Here we are, my fan walker in all his poorly drawn glory! This doubles as my Inktober project, and took me a couple weeks to complete. (Did I mention I’m not an artist?) Anyway, let me know what you all think, I’m also open to critiques and constructive feedback as I’m hoping to improve my art moving forward.
Anyway, here are a few facts about Sigfried:
Name: Sigfried Augustin Tudeau
Race: Human
Plane of Origin: Name yet to be decided, his home plane is Southern Gothic Themed
Colors: Black/Red
Type of magic: Sigfried specializes in demonology and is also versed in electromancy.
Background: Born the son of a con-man turned noble, Sigfried had a mark on his back from other youths around him growing up. He was always part of the family that didn’t belong there among the old money of the area. Due to social conflict and prejudices of the time, eventually it led to Sigfried being attacked by a group of his peers which led to his spark igniting. Since then he’s traveled the multiverse, putting his silver tongue to good use and enjoying the fruits of the multiverse.
Personality: Sigfried is a self-indulgent man. He does not hide his desires nor is he ashamed of them. He lives his life untethered to any single plane and unbound by any code of ethics save his own. He is a friendly, charismatic individual who relies on his charm and wit to get by, and when that fails, he isn’t above showing off his infernal abilities to deal with threats. That being said, he isn’t one who goes around looking for a fight or conflict. To him, life is all about enjoying one’s self and freedom. This extends to others around him. He makes it his mission to help others get what they desire, even if it’s something they’re ashamed to admit wanting, as well as encouraging people to give in to temptation once in a while. After all, life is too short not to be having fun.
Interesting Facts:
While it isn’t certain how he does it, Sigfried has a knack for figuring out someone’s dark desires and vices. Some say he’s good at reading people, others think there’s some magic behind it, whatever the case is, he’s good at finding out what people want, and enjoys giving it to them, for the right price.
On his right arm and up to his chest, Sigfried is marked by archaic and arcane tattoos. These tattoos serve as the magic of a powerful enchantment he uses to make binding contracts with demons of varying levels of power.
Sigfried strikes of bargains and contracts with Demons to grant himself youth, power, and other abilities. Sigfried pays for these contracts generally by offering a service no one else can to the demons. A way out of their plane. (more on this in a later post)
Sigfried also strikes up bargains with mortals, trading in souls. Souls are a valuable commodity when you’re often making deals with demons, so collecting these not only gives him bargaining chips, but also helps to fuel his demonology magic.
Today’s theory is a long one, but first, let me start with a disclaimer : I don’t know what I’m talking about. I know enough about Magic and Math both to be able to sound smart, but not enough to have thought about everything. I’ll also add that this theory has nearly nothing supporting it, it just seems to fit in most cases. But you know what ? Read that blog’s title !
So what is this theory ? Basically, that the Multiverse, including the Blind Eternities, functions roughly like a five (or more, but five seems more probable) dimensional space. Let’s dig a bit deeper.
So, everybody here have heard at least ten times ‘The Talk’ about parrallel dimensions in every other science fiction movie or book. We’re not talking about that kind of dimensions. Well, it can be linked. But don’t picture alternate realities. A dimension is a direction you can’t go in using a combination of the other dimensions. With one dimension, you can be in only one direction, you can move on a single line. With two, you can leave that line, and wander around on a surface, or plane (not a Plane though). With three, you can leave that plane and explore a space. The fourth direction is time, because you can’t arguably move in time by moving around in space. Well, you can, but that’s only because our universe is built on the four dimensions, not just the three of space.
Our universe, in most cases, works like a four-dimensional space. We can move around in space, and we do move around in time. We even move in non-straight lines in time because we’re moving in space. However, we can’t move by ourselves freely in time, so we see most things as three dimensionals in the frame of that fourth dimension.
In theory, we can build spaces with as many dimensions as we want. Simply take the ones we have, and add a direction you can’t go in. Take that three 3D axis and add another axis orthogonal (perpendicular in space) to all of them, and call it ‘time’. It gets weird to imagine, so just observe slices of that 4D space into 3 dimensions, one after the other. Now we can add a fifth dimension by adding another axis orthogonal to all others. There the human mind starts to have a hard time representing what’s happening. We could continue adding dimensions as long as we want, mathematics have created and studied spaces with all numbers of dimensions, even spaces with an infinite number of dimensions, however these have slightly different properties.
(Glimpse the Future, by Andrew Robinson)
The theory is that the Planes of the Multiverse are actually four-dimensional hyperplanes of the five-dimensional Multiverse. These sure are a lot of words. The names fit at least ? An hyperplane is a section of a space on one dimension less than its number of dimension. For example, in a three-dimensional plane, a hyperplane is a plane. In a two-dimensional space, an hyperplane is a line (despite the name). In a five-dimensional space, an hyperplane would be a four-dimensional hyperplane… A four-dimensional space like ours. Like Ravnica. Or Dominaria. Well, not exactly, some, maybe most, planes have properties that doesn’t fit with infinite hyperplanes, so maybe a PART of that hyperplane.
Up to here, we haven’t said a lot. But matter as we know it only exists linked to these hyperplanes. It is four dimensional in nature. Its imprint, as seen from the five-dimensional Multiverse, would be naught, or maybe just energetic. Between the Planes, or on the same space as the planes if you’re not aligned with them, you see, and interact, with only energy. Aether. Except in these rare places where two hyperplanes intersect.
(Interplanar Tunnel, Chuck Lukacs)
Basically, for matter/aether to interact with each other significantly, it would have to be aligned in the same way, or be aligned with an aspect. The natural state of Aether would be each ‘particle’ aligned in its own way and so it’s just a huge soup of energy.
The reason matter can’t normally exist for long in the Blind Eternities would be that any object’s matter would misalign with any one plane, and maybe inside itself, and only act as aether for the rest, effectively dissolving into aether.
