The Lore of Serra, the Genesis of the Angels

Thousands of years ago, Serra the Benevolent visited Dominaria and created the first angels. Serra Angels, they are souls of brave warriors that were reborn into angels, divine creatures of pure mana, and for generations Serra was worshiped like a God in Dominaria. Some races, as the Avens, titled her as their Ancestral, its first church was built on the Sheoltun Empire, later named Benalia, here Serra also was reverenced as a Goddess and a temple was built in its honor in Epityr. A huge statue that composes the temple exhibit Serra with wings, representing its angelical power.

Serra created its own plane called Serra Kingdom, a world made of pure white mana and a celestial ideal. She created it hoping that the place could be a refugee where sorrow could be avoided forever. It is the homeland of the original Serra Angel. The Plane lived between peace and worship for the Goddess.

The main religion of the Serra kingdom was Serra's prayer, all the beings in its plan would adore her and do as her wished. Everyone would also love one another, marriage and birth were encouraged. Newborn childs were sent to Serra to be educated and taught, learning about community and empathy. Art and music were highly valued by Serra.

Paintings, angelic sculptures and stained glasses could be found throughout the whole plan as music could be heard anywhere. Women united themselves to the Serra Brotherhood, an organization of priestesses devoted to the holy words of Mother Serra. In General, women played an important role on Serra communities, lots of the times with military and authority roles.

The 5 voices that represent their ideals.

Voice of Law, Voice of Grace, Voice of Reason, Voice of Duty e Voice of Truth.

However, everything changed when Urza escaped to Serra's Kingdom after his failure in Phyrexia. He passed 5 years recovering from its mistake and learning about the nature of artificial planes, that require constant maintenance of a planeswalker or another as powerful being in order to not get corrupted and destroyed. After Urza left, the Phyrexians came after him and attacked the kingdom. Although they were repelled by the powerful Serra Angels, its black mana poisoned the kingdom in a way that Serra couldn't stand being there anymore, resulting in her proposing a massive exodus of its population and then abandoning the plane.

Serra drifted by many planes searching for a meaning for her life, until she got to Ulgrotha, a small world of remote waters, filled with many islands, parted by channels, and connected by big bridges. She saw a Man and a Minotaur fighting an enormous Root Spider, the planeswalker intervened with its angel magic and saved both of them. The Minotaur introduced himself as Sandru and the man as Feroz.

Serra and Feroz became close, and together, they wanted to cure the Ulgrotha plan, that had suffered from an old war between planeswalkers and mages with ancestral knowledge. During the studies for curing the plane, Serra and Feroz spent more and more time together, they fell in love and, after some time, got married. Serra was at his side when he used the protective magic called Feroz's Ban, creating a magic shield that prevent other planeswalkers to enter Ulgrotha and cause an unbalance.

Serra and Feroz also had to take care of Baron Sengir and his family of vampires, however, the main goal was curing the mana lines of the plan, and this way saving Ulgrotha. To accomplish that, Feroz began studying fire elementals, they were created by the plane's mana and he believed that they were the way to restore the mana lines. During one of its experiments, he was consumed by the fire of an elemental, Serra arrived late, only being able to watch her husband die. She lost everything she had again.

Serra gets desperate and becomes vulnerable. Seeing that as a chance to get rid of the planeswalker, Baron Sengir tricked her mind saying that there wasn't anything left for her in Ulgrotha, only loneliness and sorrow. Serra decides to leave the plan, leaving it in the hands of the vampire that now had a world protected by magic without anyone in there able to confront him in power, Sengir was victorious this time.

Serra, now heartbroken, goes to a village on the plains called Sursi, in Dominaria, she hides between some refugees that came from her old kingdom, that had been destroyed, as she foresaw. In Sursi plains, she was attacked by another planeswalker disguised as a common bandit that thought her wedding ring was a powerful artifact. She could have cured her wounds, but she saw no meaning in it, she had no will of living.

Two holy men known as Angus brothers rescued her. Serra was benevolent and, as she was dying, she sacrificed herself to revitalize the lands around Sursi, including Benalia. This way Serra decided to rest in peace and join her beloved Feroz.

The brothers built the Serra Cathedral on that plains and buried her there,it is a holy place until today. Serra Angels are created there in answer to mortals prayers.

As Lyra Dawnbringer, current leader of the Serra Order, says: "You are not alone. Never was. No matter how much faith you have in Serra, she has even more on you."

Something tells me that Serra is still looking out for us.