Volrath is a character from the collectible card game

Collectible card game

thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...

 Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...

, featured in the sets Tempest

Tempest (Magic: The Gathering)

Tempest was the 20th Magic: The Gathering set and twelfth expert level set, and the first set in the Rath Block, released in October 1997. The release of Tempest represented a large jump in the power level of the card set, compared to the previous Mirage block. Many cards from Tempest instantly...

, Stronghold

Stronghold (Magic: The Gathering)

Stronghold was the 21st Magic: The Gathering set and thirteenth expert level set, and the second set in the Rath Block, released in March 1998. The block includes Tempest and Exodus. Stronghold contains 143 cards...

, Exodus

Exodus (Magic: The Gathering)

Exodus was the 22nd Magic: The Gathering set, fourteenth expert level set, and the third and final set in the Rath Block, released on 15 June 1998. Its expansion symbol is a bridge...

, Mercadian Masques

Mercadian Masques

Mercadian Masques is the nineteenth Magic: The Gathering expansion and was released in October 1999 as the first set in the Masques block. It is notable for being the first set not protected by Wizards of the Coast's "Reprint Policy"...

, Nemesis

Nemesis (Magic: The Gathering)

Nemesis is the second set in the Mercadian Masques block of sets in the Magic: The Gathering game, along with the expansions Mercadian Masques and Prophecy. Its expansion symbol is an axe. The set consists of 143 cards and was released on February 14, 2000...

, and Prophecy

Prophecy (Magic: The Gathering)

Prophecy is a Magic: The Gathering expansion set. It was the third set of the Masques block, along with the expansion Mercadian Masques and Nemesis. The Prophecy expansion consists of 143 cards. Its expansion symbol are three crystals...

. He was a major villain throughout his run, serving as the Evincar (leader) of Rath, a magically-generated world existing solely to conquer M:tG's main setting of Dominaria, and as arch-enemy of main character Gerrard Capashen

Gerrard Capashen

Gerrard Capashen is a fictional warrior who commands the crew of the flying ship Weatherlight in the fantasy collectible card game Magic: The Gathering. He was the main character of the Weatherlight saga, a storyline that connected expansions to the Magic card game for five years...

.

As Vuel

Volrath was named Vuel upon birth as son of Sidar Kondo, within a North Jamuraan warclan. When the young Gerrard

Gerrard Capashen

Gerrard Capashen is a fictional warrior who commands the crew of the flying ship Weatherlight in the fantasy collectible card game Magic: The Gathering. He was the main character of the Weatherlight saga, a storyline that connected expansions to the Magic card game for five years...

 was accepted into his family, Vuel initially expressed contempt, but they later became good friends. However, Vuel's coming-of-age trial was sabotaged by Starke il-Vec, and he was exiled from his tribe. Furthermore, Gerrard saved Vuel's life during this botched ritual, leading to a long-term resentment as Vuel would rather have simply died.

As he wandered out alone in despair, Starke comforted him and whetted his ego and need for revenge. Vuel rallied other barbarians from surrounding tribes to attack his former clan. This led to the deaths of many of Vuel's people, including his father. During this time, Vuel managed to deactivate Karn, the silver golem, and steal the Legacy artifacts. However, Gerrard was nowhere to be found.

Starke, actually a secret agent out on a recruiting mission, now saw Vuel fit for the next step in his ascension, and promised Vuel a whole world to command. Vuel was eager to prove himself and stepped through Starke's portal, onto the valley of Rath. Shortly after arriving he was transported to Phyrexia where Yawgmoth

Yawgmoth

Yawgmoth, known as the "Father of Machines" and called the Ineffable by his underlings, is a fictional being from Magic, The Gathering, and is the unabated god of the plane of Phyrexia, a universe of untold corruption and mechanical monstrosity. He wields nearly unlimited magical might and...

 trained him, mutilated him, and gave him all of Rath to command. That day, Vuel was dead, and Volrath was born.

Volrath, Evincar of Rath

One of Volrath's first act on Rath was to claim ownership. He met and challenged the current envicar, taking the throne of the abandoned stronghold, and becoming the sixth Evincar of Rath. In this position he was charged with administrating all affairs on the plane of Rath. This primarily involved gearing the plane up for war, as his Phyrexian superiors intended to "planeshift" the entire realm onto Dominaria as the opening gambit of their proposed invasion.

Greven

Volrath soon enslaved Rath's native Dal, Kor, and Vec tribes, and began "experimenting" on them. He did some very creative things with his experiments, most notably he grafted the Phyrexian control spines onto hundreds of people, hoping to be able to control them. Unfortunately, only one person survived the procedure: Greven il-Vec (meaning Greven, disgraced of the Vec tribe), who was then enhanced in many other ways as to grant him strength of superhuman levels. Greven became Volrath's second in command, though after years of torment and humiliation Greven had grown to despise Volrath.

Enter Gerrard

Volrath blamed Starke for all he had suffered, for being cast out of his clan, for being scarred by Yawgmoth, and so on. He captured Starke's daughter, Takara en-Dal, and soon after Sisay, friend of Gerrard

Gerrard

Gerrard may refer to:* Alfred Gerrard , sculptor* Anthony Gerrard , English footballer* Lisa Gerrard , vocalist for the band Dead Can Dance* Mark Gerrard , Australian rugby player...

 and Captain of Weatherlight, after he ordered Starke to bring her to him. As predicted, Gerrard came to rescue Sisay aboard the Weatherlight, but was quickly shot down by Volrath's own flagship, Predator, under the command of Greven and the many slivers under Volrath's influence. Greven returned with the remaining Legacy artifact, the Weatherlight itself.