We know that living things are more subject to the dangers of the Blind Eternities than other objects, that can survive a brief passage. So why would organic matter be particularly fragile to it ? Organic matter, especially living one, has a tendance to move constantly. Blood, sap, cells… That would just speed the process, or even make it near instantaneous.
(Unravel the Aether, by Jung Park)
Planeswalkers, then, would be able to move in that additional dimension. They bypass these dangers by keeping their body and possession aligned by… Well, yeah, here I don’t have the answer soooo… Magic ?
What anchors multiple particles of Aether together, aligning them and allowing them to interact, could well be what we call « mana ». On the nature of Mana and Aether, I can recommend @vorthosjay’s blurb on his Unified Mana Field Theory, but the reason mana and aether create reality is possibly that ley-lines anchor the aether and life around them in a common alignment, allowing them to interact like matter do. That’s why Planes exist, and you can totally align a being from the Blind Eternities, used to be aligned in different directions, using leylines.
Summoning a creature is pulling it from the Aether. If Aether is just misaligned matter acting as energy, you could align it as you want. You can align Aether in different ways, to get different effects. Spells.
We know that Magic and Dimensions are linked, thanks to the powerstones and notably worn powerstone’s flavor text :
Even a fragment of a powerstone contains within it not just energy, but space—vast dimensions trapped in fragile crystal.
Time is an intersting factor here, because as far as we know, except in very specific areas, time flows roughly the same in the whole multiverse. People, and Planeswalkers, are obviously not capable of modifying their position/orientation on this axis.
The biggest obstacle for this theory is probably the fact that the creative team doesn’t agree with it, the Blind Eternities and the Multiverse being this « unfathomable nothingness with pockets or reality in it ». On top of that, a plethora of authors wrote for Magic, and I doubt they’d have been briefed on the five-dimensional nature of the Multiverse even if it was the intended creation at the beginning.
But five-dimensional space is quite unfathomable for any observer, and these « pockets of reality », the Planes, could well be our hyperplanes, or sections of hyperplanes. Or simply topologic 4-dimensional spheres in a 5-dimensional space (with a different definition of distance that might even not be the classic dimensional distance). Even our math can get far on the « unfathomable » plan.
(Anchor to Aether, by Zoltan Boros)
Stays the issue of moving through it, or planeswalking. We know that planeswalkers can move through the blind eternities, and can use them to go from a point A to a point B on the same Plane. How do they do that ? If we imagine a point on a straight line, going outside the line won’t reduce the distance between the two points. Quite the opposite. However, in a curved line, you might reduce that distance. You remember what I was saying about topological 4-dimensional spheres four lines ago ? Insert that here, with the classic SF explanation of curved space, except even less helpful because in four dimensions that aren’t time.
Another thing is that the Planeswalkers « align » themselves with a bit of their surrounding, what they wear, what they carry, and probably a small amount of air, and then realigns and moves that through the Blind Eternities, that are for that 4 dimensional being equivalent to energy and not matter. Without matter to create friction, and assuming they move their whole bubble of aligned 4 dimensional energy with them, they could them achieve speeds unheard of if they’re using enough energy.
All of that would allow them to go from a Plane to another, or within (well, at the border) of a Plane very quickly, essentially « planeswalking ».
The Aether trail left behind by planeswalkers would be aligned aether along the way a planeswalker travelled, that will slowly move and realign itself randomly, making a trail one can follow that slowly disappears.
I could probably ramble on details for a while, but that’s the theory, and a few examples, in a nutshell.
A Treatise On The Nature of The Planeswalker Spark
I talk about planeswalking itself in my latest Treatise, A Treatise On The Nature Of Planeswalking. In this one, however, I talk about what the Planeswalker Spark really is and what we know about it.
This is part 2 of the Planeswalk Series with the “Planeswalking” article being the first. They’re related only so far as the subject. But you don’t need to read any of the previous to read this one.
Gather `Round! It’s Story Telling Time!
What is the Spark?
What is the Spark? We don’t have too much to work with honestly. But Planeswalker, once again, becomes the most important literary work for lore fans. Let’s take a look at the things that we know about the Spark.
Connected to the Planeswalker’s Mind
Xantcha suggests to us that the Spark is somehow connected to a Planeswalker’s mind. She says it pretty straightforward, too.
“The planeswalker spark was something a mind either had, or didn't have. Xantcha didn't have it; Urza couldn't share his.” -Planeswalker
Here we can see that there is some kind of relationship between the mind and the Spark. We know for certain that planeswalking is an act of will. (Imagine if it wasn’t. People would be spontaneously planeswalking all over the place!) This leads up to believe that the Spark is strongly connected to the mind.
Singular Entity
Xantcha also talks about how Urza couldn’t share his Spark. But she never mentioned anything about moving the Spark. Though the process is always complicated, we have multiple instances of Sparks being relocated. We will discuss this further down.
What else does Xantcha’s observation regarding the inability to share a Spark imply? I argue that it implies that the Spark is a singular entity, cohesive. It’s beyond being a concept. The Spark is something that is beyond our measurable dimensions, but it is a singular...thing. Let’s see what else Xantcha has to say.
Its singularity-ness is why it can’t be shared. But it’s otherworldly enough to be something that can be moved.
Connected to the Blind Eternities
“Xantcha had conquered her fears, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't orient herself in the between-worlds emptiness. Worlds-planes-didn't call out to her the way they called out to Urza. If she lost her grip on Urza's hand, she fell like a stone to whatever world would have her.” -Planeswalker
The first sentence here tells us about Xantcha’s ability to comprehend the Blind Eternities. To Urza, the Eternities were chaotic and alien, but at least comprehensible. Without the Spark, however, Xantcha saw the Blind Eternities as wild and unintelligible. From this we can infer that there is some type of relationship between the Spark and the Blind Eternities.
Combining both these interpretations we can see that: The Spark is closely associated with the Blind Eternities and the Spark is closely bound to the Planeswalker’s mind.
