ask-the-praetors - Tumblr blog

[ask-the-praetors]

To Ixhel

I am sorry they hate you for being so badass and moving so different. You are more than what your mother thinks of you. Please give Skrelv head scritches for me

(She's quiet, but there is just a hint of a dark tear seeping between the slits of her faceplate.)

Skrelv is a resilient one, isn't he? I'm not sure where he is now, or whether he would bite me. I smell like Norn, after all. But I guess we're the same now. Heretics, both of us.

-I

[ask-the-praetors]

Hey, I have a question for Avaricta! I haven’t heard nor seen much of you so would you like to share a bit of yourself? Maybe current projects, thoughts on other individuals, etc?

Hmm. A missive? For me? (She chuckles.) I thought those were reserved for the higher-ups.

I am always busy. Within the Progress Engine, I am the master of virulence and infection, tailoring the oil to its fullest potential and adapting as circumstances see fit. The impaler shrikes and the thrummingbirds are my work, appropriated poorly by the necrosquitoes of the Dross. When the Reality Chip fell into my praetor's hands, it was me who wove its secrets into our lifeblood.

As a subpraetor, I report directly to Jin-Gitaxias often. Say what you must about his mannerisms, but his Great Synthesis is visionary.

I try not to waste my processing capabilities on thoughts of the other praetors. They are problems for the spies to solve.

-Avaricta

[ask-the-praetors]

To all praetors- What do you think of the Mirran's technology? Is that something the legions of Phyrexia could incorporate?

The Mirran people are capable of great acts of artifice. It is what finally convinced me that Phyrexia is not, cannot be, the end of perfection. The goblins and other willing converts of my sphere joyously mix the technologies of their old and new lives, but unfortunately the other spheres do as well, to oppressive ends. -U

There is some merit to the rudimentary stirrings of vedalken and Neurok minds. Their quicksilver canisters resemble our own oil-based informational storage. Of more value than their products, however, are their minds themselves. The great Meldweb, the apex of the Progress Engine's computing technology, is developed from countless integrated vedalken brains. -J

Mostly ineffective toys, but fun to see my gladiators wield. -S

All that is Mirran will be embraced in the Phyrexian unity, as the Etchings dictate. Through us, their bodies and their technology will all be elevated as pieces of our grander purpose. -E

MIRRAN OR PHYREXIAN, ALL ARTIFICE IS THE SAME. A LIE TO BE DESTROYED. -V

[ask-the-praetors]

I have to know, will Vorinclex accept belly rubs if of offer him a lot of meat

I HAVE TEETH THERE TOO. -V

[ask-the-praetors]

praetors. atraxa. are you transgener

I, as every other core-born Phyrexian, was created with no "gender" to speak of. I chose to become the Mother, and Atraxa--and her scion--followed in my greatness. -E

Our lineage will forever carry the Mother's holiness. Before I birthed Ixhel, I knew she would be my daughter. -A

I wore it better~ -S

What the fleshlings call gender is an inconsequential triviality to a mind such as my own. -J

THEY CAN CALL ME WHATEVER THEY WANT. I EAT THEM ALL THE SAME. -V

What are you, a Gitaxian spy? -U

[ask-the-praetors]

Do natural-born Phyrexians have to learn the Phyrexian language, as one would expect? If they do, then how come when people become Phyrexianized, they immediately become fluent in Phyrexian?

Of course not. Knowledge of the Phyrexian language is encoded in our ichor, much like our history and the methods of compleation. From the moment of vat emergence, it is commonplace for newts to experience revelations in scattered segments, eventually resolving into a working knowledge of the skills required for Phyrexian life. Thus every core-born Phyrexian possesses an ability to discourse in our language, though not all take advantage of this gift. -J

[ask-the-praetors]

Tamiyo, what do you think of the heir, the heir's heir, and our current Mother of Machines?

I did not interact extensively with Atraxa or her scion during my time under Jin-GItaxias. I suspect he wanted my mind to himself. Atraxa and Norn only truly became my masters near the end, when they commanded me to advance their invasion. I remember harshness, cruelty, and a mockery of family. Whoever this child may be, I can only hope that she will find a better story to tell. -T

[ask-the-praetors]

jin and vorinclex,

who's the divorce counsellor

I sincerely make my best effort. -E

[ask-the-praetors]

what does jin-gitaxias think of the myr? are they good subjects/assistants?

