mtgpocketrealm

[mtgpocketrealm]

More interactive worldbuilding

I mentally am not focused on the Humans and Werewolves (the elementals are being removed as a sapient race bc I don't feel like doing that). More the slivers and terrain. As such, if people want to help me consistently worldbuild for the next probably forever then I invite you to give your ideas in a worldbuilding server.

Ideas can include history, society, [other] (look, I don't know what to add to that man).

Also ideas for formatting and organization as well.

Plan is to cycle through the realms, roughly one a week or so, solidifying something about it. First round, my thoughts are a visual aide mappish sort of thing along with 'how unified are the people of the plane' if time allows for me.

Before I forget; the invite

Check out #planar-notes for what I've solidified that's planewide.

[mtgpocketrealm]

Now, I must preface that, as of this moment, I know nothing of the five realms which are aligned with four colors of mana. I believe that it has to do with extreme time dilation, either fast or slow, to a degree that I only perceive 'static' as it were.

Now, to generalize the rest of the realms, they are, putting it bluntly, primitive. Few planes are technologically advanced, but they aren't even advanced via the supplementation of magic. They have technologies of arms, armor, travel, and construction; but are generalistically scavengers of the sliver hives of the realm. Maps aren't even in wide scale use, which I would assume would be a relatively simple invention.

That is to say, they developed early on methods to fight against the sliver hive as well as to defend themselves from the Humans/Werewolves, as well as to travel and efficiently restart their lives, but they haven't continued far beyond that. It's actually quite strange, most planes seem to have either a strangely unified governance, they have advanced technology/magic, or they have a sufficiently hostile environment to make neither of these attainable. Though the environments aren't ideal, these realms are far from hostile in such a manner to achieve this result. It's almost like they have willfully chosen not to advance too far. Admittedly, this theory may be true, afterall, the ego-less hives may retain enough intelligence to comprehend that a significant enough advancement could be a threat to them. That could make their technologies a learned behavior rather than a lack of initiative, and as such, I do not believe that they would want to trade in technologies. No, I believe it is more likely that they would want comparatively rare resources and probably food, honestly.

What was I getting at? Ah, yes, generalizing the realms.

Realmkin are generally agreeable, but they meddle very little in the lives of mortals. I don't believe that they would offer much value to us as a whole, but simultaneously, I do not believe that they would be something which we should try to harm or deal with. They are, individually, quite powerful. They likely would be amendable to creatures made of mana, such as angels and demons, like how they treat the splinters as their own.

Humans in these realms are very unified, even if they not all in the same group. Common enemies in the Werewolves, something they can't become, and Slivers, something they can't contain. Though, depending on the realm, this unity does not manifest in peace, as much of the multiverse would define it.

Werewolves, for the realms were they have widespread populations of mages, create empires which, despite their numbers, rival the power of the Human numbers. In realms were they have few to no mages, for whatever reason, they are hidden pariahs of society, constantly hunted or enslaved. They are angry, disenfranchised, powerful. If we were planning on removing the human dominated governments, they could become a key for that process.

Finally, the slivers, there are only two realms thus far (as of writing this) who's hives seem to possess an ego mutation. They are able to be negotiated with, the rest are most certainly not. So far, these minds have a general desire to expand, defend themselves, and grow stronger.

Territory; for the most part, I do not believe that attempting to colonize any of these realms would be particularly useful. Primarily due to the fundamental concept that we can not subjugate the slivers who also reside here and take up the central portions of the realms. We'd have to generally move eventually.

The lands are also generally resource poor, there are obvious exceptions to this. Komas and Hodatis are notable exceptions. The terrain of Komas on the outer reaches of the hive's territories are transmuted into a wide variety of metals, while Hodatis' variable nature enables the generation of many natural resources, which the inhabitants manipulate to their own benefit. Though, each does have something of value, they are entire realms afterall.

I've aligned them by colors to categorize them; 0th, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. That should've been mentioned earlier. Next time I'll utilize it, I plan to have the splinters pester the inhabitants more about their general knowledge on their realm, the plane, and the multiverse at large.

[mtgpocketrealm]

So, what makes me qualified or even credible to talk on this nameless small plane?

Besides having once been a walker, a general explorer, and having been there myself? Nothing. I simply find this place interesting and, if we could make a few deciduous Omenpaths, we could effectively gain over thirty exclusive extraplanar trading partners.

So, lets start with the aetheric void. We can't anchor any Omenpaths there. The tree emits some form of microbial life, akin to pollen in appearance but antibodies in function, but they are composed entirely of mana not unlike angels and demons. These things I believe are similar to the Oozes of Muraganda, antibodes for the plane to prevent contamination from the outside, the greater multiverse.

These organisms, which I will call 'pollen' dismantles magic and matter alike. Slow, yet, exponential. One mote of pollen takes root, then it doubles, then it doubles, and so on and so forth. Surprisingly sinister and painless, it works just as well against Angels, Demons, Glistening Oil, and lesser Eldrazi (that was all I witnessed within during my stay) as it does against normal people like me or you. If I did my math right, so long as the Human doesn't use any healing magic, they will be entirely disassembled within a planar subjective 24 hours. Luckily, the pollen quickly dies after leaving the plane, hence why I can write this now and am only lacking an arm. If you enter into a realm, the pollen doesn't die, so much as slows down significantly (relative to subjective time).