A Piece of the Blind Eternities
Xantcha makes an observation that the Blind Eternities wanted to force her out onto a plane. The Blind Eternities reacted against Xantcha as an invader and was hostile towards her. That is not to say that the Blind Eternities were a picnic for Urza. We know that Old Walkers could not survive very long in the Blind Eternities. But we know that the Blind Eternities didn’t/doesn’t actively try to expel them. Why? I argue that it is because something about the Planeswalker belongs in the Blind Eternities. Or rather, the Spark is at home, belongs, in the Blind Eternities. We can see Xantcha’s experience of this here:
Xantcha had been, and remained, an unwelcome interloper. The instant the between-worlds furled around her, she could hear the vast multi-verse sucking its breath, preparing to spit her out.- Planeswalker
From this I feel that we can safely claim that there is something connecting the Planeswalker and the Blind Eternities.
From all of the so far presented information, we can surmise the following:
The Spark is intimately connected to the Planeswalker’s mind
The Spark is intimately connected to the Blind Eternities
The Planeswalker is intimately connected to the Blind Eternities
The Eternity-Shard Hypothesis
But here is the single greatest evidence that the Spark is a piece of the Blind Eternities I can find. It can be arguably concrete evidence:
“Urza had the planeswalker spark; the fathomless stuff between the multiverse's countless worldplanes bent to his will.” -Planeswalker
We know the “fathomless stuff between the multivere’s countless worldplanes” to be the Blind Eternities. Every instance in which we have seen a Planeswalker planeswalk, they have described the “space” between planes as the Blind Eternities. We see that the Spark is described as the same “stuff” that is between planes. Therefore, we can safely assume that that Spark is a piece of the Blind Eternities. Once more we see a final relationship between the Planeswalker mind and the Spark. “...bent to his will”. Simply put, a Planeswalker’s consciousness manipulates the Spark. Thank goodness too. Otherwise, try to imagine the Spark suddenly activating and planeswalking you randomly.
So allow me to put this into a solid and recognizable hypothesis, one I call the: “Eternity-Shard Hypothesis”
“The Planeswalker Spark is a piece of the Blind Eternities, bound to a unique consciousness.” - @the-foxwolf
The Spark and The Mending
How did The Mending affect the Planeswalker Spark? I talk about that in my previous treatise, “A Treatise on the Nature of Planeswalking”.
To be brief about the subject, I will argue that nothing changed. What changed during the Mending was mostly the Multiverse as a whole, not the Spark. If there were any changes, those changes were minute.
The Spark and the Rifts
What about what happened with the Rifts that Teferi and the other Old Walkers had to fix by surrendering their Sparks? How does this play around with the Eternity-Shard Theory? Let’s talk about that.
Each of the Rifts was the result of extreme Old Walker manipulation.
+Madara’s Rift was created by the battle between Bolas and the demonic leviathan who has as of yet to be named. This duel that lasted a month. Try to imagine the effects of that on the the world. Just the sheer amount of power drawn and expended must have been crippling to the plane. All the mana being drawn during this battle must have not only exhausted Dominaria but also distort its leylines toward the center of their duel. Leyline Distortion.
+The Yavimaya Rift was created by the Sylex Blast that warped all of Dominaria and wiped the continent off the face of the planet. All the leylines had to be rewritten as the world was plunged into an Ice Age and as the entire continent was wiped from the map. That is an awful lot of damage. A Leyline Distortion and a Spatial Distortion.
+The Rift on Tolaria was caused by Urza’s arrogance time experiments. It became a rupture in the fabric of Dominaria. A Temporal Distortion.
+Shiv’s Rift was created by Teferi’s unfathomable recklessness phasing of the entire continent out of existence. Leylinnes had to be rewritten and the fabric of Dominaria strained. Spatial Distortion and a Leyline Distortion
+Zhalfir’s Rift was once again a product of Teferi’s unethical decision making during the Phyrexian Invasion phasing out of another continent. Once again. Spatial Distortion and Leyline Distortion.
+Urborg’s Rift was created by another Spartial Distortion. This one was caused by it being the crux of the Rathi Overlay. The Stronghold itself manifested on Urborg. Spatial Distortion.
+Skyshroud’s Rift was created when Freylaise moved the entire forest during the Rathi Overlay. Spatial Distortion and Leyline Distortion.
+Otaria’s Rift was the result of massive Leyline Distortion. All of Dominaria’s magic was channeled into Karona, the False God. Imagine how unnatural that must have been to the fabric of Dominaria. Then, all at once, it all snapped back into place upon her death. The tremendous strain that must have taken on the plane. Leyline Distortion.
It was understood, cannon even, that without sealing the Rifts all of the Blind Eternities would be scrambled and all of reality would collapse upon itself. Bolas himself acknowledged this to be a truth. From here stems the fact that Dominaria is the nexus of the entire Multiverse. So take that in for a moment. What did all of the Rifts have to do with one another? Massive changes to the Leylines, the fabric of Time, and the fabric of Space. If Dominaria was the nexus of the Multiverse...wouldn’t it stand to reason that making even a small change to Dominaria’s Leylines and fabric of Time and Space would warp all of the Multiverse?
I propose that the Rifts tore at the fabric of the Blind Eternities, leaving gaps that can only be fixed by the Blind Eternities itself. Except that when you attempt to fill a hole with the material in which the hole is found, all you end up doing is relocating the hole.
It is this reasoning that adds additional reinforcement to the idea that the Spark is a piece of the Blind Eternities. Why? Because the sealing of the Blind Eternities required a piece of the Blind Eternities to patch it up. Where could pieces of Blind Eternities be? The Spark. It all comes together.
(TL;DR)
The Rifts were created by damage to the Blind Eternities that left holes behind
The only way to fill those holes was to use a piece of the Blind Eternities itself
Logic holds that, to fill a hole, you have to use outside sources
The Spark is a source of Blind Eternities that is currently outside of it
The sacrifice of the Spark filled the hole by returning a piece of the Blind Eternities to itself.
