#Ayara Furnace Queen

[dailymtgflavortext]

Ayara cherished her new machine servitors just as much as she once did her many suitors: not at all.

-Ayara, Furnace Queen

[madcat-world]

Ayara (2 of 2) - Anna Podedworna

[almostlookedhuman]

[bace-jeleren]

It's been just over a year since March of the Machine, and I'm still very upset they gave Ayara the title "Furnace Queen" and she didn't have anything to do with Urabrask. This isn't me just being mad they didn't bone- this is Eldraine, the plane inspired from European fairytales, the twisted-ass beauty and the beast analogy was right there. Softest pitch in the world, guaranteed homerun. Totally whiffed it. Instead we got Rankle being a silly little guy.

You called her fucking "Furnace Queen" get the fuck out of here.

[chefwhatnot]

I need you to know that The Cauldron and the Furnace Queen fucking rejuvenated me. Ayara and Urabrask played off each other so well from beginning to end, and the reveal with Ash was so sweet and all of it.... just, I could scream about it for days! There's so many things I want to say about this fic, but I also don't want to say anything publicly about it at all, except for that it needs to be read!!! If this is the last bit of the Goose Mother and Other Tales series, you've sent it off with a bang and have left me a sobbing, grinning mess!!! Bravo!!!!!

So what it sounds like you’re saying…. Is that i did a good job? Damn, that’s crazy. Glad you liked it! I liked being able to write Ash again after Assault on Delverhaugh, even if she’s not necessarily the focus, and am super happy to hear the main character dynamic works well. Thanks for reading!

[danco110]

“It’s over…my Queen.”

Ayara tutted in mild disapproval at her Phyrexianized knights, surrounding her on the balcony. “What ever is the reason for the attempted coup, this time?”

“I believe you already know, Your Grace.”

The compleated knight who had spoken before pointed up with a claw, to the branches of Realmbreaker that grew through the air. He then returned his attention to his liege, offering her a goblet brimming with dark, viscous oil.

“I fear you must take certain…precautions, if you wish to keep your throne- Eep!”

The new Phyrexian uttered a surprisingly shrill noise of panic, taking a clanking step back as Ayara snarled in response to his explanation. However, the queen quickly recomposed herself, now realizing the gravity of the situation.

“Ahem, forgive me. I am…unused to taking orders.”

“And I must give a thousand apologies for-”

Ayara silenced the knight with a raise of her hand. With the other, she reached out and took the cup from him, raising it above her head.

“Worry not. All is forgiven...but you can certainly forget about having your opportunity to be a suitor!”

“…Oh…”

The Phyrexian knight hung his head as Ayara lowered the cup to her lips.

—

“…I don’t believe you.”

Ayara shook her steel-plated head at the furnace worker. The goblin stood his ground, nodding vigorously in approval back at the regent of metal and fire.

“Believe it…er, milady! You may call yourself cruel, but you’re a world apart from Sheoldred! I mean, only one ritual sacrifice? A year? That’s easy living!”

“Hmm.” Ayara tightly gripped the railing beside her. “Perhaps I should have a word with this ‘Sheoldred.’”

“Ha! Good luck finding her when she doesn’t want to be found! And besides, I thought you didn’t care at all about us plebs!”

Ayara’s grip tightened enough to crack the railing. “I don’t,” she growled.

“Sure, sure…Must be boss Urabrask’s red mana, rubbing off on ya!”

Ayara scoffed. “Please. Me? Considerate? Perish the…the thought.”

[You can sacrifice the reanimation targets before they get exiled, leaving them available for another go!]

[bermuda-n-drangle]

back when all we had of march of the machine was a few named card arts, a lot of people got it in their heads that Ayara's epithets were Widow of the Realm and Furnace Queen because she literally literally fell in love with and married Urabrask. Then the story came out and that wasn't the case and people were genuinely disappointed. and i think that speaks a lot to the general gulf in perception around the new phyrexia arc

[lord-of-innistrad]

Shadows of the Multiverse

Chapter Twelve

Why did she even agree to this? Tessa flew over the terrain of New Phyrexia, headed for the Quiet Furnace. How did Eratelse talk her into betraying everything she knew?

His final words to her rang in her head. "That's the Tessa I've studied!" What the in the Nine Spheres did that mean?

