An «orphan of time» reborn into freedom, Sarkhan Vol is a primarily red planeswalker hailing from Tarkir, a plane scourged by war.
«Words are a waste of time. Destruction is a language everyone understands.»
The dragon-worshipping Planeswalker Sarkhan Vol is a native of Tarkir, where dragons had gone extinct long before his birth. Obsessed with their fury and predatory majesty, Sarkhan learned as much as he could about his world’s ancient dragons, even going so far as to join a group of infamous shamans who venerated the apex predators. He had a talent for battle and gained status as a warrior in the Mardu clan, but he soon tired of the petty quarrels of the battlefield.
After one victory against a rival clan, Sarkhan had an experience that changed his life as the spirit of a long-dead dragon appeared to him, whispered a spell into his mind, and then vanished forever. Thereafter, Sarkhan traveled from plane to plane, looking for a dragon to whom he could dedicate his life. On Jund, a shard of the plane of Alara, he found a land ruled by tyrannical hellkites and other mighty dragons. There, he declared his fealty to the dragon Planeswalker Nicol Bolas.
Disillusioned by his servitude to the villainous, conniving, woefully undragonlike Bolas, Sarkhan fell into madness. He was led back to Tarkir by a voice in his mind, a voice he believed belonged to the long-dead spirit dragon Ugin. At the spot where Ugin died, aided by the Jeskai khan Narset at the cost of her life, Sarkhan found what he did not even know he was seeking: a way to travel back through time to the moment of Ugin’s death at Nicol Bolas’s hands and prevent the spirit dragon from falling. Instantly pulled back to the present, Sarkhan found himself in a world ruled by mighty dragonlords, a world in which both Ugin and Narset were still alive.
The Tarkir of Sarkhan’s birth, the world that seemed to him bereft of dragons, is gone. In its place is a vibrant world where dragons fill the skies. Sarkhan himself is now utterly unique, free in ways that few people are: a man who was never born, a Planeswalker without a home world, a human who can take the form of a dragon. Most importantly, his mind is once again his own, free of the influences of both Bolas and Ugin.
In Dungeons & Dragons
If you have been following these series, you may have noticed I create a mechanical element for Dungeons & Dragons related to the planeswalker in each article. As a fanatic follower of dragons, there is not a single element I could twist enough for Sarkhan. I tried with a Circle of Dragons for a druid, but it turned out too similar to the Circle of the Moon, so I abandoned it. As I didn’t want to break the A to Z schedule, I’m publishing the biography and I’ll update this article in a few days with the Dragon Shaman class updated to 5e. Get ready!
First off! I’m so glad I found you. There are so many blogs doing the A to Z challenge it’s hard to get to everyone. 2 I’m also a huge fan of dragons so this post is perfect for me. Sadly, I’ve never been able to play D&D but my addictive behavior when it comes to games keeps me at a distance from it. I’ll go back and read your other posts and perhaps make time for it in the future though. – Dragons & Spaceships
Love the idea of a Circle of Dragons Druid! Looking forward to it