Spark Mobility
How is it that a Spark can be moved from one person to another? And how does the answer work within the Eternity-Shard Theory? Let’s take another look at a quote I said above.
“The planeswalker spark was something a mind either had, or didn't have. Xantcha didn't have it; Urza couldn't share his.” -Planeswalker
Xantcha says the Spark can’t be shared. Not that it can’t be moved. The two most notable examples of Spark Mobility are when Urza moved his Spark into Karn and when Teferi moved his Spark into Karn. (Geez, Karn. So needy.)
Let’s talk about how those things happened. We’ll start with Urza’s transfer.
Urza’s Transfer of his Spark to Karn
The key to Urza’s transfer of the Spark was Urza’s Powerstone eyes. We have seen the Powerstone eyes be capable of holding onto consciousness and Sparks. During Urza’s attempt to rescue as much of Serra’s Realm as he could, Radiant killed Urza’s material form. When this happened, Urza’s Spark and Urza’s consciousness were transferred into the Powerstone eyes. When Radiant made the mistake of touching the Powerstones together, Urza was fully restored. Thus we see that the Powerstones are capable of containing a Spark and consciousness. I’ll cite the other instances in which Urza was killed, or virtually killed. Such as when Multani killed him by absorbing Urza’s essence into Yavimaya. I seriously doubt that any other Planeswalker could have survived as long or been able to escape as he did. Or the time when the Time Barrier between Tolaria and K`rrk’s Realm nearly ripped Urza out of existence. I argue that his Powerstones greatly contributed to his ability to survive those instances.
When Urza finally died as he fired the Legacy Weapon, his Spark was not returned to the Blind Eternities. Instead, his Spark was trapped by the Powerstone eyes, as it has done several times before. Then, those Powerstone eyes, which were at the time merged with Karn on a fundamental level, became the medium of the transfer of the Spark. Upon the death of Urza, the death of his consciousness, Karn was left merged with the Powerstone eyes and, therefore, the Spark.
(TL;DR)
The Powerstone eyes can trap Sparks
Karn and Urza were fundamentally merged while the firing of the Legacy Weapon
Upon Urza’s death, the Powerstone eyes trapped his Spark
As he died, the Powerstone eyes were left to Karn by default
Karn’s consciousness filled the gap Urza’s death left behind
Therefore, Karn gained the Spark and became a Planeswalker
Venser’s Transfer of his Spark to Karn
The key here was, once again, The Powerstone eyes. Karn had sacrified his Spark (Originally Urza’s Spark) to fix the Rift on Tolaria.
I suggest that Venser was able to planeswalk/teleport himself into Karn’s Powerstone eyes. But as he did so, Venser’s body died, killing the consciousness associated with it. Once again, Karn was, for the briefest of moments, fundamentally merged with a Planeswalker. The Planeswalker died, leaving Karn the Spark by default...again. Venser’s knowledge about both artifacts and teleportation (and arguably thereby planeswalking) is what made this pinpoint teleportation possible.
(TL;DR)
Venser tried to teleport/planeswalk into Karn’s Powerstone eyes
With his knowledge of teleportation and artifacts, Venser succeeded
But Venser’s body died during the process, killing off his consciousness
Karn was, once again, left with a Spark by default
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed what you read. If you did, press that “Reblog” button. For more Story Telling Time articles, hit that “Follow” button.
My next Treatise is titled: ‘A Treatise on the Nature of Planeswalkers” which will complete this series on Planeswalkers, Sparks, and Planeswalking. See you next time!
I only tag blogs for my articles that I feel merit it. If any of you find this practice in any way improper, let me know. I use this judiciously and only for my biggest works, so I hope it is no mistake of mine to do so. Let me know if you feel otherwise. I am tagging the Vorthos blogs I know, my biggest fans, and most of the people I follow.
After a long Hiatus, here’s the finale of Kheve’s Igniton and transition to the next little story thing! I apologize for the wait but after Amonkhet, I’ve been making some changes to Arranger (due to the Smoke basically being the Curse of Wandering. Great mind’s think alike), I had finals, and I was just having writers block. Plus, this chapter just kept getting longer and longer and I had to cut it off. (Roughly 2,500 words)
Anyway, here ya go, under the break!
Kheve stared at Ithora, running a cloth over his Kithos to clean the long bladed weapon. The action came as naturally as breathing him and was a nice outlet for his energy as he digested the new information. The steadiness and familiarity of the blade always helped ground him when something tough was happening.
“So, I’m a…Planeswalker?” He asked, having listened to her little explanation for the past hour or two. As soon as they had arrived, the woman had sat him down, sent Ridil and Sana away and started explaining the multiverse to him. Quite bluntly too, dismissing his doubts and questions until she finished.
“Glad you were listening despite that blank look on your face,” The red head said, reclining back on the chair she had commandeered. “Planeswalker. Meaning that the Multiverse is your playground. You have power now, Ghildeer. And it seems that you’ve squandered it. Any plane and here you are, a runner on Kaladesh. Disappointing.”
“Hardly my fault,” Kheve glared, blood running hot at the insult. “It’s not like you told me anything to help on that end. I ended up here with no explanation. I was almost convinced that Arangar….was gone.”
“Of course it isn’t.” Ithora snorted, brushing her hands off as she got to her feet. “Now are you ready to go? I have use for you, assuming you haven’t lost your edge. And judging from what you did to those goons earlier, I doubt it. Though that violatile nature of yours is rather annoying to deal with.”
“Of course not….wait, I can’t just leave. What about Ridil and Sana?”
“The dwarf and the girl? I do suppose you want to talk to them first before we leave.”
“I’m not leaving. Those two…they’re important to me.” Kheve snapped, snapping his blade into its back sheath. “I-”
“It’s not like we’re not coming back. I just plan on showing you how your powers work and few planes, maybe get your assistance on some matters.” She sighed at him. “I’m not abducting you here. Just tell them that I’m offering you a job or something like that.”
