Walk the Planes

[rakathspseudonym]

The Multiverse is a boundless expanse of worlds, each different from the last. These worlds, called planes, differ as wildly as imagination allows.

One plane might be covered entirely in dense jungle, while on another, nature may have been entirely replaced by a vast network of cityscapes. Still others are volcanic, icy, barren, or completely fabricated from metal.

Neither are they united by common laws of physics: They vary from infinite expanses of matter to tiny specks of empty space to logic-defying inversions of reality.

It is the Planeswalker's journey to discover what worlds and powers are theirs to contend with.

- Post up a character, either with a prompt or bio, I'll include some options below as to where you can go.
- Tag around, sling spells, explore things, take full advantage of a huge world of options.
- AU your dudes if you want, mundane setting stuff hardly fits to Magic lore, so you can turn that into whatever you wish it to be.
- Have fun!

Planes to Visit

01. Alara - The five shards of Alara were separate worlds for centuries, each one flowing with only three colors of mana. Their worlds and cultures evolved independently: Bant, an orderly, sunlit kingdom; Esper, a hegemony of wizards and sphinxes; Grixis, an undead-infested hellscape; Jund, a primordial hunting-ground ruled by dragons; and Naya, a lush jungle paradise.

But now they have converged into one, and the rejoined plane flows with all five colors of mana once more. Waves of raw power crash across the former planar boundaries, bringing long-forgotten magics to all the shards and mingling them in unprecedented ways.

02. Dominaria - Home to a rich variety of terrain—cold mountains, wide plains, jungles, deserts, islands—this plane boasts countless historic locations, from the volcanic continent of Shiv to the time-shattered isle of Tolaria to the wretched island of Urborg.

It's also the birthplace of brothers Urza and Mishra, master artificers who discovered ancient stones of power in the Caves of Koilos. In their lust for power, the brothers waged a savage war against each other, devastating Dominaria and plunging the plane into an ice age. At the end of this war, Urza discovered the dark plane of Phyrexia, a hell of flesh, metal, and grease, where the line between living and artificial was blurred.

03. Fiora - A plane of perpetual renaissance, Fiora's beautiful cities are known across the Multiverse for their breathtaking architecture and the ingenuity of their inventors. Despite its scenic vistas, Fiora is one of the most dangerous planes a Planeswalker can visit. Every sleeve hides a dagger, every smile a lie. In the capital of Fiora—Paliano, the High City—murder and subterfuge are common. Here, the fine print has fine print. Beneath the thin veil of civility, political factions and ruthless thugs vie for control of Paliano. Those who sit in the legislative seats of the High City control the vote, and the laws issued from Paliano mystically bind the populace. Planeswalkers travelling to Fiora should note that murder, manslaughter, and violence have never been outlawed—in fact, they are tools utilized by politicians on a regular basis.

04. Innistrad - Perilously close to their own eradication, Innistrad's humans continued to fight back against the forces of the night, relying on each other to survive their plane's horrors. Despite overwhelming evil, they never gave up hope, always praying that salvation would come.

Armed with knowledge of their foes' vulnerabilities and the residual strength in their faith, fiend hunters ventured into the haunted places of the world. Priests trained to face the unholy. Specialized slayers protected parishes across the countryside.

05. Kamigawa - Reminiscent of sengoku-era Japan, this plane contains two symbiotic worlds: the utsushiyo, or material realm, and the kakuriyo, or kami spirit realm. Each kami was a divinity, and the way to happiness was to honor these gods and live by their ways. The inhabitants of Kamigawa were content with this life of devotion. Then the unimaginable happened. Their gods turned on them.

Slowly at first, the kami began to take form in the material world. Some scholars believed they were delivering a message or a warning. But their appearance was so alien and surreal, no true meaning could be discerned.

06a. Lorwyn - Lorwyn is an idyllic world where races of fable thrive in perpetual midsummer. Its dark reflection, Shadowmoor, exists in perpetual gloom, its citizens bitterly transformed and locked in a desperate battle for survival.