That combined with me being out of the plane has caused my soul splinters to effectively no longer be 'disassembled' while on their surveilling assignments. Which is off topic rambling.

This pollen, because of it's capacity to disassemble mana and matter alike, is why all Omenpaths that open into the void are Instanced rather than any longer lived varieties. The pollen disassembles the tunnel or the opening, which quickly causes it to collapse despite how 'minor' the damage is. This is also what I believe is the reason for why outside influences are so...non-existent. If one comes into the plane from the most common Omenpaths, those that form in the void, without a means to escape the plane, their fate is sealed. Those that can manage to exit their realm into the void, will vanish. Omenpaths that form in the realms don't have this same issue, however, due to the strange probabilities that seem to be at play, it is an simple issue of area. The Omenpaths that open on this plane seem to take into account the area of the plane, not the realms, of which a vast majority of it is the Aetheric Void.

Anyways, if one is quick enough, they could touch one of the Realm Marbles and be transported into the realm from the point they first touched without being afflicted with the pollen. Unfortunately, you are transported relativistically to where you touched, which means that if you touch the top of the sky, you will fall as you enter, or if you touch the bottom of the earth, you will be crushed by the rock. A lot of my splinters were destroyed this way before I figured out 'how close to the ground was close enough'.

Speaking of the realms, since I am rambling, they have subjective times that differ from the planar subjective time. Which will be a unique trade challenge, as their times are chaotic. Speaking of, the cosmos/planar time, it is relative to here, in it's subjective speed. To clarify this...issue, within a 32 hour period, which is how long a realmic day is, several realms can still be crawling through their night or day as only a few hours have subjectively passed, it could be a normal day/night cycle, several days and nights could pass, or there could be periods of any of these or anything in-between. It seemingly changes at random with no tell-tales that I can see so far.

My theory is that the tree is somehow regulating the timestreams of the realms so that crashes are synchronized, as each 'level' of realms are all a uniform size as one another.

[mtgpocketrealm]

Minor update to plane summary

[mtgpocketrealm]

Plane Summary

This plane consists of a world tree and a cosmos, similar to Kaldheim, the tree holding a realm for every possible color combination (excluding the un colors of pink and gold).

This plane is believed to be artificial, the tree planted into the blind eternities and cultivated into this shape, growing the plane and realms which were then seeded with life from some other location. A genetically viable population of Humans, grasses, trees, fungi, a basic food web which could then rapidly diversify, and finally, in each, a single Thrum (an unspeciallized Sliver) at the heart of the realms.

This plane, which does not possess a true name, was then left, abandoned by the Oldwalker who made it. Perhaps it was left to be observed, perhaps it was forgotten, perhaps deemed a failure of some experiment, perhaps left to thrive on its own, perhaps the Oldwalker perished during the great mending or was desparked during the great pruning. The purpose of the plane is likewise unknown, an experiment some rumor, the saving of a plane's populace another, some sort of scheme or cultivation not unlike Memnarch's or Nicol Bolas' planes, perhaps even a natural fluke of the multiverse. Though few planeswalkers who have investigated the plane believe that last one.

This plane moves around the blind eternities not unlike Shandalar, occasionally 'orbiting' another plane momentarily before being all but repelled by the plane in a random direction.

The plane seems adverse to outside influences, planeswalkers and omenpaths are quite rare throughout the history of the plane. The difficulty of planeswalking into and out of the plane itself, let alone the realms, is immense. As such, very few, possibly even none at all, who have ignited on the plane have ever left their home realm. The recent great pruning had little to no effect on this plane. However, Omenpaths are an easier form of access to this plane, but there seems to only ever be one or two open at any given time and each Omenpath can be classified as 'Instanced', as they all remain open for minutes at best and rarely ever open again. The most common Omenpaths are within the plane, realm to realm connections, usually going up or down the tree, to a realm that has a broader or stricter mana identity. Very rarely, a plane this one is orbitting can receive an instanced omenpath to the tree's cosmos, but very little ever comes from that so far.

Races

There are three sentient races of the plane, Humans, Werewolves, Slivers*, and Realmkin.

Humans are quite similar to what they are like on most planes. They are responsible for the greater sized civilizations and nations which appear on the realms despite their shortcomings, purely by force of sheer numbers and cooperation. Even in the realms where cooperation is not in the mana's nature, they still stick together into clans, tribes, and/or nations. All of which are far larger than the packs of the Werewolves, though generally smaller than the local Hives of Slivers.

Werewolves are similar to Humans while in their 'weakened form', with the exception of their glowing eyes, more pronounced pointed fangs, and their pointed ears. Well, that and the magic, you see the Humans of this plane are utterly incapable of magic in any form. Werewolves however are capable of magic in both of their forms, forming many packs around the styles of magic they use. Their magic heightening along with their physical abilities as night falls. There is a single pack on every realm which lacks magical abilities, these werewolves tend to be isolationist from the rest of their kind and more minorly from Humans, but have the added benefit of appearing more Human when untransformed than other werewolves. In a general sense, they lose their 'Higher Human Intelligence' when transformed, becoming violent beasts rather than people who can be negotiated with. There is at least one pack who's magic is to retain their intelligence even while transformed.