She landed at one of the entrances from the Mirrex to the Quiet Furnace. Sweltering heat bubbled up from the gaping hole, reminding her so much of the openings into places where demons dwell from her original home of Innistrad.

Why did she still think of Innistrad as a former home? It had nothing for her besides the incompleat. Yet she still felt an attachment to the plane.

She breathed in the hot, sediment filled air seeping out from the Furnace and dove in. Her wings would not serve her here, due to the hot winds sweeping across the sphere.

Clambering down rocks, she cursed the fact that her sword was part of her hand. She needed more than one hand to find purchase on these surfaces and she could hardly stick her blade into the rock to aid her.

After much twisting, cursing, and more than one triggered rock slide she reached the bottom, only to be confronted with a very long spear held by... was that a Mirran?

He spoke in the Mirran common tongue, luckily the same as basic Innistradi, although with a far different accent.

"Planeswalker. You are not welcome in the Furnace." His voice lacked the metallic tone of a Phyrexian, further confirming his status as one of the few incompleat denizens of the plane.

Tessa had heard of these people, the original Mirrans. Elesh Norn taught that they were all either compleat or wiped out.

"Leave or die."

"Hold on! I was sent by Eratelse to see Urabrask." Tessa snapped back, realizing what this incompleat man was saying.

"He is not here at present. But I know that name. I will bring you to his new bride."

Bride? Tessa was confused. As far as she knew, Urabrask did not want a bride.

The Mirran raised his spear and led Tessa across the wasteland of the Furnace Layer. Machines lay twisted and destroyed by Elesh Norn's wrath.

The unlikely pair went at a quick pace along the layer. Tessa could feel her old human impatience rising within her and used her taught techniques to squash it.

They reached the foothills of a tall mountain and began going up a winding path. Very soon, signs of civilization appeared.

A small camp, Mirrans going about their day to day lives, some forging, some eating, some playing games. Oily tears began to run down Tessa's face, though she couldn't say why.

A throne, familiar in shape, sat in the middle of the camp. Tessa craned her neck upward to see...

"Ayara?"

"Tessa. I see you have also accepted a Phyrexian form."

"How did they get to you?" She marveled.

"The furnace host came and was destroying everything I held dear. And then up the steps came the largest creature I had yet seen."

"Urabrask?"

"Yes. And he offered me power beyond my wildest dreams. I told him what I told all my knights. If they could find the Cauldron of Eternity I would wed him. And it was the easiest thing for him to locate."

She sounded ridiculously happy.

"So I wed him, and the Phyrexians began to leave, but as they did so, that brat of a fae, Rankle, pushed me off a cliff. Luckily the fall wasn't deadly to my new form, and now I rule as Queen of the Furnace. But tell me of your compleation."

Tessa sighed. "I was... wandering the Multiverse. Alone. Scorned. Then I found New Phyrexia. I wanted to belong, but not here. I attempted to resist capture, but there are no ghosts that a non-Phyrexian can use. I was compleated, shown what Phyrexia could be. Shown lies."

"I am sorry."

"I would like to rip Elesh Norn apart myself."

"So would all of us. Luckily for you, Tessa, I'm feeling merciful, so I shall give you a chance to prove that you are what you say."

"What do I have to do?"

[ecarohnara]

Werewolves are in Red/Green. My red Black lady of choice is Ayara, Widow of the Realm // Ayara, Furnace queen, in a deck all about reanimation and sacrificing creatures

Sigh

So Sophie's getting me into magic the gathering

I've been using black and red decks

[points-of-light-555]

Urabrask and Ayara both have big Cat Person energy, but I'm wondering if Urabrask even knows what a cat is. Like, does Ayara ask him, "Honey, can we get a cat?" and then Urabrask just nods. He goes off and forges some sort of creature that is completely adorable/terrifying, but bears 0 resemblance to a cat.

[yellingaboutmasseffect]

Preview of my current WIP, “Beauty and the Furnace Beast”

“In all my years, I have never seen the sky this way,” Ayara said, looking at the odd voids in the sky. 

She holds her veil in place as a strong gust of wind blew past her, disturbing the birds from the woods nearby. The flock took to the sky but in a formation resembling a circle with a line going through the center.

