#custom plane

[toweringclam]

MTG Plane Concept: Paramount City

Elevator pitch: Superheroes in MTG

The story is set in Paramount City, a metropolis rivaling New Capenna (though still dwarfed by Ravnica). It's a thoroughly modern city, though with touches that make it fit with Magic's design aesthetics. In this world, there's a mysterious force called the Rift that drives people to extremes of both good and evil. Some people can tap into the Rift through various methods (inborn talent, actual magic, gadgets, intense training, etc), and those people are called Supers. Using Rift is aided by adopting an archetypal identity, especially if you keep it separated from your "normal" identity, hence all the wild costumes and names.

Mechanically, the set would be factional based on arcs. However, rather than "centered" arcs (one color+its allies) it's more like "split" arcs (enemy colors+their mutual ally). This means that each faction is pulled in two different directions by opposing goals, fitting the theme of split identities. Also, although there are five factions, there's a pretty strong good/evil split, with the faction centered on Blue as a spoiler.

Those factions are:

The Metropolitan Defenders (Defenders, GWU): The big damn heroes. The ones you think of when you hear the word "hero." They're the most morally upright team, holding themselves and others to the highest standards of ethics (W). Their internal divide is between serving the people (G) or upholding the law (U).

The People's Underground (Underground, RGW): Split off from the Defenders years ago over ideological differences. A loosely affiliated network of neighborhood protectors, vigilantes, and others who skirt up to the edge of the law. They're dedicated to protecting the people of the city (G), but are split over whether to pursue justice (W) or vengeance (R) against those who would cause harm.

The Breakers' Union (Breakers, BRG): Originally started by disgruntled henchmen, they're an alliance of small-time crooks, anarchists, and others who find themselves on the wrong side of the law. They defy the system almost on principle (R), but are torn between whether they should do something about it (G) or just serve their own self-interest (B).

The Council of the Rift (Council, UBR): The Council are a contentious group of malefactors who all seek to exploit the Rift for their own ends. They're willing to employ any methods to pursue their own personal power at the expense of everyone else (B). Though some wish to use it to remake the world in their own image (U), others would rather just see the world burn (R).

Initiative Omega (Omega, WUB): An organization of scientists, soldiers, and spies formed by the government in response to the rise of Supers. Omega sees both sides as dangerous and disruptive to the status quo. To that end, they seek to understand the Rift as much as possible (U), though whether they'll use it for the betterment of mankind (W) or to eliminate all Supers (B) is still up in the air.

I'll maybe go more in-depth on this idea later, just want to get it out there for now and see if people like it

[toweringclam]

Paramount City: Initiative Omega, pt 2

Masterpost

Initiative Omega is centered in Blue mana, as they are cunning schemers interested in acquisition of knowledge. However, while Black mana pulls them towards a surveillance state dystopia, while White pulls them towards a technocratic utopia. Out of all the teams, Initiative Omega is the most unified in vision, as utopia can easily serve as a mask for dystopia.

Omega (WUB, Faerie) is their current leader, though no one knows for how long. Once they went by a different name, that of the Faerie crime lord King Mob. They were defeated, and in doing so their nature changed. They were brought on as a liaison for the Empty Chamber and came to believe wholly in their goals. More so than the Chamber itself did, so they decided to pursue them without the Chamber. That goal is no less than the eventual control or destruction of every so-called "Super," but especially the one who brought them low: Alley Cat.

The Lenus Foundation are centered in White mana. They are a charitable organization dedicated to the study of Supers and Rift energy. They provide a lot of help to novice Supers and even maintain their own stable of heroes dedicated to protecting Foundation assets and providing rapid disaster response. However, some say their contracts amount to indentured servitude, and they tend to treat legitimate civic protests as "disasters" meriting an overbearing "response."

Dr. Miraculous (WU) leads one of their labs. A dedicated family man with a tendency to come off as a little old-fashioned, he nonetheless projects a wise and fatherly demeanor. He rarely engages in outright heroics, leaving that to his husband and children, instead using his stasis powers for scientific research. He tends to keep most of it to himself though as he does not fully trust Omega despite accepting their funding.