Realmkin are elementals born from the sudden surges of mana via the periodic crashes. Realmkin are characterized by their humanoid forms, stone-looking skin, and mask-like faces. They are all immortal and possess the ability to generate or manipulate their namesake elements, generally, they are friendly with Humans and Werewolves, none but the oldest seem to understand them however. The concept of mortality, physical needs, being constrained by physical bounds. Not every realm manifests a Realmkin, but once manifested, a few of that variety appears each crash.

*Slivers are generally not sentient, at least not in the manner that we would consider. They are more a hive intelligence that responds like a massive living organism similar to ant colonies. But, rarely, there are slivers who evolve an ego, these take control of the local hive and impose their will upon it, occasionally splitting off and creating new hives.

General Realms

Each of the thirty-two realms correspond to an alignment of mana, everything within the realm conforming to that alignment. The tree holds each realm in place, preventing them from coming into contact with one another.

Each realm can be described as a half-circle of earth, metal, water, and/or magma and atmosphere. These half-circles slowly rotate in their bubbles. These bubbles are what is known as 'the tree's fruit'.

The 'cosmos' of the plane is thin, fairly insubstantial, comprised solely of excess mana from the realms which becomes attracted to and accumulates in the core of the world tree. While within the cosmos of this world tree (the great aetheric void), you would appear to be within an iridescent outer space, the stars being the light of living planes, occasional shadows being planes devoid of life, or the forms of Eldrazi Titans as they move through the multiverse. Within this void, there is 'subjective gravity'.

The center of the plane, the core, is perceived as a star, not dissimilar to a sun, to all of the realms. The stars that can be seen in the great aetheric void as seen above are other planes of the multiverse, their brightness a general indication of how much mana they have and their size a general indication of proximity. These can be seen when facing away from the 'sun' like night sky constellations on many other planes. Every realm (except for WUBRG) as a day and night cycle which subjectively lasts for exactly 16 hours each.

When the tree is ready to grow larger, to receive the energy for the fruit to each grow larger with little to no issue, it sends a signal via leylines to each of the fruit. Thirty-two days later, it receives a massive influx of mana which causes the tree and each of it's fruits to grow in size. This, as it turns out, is a feedback loop caused by the hives of Slivers that reside on the realms, as new egos are attempted to be adapted by each of the realms simultaneously, a greater unifying ego, the tree receives that as a signal that the hives have begun to outgrow their space and uses that to expand.

Komas - This place is utterly hostile to the concept of life. The fact that any Human or Werewolf, though emaciated and sickly, survive here is incredible.

Elania, Ubrosos, Ebegoth, Atenara, Ipola - These realms are massive, large enough that animals, Humans, and Werewolves are capable of comfortably staying far away from the central Sliver hives, assuming the hives allow that...

Sechetora, Oyathae, Phedasos, Plexinit, Uphidolan, Sliatteros, Eoxucia, Accethis, Nacladu, Iglirial - These realms are quite sizeable still, but civilization borders the territories of the hives, which sooner rather than later, becomes subsumed into their control.

Phedasos, Honniomund, Sessarune, Icremir, Oklaran, Secaven, Oweroth, Ephaxath, Lerrezin, Rekixus - These realms are quite hostile outside of the domains of the local hive's terraforming magics, but the hives lack the numbers and 'manpower' to properly expel the Humans and Werewolves from their domain.

Plobbiovar, Chakitara, Kioggithis, Iaxiotopia, Kokudu - These realms are entirely alien and anathema to life, the hives have yet to terraform the primordial chaos into something usable. Life here persists seemingly out of spite rather than because it properly survives.

Hodatis - This realm is a bubble of chaotic mana which would've torn apart anything which dared to try and survive here, if the mana didn't occasionally form into smaller bubbles of stable and habitable physical matter. This realm has spawned many independent hives that each spontaneously come about in their own bubbles which floats chaotically around this maelstrom. The inhabitants of several bubbles have invented a method of traversing the chaos.

(Names randomly generated via fantasy name generator)

Something that should be noted is that this plane superficially seems like Segovia, being small with the world tree about the size of an actual tree. Each realm appears similar to multicolored marbles with a to scale representation of the realm within, if you squint, you can even see some movement within. Be not deceived however, these are appropriately sized on the inside, these marbles are about an inch in diameter for every ten kilometers of radius it truly is. Every crash expands the cosmos around the tree by five meters, but the tree grows less strictly each crash.

Slivers and their Purpose

The Slivers on this plane play an integral part of the growth and maturity of the plane tree's 'fruits'. They live on the nexus of the realm's leylines, feeding off of it and causing the mana to crystalize. The hive growing, learning new adaptations, and passively terraforming their territory all the while. They grow within a set territory until something triggers an apotheosis. This apotheosis involves a 'reset' to the hive, culling practically all of their members and consuming all of the powerstones they have that they generated. This surge through the leylines causes the fruit to expand drastically. This expands not only the hive's territory, but also the space outside of it (depending on the category of realm).