It was unnerving but Ayara could not help the shiver of anticipation at the unknown when the world had long felt like it had already divulged all its mysteries.

“There is no need to fear. Soon I shall return with the Cauldron of Eternity and we can vanquish whatever has upset the natural order,” Ayara’s newest spouse said, before kissing her hand.

Ayara had wedded and buried many of her spouses when they had failed to return from their quest. There were some she had even believed could be the one to finally succeed where others had failed.

Her newest husband did not inspire such confidence. He had managed through the trials and challenges she had set through brute force but that did not inspire hope he could retrieve a treasure as elusive as the Cauldron of Eternity.

Even so, there were traditions needed to be seen to.

With the customary fanfare, her husband said his goodbyes before climbing on to the back of one of her horses. 

“Do not worry, my queen, I shall return shortly,” he said confidently as he urged his horse forward.

Her husband only traveled a few meters down the road when the ground shook beneath her feet.

The voids in the sky ruptured as serrated roots dug into the earth. Ayara watched the nearest void as all manner of creatures followed, climbing down the roots. A host of creatures resembling winged humans with exposed bone and muscle flew towards her keep and Ayara sneered at the gall of the interlopers. 

“Prepare for an attack and assign a few of your men to get my people to the safety of my keep,” Ayara ordered and the captain of her guard nodded before carrying out her orders.

It was not the first time someone had attempted to invade Locthwain, it would not be the last.

Most of the winged creatures had flown in various directions away from her keep but her husband had ridden out towards the few that circled the area.

“Villains, come down and face me!”

“Fool,” Ayara hissed under her breath even as she ran out towards him.

This was not how this tradition was meant to go. The Cauldron was in the woods. All her previous spouses at least made it that far!

Her husband lobbed his spear at one of the flying creatures who swatted it away effortlessly. The creature looked to their other winged companions who flew away in the direction of the woods.

“Cowards!” Her husband yelled,drawing his sword. “I have married Ayara, First of Locthwain and I shall protect my kin-”

Faster than Ayara would have thought possible, the winged creature screeched as it plucked her husband from his horse that ran back towards her keep. The creature flew up with her husband into the sky as he screamed. The creature took a moment to study her husband who was now begging for his life, promising her birthright to the creature if he was let go.

The creature was as unimpressed as she was at the display. The creature dropped her husband unceremoniously before looking t down at her behind a featureless bone-white mask.

Normally she had a year and a day to prepare the customary funeral.

Ayara grabbed the sword that her deceased husband had dropped as she snarled at the creature.

“You have trespassed upon my Kingdom and interrupted our traditions!” Ayara said, seeing that archers were at the ready at the walls of her keep. “Leave or perish!”

The creature said something metallic and she held up the sword in response. Just because she didn’t enjoy sword fighting, didn’t mean she hadn’t lived long enough to have mastered it.

Unlike her deceased husband, she would not miss.

The winged creature descended towards her with its arms extended towards her. Ayara swung decisively severing one of the creatures arms as she moved back to put more space between her and her attacker.

The creature hissed something in their metallic tongue when it stopped, looking towards the woods. 

With a roar, another beast bounded in from the trees, leaping effortlessly onto the winged creature and forced them to the ground. The beast was covered in glimmering black plates that glowed with molten metal where plates connected to each other. He was living metal given life and had the strength of a dragon as his talons smashed the porcelain mask from the winged creature’s face

Ayara wouldn’t lie to herself that watching the beast tear off the wings of the trespasser with his mouth made her feel something she had thought she could no longer feel.

It was brutal and efficient, the way the beast tore apart his foe, leaving nothing but useless pieces. As the beast finished, he looked to her as he dropped what remained of the creature.

The beast studied her with an intelligence that she had lived long enough to recognize despite his form. Lowering her sword, she raised her chin as she addressed him.

“I’m Ayara, First of Locthwain. The other creature interrupted the festivities of my wedding so I thank you for your assistance.”

The beast tilted his head at that, sitting back on his back legs as he thumped his draconic tail.

“Urabrask, Praetor of the Quiet Furnace. I suppose you wish to know what is happening to your world.”

“Very much so,” Ayara said, signaling her archers to stand down.