Special Dispatch 7 are centered in Black mana. They are the black ops wing of Initiative Omega, specializing in surveillance and threat elimination. Spies, assassins, and saboteurs, they've even been known to contract or coerce supervillains to do their dirty work. Even heroes who cross Omega can end up dead or worse.

Warden Noirot (UB, non-Super) has no superpowers, but he makes up for it in authority and cunning. He has a deep-seated hatred for Supers, but recognizes them as a necessary evil to achieve his goals. As such he has an exhaustive catalogue of counters to every known super power, which he uses to enforce his absolute will in the super-prison he manages. Sometimes he lets supers out for particular jobs, as ordered by Omega, but he ensures they rarely survive these missions.

Due to its isolated cell structure, most people who work for Omega don't even know it, and if they do, they are rarely aware of other cells. There are numerous independent cells, sometimes consisting of only a single mercenary or assassin.

Latro (WB, robot) is one of their most deadly agents. An incredibly advanced ordinatrix installed in a mobile, humanoid body, it can easily pass as an armored and masked Super at a glance. Latro was created by the original Empty Chamber and programmed with absolute loyalty to their ideals, but no loyalty to them as individuals. It was instrumental to Omega's takeover, but should they ever step out of line, it will turn on them in a second.

[toweringclam]

Paramount City: Initiative Omega (WUB), History

Masterpost

Summary: Shady government organization

A whispered tip from an alley. A beloved hero turning up dead. Villains who have no relation suddenly working together. A team of heroes with matching uniforms and government ID cards that do a bunch of PR for a week and then disappear without a trace. A weapon that strips the Rift energy right out of Supers ending up in some random thug's hands. Friendly doctors who want to help you understand your powers but seem to take a few more samples than are necessary. A strange name seems to connect them all.

Initiative Omega.

Who are they? What is their agenda? No one is certain. Even those who work for Omega don't know what their endgame is. Most of them don't even know they're working for Omega. Every cell is independant, pursuing their own mission with little awareness of the others. Follow the chain of command, and it quickly turns in on itself. Who is even giving the orders here?

Anyone who digs deep enough is sure to get a visit from a shadowy figure identifying themselves as Omega. THE Omega. The one and only. Yet one can agree what they look like, even barring the unnatural shadows that reduce them to a mere silhouette. Omega will make an offer: Do one favor, or disappear. It's never something too much against your moral code. But it raises questions. Keep digging, and you'll get another visit, and another favor. Everyone who keeps digging will eventually disappear. The lucky ones turn up later missing their memories and with an immediate, overwhelmingly negative reaction to anything related to Omega.

It's believed that Sukelis Labs is one of Omega's greatest assets. It's a seemingly charitable organization dedicated to the study of Supers. The scientists, surgeons, psychologists, and others at Sukelis Labs are always there to offer aid to new Supers or those who are struggling with their powers. They offer devices and training to help control one's Rift-given powers. While everything seems to be above the board, and it's likely most people there genuinely want to help, some people have criticized it for gathering an unnecessary amount of personally identifying information and for making supers dependent on their services. The occasional military transport entering or leaving the facility by cover of night only deepens the mystery.

The truth is more astonishing than anyone could ever guess. While Omega has its origins as a conspiracy between elites in government, business, science, and the military, it has long since grown beyond their control. The founders have been quietly eliminated, their own secrecy working against them. The methods remained the same, but the leadership was gone. Now, anyone who managed to breach their inner sanctum would find The Empty Chamber, with only skeletons seated around the impressive conference table.

But this leads us to the inevitable question...who orchestrated this coup? And who is running the show now?

[critidiots]

Worldbuilding June 2019  Medicine

The Drawl use powerful healing magic, clerics who weave mana into wounds and tend to the injured and the sick, the goblins do much the same. 