This causes each hive to go into a 'tide-like' state, where they grow in numbers and adaptations and territory and then they fall back into practically no specialized forms. Each 'crash' seems to take longer to arrive than the last, but is reliable enough that the denizens of the realms have rough methods to predict when they will occur.

Decks and What they mean

Some of you may have noticed that the links are to decks. The ones with tags are my mental map of the hives themselves and how they grow each crash. They have tags that you can't see, labeling everything as 'each crash' and 'ego crash'. Every legendary also has a number (based on when the base creature was released in order for the identity prioritizing non-playtest cards, for example, Hodatis sliver queen is labeled as 1 and gravemother is 6, in Sliatteros Sliv-mizzet is labelled with 1). Each crash, the cards labelled 'each crash' get added to the 'hive's holdings'.

For Hodatis, I add a new hive with a single card with the next number (so one queen crashes into one overlord), cycling back after running out of numbers. Repeating the process so long as I don't repeat the same card, skipping numbers with no more applicable cards. When we finish off a Hodatis number, that is known as an 'ego crash', and the tagged cards are added to the 'hive's holdings'.

'Each crash' cards includes every sliver and all lands that are not 'sliver hive' and 'hall of tagsin'.

'Ego crash' cards is everything else.

The lands have different numbers. These numbers correspond to the distance * ~10 km from the exact center of the realm that reaches. So 5 is ~50 km and a 6 would mean that there is ~50 km radius of the first card and a ~10 km band around it for the second card. The other cards are for the purposes of mentally acknowledging their capacities at the peak of each crash. (exceptions to the size of a land is Sliver Hive and Hall of Tagsin)

The mono colored realms have an additional non-hive controlled territory of 9 (basic land), the guild colored realms have an additional non-hive controlled territory of 7 (the painland cycle), the shard/wedge colored realms have an additional non-hive controlled territory of 4 (the landscape cycle), Komas has an additional non-hive controlled territory of 10 (spawning bed), and Hodatis has an additional non-hive controlled territory of 10 (mana confluence), 6 (1 of each basic (they can go to separate bubbles)), and 3 (unstable frontiers).

For Hodatis, a new hive is created each time a new number is called (thus spawning a new hive and hall), though they drift out of the center by the time of the next crash, the non-hive mana confluence is centered, the other two non-hives are not and can be added to existing 'bubbles'.

For the purposes of explaining the size of the realms, we are on the 14th crash.

The Titans and Myr are simply a nice patterned inspiration for additional werewolf ideas that I like.

[mtgpocketrealm]

Burnout overhaul

As it turns out, this seems to be my thought process when I am approaching burnout, it is simple, it is easy, it isn't much creativity, it is more an extrapolation. As such, changing basically everything here to be simpler when I am not in burnout mode.

The plane is still a tree, the slivers are the point of it, the slivers are the reason the fruits expand in the first place, only humans and werewolves I care about (sorry vampire fans), no more eldrazi (I just can't be bothered mentally).

This change is primarily saying that 'new magics can always pop up in the populations', as werewolves are the only 'mages' of the realms, however, unlike last time where every werewolf was a mage, only a vast majority are mages (once they figure it out).

Slivers are responsible for expanding the fruits, as such, they can't be stamped out by the citizenry, and many of them have figured out how they work, the cycle that takes longer and longer, but produces more and more space.

Though I mentally love the caves, snow lands, and deserts; that's dropping for ease of being able to ignore future cards.

I will primarily focus are large scale I think, general worldbuilding of the mono colored realms, the guilds, and the triomes. I will hopefully touch on WUBRG and colorless at some point.

Ideally, I'll do a quick summary synopsis on all of them tonight.

[mtgpocketrealm]

Treatise of the Skeps - Ebegoth 1 - The Realm's Open Sore

Just as mana influences the adaptations and physiology of an individual sliver, slivers by their very nature influence the plane around them, often in catastrophically virulent ways, as seen on Ebegoth.

This Treatise concerns itself with the sliver hives of the Realms, not with the realms outside of the hives themselves. Due to the nature of sliver's adaptations and evolution, the information found within the Treatise may become outdated and require updates.

The first ring, the borderlands, are relatively fine. Wet, yet grasses and trees grow unimpeded. Foggy, yet nothing more than moisture. Surprisingly vibrant considering the nature of the Realm. The borderlands are usually patrolled by the Taken, though spotting a true member of the hive is not out of the question either. This ring, much like the other singularly aligned Realms, is used to even out the temperature differences caused by the 'slices' of the Realm.

The next ring is where the rot begins to show itself. Liquids drain and become contaminated, poisonous gasses come from below the surface through spontaneous sinkholes. This will eventually kill every naturally living thing in the area. They- the hive -seldom exist within this ring, the Taken and the true slivers. Why protect something which is already so hostile to outsiders?

The next ring is sandy, dry, dead. A pervasive poisonous miasma clings to the air, though this miasma is not simple poison gas- no, that would be too kind -the miasma is actually the viruses the hive builds within their own bodies aerosolized. Disease so thick, it obscures vision. Many of the hive dwells in this ring, though they function more as border security.

The next ring is a trove of decay, rot, and pestilence. This is where they bring their kills, where they let it fester and marinate in the filth of prior raids. Great beasts, simple men, everything is brought back here. Though they seem to be driven to bring it further in, much of it will flow back out here anyways. A great deal of the hive lives here, swimming through the sludge and indulging in the perpetual feast. To put it simply, this place is foul.

