Minotaurs
From MTG Salvation Wiki
Minotaurs are humanoid bull creatures, which stand on two hooves and have bovine snouts and horns. Finding their homes in mountainous regions of the multiverse, minotaurs are fierce in combat and often very prideful. Some minotaurs have four fingers (with two thumbs), while other have more human-like hands.
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[edit] Types of Minotaurs
[edit] Dominaria
[edit] Hurloon Minotaurs
The minotaurs of Hurloon in the Domains are a spiritual people with a love of battle. Their best known ritual is their custom of singing hymns after combat to the memory of the fallen, both theirs and the enemy's. Hurloon minotaurs are more primitive than their Talruum cousins and have a shamanistic religion that revolves around the veneration of the land, though they are less hostile to outsiders than the Talruum.
The Hurloon tribe, along with the Talruum, was devastated in the Phyrexian Invasion of Dominaria. The survivors of both tribes sent explorers to search for new homelands and other minotaurs who had made it through the apocalypse, some ending up on the continent of Otaria.
Compared to the minotaurs of Talruum, Hurloon minotaurs have a slightly shaggier pelt, often white or brown. Their warriors sometimes display elaborate facial tattoos and horn-etchings.
[edit] Karplusan Minotaurs
The minotaurs of the Karplusan Mountains in Terisiare were rare and may not have survived the climate changes during and after the Ice Age. They were rare even in the time of the Brothers (though Mishra had seen one in his youth), and by the time of Heidar were little more than beasts.
The Karplusan minotaurs were by far the hairiest of their kind, being covered in thick, shaggy fur to keep them warm in the perpetual winter of the Ice Age.
[edit] Mitriin Minotaurs
[edit] Staahan Minotaurs
[edit] Talruum Minotaurs
The minotaurs of the Talruum Mountains in Jamuraa are highly aggressive and hostile to outsiders. Their religion involves the worship of Torahn, a violent war-god. The Talruum are famed for their speed and prowess in battle and their distinctive crystal swords; they produce many skilled warriors and berserkers. They are also the only minotaurs known to practice wizardry, particularly the magic of illusions. The Talruum are also known for their vanity: They consider other minotaurs, such as the Hurloon, to be ugly savages.
In the wake of the Invasion, the Talruum broke with their traditional xenophobia to search for other surviving minotaurs along with the Hurloon.
Unlike their Hurloon kin, Talruum minotaurs are mostly hairless, like humans, with smooth brown skin. They grow the hair on their heads long and often it in elaborate braids.
[edit] Urhaalan Minotaurs
[edit] Ravnica
[edit] Izzet Minotaurs
Some minotaurs were affiliated with the Izzet League, though very little is known of them.
[edit] Ordruun Minotaurs
The Ordruun minotaurs of Ravnica have vowed allegiance to the Boros Legion and the Wojeks. Orduun minotaurs perform the "Hammer Duty" and have a power band in the legion of 13. They are the peace keepers of the communities, by handling menial tasks, like domestic disturbances, transferring of prisoners, and upholding the Laws of Ravnica.
[edit] Ulgrotha
[edit] Anoba Minotaurs
The Anoba were a tribe of minotaurs on Ulgrotha, known for their spirituality and wisdom. On the cards, Anoba is spelled "Anaba," but within the storyline, "Anoba" is the preferred spelling.
[edit] History and Geography
The Anoba Minotaurs lived in the Kher Ridge of the Koskun Mountains, though the exact location of their home was kept secret to the rest of the peoples of Ulgrotha. Any minotaurs who went to Koskun Keep were shunned and thought of as dead, and were not allowed to return home. The Anoba kept their history in pictoglyphs in caves, until they were destroyed by Taysir. It is possible that the Anoba originated on Dominaria and were somehow transported to Ulgrotha, as the Kher Ridge shares its name with a mountain range on the continent of Terisiare (and indeed, minotaurs were known on Terisiare during the time of the Brothers' War, but had apparently become fairly rare by the time of the Ice Age).
An Anoba planeswalker named Sandruu attracted the ire of Taysir, returning home when attacked. Taysir defeated Sandruu, but was then attacked by a friend of the exiled planeswalker, Feroz. Taysir enslaved the Anoba, and many of them were killed when Taysir summoned an earthquake against Feroz, which also destroyed the pictoglyph caves. Feroz eventually killed Taysir, but the Spiritcrafters preserved his body and spent two centuries calming his soul, reviving him as a kind and humble ally.
The Anoba maintained peaceful relations with some of the humans of Ulgrotha, particularly those of An-Havva and the followers of Feroz and Serra -- indeed, and Anoba wed those two planeswalkers. As generations passed, more young minotaurs chaffed at Anoba customs, leaving for An-Havva or other settlements and becoming bodyguards or pit fighters.
[edit] Anoba Shamans
The primarily female Anoba Shamans were masters of the mountains and the local weather, and could talk to storms and wind spirits. Shamans led ceremonies, tatooed minotaurs who had endured hardship, and protected the Anoba by summoning lightning from the sky.
[edit] Anoba Spiritcrafters
The Spiritcrafters were a primarily male sect of the Anoba Shamans. They worked divination rituals and speak with spirits, particularly the Anoba Ancestors. They were said to be able to possess themselves with long-dead war spirits and Anoba Ancestors to lead the minotaurs to victory in battle. The Spiritcrafters were the Anoba that calmed and resurrected Taysir after he was defeated by Feroz.
[edit] Anoba Ancestors
Anoba Ancestors were the spirits of the dead Anoba Minotaurs that the tribe looked to for guidance. They could supposedly communicate through or even possess the Spiritcrafters. These spirits worked for centuries to calm the dead Taysir's wayward spirit.
[edit] Labyrinth Minotaurs
Labyrinth Minotaurs were minotaurs on Ulgrotha who, supposedly, never age and did not need food nor rest. They protected treasure troves and enjoyed conversing with those trapped in their mazes before eating them. They may have been left by the Tolgath to guard ancient artifacts, although some scholars argue that they may be descendants of the Anoba. The last known lair, in the Dark Barony, was inhabited by Sergius the Axe. A few were sighted wandering roads near Koskun Keep, and it has been said some have were seen, on occasion, in An-Havva.