Lorwyn is the land where the sun never set. Covered with dense forests, meandering rivers, and gently rolling meadows, it knows no nights or winters. One of the few planes without humans, it's populated by the short-statured kithkin, hot-tempered flamekin, petty-thief boggarts, territorial treefolk, diplomatic merfolk, iconoclastic giants, and mischievous faeries, all living together in harmony.

06b. Shadowmoor - The mirror-image of Lorwyn, Shadowmoor is a realm of perpetual dusk and gloom. Here, the plane's races, without knowledge of their previous selves, are locked in a life-and-death struggle for survival. Like the plane itself, its denizens are transformed into darker versions of themselves.

Only one race and one place remain unchanged: the faeries and their home of Glen Elendra. The fae are the fulcrum of this transforming plane—for it was their queen, Oona, who caused it.

08a. Mirrodin - Mirrodin, everything is made of metal—from forests to mountains to grass. Five suns cast their light on the plane, one for each color of mana.

Long ago, this metal plane was created by Karn, the silver golem built by the Planeswalker Urza. But something went wrong with Karn's creation. He unwittingly introduced a dark contagion: Phyrexian oil. Over the centuries, this oil has taken hold, infecting the land and breeding wave after wave of new horrors.

Even the Warden that Karn created to protect the plane grew unstable, gaining sentience and calling himself Memnarch. Over time, Memnarch grew paranoid and angry, feeling abandoned by his creator. As Memnarch's madness grew, so did his power. He kidnapped countless beings from other planes before he was finally defeated by the elf Glissa Sunseeker.

08b. New Phyrexia - Mirrodin, originally known as Argentum, was created by the Planeswalker Karn. Mirrodin's caretaker Memnarch slowly went mad, abducting mortals from across the Multiverse to populate the plane. On this world of metal, the inhabitants brought to Mirrodin were shaped by the harsh environment and became masters of artifacts and weaponry.

Karn was the bringer of the Phyrexian oil to Mirrodin, which began the slow process of transforming the creatures it touched deep beneath the world's surface. Slowly losing his mind, Karn became the Father of Machines and the leader of Phyrexia. The slow spread soon became an active campaign to alter, or compleat, the world of Mirrodin. The Mirrans fought many battles, but they soon were overwhelmed by the Phyrexian forces.

10. Ravnica - Ravnica's vast, worldwide cityscape is a patchwork of grand halls, decrepit slums, and ancient ruins, with layer upon layer of stonework—and guild maneuverings.

Of the world's countless civic centers, one looms large above all others: the City of Ravnica, a metropolis so vast that its name has long since become synonymous with the entire plane. It is here, amid the mazes of streets and towering Gothic spires, that Ravnica's guilds vie for power.

Each of the ten guilds has mastered two of the five colors of mana, resulting in dramatically different cultural identities and functions.

11. Shandalar - Abnormally mana-rich, Shandalar is a place where magic flows freely: from the wilds of Kalonia and the kingdom of Thune to the shadows of Xathrid, the peak of Valkas, and the remote Evos Isle.

It was once home to the Onakke, an ogre civilization adept at using the plane's abundant mana to craft artifacts of terrible power. Now the inhabitants of this unusual plane must combat the growing hive mind of the slivers, an ever-evolving race that threatens to consume their world.

12a. Tarkir - (Khan Timeline) Dragons once thrived on the plane of Tarkir. They spawned from mighty elemental storms, filled the sky with their destructive breath, and terrorized the five ancient warrior clans. But the dragons met their fate long ago.

For many years, the clans fought a war against the dragons for their own survival, hoping for some way to gain an advantage in the struggle. At a crucial turning point over a thousand years ago, the dragon tempests stopped coming, and no new dragons were spawned. Their numbers thinned, and the tide of the war changed. Ultimately, the warriors of the clans were able to hunt down the last of the sky-beasts and destroy them. Dragons were rendered extinct on the plane, never to return. In the centuries that followed, the five warrior clans claimed dominion over Tarkir, growing and evolving into today's powerful clans.

