Tawnos

Tawnos
Duck
Details
Race	Human
Birthplace	Jorilin, Yotia, Terisiare, Dominaria
Lifetime	Time of Legends-Dark Age
Born	c. 5 AR
Died	After 80 AR
Relatives	A fisherman uncle and a master toymaker uncle[1]
Colors
(Apprentice) (Toymaker) (Survivor)
Sources
The Brothers' War

Tawnos was Urza's apprentice during the Brothers' War on Dominaria, and a gifted artificer in his own right.^[2] Despite serving on opposite sides of the war, he developed a romantic interest in Ashnod and earned the nickname "Duck" from her.^[1] After the war, they founded a school of magic and artifice near Ronom Lake, where he was known as Headmaster Duck.^[3]

Description

Tawnos was handsome, tall, broad-shouldered, and blonde in his youth. Years later, at the Battle at Argoth, he stood slumped, and his hair was graying and balding slightly at the top, although he was still taller and his frame larger than most. He was a loyal man, and this earned him the nickname "Duck" from Ashnod, as she thought he was like a baby duck, always following a mother duck around.^[1]

History

Tawnos had been clever in his youth, a toymaker of exceptional skill, and a wunderkind engineer.^[3] In his hometown of Jorilin, he apprenticed under one of his uncles, a master toy maker. He later traveled to Kroog, seeking an apprenticeship under Urza. He successfully dragged the Chief Artificer away from his work at the Yotian laboratory by presenting him with a self-made snake toy. Many of Tawnos's creations inspired some of Urza's later designs, like the falcon engines and Urza's armor. Tawnos as an artificer was notable for having his creations inspired by living creatures and using nature's inventions to improve the efficiency of his artifacts. Tawnos was also a trusted friend to Yotia's queen, Kayla bin-Kroog throughout many years preceding and succeeding the Fall of Kroog. Tawnos also helped raise Harbin while Urza was away.^[1]

He accompanied Urza to Argoth, and during the Battle at Argoth, he met with Ashnod again. They were attacked by Gix, but Ashnod passed the Sylex to Tawnos, who rushed to bring it to Urza while Ashnod held Gix back. Tawnos survived the Sylex Blast sealed in the Stasis Coffin, essentially a stasis pod, which he had built to imprison Mishra in after the war. He remained there for 5 years until the ascended Urza released him. He returned to Kayla in Penregon and related to her the events of the war's final battle.^[4]

Tawnos started working for Kayla in the winter of 69 AR and helped her to defend the city against the Church of Tal's Siege of Penregon later that year.^[5] After seeing his creations turned once more to warfare, he burned his library of notes on artifice and disappeared from the city, ten years before the Fall of Penregon. By 80 AR, he had reconnected with Ashnod and founded a school of magic and artifice, the Conclave of Mages, with her on the site of the old Monastery of Gix near Ronom Lake.^[3]

On his deathbed some years later, he wrote four scraps of parchment describing Urza's mightstone and weakstone eyes, among other things. These scraps of parchment were at some point bound by mistake at the back of the T'mill codex, and were read by Ratepe over 3000 years later.^[6]

Artifacts Acquired

• Tawnos created a wand that protects small mechanical creatures from detection.
• Tawnos's Coffin, a large metal box, seven feet in length, three feet in width and height.^[4] Originally designed to trap Mishra indefinitely, rather than kill him, and later incorporated as part of the Temporal Anchor.
• Clay Statue soldiers designed to fight against Ashnod's Transmogrants.
• A multitude of mechanical devices used and improved by Urza during the Brothers' War.^[7]
• The Golgothian Sylex, given to him by Ashnod and passed on to Urza.

Story appearances

In-game references

Represented in:

Associated cards:

Depicted in:

Quoted or referred to:

Trivia

• "Tawnos" is an anagram of "Watson", the famous assistant of Sherlock Holmes.^[8][9]
• Over his three card representations, Tawnos has been associated with every color of mana.
  • Tawnos, Urza's Apprentice costs
  • Tawnos, the Toymaker costs (adding green)
  • Tawnos, Solemn Survivor has an identity of (adding white and black)

References