So Urabrask explained that Eldraine and other “planes” were under attack by his people, Phyrexians. While Urabrask believed that the process to become Phyrexian should be freely chosen, the other Praetors held no such beliefs and sought to force everyone into their image and force those they changed into a “Flesh Singularity

“Others like this one will come,” Urabrask said, looking towards the shreds of the Phyrexian he had torn apart. “If you allow me to compleat you, you will be yourself but more.”

Ayara did her best to keep her expression neutral despite her curiosity in the offer. After living so long, she had felt that nothing else could surprise her but Urabrask had come into her life and told her that there were other worlds and beings beyond her comprehension.

Ayara couldn’t remember the last time she had been surprised before today.

Even so, she was a queen and needed to act as such. She did not know Urabrask well enough to trust him blindly.

“Words are simple and promises can be made without sincerity. I will need to see your actions to determine if I trust such an offer but I imagine you have other places to be during this invasion.”

Urabrask tapped his claw against the ground and she realized that he was carefully picking his words. Ayara had met countless people of “nobler” lineages who were far more careless with what they said and she found herself charmed by this Urabrask.

“We don’t have to part ways. My people do not have a stronghold on this world yet and we could set up nearby. If you ally with me, it could be beneficial to both our people. As other factions spread, so will the oil. It will poison the food and water your people need to survive. My faction already has experience in keeping such resources available untainted for the fleshling resistance.”

“My, such a generous offer. What would you expect in exchange?”

“In exchange?” Urabrask said, conveying his shock despite his featureless face.

“Agreements between rulers are meant to be beneficial to both sides. What does Urabrask, Praetor of the Quiet Furnace desire?”

“I wish to compleat you,” he said, quicker than she expected. “I want to show you the beauty of creation through fire and darksteel as you are remade. I want you to consider my offer.”

Ayara’s lips parted before she smiled.

“Then you must prove yourself as any of my suitors would but I will give you a different challenge. My last husband demonstrated that my current challenges are lacking in showing the breath of one’s full character. I accept the terms of our agreement but I will only accept your offer if you are able to woo me before the roses bloom in my garden. Do that and I shall become your queen.”

“I did not mean it in that sense-”

“Does marrying me upset you?”

“No… it is just not a concept Phyrexians born of the core practice.”

“Do we need to renegotiate our terms?”

“No, we have an agreement.”

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Ayara. Furnace Queen by Anna Podedworna

[brazenautomaton]

Urabrask should have come out of the war active and stayed around, we’d all like a red Phyrexian faction presence because they’re so, so, so much more interesting than what we had

look at Ayara, Furnace Queen, dude. she looks fucking aweseome. everyone else is a repulsive biomechanical body horror creature and Ayara is out here fucking killing it. when everyone else says “I know now what true beauty is with Phyrexia” they mean “all of my old aesthetics and ideas have been replaced with goo and spindly spikes, my old preferences are rewritten, my previous self would have been horrified and I hate my previous self” 

and if Ayara said it it would mean “being Phyrexian allows me to be something that fucking rules, it’s an extension of my aesthetic and ideas that maximizes its me-ness, my previous self would have looked at me and said ‘dude that’s fucking sick how did you get that’”

forget if it’s resonant to trans people in general it’s just fucking interesting to everybody! this is what an interesting Red antagonist could be: total self-realization that goes outside what everyone else thinks is the norm. Urabrask’s oil gives you a Devil Trigger that you attain in a beautiful climactic moment of figuring out who you are, which is not even close to what everybody else is. 

Urabrask himself is completely amoral, he doesn’t fight for the freedom of all living things in the multiverse. like did you see him in the fictions, working with the Mirran resistance? he is talking shit to them constantly about how weak and lame they are and how he has to do extra calculations so he won’t subject them to forces that will shear the weak gelatinous flesh off their knobbly weak bones,  he doesn’t think they have to be preserved for their own rights. but the idea he should somehow like force them to be improved or kill them and replace them with something closer to what he wants isn’t immoral to him, it’s just gibberish to him. he thinks that compleating the unwilling is stupid and Elesh Norn is stupid and there’s absolutely no point to it and only proves your entire Great Work is stupid bullshit because if you did offer perfection then people obviously should be signing up instead of being forced and he fucking hates Norn and her stupid triangle head so much. he doesn’t set out to exterminate anyone, but he would absolutely not care about the indirect consequences of his actions or the actions of anyone who followed him. hey if you didn’t want to be stabbed by an arm-blade from a dude who finally has the freedom of self to stab you and tear down the order you represented, maybe you shouldn’t have been such a stabbable bitch.