12b. Tarkir - (Dragonlord Timeline) If this were a different present, Tarkir would be in the clutches of five powerful khans. The deserts and the forests would be rife with bloodshed and plagued by war. The clans would be locked in battle for control of immense fortunes and vast kingdoms. But this is not that present. This present was never the khans' to rule. This present belongs to the dragons.

The mighty dragons of Tarkir owe their existence to the Planeswalker Sarkhan Vol. From a dragonless present, he traveled back in time more than a thousand years to a crucial turning point, and there he saved Planeswalker Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, from death. In doing so he ensured the continuing presence of the dragon tempests, the storms that feed on Ugin's magic and the source of all dragons on Tarkir.

For many years, the clans fought a war against the dragons for their own survival, hoping to gain some advantage in the struggle. With the dragons' presence secured by Sarkhan's actions, draconic numbers grew, and soon the tide of the war turned. Ultimately, the dragons were able to hunt down the khans and destroy them. Then all that was left was for the dragons to claim their place on the vacant thrones of Tarkir.

14. Theros - Theros is ruled by an awe-inspiring pantheon of gods. Mortals tremble before them, feel the sting of their petty whims, and live in terror of their wrath. It is a plane where barbaric, cave-dwelling minotaurs descend on wayward travelers. Giants stalk the land, drawing strength from the terrain on which they tread. At sea, massive krakens prowl its depths, and sirens lure its sailors to their demise. Yet amid such colossal perils, mortals have found a way to endure, and it is here that the hero's mantle is raised highest.

Not only have the mortals endured, they have managed to thrive, for Theros is also a plane where civilization is protected behind the walls of great poleis, each city-state a bulwark against the raging monsters that roam the more savage places of Theros. Meletis, the polis of learning, progress, magic, and devotion to the gods, is a testament to the achievements of civilized humanity. It is hemmed in by vast golden wheat fields and the Siren Sea, and defended by the Reverent Army. In the polis of Akros, martial prowess is held in the highest esteem. Akroan warriors have reached near-mythic status throughout Theros. The imposing cliff-top fortress of Akros lies at the center of a network of outposts that serve to protect the rest of Theros, a fact that comforts many Therans. Setessa, the isolated polis surrounded by concentric rings of forest, is fiercely independent. Strong bonds connect its inhabitants, and all in Setessa share a veneration of nature.

15. Zendikar - This land of rare, primal mana is precarious, unpredictable, and lethal. And that was before the Eldrazi…

Large and mysterious stone hedrons litter the plane and sky, remnants of a strange and ancient civilization that wielded unimaginable arcane power. Long ago, that civilization collapsed for reasons few know.

Unlike other planes, Zendikar hosts a unique spell-like mana that seems nearly alive to those who wield it. This raw power makes Zendikar a dynamic world, ever changing and crackling with intense magical effects. Seas blast forth geysers of elemental water. Mountains lurch up and down to crush those who would scale their heights. Forests alter their flow of gravity or patterns of growth. The land and its botanical life sometimes writhe, as though in pain. This volatility is called "The Roil."

Comments

Maya Matlin | Red/White/Black | Origin Plane: Fiora

[anythingwithstrings]

They told me he died by his own hand, but I know better. My beloved was working to try and rout the darkness in the High City. The Custodi and their ambitions for the dead King. The Black Rose and her many deadly thorns. Even the machinations of the Visionary Muzzio. When the most trustworthy is the Keeper of Keys, you know the danger you’re in.

But he’s been a capable teacher, I know that I am merely his pawn in a much larger game. I know that if I were smart, or kind, I would have fled the city. To the safety of the wild outskirts. But I am not kind, my kindness died with my beloved. Everyone had a reason to snuff him out, end his plans for the high city. So the path for me is clear.

When I return from the other worlds, I will end their games once and for all. Muzzio, Marchesa, Brago, the Custodi… even Grenzo’s song will end. Paliano needs a strong, just ruler.

But I’ll have to do.

(OOC: So yeah this Maya is walking the planes looking for tools to overthrow and dismantle the corruption of Fiora. ...to then take over as a less corrupt dictator. Which makes her a good guy in Fiora, which grades on a curve.)