The next ring is the same as the last, only old enough to have formed mountains of corpses and decay, virulent rivers of gore and grime flow through. By simply observing it, the necrosis feels contagious...speaking of contagions, the diseases are so thick now, that most color is gone, replaced by a sickening hue. I pity any creature, including the slivers themselves, that lives here. This ring is where they make their hives, burrowing through putrid flesh and crumbling bones as the others would stone and soil. Their Thrum are little more than maggot-like leech creatures. I abhor this place and these beasts.

[mtgpocketrealm]

Principles of Asexual Heredity in the Phyrexian Organism

We know these things for sure about Phyrexian reproductive biology:

Phyrexians reproduce asexually; it is well known that one drop of oil, from one individual, is enough to birth a population of offspring (such as all of New Phyrexia) or convert a non-Phyrexian organism.

Phyrexians natively born of the oil ("core-born") inherit mnemonic and phenotypic (appearance) information from the oil that created them. For example, core-born Phyrexians of the Orthodoxy naturally develop porcelain metal; it is an inherited, lineage-specific trait. The oil also carries ancestral knowledge such as the Phyrexian language and echoes of history.

The five suns of Mirrodin somehow caused the originally mono-black lineage of Phyrexian oil to splinter into five colored lineages. They may have all arisen from one drop of oil, but they are phenotypically diverse.

(Little canon data is given about the genealogies of core-born newts, but it would most logically follow that Phyrexians descend from single-parent lines, a family tree with continually forking branches and no unions of mating as with sexually reproducing organisms.)

The mechanism I propose for the diversification of Phyrexians on Mirrodin is mana-induced mutagenesis. As a deeply magical material, it follows that Phyrexian oil is prone to being influenced by concentrated sources of mana, such as the suns of Mirrodin (which were trapped in the core, in close proximity to the progenitor oil, during the birth of New Phyrexia). Exposure to mana can thus cause de novo mutation in glistening oil that manifests as novel phenotypic traits in resulting Phyrexians. These mutations are not random, guiding phenotypes to align with the color causing the mutation.

Then there is the issue of inheritance via phyresis, or compleating another organism which was not originally Phyrexian by introducing Phyrexian genetic material into its body. To keep it simple I will begin with mono-color infections: an organism is infected with oil from a Phyrexian whose lineage traits (i.e. white-aligned Orthodoxy lineage, porcelain) may not match their own color identity.

Hypothesis: Phenotype (what color/type of Phyrexian an infected individual becomes) is determined solely by the color of infection, not the subject's own colors. Crucially this isn't the same as color identity; i.e. one can be a porcelain Phyrexian and still have a Boros identity by gaining red-aligned values or retaining them from a pre-compleation life, even though their phenotype is white only. (Much like how elves are associated with green mana, but Simic-identity elves exist.) This phenotype color, in turn, is also what would be passed down to any newts the turned individual creates, or subjects they themselves infect.

MOM corroborates this hypothesis. A mono-black-aligned human, upon exposure to Progress Engine oil, becomes a Phyrexian with a pure blue-aligned phenotype. The changes to their color identity are additive--they retain black alignment--but their phenotype is blue only. All the transforming creatures of MOM follow this pattern.

However, Planeswalkers in ONE did not. For example, Jace was infected by Vraska, who had both black color identity and a black/Thanes-aligned phenotype, but spontaneously developed eyestalks and other traits characteristic of blue Phyrexians from the Progress Engine.

New hypothesis: Individuals with a strong enough internal concentration of mana, i.e. Planeswalkers, cause oil to mutate in vivo to align with their own color, much like how the suns mutated oil in Mirrodin's core. This further shows that mana-induced mutagenesis is color-specific. This should however create a new blue lineage, independent of the Progress Engine, also spawned of blue mana but not necessarily identical. I do not have an explanation for Jace's resemblance to the Progress Engine besides convergent "evolution."

Proposed further study (not ethics-approved): Infect a colorless Planeswalker, i.e. Ugin, with colored oil to test whether a null color identity still has mutagenic effects.

To complicate this, though, we also have examples of Phyrexians who are chimeras of multiple colors, combining traits of different lineages. Vishgraz was assembled with material (genetic and otherwise) from a white, a green, and a black Phyrexian. It makes sense that Phyrexians put together in this patchwork way could have a combination phenotype. Atraxa was not assembled from scratch, but infected with four separate colors at once. Maybe there are just four types of oil circulating in her body?

I am, of course, interested in inheritance. If these Phyrexians show combined phenotypes, what colored trait(s) do they actually pass down? Do they have individual "cells" that are still only white, only green, only black, etc., or did the colors somehow combine on the most basic hereditary unit level? Thankfully, we actually do have an example of a "chimera" Phyrexian asexually producing core-born offspring: Ixhel.

Ixhel shares multiple colors with Atraxa, not only in her color identity but also apparent phenotype (she has both Orthodoxy porcelain and Swarm copper). Two possibilities here: 1) She truly inherited both genetically; Atraxa passes down multiple colors when she reproduces. 2) Her "core" physiology is still rooted in one color, i.e. white porcelain, and the green parts were added after the fact. I don't have an answer for this, but it's intriguing to consider.