“Fine,” Kheve nodded, making some sense of Ithora’s points. Perhaps it was for the best if they didn’t know the complete truth, it would really bug them. Besides, he was itching to see the rest of the ‘multiverse’ now. He found that he didn’t doubt Ithora at all, he knew that what she had said was the truth. Not to say he trusted her. She had managed to keep this from everyone one on Arangar and she always seemed to be plotting something at all times anyway. “I’ll do that and then we can get going.”
“Very well, just make it quick. I would like to get going.” Ithora agreed. “’I’m leaving in two hours, with or without you.”
Kheve stumbled, body shaking from the drain of planeswalking. He took a deep breath as he tried to gather himself. He wasn’t prepared for the amount of energy the magic would take. It was an odd feeling, different then using any old magic.
Suddenly he felt a burning sensation against his skin and whipped out his blade, looking around. Ithora stood before him, dark blue magic calmly swirling off her fingers. She smiled at him as the magic faded.
“Lesson one, Ghildeer. Always be ready for a fight after planeswalking. You never know what will be on the other side of a planeswalk and if you aren’t prepared, it could spell disaster for you.” She commented, ignoring his glare.
“Then why didn’t you just say that instead of blasting me with magic?” Kheve grumbled as he brushed himself off and looked around the new plane. They appeared to be in a long curving road that cut through a mountain, leading to towering gothic structures in the distance. He felt a shiver run down his spin. There was a darkness looming in the air, it seemed more pervasive than just the dusk that floated around them.
“Because that wouldn’t have gotten the point across,” Ithora pointed out before clapping her hands. “And welcome to Innistrad. As much as I’d like to be able to stand around and gawk, we should get moving. Things may be problematic if we don’t reach Thraben by nightfall. I’ll answer any questions you may have on the way.”
“Innistrad, Thraben?” Kheve inquired, feeling rather better as they started walking. However, his gaze flicked nervously about them, ready for any of the trouble that his companion had mentioned.
“Thraben is a town, rather well defended and as safe as you get here on Innistrad.” Ithora answered calmly, keeping their pace swift as the light faded. Her apparent rush was a slight cause of concern. The mage woman caught on to his concerns and elaborated. “Innistrad has some dark influences. Monsters are more prevalent here, werewolves, vampires and the like. They get rather aggressive at night.”
“Oh, wonderful.” He said, walking quietly for a moment. “Alright, next question. Why are you helping me? You’re hardly one for charity, unless you’ve changed dramatically since I last spoke to you.”
“No, I’m not. Though nothing is ever as simple as it seems. I followed your exploits back on Arangar. I know what you’re capable of, and that was before your spark ever even ignited.” Came the reply. “So, just look at it this way then. You’re a planeswalker now and some day, I may need to call in this favor?”
“So you’re just helping me for a debt?”
“Hardly. The Multiverse is a big place. I like having access to so many different places but there are a lot of different threats about. I think you’ll help keep the multiverse…healthy. And….” She paused, staring at him and pursing her lips for a second. “No, never mind.”
“Right. What dangers are…wait, what’s sound?” The warrior stopped, looking around. They were surrounded by trees, with the walls of what he assumed to be Thraben peeking over the tops. He’d relaxed but the sound of twisted howls queued him to draw his weapon, and made him wish he’d grabbed his offhand one as well.
No sooner had it left his sheath that a clawed shadow slammed into him, knocking him back. The beast snarled at him as he slid to a stop, lightning crackling about his body. It appeared to be a wolf, but with longer limbs and an odd gleam to its eyes. One of the werewolves Ithora had spoken about. It snapped forward but Kheve was ready this time and flashed to the side whipping his weapon around in a viscous arc and biting deeply into the wolf’s side. It howled and twisted, slashing with its long claws.
Kheve hissed as the claws cut into his flesh before kicking his foe back, then charging the off balance and his blade twirling around with deadly precision. With a whimper, the dog fell to the ground, dead. He felt a pang of guilt from killing it, knowing that it used to be a human. His grievance was quickly interrupted by another snarling beast from the woods.
The arangarian reacted quickly, adrenaline rushing through his body now. Arms raised, lightning blasted out from his body in a beam. A howl and the smell of burnt flesh filled the night as Kheve’s second foe fell to the ground in a heap. Kheve walked toward it, ready for more retaliation but the beast just looked at him with glassy eyes. He paused. In that moment, the wolf scrambled to its feet and fled, disappearing into the darkness.
Kheve smiled, glad to have one threat gone before standing still, his staccato breathing peppering the sudden calm. Slowly, the lightning he was generating faded and he relaxed. His gaze snapped back in a panic, sudden concern for his companion reemerging. He hadn’t paid attention to Ithora during the fight and if she was injured or worse…
Yet Ithora was calmly smoothing her robes as dark black-blue fog churned maliciously around her. Several ethereal swords drifted calmly orbited her as if waiting for someone to try something, like attack dogs. Smiling at him, she waved her hands and the dark fogs and weaponry faded into wisps. “Well, wasn’t that invigorating? I’d hoped to avoid that; it seems I miscalculated some. You have my apologies.”
Kheve opened his mouth to speak but his cuts suddenly burned painfully as the rush of battle left him. He gritted his teeth, focusing on ignoring the pain. Ithora raised an eyebrow. “You were injured? Well, we better get to town than. Until then…”
The woman pulled some cloth out of a pouch, quickly putting a poultice onto it before wrapping his wound and slipping the vial back into her robes. “There. That will numb the pain and staunch the bleeding.”
“Thanks.” He said quickly, motioning for her to continue leading. He had no interest in slowing and showing his pain. He was out of practice, two wolves nearly ending him, and that truth cut deeper than any battle scar, not exactly wanting to share that.
The rest of the walk was done in silence, ending rather soon as they came upon large town gates. Two guards stood watch on the walls, spotting them quickly. They seemed to be giving them the once over but the second guard was already starting to prepare to open the gate. “Hail, you two. Names and business in Thraben, please.”
