Welcome back to the Story Circle, where we share stories from Magic that we believe deserve sharing. This year, we're doing things a little differently. For this first week, you'll hear our intro explaining what's different this time around, as well as some Vorthos news, and then we're jumping right into the story. For this story and future story episodes, we will also be posting the audio of just the story independently, in case folks want to just hear the story.

Our first Story Circle story for 2025 is "Expeditions to the End of the World" by J. Robert King. This story begins with Captain Crucias, a mostly reformed pirate running a cruise to the edges of Argoth during the Brothers' War. It's a bit of a tearjerker with some heavy topics, including childhood illness and death, so be prepared to laugh at the start and cry by the end.

If you'd like to hear more audio stories from Magic's past, please consider supporting us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where $1 a month gets you access to our Discord server, as well as early releases of the podcast! $3 a month gets access to our live listen, where you can hear episodes recorded live!

Last week we asked you, our lovely listeners, to send us questions about Magic lore and story, and now we're here with our 10th mailbag episode to answer those questions! We got questions ranging from asking about the peculiars of Ixidor's magic to what it means to get brunch in the multiverse, and we answered them to the best of our abilities. Thank you all for your questions!

If you'd like to join our Discord server to talk all things Magic, sign up for our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where everyone who pledges a dollar or more a month gets access! For $3 a month, you get access to our live listen, where you can hear the show recorded live on Thursday evenings!

It's been a little while since Aetherdrift released, but we've finally caught up with K Arsenault Rivera to talk about the experience of writing the story for Magic's racing set! We talk about the similarities between Aetherdrift and March of the Machine, writing despicable villains, and the importance of the Fast and the Furious films.

If you'd like to join our Discord server to talk all things Magic, sign up for our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where everyone who pledges a dollar or more a month gets access! For $3 a month, you get access to our live listen, where you can hear the show recorded live on Thursday evenings!

This week we're answering a question that has certainly been on the minds of Vorthosi since Tarkir: Dragonstorm hit the shelves: What even is a dragon? How has Magic created their own concept of dragonkind? We talk the influences behind Magic's dragons, their different morphologies, and a little bit of Dragon Lore.

If you'd like to join our Discord server to talk all things Magic, sign up for our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where everyone who pledges a dollar or more a month gets access! For $3 a month, you get access to our live listen, where you can hear the show recorded live on Thursday evenings!

It's that time of the set again! We poured over the pages of Tarkir: Dragonstorm cards to find the best stories we could find hidden among the art, mechanics, and flavor texts of the set. If you found any flavor gems of your own and want to share, leave a comment and let us know, or just hop into our Discord and join the conversation with your fellow Vorthosi.

If you'd like to join our Discord server to talk all things Magic, sign up for our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where everyone who pledges a dollar or more a month gets access! For $3 a month, you get access to our live listen, where you can hear the show recorded live on Thursday evenings!

We're joined this week by the incredible Cassandra Khaw! Cass has written for Magic before Tarkir: Dragonstorm, but this is their first time writing the main set story, to huge success! We talk about returning to writing Magic story after a long break, how they captured fan-favorite characters so perfectly, and how fun it is to make characters suffer.

You can read a sneak peak at The Library at Hellebore, Cassandra Khaw's upcoming novel, here: https://torpublishinggroup.com/sneak-peek-for-the-library-at-hellebore/

If you'd like to join our Discord server to talk all things Magic, sign up for our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where everyone who pledges a dollar or more a month gets access! For $3 a month, you get access to our live listen, where you can hear the show recorded live on Thursday evenings!

With the stories finished, we can now delve deep into the world of Tarkir as it is now, a world ruled by five clans once more, but very different from both the world before the dragonlords and the world that never was. Each clan's identity has evoled tremendously, so we go deep into the Planeswalker's Guides to give you an overview of who they are, how they work, and what roles they play in the new world of Tarkir.

If you'd like to join our Discord server to talk all things Magic, sign up for our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where everyone who pledges a dollar or more a month gets access! For $3 a month, you get access to our live listen, where you can hear the show recorded live on Thursday evenings!

It's our final episode covering the stories of Tarkir Dragonstorm, and this time we're wrapping up the side stories! We're talking Sultai, we're talking Temur, and believe it or not we're talking Mardu, too! How do these side stories help tell the overall story of a Tarkir finding its past? Well, with the help of three excellent authors they do it very well!

Read "Sultai: Betrayal" by Marcus Terrell Smith - https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/tarkir-dragonstorm-sultai-betrayal

Read "Mardu: Where Lightning Tells our Story" by Seanan McGuire - https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/tarkir-dragonstorm-mardu-where-lightning-tells-our-story

Read "Temur: Together Survives the Pack" by K Arsenaul Rivera - https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/tarkir-dragonstorm-temur-together-survives-the-pack

And Chris' final thought, Dominarian Plowshare - https://dominarianplowshare.substack.com/

We've reached the end of the main story of Tarkir: Dragonstorm, and what an ending it is! Our heroes find something terrible and awesome in the heart of the Meditation Realm, and the actions of our favorite blue mage brings and end to the Dragonstorm Arc. What's next when we blast off into the Edge of Eternities? We don't know yet, but we speculate!

If you'd like to join our Discord server to talk all things Magic, sign up for our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where everyone who pledges a dollar or more a month gets access! For $3 a month, you get access to our live listen, where you can hear the show recorded live on Thursday evenings!

We continue our discussion and summary of the Tarkir: Dragonstorm story this week with the first two side stories, centered around the lives of the Abzan and the Jeskai, and episodes 4 and 5 of the main story! A lot is happening on Tarkir (and elsewhere) and you won't want to fall behind with this story, which is sure to reshape the multiverse as we know it.

If you'd like to join our Discord server to talk all things Magic, sign up for our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheVorthosCast, where everyone who pledges a dollar or more a month gets access! For $3 a month, you get access to our live listen, where you can hear the show recorded live on Thursday evenings!