Monday, June 5, 2017
Magic Story, where to start?
Magic: the Gathering has a rich history of 24 years, and with it comes a lot of lore, from books, articles, stories, and Q&As. There are ebooks and hard to find novels, short stories, and AR games. Compilations gave some insight, and podcasts now add more.
But where to start, you ask?
This article is here to help be a guide for where in time, and where in the multiverse, are good places to begin reading. There is a very long timeline for magic's events for the card game, so there are, of course, a variety of options.
New 2015 Story:
Magic Origins is the best place to start for any new magic lore-seekers. If you want to read about your new favorite planeswalkers, start here!
Let me repeat that. THIS IS THE BEST PLACE FOR NEW READERS TO BEGIN READING MAGIC STORY.
These stories of planeswalkers (aka: neowalkers)include Jace Beleren, Chandra Nalaar, Nissa Revane, Liliana Vess (alternate comic origin story), and Gideon Jura. This begins the neowalker storyline, and introduces us to planeswalkers after the mending has occurred, a shift in the magic in the multiverse, and making the main characters much more relatable.
From there, read the novel: Agents of Artifice, by Ari Marmel, which is the beginning of interaction between Jace, Liliana, and Tezzeret.
Other important early stories: Ajani's Spark igniting.
Old:Long before Jace and the Gatewatch, Magic was a story of discovery. It began with the tale of two brothers, and their eventual war with each other.
The Brother's War by Jeff Grubb
Most people who play Magic have heard of Urza, and sometimes of his brother, Mishra. This is the story of how the brothers grew up, and found to hate each other, leading to war across the entire world of Dominaria. This is a good story starting point for those who want the old stories- from Revised era sets, with Ice Age, Mirage, and Tempest being relevant to this starting era.
or
The Thran by J. Robert King
Thousands of years befor Urza and Mishra, there were a race of people, a country, known as the Thran. They possessed amazing artifacts and countless wonderful machines- but there was a sickness spreading among them. They call upon an exiled surgeon, Yawgmoth, to cure the disease, and this tale shows the slow downfall of their civilization.
This is a prequel to the Brother's war, and tell the story of a race far before Urza or Mishra. You'd want to start with this book if you plan on reading the entire sage of Urza, the Tempest block novels, all the way to Invasion.
Old-ish:
Rath and Storm, edited by Peter Archer.
This story begins with the Rath cycle, the tales of Gerrard Capashen, Sisay, Squee, and Mirri, among the rest of the crew of the Weatherlight flying ship, on the journey against the evincar Volrath.
While this is a middle ground starting point for story, it allows the reader to find a good set of characters to go with, and then delve deeper with Urza, or the Thran, and lead up to the Invasion. Readers can then go back in time and see how Urza or the Thran began, or continue from there, following the crew of the Weatherlight.
The neowalker plot is described further with articles and stories, books and lore pages, which are mostly summarized here.
The more structured Gatewatch story starts with Battle for Zendikar, directly after Origins, which you can find here.
No matter where you begin in these tales, there are many books, articles, and stories from there on out. Please comment for further information, if you're curious for more.
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Ancient Kamigawa Secrets
These tales are all owned by Wizards of the Coast, and were published around 2005. A full snynopsis of the events of Kamigawa will soon be posted below.
Contents:
Mountain Secret (Kumano)
Duty Bound (Takeno)
Everything (Azami)
Eight and a Half Tales
Security (Horobi, Death's Wail)
The Dragon's Errand (Kiki Jiki)
Thankless Child (Iname)
Bonds of Ice and Fire (Brother's Yamazaki) This story takes place many years after the Kami war in "Champions of Kamigawa".
The Dragon Shield (Jugan)
Told in Whispers (The Unspeakable)
A Servant's Mission (Ink Eyes)
Patron of the Akki (Patron of the Akki)
Personal Battles (Iwamori)
Redemption Smiles (Kentaro)
The Sound of Crickets (Higure, the Still Wind)
War's Wage (Kataki)
The Face behind the Mask (Sakashima, the Imposter)
The Meeting
Iizuka the Ruthless
The Last Visitor (Ayumi, the Last Visitor) This story takes place 6 years after The Dragon's Errand.
(Warning, that mess is pretty awful looking due to the archiving)
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
The Sands of Amonkhet
Welcome to the Plane of Amonkhet.
A plane of sand, and death. A plane ruled by Nicol Bolas. A plane for building monuments, striving through challenges, and a plane, of Gods.
The Gatewatch has arrived here to attempt to strike back at the dragon planeswalker they see as their enemy, Nicol Bolas. He had meddled with Chandra's home world of Kaladesh, and so the Gatewatch is attempting to catch Bolas by surprise.
Trailer
The Player's guide, with lore behind the 5 gods and a basic "planeswalker's guide" to Amonkhet and the cards in the set. Released as a .pdf.
Plane Shift: Amonkhet; The DnD adaptation to play in the world of Amonkhet.
Amonkhet Stories:
The Gatewatch arrives with some impact.
With some struggles, the Gatewatch finds the city, and realize there are strange elements afoot. Will they decide to trust these new gods?
Nissa and Chandra find some writing on the wall.
Jace and Liliana discover much about servants in Naktamun. And "someone" notices Liliana's presence.
Gideon finds the five trials more Brazen than he thought.
There is some history of Trespass for Samut.