“Of course, of course. Lady Ithora, my body guard and I are coming to meet with some clients we have here. Unfortunately, we were just ambushed by some werewolves in the forest nearby and he was injured.”
“Werewolves? Are you two alright?” Concern suddenly replaced the bored tones of the guards. “I’ll fetch the Cathar of the Sun immediately, I believe he was planning to go hunt those particular werewolves soon anyway, they’ve been a nuisance and-“
“There’s no need for that. Despite Kheve’s…. unkempt appearance, my guard is extremely adept. Those werewolves won’t be a bother anymore,” Ithora interrupted, waving a hand dismissively.
“Oh…well, alright. Welcome to Thraben, then. I assume you know the healer’s place?” The guard said, recovering from his surprise rather quickly.
“Of course,” Ithora said with a smile at the guard, before motioning to Kheve follow. The warrior followed, mouthing ‘Unkempt?’ with more than a touch of annoyance. The mage just rolled her eyes and walked into Thraben, with a nod of thanks to the guards.
Two hours later, a healed Kheve accompanied Ithora to the front of a towering manor in the back of the town. She’d dropped him off at some house that kept spotting nonsense about “Avacyn this” and “Avacyn that” while they cast some light healing spells on him. If it hadn’t actually healed his wound, he would have continued to ask about that Avacyn lady but his first query on the subject had only garnered some odd looks and he resigned himself to silence until Ithora retrieved him.
“Yes, yes, of course I know who Avacyn is. She’s the Guardian Angel of Innistrad. She’s the one who grants the priests their magic and wards.” Ithora said after his inquiries. “And sorry for leaving you there, I wasn’t lying about those clients and I needed to stop by them before coming back here.”
“This plane is strange.” Kheve sighed, shaking his head. “And I can’t shake this feeling I have about it. Like something is about to jump me at all times.”
“Indeed. Innistrad does have an air about it. Always making you feel like you have to look over your shoulder,” Ithora agreed before slamming the knocker against the door. “I like the architecture though.”
Several seconds passed before the large double doors creaked open and a young man’s face peeked out. The face quickly split into a grin and the door was thrown open. “Mistress Ithora! You’re back!”
“Ah, Garth.” The planeswalker smiled as the door was thrown open for her. “It is good to see you again. Has everything been well in my absence?”
“Of course, I have kept everything as you left it. An inspector came by last week but it was rather ritual and no problems arose.” The man said, closing the door behind the duo as he brushed his suit. “Will you or your guest require any assistance?”
“I don’t think so; we’ll just be using the basement.”
“Ah, I understand. Well, I will go prepare some refreshments for you then.” The butler gave a quick bow before heading making his way toward what Kheve assumed to be the kitchen. “I wish you luck, Lady Ithora.”
“Thank you, Garth.” Ithora smiled, motioning for Kheve to follow her as she produced a key from her robes and unlocked a door, revealing a downward spiraling stair case.
“Now, I know you have more questions, Ghildeer, but please hold them for the moment.” The witch commented as they descended. “I will answer them in time. Until then, I’ll explain what we’re doing on Innistrad because I know you’ve been keeping questions about Arangar barely held back.”
“How…?”
“Mind reading, to some extent. Not that I needed it. Your desire to return Arangar is splayed over your face. It was your home after all,” Ithora unlocked another door at the bottom of the stair case. “But I have kept you from Arangar for a reason. You’re dead there. It’s been three years since your little stunt. Not to mention Arangar has changed since then. You need to be ready when you head back, not on an impulse like you would now.”
“What do you mean, changed? And-“ Kheve frowned, staring at Ithora intently, crossing his arms. “What’s to stop me from going back right now?”
Ithora sighed deeply, rubbing her temples. “Nothing, actually. You could planeswalk there right now. Nothing is stopping you but I am simply warning you here. Arangar is not as you left it and you shouldn’t return until you are ready to accept that.”
“And that’s it?”
“Of course not,” Ithora chuckled, as if the mere proposition was insulting. “I would like you to stay, discover your powers and limits. That said, I do have my own reasons for that. I’m not asking for you to not return but Planeswalkers are a rarity and I don’t want you to throw your life away, if only because I’d like to use you later.”
“That’s rather blunt of you,” Kheve said, rather surprised at her honesty. He’d never trusted her back on Arangar. She always seemed to know more than she let on and always knew what she wasn’t supposed to. This honesty was new. Had she changed this much in three years?
“I thought you’d appreciate it.” Ithora waved her hand before procuring another key to unlock a second door. This one opened up to a massive underground chamber, large arching pillars of support lined the walls. Blue balls of flame burst to life to illuminate the tables and different workstations that ringed what appeared to be some sort of arena in the middle. “Now, are you going what I have to teach you or run off and get yourself killed again?”
It has been a while since I was last able to really sit down and spend some time to write up another Treatise. But Spring Break gave me a couple of days to do some research and a few days to pick back up before school got back in full swing again. So I took advantage.
As is usual for many of my articles, this is more than just a regurgitation of information and history. I’ve used that stuff to write this off and base my thoughts upon, but, as with most of my articles, this Treatise is mostly based on the idea of interpreting the information and understanding it within the context of the storytelling as a whole.
This time, I’ve written an essay about The Nature of Planeswalking. Please note that this is not an essay about The Nature of The Planeswalker Spark. =). Because that one is coming up next. I’ve already started work on that one and, so far, that one is looking really cool too.
But for now, please read and enjoy my most recent Treatise: “On The Nature Of Planeswalking”.
The Mending
We must first discuss what exactly The Mending did before we can talk about the nature of planeswalking. This event is far too important to ignore.
Before The Mending, Old Walkers were capable of planeswalking with hardly more than a thought. We see this example several times throughout the stories related to the Old Walkers as they manage to planeswalk even mid sentence. But there is one except from Invasion that really catches my attention. An interesting interaction between Teferi and Urza as they try to disrupt one of Phyrexia’s planar portals.