Proposed further study: Attempt to isolate the smallest "unit" of Phyrexian heredity (one single nanobot of the oil) and test if it can only store information about one color, or multiple. See if a germ is formed from only one of these units, as with eukaryotic zygotes, or from multiple.

My theories of Phyrexian reproductive biology remain highly speculative, but every new piece of data adds fuel to this fire, and I have plenty to elaborate on in later posts. If only the interplanar ethics committee would stop delaying my research.

[mtgpocketrealm]

Basic Post for a Rhythm

ADHD is not cooperating with me rn.

Basic realm concepts:

5 color; oddly large. a maelstrom of magic with islands of chaotic environments floating around it. Sparse in life yet full of energy. The societies of the realm have built around and into the islands, but some of them are 'skeps', due to 5 color slivers being legendary, they each have their own hives. Though, these hives that float around the realm have followed many brutal wars when they near one another, they have in recent years been quite, unified.

4 color; small. alien in nature. a proportion of the human population have been changed into utterly inhuman creatures (Nephalim) due to the extreme, yet incomplete, mana. Silvers are, as of current, effectively devoid in these realms, much like life in a general capacity.

3 color; decently small. strange, yet somewhat reasonably normal environments. Although humans are still not blatantly magical, many objects become magical by chance and some of the people become changed in capacity. Sliver hives do exist in the center of these realms, but they are relatively harmless.

2 color; Relatively normal environments, decently large. There is a generalized theme of 'humans vs slivers' that ended up arising while finding cards.

1 color; Large compared to every other 'class' of realm. Due to the diversity of abilities the sliver hives have, the sliver hives are for more...important? Culturally relevant? They are far more in a seat of power than not.

[mtgpocketrealm]

After stating why the Realmsoul is being so forthcoming with you, it weeps for a few moments, its tears falling off its face as glittering dust which ceases to be by the time it lands on the counter in front of it.

It asks if you wish to know anything else after it takes a few moments to compose itself.

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[mtgpocketrealm]

Komas History 5

The Fourth Major Eldrazi Incursion - Rise of the New Gods

The mixture of Kozilek's and Ulamog's shadows brushing against the plane at the same point and time created a new lineage. These new eldrazi held portions of the two derived titans, but they were also fundamentally different. At this point, the humans that remained, they needed to believe in something, that the world wasn't simply ending, that they were doomed to a pained existence struggling to continue only to eventually fail. So, to ease the pain of the people, the Realmsoul created the religion and planted the idea that the eldrazi were divine beings, creatures to be worshipped, slain, and followed. The realmsoul believes that it worked too well, but is glad that the people seem to have a purpose again.

The March of the Machines

For a very very long time, not much has occurred of note, societies never came back in a large force due to the eldrazi and the echoes. But, the invasion tree broke into the plane and sought to break into the realms, which naturally they did. But, the barriers of the realms filtered which phyrexians could enter into which realms, so few were able to enter into Komas, at least none of the Hosts did. The few that made it into the plane found themselves overwhelmed by the eldrazi or found themselves 'bleeding' to death. Their Glistening Oil changing into 'the Silver' many know of today. At some point licids became infected with the oil and a human became infected with the silver. That human resurrected the remnants skep which lived in the center of the realm and began to encompass more of the center, squeezing the humans that remain and erasing the echoes that had been made. The invasion itself was relatively minor, it was the repercussions that had placed it into an event of note.

The Fifth Major Eldrazi Incursion - The Death of the Realm

With a fourth eldrazi titan, Azalask, the realmsoul resigned that the realm would be broken, it will die. The realmsoul could barely stave off the destruction from the prior invasions, given time more mana would be produced by the Realm as it expanded and the eldrazi would eventually no longer be a deficit. But the Skep, five separate lineages of eldrazi, once of which parasitizes the Realmsoul themself. It can not continue, it will die and it is only a matter of time. The Realmsoul guesses that it may only have a millennia left, and eternity in your Aetherborn eyes, but still. It's shared its history, everything it can of the realm with you, because it will not be eventually, you can leave, you may be able to cement the fact that this place did exist somewhere. It won't be forgotten, and its efforts acknowledged, even if it would only be by a single outsider.

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[mtgpocketrealm]

Today, I hope to finish off the history now that I'm relatively refreshed since my family vacation.

[mtgpocketrealm]

Recovery Over I Think

I had some minor surgery, which is why there have been no posts. I think I've recovered enough to continue vaguely consistent posts. (if only I recovered enough to feel like I'd be allowed to work out T-T)

[mtgpocketrealm]

Though those three are the oldest and most established of the gods, the most common that would be encountered, they are not the only ones here. No, there are more. The Realmsoul continues to explain two more, one created from a fusion of Ulamog and Kozilek and another from a fourth true titan Azlask.

The consumption left behind by the fusion is the same as that left by Kozi, if you were to color it all gold, make the patterns slightly less complex, and make the patterns slightly less gravity-defying.

The fourth titan, however, leaves goop. Their passings melt stone, metal, and flesh alike leaving a primordial soup. Eventually, this soup does solidify but it takes weeks, even months. Their 'Titans' leave behind great rivers of material that are hazardous to cross, and often hazardous to breathe near.