They are, like any other creature of Mirrodin, raw material to be repurposed for the Progress Engine's needs. The myr in particular are predisposed to obedience, making mental conditioning a particularly efficient process.

Their maker, too, designed them to be his eyes. Of course, his destruction was an indictment of his intelligence, but his attempts at artifice are nothing if not useful.

-J

[ask-the-praetors]

Legitimate blog question. Are we coming to you from the future? Before the events of the multiverse invasion? Or are we post...well I shan't spoil anything for my dear sweet machine horrors <3

(To be honest, I've struggled with the temporality of this ever since MOM.)

(I'm not the happiest about how things were written to end.)

(The honest meta answer about the timeline is that I don't know.)

(It looks like people are assuming MOM for now, though.)

[ask-the-praetors]

Vorinclex, eat all the rocks. EAT ALL THE ROCKS! EAT ALL ROCKS! ROCKS! ARE! WEAK!

(Crunch crunch.) -V

What. Are you doing? -E

YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND. -V

[ask-the-praetors]

To Sheoldred

You should try this food called "mac and cheese", I've heard it's really good. Also try vanilla extract.

Aww, the blood of the innocent not good enough for you? -S

[ask-the-praetors]

What happens when a moment's time has come and all that is left are the ripples fading away into nothingness? When the last scraps of a feast are consumed with regularity, and with lesser and lesser remaining every occasion?

The Eldrazi devastated planes by sending scores of incomprehensible entities to reshape even the very landscape of the planes. Though countless scions and drones existed, in truth, there were three Eldrazi - the Titans. The hordes existed as an extension of one of their wills. Even when they looked different, each Eldrazi foe fought was created by the titans for a purpose and could not stray from their directives. Today, of the Titans, Emrakul alone remains, yet the plane she inhabits now lies unaffected by her. Before the multiversal invasion, Zendikar appeared to have fully recovered from the Eldrazi. Still, the seeming lack of remembrance from so many relevant parties remains as inscrutable of the Eldrazi themselves.

Nicol Bolas sought to reap the sparks of Planeswalkers with an army of the undead and the few Planeswalkers by his side. To end an Eternals was not to take a life - the only tears shed by their killers were with realizations of who these clockwork near-machines once were. The God-Eternals had the sentience to truly live, yet they were all killed, with the last slain, Bontu, killed by her own ambition. Bolas, unbeknownst to nearly all, lives, though he, much like Emrakul, takes no action out of powerlessness. Though his schemes lasted centuries, the time taken to alter the trajectory of his direction was far less. The time spent of notice after failure was similarly short.

Phyrexia conquers by stripping the life and soul out of that which once truly lived and extracting the resources, leaving but a shell of the former selves of both beings and of planes. Yet unlike the Eldrazi Drones or the lazotep-coated Eternals, the Phyrexians live. Every single one of them still holds unique thoughts and behaviors and participate in a planet-wide civilization.

Armies slaughtered, trinkets locked but retained, and legacies forgotten. A pattern emerges, yet a major distinction can be made.

The Phyrexians, unlike the brood of the Eldrazi or the armies of the Eternals, are all sentients beings, with the capacity to feel all sorts of emotions, even fear.

I ask, looking at how they are often viewed and how other multiversal threats have been treated, if they might have reason to.

We have always been able to feel fear. Now even Norn knows it. She is afraid of her own people, because she knows her control will never be absolute.

She should be afraid, of course.

-U

[ask-the-praetors]

The heat of the forge lives in all who dwell here.

-U

Wait Urabrask would you hug me instead of a boop because I heard you are the best at hugging….

I wonder who said that. I do not touch others often.

But maybe I will. If you do not stab me.

-U

[ask-the-praetors]

Wait Urabrask would you hug me instead of a boop because I heard you are the best at hugging….

I wonder who said that. I do not touch others often.

But maybe I will. If you do not stab me.

-U

[ask-the-praetors]

*boops Urabrask*

Your the best!

(Reluctant purr.) Watch the beak. -U

[ask-the-praetors]

Just boops; Ajani, Urabrask, and Vorinclex! no others need boops.

Hmph. How petty. How foolish.

-E

JEALOUS?

-V

Of course not. Don't touch me.

-E