“Urza. Abruptly, they were both gone... The pair flashed again into being, and simultaneously out. It was as though they were mere boys, racing for the water hole. A capricious light shone in their eyes when next they appeared... Faster they flashed, and faster. Their grins only deepened.” - Invasion
Let us compare this example of Old Walkers to examples of planeswalking we have in the Post-Mending world.
In Agents of Artifice we see Jace and Baltrice planeswalk to Kamigawa from Ravnica.
“Jace climbed from the murky water, flopped down on the nearest spot of dry land, and just breathed. There were few magics more tiring than walking. He could have risen immediately if he’d had to, but given the opportunity, he preferred to gather his strength. So he lay still and took a moment to examine his surroundings.”-Agents of Artifice
From this we can tell that modern planeswalking is no easy task, even for a Planeswalker as powerful and experienced as Baltrice. This alone is evidence of the effects of The Mending, though it doesn't exactly explain why. Agents of Artifice provides us even more information about what planeswalking is like in the Post-Mending multiverse when Lilliana is discussing with Jace Tezzeret’s Infinity Globes which he uses for near instantaneous planeswalking.
“As I understand it,” she continued, “They’re made of an etherium filigree, so tightly packed it’s almost fused. It provides a lot of the power you’d normally have to focus from the world around you, so you don’t need to spend more than a few seconds in concentration.”- Agents of Artifice
If given a huge burst of energy is enough to cut the time it takes to planeswalk down to a few seconds, then imagine how long it might take normally. I would assume it takes a the least a minute. We have seen examples of near instant planeswalking, such as with Kiora escaping Thassa and the multiple instances that Dak Fayden did it. However, we are also aware that when planeswalkers do this, they are left almost entirely spent by the end of it.
So now we have seen that planeswalking is both exhausting and time consuming. This is yet more evidence of the changes The Mending brought.Is change in the nature of planeswalking something we can simply attribute to the changes in power levels between Old Walkers and Modern Walkers? I don’t think so. And neither does Nahiri.
“They had been a soap bubble; now they were a barrier that would take will and time to overcome.” -Stone and Blood
Here we see that Nahiri also used to find planeswalking a simple act, confirming the contents of Planeswalker and Invasion. But it is this next quote that gives us a better idea about what actually changed when Nahiri tries to planeswalk for the first time after she was released from the Helvault.
“She pushed, the way she always had. The problem wasn't strength. The walls really were higher, thicker. The Blind Eternities were less connected to this place than they had been when she arrived. The shape of the universe had changed, while she fell. She could feel it.”- Stone and Blood
The fact that she arrived after both the Helvault and Avacyn were completed and was released after the shattering of the Helvault provides strong evidence that these observations about the “walls” don’t apply only to Innistrad. From this evidence we can surmise that the challenge of planeswalking isn’t necessarily inherent to the planeswalkers but rather in the nature of the Blind Eternities.
A final piece of evidence I wish to present is one I will discuss in greater detail further down. This one is also from a former Old Walker.
“... Tezzeret was building something like an old-fashioned planar portal, the sort of thing that had caused so much chaos in Dominaria's ancient history. As far as she had known, such things were impossible now, now that the Multiverse had...changed.”-Puppets
Note her words. “...now that the Multiverse had...changed.”
This provides an interesting perspective. But just how much did The Mending change the nature of Planeswalkers themselves? Allow me to speculate some.
****Start Speculation****
We see Nahiri is surprised that her body is no longer an extension of her self awareness as it was for all Old Walkers before The Mending. From this we can discern that planeswalkers are now mortal entities of flesh and blood. We also know for certain that modern planeswalkers cannot create their own planes as Bolas and Karn and Serra and who knows how many others did.
Here is the speculative part. What if the reason they can’t do this anymore isn’t because they changed. But because of the way they access mana changed? Perhaps the “depowering” of the Old Walkers is strongly correlated to the way leylines connect across planes. If these leylines are significantly more difficult to access, could it be possible that this is why modern Planeswalkers are far weaker than before? If the “walls” of the Multiverse have thickened, it is not unfair to claim that the interplanar Leylines would also be affected.
Could this be why Bolas wanted to absorb the Maelstrom? Because that exact place represented a nexus of leylines that bound the shards of Alara together? Would being able to have the kind of access to the leylines of the Blind Eternities that he used to have made him a god again?
Along this same thought process, could this be why Bolas took such an interest in the Hedrons of Zendikar? The Hedrons powerfully manipulate Leylines, enough to enough to bind the Eldrazi Titans. Could Bolas’ interest in them have had anything to do with their ability to manipulate the Leylines? This would also seem to line up with the concept that the reason modern Planeswalkers are significantly weaker is because of the stronger barriers around the Leylines of the Blind Eternities?
****End Speculation****
From the presented evidence, despite my speculation, we can take a pretty confident assumption that the changes that The Mending brought were changes to the Blind Eternities and the Multiverse, not necessarily to the Spark itself. Now, I must emphasize a very important point. It is under this fact that the rest of this article operates.
The Nuances of Planeswalking
So we now know that planeswalking takes time and effort. But what are the other nuances of planeswalking?
Arriving To A Plane
Why is it that Planeswalkers don’t planeswalk into a mountain or at the bottom of the ocean? We do have some insight provided to us through the eyes of Xantcha, who traveled with Urza for more hundreds of years.
“Urza insisted he had no advance idea of what a new plane was like, no way at all of selecting the exact place where his feet would touch the ground, yet, more often than not, he 'walked out of the between-worlds in sight of a road and a town.” - Planeswalker
This sentence gives us a couple of clues.
1) Planes are a mystery to planeswalkers before they arrive to them
2) They always land on a stable surface
3) They usually arrive at places that can best have them arrive to their world safely
These are incredibly important details, details critical to storytelling of course. Without these rules planeswalking would be so hazardous no one would ever do it. These sets of rules apply specifically to planeswalkers arriving on a plane they have never been to before.