 making part of the downfall of the invasion Urabrask’s doing would have done so much to improve the March of the Machine story! first, set up more than “not at all” that the oil is so juiced up because of Norn’s focus and will being set on it. then you say the invasion is preparing to come and fuck up Dominaria and they have to stop the invasion because then Phyrexia is way more than twice as powerful, has all the cool relics and shit, and so this is the last chance to put an end to them before it is mathematically impossible to do so. then during those stories, Urabrask appears to betray the Mirran resistance and says to Norn “yeah I hate you but I am still a Phyrexian and want Phyrexia to win, so I betrayed those guys and got you this secret device or knowledge. anyway they know about the plan to invade dominaria, they might be able to stop it, but with this thing I have now we can invade the whole multiverse at once and there literally aren’t enough of them to stop us.” it is revealed during the story that the plan has changed to omniversal invasion, which also makes Kaito backing out when he realizes Kamigawa is in danger not stupid because he’s not changing his mind based on information he already had.

then the March of the Machine starts, and instead of these battle cards depicting the planes fighting off the invasions being nonsensical because the Phyrexians just started inexplicably jobbing and what we’ve seen of them is unbeatably powerful, Elesh Norn says “what the fuck why are these planes fighting us off we should be unbeatably powerful” 

and Urabrask is like “yeah, fuck you you triangle bitch, you’re too spread out, your oil is too weak when it’s split this many directions, I tricked you into picking a fight with everyone in the multiverse who doesn’t want your perfection and now they’re all slapping the shit out of you in at least 36 different ways unique to them while you just have the one same stupid strategy, how ya like them apples”

then when she cuts apart Urabrask it’s for a reason instead of an afterthought. then when the invasions are fought off it’s for a reason and according to a plan instead of an ass-pull and unmotivated boneheaded mistake. Urabrask does not save the day, he does not get the finishing blow, Elspeth still is the one who does that. Urabrask also got trillions of people killed and is totally unable to understand why he should even care, he’s happy, because now there’s pools of non-infectious oil everywhere and also Elesh Norn is dead and most importantly Elesh Norn knows he beat her. he can perfectly slip out the back exit of the story and be someone who is likely to come back. but this way the events of the story happen for reasons other than “this is what needed to happen to make the story go.”

like this is NOT hard to figure out, this was not a lot of planning and strategizing for a deep theory, this is “use the things you already have there instead of not using them. do something with the interesting character who is at a crucial position in the plot instead of not doing anything with them.”

Trans MTG players be like: Call me a phyrexian the way I be changing my body against what nature gave me to best suit my needs

[bace-jeleren]

Hwy remember when ppl got extremely horny for Urabrask on this website especially to idea of him & Ayara as a couple?

Especially the two of us?

I do and i miss it and wish that pairing caught on more because the smut was on a whole nother level compared to all other mtg ships

GOD, it would have caught on so fucking much if WotC weren't COWARDS!!! Like, why call her "furnace queen", why get our hopes up like that!!!?? Had we been fed just a little bit in-canon, it would have been absolutely INSANE.

Instead we just got fucking Rankle'd™

[akreon]

Ayara, Furnace Queen

[emerald-observance]

March of the Machine: Eldraine and Innistrad.

I'm a big big big fan of the Innistrad story. Like, super big. Gissa and Geralf are always fun perspectives and this time was no different. I also liked the art shown. Specifically this one:

Because A) Phyrexian Cathars are cool, and B) because it's a Phyrexian of the Machine orthodoxy that has style. The belts, cape, and prayer tags are great additions.

As for Eldraine, it was fine. I'm not a fan of Rankle, (and he has terrible taste, I mean, he falls for her then he sees this:

and changes his mind? Pathetic.) But I do think that the love-potion rain into a giant chasm was a good idea. Still a horrendous lack of Urabrask, especially with Ayara's new Furnace Queen epithet.