The names of these two gods are Ulek and Az.

Ulek is the god of Unity

'The Titans of Ulek are powerful, yet fragile. They can level mountains with ease, but a small tribe could fell them for good. If godlike beings must work together to survive, what does that say about us?'

Card: Breaker of Creation

Credit: Yohann Schepacz

The Howlpack that follows in the wakes of these creature's flesh wall is an equally large group, known as the Howlpack of Aberrant Souls. These werewolves appear to possess a carapace rather than flesh or fur, as well as four to one extra sickle-like limbs protruding from their chests. Occasionally stone protrudes from their shells and their faces only show hints that they have eyes and a mouth through the folds of the carapace. Far larger than a Human, by three to four times, they possess a strange ability, where when one is slain, they split into two far smaller bodies. Besides the height difference, this split is noticeable by the number of 'chest limbs' the conscripted werewolves have. Four if they've never died, two for once, and one for twice. This has swollen their numbers to great proportions, a veritable 'stampede' that follows in the wake of these creatures.

Az is the god of Adaptation

'The Titans of Az were made for this land, and yet, they must change themselves to survive it, to thrive in it. Something all life must do, for stagnation is death.'

Card: Voidpouncer

Credit: Michele Giorgi

The Howlpack that surround the Titan is known as the Howlpack of Nihilistic Oblivion. They, unlike the other Howlpacks, seem to primarily hunt for their Titan rather than scavenging off of the scraps left behind. Their builds are stocky, with a mane of tendrils, a singular white orb in the middle of their forehead that is assumedly their eye, with fang-filled maws, glowing with hunger and in a perpetual sneer just below. Their bodies are hairless with strange leathery skin that seems to be missing in patches, although they do not bleed from these 'wounds', their undersides are barbed with random spikes. Their bodies are dwarfed by a thick and long tail, easily twice the rest of their mass, their arms and legs split into an additional pair each, at the shoulders and hips respectfully. They have the ability to feed on potential mana to directly increase their power and/or their size for a short time.

Card Inspirations: Shrill Howler // Howling Chorus

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Ula, Emi, Kozi the False Gods

Card: Shrine of the Forsaken Gods

Credit: Daniel Ljunggren

The shortened names of three Eldrazi Titans, believed to be three gods...which they are analogous to in power funnily enough. They warp the world, minds, and life around them and those who witness their horrid spawn long enough will all go mad. Some forms of madness result in self-termination, others inane ramblings, and the final form is that of worship.

The werewolves and some humans ended up succumbing to the last, primarily due to only witnessing the brushes of the Titan's shadows against the plane. The werewolves succumbed out of desperation and hunger and were quickly conscripted wherever possible. Whenever a new lineage appeared on the realm, a few would splinter off out of curiosity, and subsequently warp and change into a visage of that lineage.

The human's faith however was not born of desperation, but fear, awe. These mighty creatures held a unilateral adaptation to avoid death in some manner. Something which was highly respected, and due to the unnatural and effective means employed by the Eldrazi, they became paragons of survival within these desolate wastelands...which were made all the harsher by the very beings they now worship.

They see the Remnant left by the True Eldrazi as lifelong armor, tools, and weapons, which they mold and shape by feeding it mana. The specific variety of remnant that they use is indicative of the god or gods they follow. In a usually literal sense, following in the wake of the Eldrazi as they migrate, though they aren't following the Eldrazi themselves, no, they follow the Howlpacks, the Eldrazi Werewolves. Rites of Passage include the cultivation of armor and/or armaments and slaying one of the Horrors that are created by the Howlpacks. Releasing the soul of one who did not survive as a consequence is a common belief. Those who have something to prove may seek to slay a member of the Howlpack itself (though they will be hunted in return upon success). Those who are great, or perhaps insane, seek to slay one of the Eldrazi themselves. A small vestige of god, the 'God's Titan' as it were, in return for what effectively amounts to bragging rights and universal respect across the realm. Even the Realmsoul seemed to have a strange reverence for any humans who could manage such a feat based on the descriptions of one such battle.

This may seem like a heretical action, killing your god, but for the faithful, there is no higher form of worship. Not only are you surviving the wasteland, you thrive more than the beings who make it, you are so capable of finding the resources required that you can simply remove their source. It is strange admittedly, but it is their belief.

They also have 'The Pilgrimage', where a believer(s) travels from their home ring, underground, to the Realmsoul. Trading information about their gods and their adversaries (the Howlpacks) to the Realmsoul for mana crystals, food, water, and occasionally clothing. The Realmsoul admitted to starting that tradition when the Realm was far smaller since its view of where the Eldrazi are is 'blurred'. A condition that has apparently only gotten worse overtime. One of these individuals or groups will go on this pilgrimage once every three or four months, though, as the distance has increased, so too has the time between the Pilgrimages.

Beyond those general beliefs, the right of passage, and the pilgrimage, they have few unified beliefs. Some believe in prayer, some believe in rituals such as regular fasting or sacrificing a portion of their food to the path of their god, and some believe in worship through regular warfare with the Howlpacks. They are scattered groups who only come together when pilgrimages align. And though conflicts of 'how' to worship can arise in these times, the Realmsoul is quick to prevent these situations from becoming violent. Primarily by way of threatening to give them less resources.