Hour of Devastation
The hours of have begun. The second sun is between the two horns of Amonkhet.
Trailer
The Hour of Revelation
"All questions will be answered during the Hour of Revelation." (Naga Oracle)
The feast.
"And so the Hour of Revelation broke upon the land, and the promised time arrived when all questions would be answered. And lo, the Gate to the Afterlife opened, and from behind its gleaming walls, the true visage of the coming tide poured forth."
The Hour of Glory
"In the Hour of Glory, the gods and the untested will prove their worth before the God-Pharaoh."
The Hour of Promise
"When the Hour of Promise arrives, the God-Pharaoh will tear down the Hekma, for its protection will be needed no longer."
Some desire the Favor of the God-Pharaoh.
The Hour of Eternity
"When all doubts have melted away, the worthy will meet the Hour of Eternity and earn a place at the God-Pharaoh's side."
The God-Pharaoh has returned, and the [four] Hours have arrived as foretold. The Hours of Revelation, Glory, and Promise unleashed disaster upon Naktamun, and now the Hour of Eternity brings an unimaginably personal terror to the city's denizens.
The people of Amonkhet must somehow Endure.
The Hour of Devastation
"The world crumbled beneath the heel of the mighty God-Pharaoh, and
an unnamed hour dawned as the blood red sun drowned the land in crimson.
And thus, the Hour of Devastation reigned, and, the God-Pharaoh
completed his great plan, leaving behind ruin while darkness consumed
and unmade the entirety of the city."
Notes:
From the Magic Story Podcast:
- Mother's don't raise their children on Amonkhet- the mummies do. A person who is pregnant can still train throughout their pregnancy; there is time within the trials to have kids; there are several years training up to Rhonas' trial of strength.
Kids have no basic sound of language around them, raised by mummies, and only formal education. This was stated as not originally natural to the plane. - The gods were the ones to confirm the Gatewatch is ok. Curiosity isn't a valued train on Amonkhet, because there is "no where else" beyond Naktamun. The city is all there is, so if the Gods say these strange looking people are fine, then it must be so.
From the Amonkhet art book:
Bolas' plans to release the Eldrazi were made in order to determine if there would be a planeswalker response to such an interplanar threat- which the gatewatch was. It was in order to test the abilities of neowalkers working together, in order to be ready with his Amonkhet army.Story page for Amonkhet.
Story page for Hour of Devastation.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
A Metroid Fan Game-enabled Theory
Spoilers ahead:
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The main character is Dawn Aran, apparently a kidnapped sister of Samus from K-2L, trained to become a Rogue agent of the Space Pirates.
In response to the Clone theory's points, in order:
3. This could still be valid. Further so to complete the brainwashing, to make Dawn feel for Adam, and loyal to the federation.
5. Dawn being submissive to Adam and the federation would also make sense. With confusion and loyalty memories implanted. Samus acts different, because she isn’t Dawn.
7. Adam and team get to the bottle ship almost immediately after Samus. Seems like a perfect mission briefing to have a squad watch a new prototype soldier.
8. Another concern. “The deleter”. We never really find out who it is, though it’s implied. What if, instead, it is Dawn/Samus herself. She would then perhaps not remember it afterwards, as a brainwashed subject wouldn't necessarily.
What could this imply, for the fan community?
A future game where Samus would have to face off with Dawn, the sister she never knew. Using technology that is the same as her pre-Fusion suit weapons.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
My 2016 reading list
http://supercleartape.blogspot.com/p/the-great-read-thon-book-bonanza.html
This year, I read mostly fantasy/Scifi novels, with a few historical and non-fiction books interspersed. I read three books in German, and two children's novels. I read two books that involved a merry-go-round that changed the age of the person riding it. One series I read showed a world flooded by demons, both monstrous and of man. And I explored further into the worlds of the Kingkiller, as well as Harry Potter.
That said, let me recommend some highlights!
The Warded Man, by Peter V. Brett, starts the series following three children living in a world in which humans are pushed to the brink of extinction by demons that rise from the earth every night. Brett crafts a deeply human story of growth, determination, and survival, and continues through several more novels. His series is yet to be complete- following the journey of the characters to see if the Warded Man is indeed the savior the world wants him to be, or if humanity is indeed doomed. I especially enjoyed the varied perspectives in each chapter of Leesha Paper, Rojer Inn, and Arlen Barnes- and their hopes and dream while surviving their world.
Enchantment, by Orsen Scott Card, retells both Russian fairy tales, as well as the sleeping beauty story, but in a more gritty, realistic modern setting. Without spoiling anything, I would easily say this was my favorite book I read this year.
Rogues, a compilation of short stories including some from Patrick Rothfuss and George R.R. Martin had a great many more interesting characters and tales that I expected. I picked up the book primarily to read of Bast- the mysterious Fae character from the tales of Kvothe. There are some beautiful tales there
Now the lows: Codex, by Lev Grossman, was an utter disappointment. I had high hopes after reading The Magicians, and it basically has no ending.
The Exile of Time. This book I tried because it sounded interesting and I wanted to try an eBook. It was free. I basically got what I paid for. Wasn't very impressiveness at all.
The rest, you may choose to explore on your own. I would also recommend The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus by Jacques Cousteau, Mark Twain's Letters from Hawaii, and The Method, by Juli Zeh.