Volrath at first was overjoyed: with the Legacy Artifacts he could slay Yawgmoth himself and use Phyrexian hordes to dominate both Phyrexia and Dominaria. Tahngarth of the Talruum mountains was Weatherlight's first mate, and was captured by Greven. And perhaps out of the goodness in his heart, Volrath had his Phyrexian priests horrifically alter Tahngarth to a form worthy of his new role as Greven's first mate aboard the Predator. Also aboard Weatherlight was Vuel's old protector, Karn

KARN

KARN is a commercial news and talk radio station at 102.9 FM in Little Rock, Arkansas, owned and operated by Cumulus Media. Originally known as KARK-AM and later locally owned by Ted Snider, the station has long been the flagship station of the Arkansas Radio Network.KARN airs nationally...

. Karn was a golem created by Urza

Urza

Urza Planeswalker is a fictional character from the universe of Magic: The Gathering, best known for his millennia-long struggle with Yawgmoth and the plane of Phyrexia...

 to watch over Gerrard, and was also a piece of Legacy himself. Volrath set up an elaborate torture device specifically for Karn.

Then Volrath learned that Gerrard was only presumed dead, after Greven saw him fall off Weatherlight. Volrath knew that his former friend would attempt a rescue of the Weatherlight's crew, a prediction that was proven accurate. Gerrard attacked Volrath's stronghold a second time, this time in the company of Starke, Mirri (a cat warrior and Gerrard’s best friend), and Crovax (an Urborgan noble) along with him. Despite Volrath's defenses, from hypnotizing Sisay to fight her friends to deploying a shapeshifter as a copy of himself to setting Crovax's now-corrupted guardian angel, Selenia, against the invaders, Gerrard's rescue was a success; Sisay and Karn were rescued, and Takara released from her imprisonment. However, it was not without cost to the Weatherlight's crew: Crovax was forced to kill Selenia, whose death would cause her slayer to become a vampire

Vampire

Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...

; Mirri, fighting him, sacrificed her life to allow her friends' escape; and Ertai, the Weatherlight's wizard, had to be abandoned on Rath to hold open the erratic portal Gerrard used to escape. Finally, Volrath himself, a shapeshifter of some skill, disguised himself as Takara and "escaped" with his "rescuers."

The crew made haste, escaping through a portal and crash landing in Mercadia City. They were shortly robbed of Weatherlight by local water sorcerers. Gerrard and Sisay went to seek the Weatherlight. Volrath, still in the form of Takara, killed Starke.

When Sisay and Gerrard returned and found Starke dead, they caught on to Volrath's disguise and fought. Volrath, despite his abilities, lost the battle. With Volrath seemingly out of the picture Gerrard and Sisay ran to Weatherlight and made a hasty retreat through the Phyrexian caves.

Crovax

With Volrath absent for so long, it seemed to most on Rath that he would never return. With no other option, the Phyrexian Inner Circle arranged a contest to decide the new Evincar of Rath. Before Volrath arrived, the only two contestants were former Weatherlight crew: the vampiric Crovax and the lesser wizard Ertai. Just as Crovax was to be crowned Evincar, Greven entered and announced the return of his master, Volrath. Everyone shook with fear, and all the crowd and soldiers bowed before him; but Crovax was unconvinced. The Phyrexian ambassador, Belbe, who was sent by Yawgmoth himself, declared the challenge and the battle for Evincar began.

Volrath was far more powerful than Crovax, but the wizard Ertai intervened during the battle, securing Crovax's victory. Volrath was deposed and dragged to his own dungeons, and was executed by command of Ertai.

Personality

Volrath is a cruel, ruthless leader whose arrogance is offset only by his great intelligence. He has affected the slivers with many robotic and metallic clones. These helped with taking the "Weatherlight". When punishing prisoners, Volrath prefers to use methods that damage his captives psychologically. He deformed the proud minotaur Tahngarth with a magical ray, and placed the pacifist golem Karn in a room full of moggs, with a shifting floor which ensured that the pacifist golem's very existence lead to the deaths of others, as moggs would be crushed beneath his weight.

Abilities

Volrath is a master shapeshifter, with incredible control over his body's cellular structure (in one of the books, he is able to make stone crumble by insinuating his flesh into it). He is also a skilled geneticist and necromancer, whose experiments with both living and dead subjects have created countless monstrosities and a number of new species on Rath.

When Volrath was personified on a 2nd series Vanguard card, Mortuary, he was given the ability "Whenever any of your creatures is put into your graveyard from play, you may put that creature on top of your library." His ability to grow in strength at the cost of others was also reflected on his own card, Volrath the Fallen, which was printed in the Nemesis

Nemesis (Magic: The Gathering)

Nemesis is the second set in the Mercadian Masques block of sets in the Magic: The Gathering game, along with the expansions Mercadian Masques and Prophecy. Its expansion symbol is an axe. The set consists of 143 cards and was released on February 14, 2000...

expansion.