Shifters medicine often involve inducing transformations to have the body purge itself of illness or trigger the increased healing of their wolf form. Breathing in a natural mixture that simulates a powerful surge of mana. 

The elves of the quell use mana mixed with herbs and fungus culled from the Quell to tend to wounds. 

The Homarids, as far as anyone know, have only magic for healing. 

[critidiots]

World Building June- How does the economy work in your world? What sorts of currencies do they use?

The Shifters, Drawl and Goblins all use a coin system of Gold, Silver and Copper (Gold Wheats, Silver Clouds, and Copper Boulders). The Elves don’t use any currency preferring to rely on bartering and trade. Though the money of other races are good tender within their border, they just lack any minted coin themselves. 

The Homarids have completely gotten rid of any need for currency, food, labour and military might are all provided through a purely socialist system of doing good for the nation for the good of the nation. 

[doctor-roman]

A Planeswalkers (Tentative) Guide to Calyptica - Fan Plane

So with a lot of help from @sigardaaah (thank you again! ;w;), I was finally able to break down how Calyptica’s (my fan made pirate/ocean world) colors are distributed.

Calyptica is a wedge themed plane with a focus on the ally colors of each wedge, with the third color acting as a tertiary modifier on how each faction works.

The plane, as you can probably imagine with what I’ve talked about so far, is a mostly oceanic plane covered in salt water. It borrows from Spanish and Caribbean influences in terms of world building to give you that sort of idea. As for the “factions”:

Jeskai - Calyptica’s Navy

With pirates, rogue merfolk, and enormous sea monsters running amok, it’s no surprise that many humans banded together to create a system of government with a fighting force to defend it. This group establishes laws for the people to follow and to keep the peace (Azorius), but its armies pursues keeping this peace zealously (Red)

Sultai - Calyptica’s Underwater Merfolk Kingdom

The merfolk of Calyptica are a secretive race. They live deep under the ocean on its floor and keep to themselves. While their is a monarchy in place, it holds very little power. With the ocean as vast as it is, no one empire can rule over all of it, and many merfolk are able to get away with their own schemes in secret. This puts the merfolk squarely in Dimir, with their Green coming from their schemes seeing fruition: whoever controls the largest and strongest creature of the deep holds much more power than any single crown can give.

Mardu - Capytica’s Pirates

The pirates of Calyptica see themselves as adventurers. The Navy sees them as vagabonds. But the pirates don’t care. The only thing they do care about is the freedom of sailing the open seas and amassing great wealth. This puts them in the Rakdos color identity, but their recognition of a hierarchy headed by a captain and first mate splashes a little bit of White in their identity.

Temur - Calyptica’s Sea Turtles

Swimming through Calyptica’s oceans are giant sea turtles - the largest organisms on the plane. So large that forests have taken root on their shells and societies of avian take shelter there. The relationship between the avians and the turtles is a strong one - the avian protect the turtles with their magic from sea monsters, and the turtles give the avian shelter. The large size of the turtles and their roaming nature make them Gruul, with the Avians magic and shamanistic ways adding a dash of Blue to the mixture.

Abzan - Calyptica’s Jungle Tribes

Calyptica may be filled with ocean, but there are still sprawling land masses with dense jungle hiding old secrets, and even older tribes of humans. These humans enjoy a peaceful and orderly existence with Calytptica’s jungles, but the wilds demand a price for this existence: ritual sacrifice to the surrounding wilds is a must to keep the tribes safe, with offerings made on a different timescale depending on which part of the jungles your tribe lives in. Some tribes only have to offer a single individual once a year - for others, it could be dozens each month. But many of the tribes people agree that it’s a small price to pay to stay far away from the terrors of Calyptica’s deep. The community of nature aspect of the tribes centers this faction in Selesnya, with their ritual sacrifice to uphold those communities adding Black to the mix.

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I’m still working on fleshing out the rest of the plane, but this is basically what you can expect to see if I ever moved forward with any effort to build upon it or even make a fan set around it. Hopefully it seems as cool to you guys as it does to me. ;w;