Ula is the god of Endurance

'The Titans of Ula tower over mountains, and when felled, they come back to walk again.'

Card: Deathless Behemoth

Credit: Jason Felix

The Howlpacks that follow behind them are known as the Howlpacks of Corrupting Hunger. Hairless bodies of smooth flesh, ribs outside of their flesh, and featureless bone-like faceplates. Relentlessly hunting down any source of mana that they can sense. They possess one to three tentacle-like tails and long sharp claws. Their legs have smoothed, becoming difficult to truly identify them as such rather than as two more tails. It should be noted, that they are blind and deaf, but they have some way of 'sniffing out' mana, be it souls or crystals. Their conversion rate of human corpses to Eldrazi Horrors is abysmal, generally, they annihilate the corpses they feast upon rather than letting them change.

Emi is the goddess of Persistence

'The Titans of Emi do not seem to deserve the monicker, but they survive. Stabbed, Burned, Hacked, Flayed, they will continue. It will melt away, yet it will remain.'

Card: Eternal Scourge

Credit: Winona Nelson

The Howlpacks that follow behind them are known as the Howlpacks of Whispering Lies. Sineous bodies with patches of hair, they speak, sing, and whisper with many voices all at once. This sound changes the perception of any animal nearby, it makes them see things and hear things. As it turns out, it causes random activity within the brain of its victims, but it can focus the ability to seemingly disappear, much like a telepath could. Those with sufficient willpower can fight off this effect, albeit temporarily. Their conversion rate of human corpses to Eldrazi Horrors is nearly 100%, generally, they only consume the vocal cords of their victims, adding their voice to the choir.

Kozi is the god of Resilience

'The Titans of Kozi do not come back from death, they do not avoid pain, they simply refuse to die. They grow ever stronger, ever larger. They are what we hope to become, uncaring of the desolate reality around us.'

Card: Walker of the Wastes

Credit: Joseph Meehan

The Howlpacks that follow behind them are known as the Howlpacks of a Thousand Witnesses. Carapace-encased bodies with an obsidian-like mantis blade on their forearms. They have eyes not on their heads but on their shoulders, hips, pecks, the small of their back, between their shoulder blades, on the sides of their elbows and knees, and the back of their three-fingered hands. Space around them distorts minorly as they move, which makes ranged weapons significantly less effective against them as well as creating strange reflections of the Horrors they had once created appear around them. Though they can harm an unwary hunter, they are still illusions, and disrupting them sufficiently can get rid of them.

Card Inspirations: Shrill Howler // Howling Chorus, Kozilek's Sentinel

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[mtgpocketrealm]

Komas History - 4

The Third Major Eldrazi Incursion - Awakening of the Land

The next incursion was that of Ulamog's brood, voracious half-humanoid beasts, they starved into the single variety that remains today in a matter of years. Devastating, as all of the broods are when they suddenly appeared across a Realm, but the scattered humans were not as affected by this incursion as they were when they were in nations. At least, not at first. When the remaining Eldrazi identified that there were still sources of mana scampering around, they began actively hunting them. The Realmsoul angrily explains that it couldn't just let the hard-working survivors die this way and that it had enough leeway to enact a change. The change it made was the animation of the land. Enduring guardians for those who choose to live behind them.

These titans were created with minimal minds and would, as a consequence, accidentally kill their charges that were near them. Regretable but necessary to be omnidirectionally present.

Echoes of Ghosts

The echoes slowly grew to come into existence due to this change, something which the Realmsoul both regrets and claims was correct. The necessary mana to maintain the animated terrain had to come from somewhere, and it came from the people. Slowly it manifested, slowly it preserved the legacies of the long-gone societies, slowly immortalizing the traces of sapient races that are in the Realm. Every incursion since then has accelerated this process.

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[mtgpocketrealm]

Komas History - 3

The Second Major Eldrazi Incursion - Demise of the Old Gods

The next incursion was marked by the breaking of the sky, apparently is wept as it shattered, and screamed as it died. Just as the Realm has gotten used to being besieged by the tentacled fleshy horrors of the prior brood, they were now faced with the brood of Kozilek. Their forces utterly different and alien in tactics compared to Emrakul and they suffered tremendous losses. Their magic-centered tactics were uselessly batted aside by the new creatures, and the Werewolves, true to the promises granted to their ancestors, prospered and diversified into new forms. This newfound additional strain on the mana of the Realm weakened the Oldwalkers to a degree that they were little more than powerful mages.

The Great Dying

The new scourge of the Realm caused a cascade of death, everything had to change in order to survive, and everything had to become more efficient in the amount of mana and nutrition they could survive off of. Even the invaders themselves slowly were weeded away until there was only a single 'true Eldrazi' form per brood, surviving in different ways and with different strategies. At the end of this period, there was but a fraction of life remaining...but even then there was more life than there is now...the Realmsoul sounds heartbroken. This period was a slow process, over the course of a Human generation or two rather than a short period.

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[mtgpocketrealm]

Quick Update

The history felt off and I figured out why, the last post has been deleted and the post before that has been updated