Angel of Zendikar

{{Creature
 * hasTrait=Good;
 * subraceOf=Angel
 * hasSetting=Zendikar;
 * hasDescription=The angels of Zendikar resemble the angels elsewhere, though they have two distinguishing features. The first is that they typically have multiple wings -four, six, or even eight wings. The second is that they have a halo, not above their head, but over their eyes.

Angels and the first rise
Like the angels of many planes, the angels of Zendikar are created, not born. Manifestations of pure white mana, they both embody virtue and defend it to the death. They are warriors for good - fierce allies of the just and ruthless executioners of the wicked.

But apparently, all that just didn't sit well with the Eldrazi. When Emrakul, Ulamog, and Kozilek were first lured to Zendikar several thousand years ago, the magic of the hedron prison lulled them into a harmless torpor. But when the abominations rose again several centuries later, Zendikar was unprepared for their assault, and they obliterated the land and the living almost at will.

Angels were among the first creatures that attempted to mount a resistance. Archangels drew their swords and stood between the Eldrazi and the land of Zendikar, preparing to fight the monstrosities head-on for the survival of their world. But the Eldrazi weren't the run-of-the-mill kind of wickedness the angels were used to fighting. The Eldrazi abominations radiated an otherworldly aura of devouring power that easily cut through even the angelic resistance.

But despite their unearthly power, the Eldrazi failed to wipe out the angels completely. They failed, too, to turn the angels into a kind of slave race, as they did with the vampires. But the Eldrazi still left their mark, and the angels have borne the scars for millennia.

The Blinding Halo
The angels of Zendikar bear a harsh, bizarre reminder of their early opposition to the Eldrazi. Each angel's halo is worn down over her eyes, symbolizing her mystical blindness to the Eldrazi's atrocities and her powerlessness to aid her world. The halo stings when worn this way, letting the angel see only stark, glaring whiteness and barring her from coming to the aid of the Eldrazi's hapless victims. Ultimately the halo serves as a shameful kind of leash, shackling her to acquiescence, preventing her from interfering with the destructive progress of the Eldrazi.

The symbolism of the halos was not lost on those who looked up at them, but their meaning was misinterpreted. The denizens of Zendikar beheld the angels and saw justice in their haloed indifference, mistaking the halos for signs of equity and impartiality. Over time the angels' forced aloofness was even incorporated into the world's religions. The "deity" Emeria, for example, was conceptualized as a great angelic being, an impartial refuge in a dangerous world—her halo a sign of hope, not of separation.

As the memories of the Eldrazi faded over time, the mythology of Emeria and the other deities grew. Nostalgia painted a golden halo around Zendikar's disastrous past. And the terrible silhouette of Emrakul against the sky became Emeria, a vision of salvation on white-feathered wings.

Sight Unfettered
But the truth about the Eldrazi found a way to survive. Locked away for centuries like a precious treasure, the memory of the Eldrazi's destructiveness and the angels' responsibility to Zendikar persisted inside a few select angels. These greater archangels were powerful enough to resist the Eldrazi's reign and maintain their sight, their loyalty to the downtrodden, and their ability for voluntary action.

When the Eldrazi rose again on Zendikar, the halos of oppression shattered. It may have something to do with the loosening of the plane's hedron prison. But one thing is clear: these times herald a new era, a glorious new generation of angels that promises to stem the tide of Eldrazi annihilation. }}