his brethren a bore and the worship of gods farcical, Xenagos felt his ambition growing. Eventually, he wanted more than rule of merely Skola Valley. Xenagos wanted control of all of Theros– he wanted godhood. To this end, he began gathering the eldrich forces of other worlds to attack the poleis of Meletis, Akros and Setessa. These attacks became so severe that the patron gods of each city found themselves blinded and cut off from their human oracles. This event threw the pantheon into panic, turning the gods against each other as they hunted for the cause of the transgression. Only Nylea– the green-alligned goddess of the hunt– was aware of Xenagos and the threat he posed, but was unable to stand up against his otherworldly magic– only able to harmlessly bury one of her divine arrowheads in his chest. All the while, a war of the gods raged in the background.
While Xenagos manipulated the monster attacks on the poleis, Elspeth Tirel– a human planeswalker and the champion of the sun god Heliod– fought to restore balance to Theros. Elspeth carried a magic sword called the Godsend– an enchanted blade made by the forge god Purphoros with the ability to wound nyx-born star creatures (gods included)– which made her the target of the frenzied gods all striving to take the weapon for themselves. In their blind desire the gods nearly destroyed Theros, until the elder god Kruphix commanded them all to return to the sky-realm of Nyx where they could no longer harm mortals. Unbeknownst to all this was the first step in Xenagos's plan, as the gods would be powerless to interfere with his ascension.
Capture and Mogis' Onslaught
In the absence of the other gods, the slaughter-god Mogis saw an opportunity to strike a blow against his brother Iroas– loosing his minotaur worshippers on Iroas' patron city of Akros. As the Akroans fought a losing battle against the horde, Xenagos allowed himself to be captured by the Akroan army, who jailed him in the city dungeons. From here, he demanded audience with Elspeth, claiming he knew a way to end the war without a battle. By raising the river which ran through the city, the minotaur army would be swept away without risking more lives. For this to work, it would require a distraction so the Akroan Queen Cymede and Elspeth's companion Daxos could raise the river. To this end, Cymede's husband Anax challenged the horde's leader Rageblood to a duel, with Elspeth serving as his second. The plan worked.
Xenagos, the God of Revels
In celebration,
Xenagos, ascended.
Anax ordered a grand festival in honor of Akros' victory. Alone together the night of the festival, Daxos and Elspeth reallized their love for each other. However as the pair slept, Xenagos returned, staining Elspeth's dreams to resurrect her darkest memories. In her mind, Elspeth was trapped and desperately striking out against a Phyrexian horror. In reality, she had killed Daxos and completed her role in Xenagos' plot.
Elspeth fled from Akros– witnessing the revel Xenagos had manipulated her into creating as she went. With this, Xenagos ascended into Nyx as the fifteenth god, a hedonistic god of revels. As the populace struggled to cope with the idea of a mortal ascending into a deity, the distrust of the humans towards the gods of Theros deepened, furthering the chaos in the pantheon. As the new patron god of satyrs, Xenagos used his divine power to instigate the "Grand Revel", a planewide rollick of enfevered nyxborn monsters and mortals alike. As their world literally burned around them, the other gods finally discovered the truth behind the disrupted balance of Theros. However, they also found themselves powerless to stop Xenagos– however powerful the other fourteen deities were, the laws of their plane forbade them from expelling the revel god from the pantheon. The gods quickly became aware of one menacing realization; if a mortal could become a god then the gods were not the creators of Theros, but creations of it. Heliod, bitter towards the mortal now sharing the sky with him, began to call Xenagos "the Usurper".
Fall from Nyx
Elspeth triumphs over Xenagos.
While he had successfully attained his goal, Xenagos could not sustain his godly form alone– he needed devotion to stay divine. Assembling an army of nyxborn creatures, Xenagos darkened the skies of Theros, spreading chaos across the plane and stabilizing his place in Nyx. However, his godhood would be short-lived, as a few days after his ascension Elspeth followed Xenagos into Nyx– intent on hunting him down. After a difficult battle, Xenagos knocked Elspeth down and attempted to rob her of the Godsend, which would make it so no other mortal or god could challenge him. However, Elspeth took the chance to plunge the sword into Xenagos's chest, causing Nylea's arrowhead to erupt in a blast of magic energy. With his body torn to shreds, Xenagos fell out of Nyx, though it remains unknown if he really died– as his soul never made its way into the Theros underworld. In his absence, the satyrs of Theros fell into a rage– replacing the Grand Revel with a frenzied Revel of the Fallen God.
Trivia
- As with all the other gods of Theros, Xenagos is inspired by a character of Greek mythology– specifically Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, ecstasy and ritual madness.
- Xenagos's original design featured him with the head of a goat, and was changed due to him looking "too demonic and inhuman"
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