It seems that the rules for planeswalking to a familiar plane are a little more flexible. When Urza planeswalks to Koilos, Xantcha makes the following observation.
“Planes-walking couldn't easily take him to a place he didn't quite remember.”-Planeswalker
From this excerpt we see that it is possible to planeswalk to a location that is well known and familiar. Looking again at the events in Invasion when Teferi and Urza disrupt the planar portal, we see that it is possible to planeswalk to an exact location, assuming one knows the place well enough.
Following Another To A Plane
In “The Battle of Thraben”, Jace, Nissa, Gideon, and Chandra arrive within a few meters of each other to a place none of them have been to before. How is this possible if planeswalking to a new plane is unpredictable? In Agents of Artifice we see what following a planeswalker to an unfamiliar plane is like through Jace’s eyes as he followed Baltrice to Kamigawa.
“Ahead he saw a flickering road, a ribbon of fire that stretched into the distance. At its end was a burning husk, a dead tree that crackled and flamed but was never consumed, and he knew it was the Spark of the woman he followed. He wondered, briefly, what his own looked like to her, then swiftly gave up conscious thought and simply followed. For a time he could not possibly measure, he walked in her path. It was a tenuous lifeline he followed, the burning line of footsteps she left behind, footprints that wavered and shifted and— a time or two— even rose and floated away. Tenuous, but it would suffice. -Agents of Artifice
By keeping a sense of another’s Spark, assuming that the time interval between leaving is relatively short, Planeswalkers can follow each other to new planes and still arrive in the same place.
****Start Speculation****
Allow me another moment of speculation. Every planeswalker has their set of magical talents, things they excel at. I believe that Garruk has a gift for chasing people across the planes. Following Liliana is not something I imagine would be easy, especially given that he had been Veil Cursed before he took off in pursuit. Following a trail left by another planeswalker, even when within close physical and temporal proximity, even when you know the Spark bearer, seems to be a challenge in itself. But to follow a stranger’s path outside of these conditions doesn’t seem feasible. So how would he find her after she left him on Shaldalaar? It is my belief that Garruk has a unique ability to follow planeswalkers through the planes- this would be reflective of his natural skill in tracking things while plane bound. This ability certainly sounds very useful should it be used in the name of The Gatewatch... *conspiratorial eyebrow raise*
****End Speculation****
The Nature of the Multiverse
When Urza was searching the multiverse for Yawgmoth’s home plane, he traveled all the way to the end of time, to Equilor, as he searched for answers. During their long journey, he and Xantcha landed on thousands of planes and we learn though her several important details about the Multiverse.
The Size of the Multiverse
The Multiverse is not infinite. Not by definition, at least. But the innumerable quantity of worlds it hosts is easily beyond the capacity of anyone, probably even Old Walkers to ever discover.
“Urza insisted that, compared to the mul-tiverse, a thousand worlds could be properly termed a "few" worlds.” -Planeswalker
The definition of a “few” can certainly vary. But I understand Urza to be an immensely patient individual. Prone to emotional outbursts, of course. But so, so, patient. To me, this fact helps me understand what “a few” could look like as opposed to what a generally impulsive and impatient individual would consider a few.
Sentient Life Across The Multiverse
So we know that The Multiverse is big. Very big. But how many of these worlds actually are meaningful- stated another way, how many of these worlds have intelligent life on them? Much to Xantcha’s dismay, we see that most planes simply aren’t hospitable to sentient life. Let us read the following sentence with the understanding that Xantcha was raised on the first layer of Phyrexia. Her definition of “hospitable” is far harsher than most humans can endure for long.
“Every handful of worlds held one that was hospitable enough for Xantcha.... Every ten or twelve handfuls of hospitable worlds revealed one that was interesting” -Planeswalker
How many are a handful? Let’s be literal and say ten. Literally a handful. This would mean that 10% of the planes are habitable. Note, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it actually is inhabited. Merely that the world is capable of sustaining life. If it did contain life, that life might be limited to things such as fish or moss. But I doubt even that.
But in about another 11 handfuls or so, another 100-110ish worlds, there is one world that has enough life to be interesting. This would mean that the world has fauna, flora, and enough stable ecosystems to create a world worth exploring. This doesn’t mean that there is sentient life on this world. Only that life on the planet has become rich enough to be entertaining to someone raised on Phyrexia. Given that much of Phyrexia was a hellhole of mechanical monstrosities, something as simple as a butterfly could be considered entertaining. At least to me.
We don’t get an idea about how many of these “interesting worlds” have sentient life. For the purposes of this theoretical exercise let us use Urza’s definition of a “few” planes- 1000. Taking a generous leap of saying that even half of these “interesting” worlds could have sentient life, that would give you about 4-in-1000 worlds, or in simpler terms, 1-in-250.
Sentient Life Variety Across The Multiverse
So what does sentient life look like across the multiverse? Xantcha makes a very interesting observation of the diversity of life during her travels with Urza.
“The multiverse might well contain an infinite number of worlds, but it had no more than two-score of sentient types, if Xantcha followed Urza's example and disregarded those types that, though clearly sentient, were also completely feral and without the hope of civilization.” - Planeswalker
While the definition of “civilization” can be up for debate, the word “feral” helps a lot with understanding in context in which that word was used. We know for certain that Urza doesn’t think of tribal organizations as “feral” or “uncivilized” for we have seen him interact with the goblins, viashino, and humans of Ghitu who could easily be defined as tribal.
Let us look at the current known sentient species of the multiverse. To set some ground rules, I will only be including beings that are found on more than one plane and defining it using Urza’s definition of sentient. I’m also restricting this to species where all the members of the species are sentient. This excludes entities such as Brinelin and Lorthos since I doubt that krakens in general would fit into Urza’s definition.
Human
Vedalken
Loxodon
Rhox
Leonin
Elf
Dryad
Elemental
Merfolk
Naga
Djinn/Efreet
Dryad
Spirit
Dwarf
Viashino
Goblin
Devil
Demon
Angel
Dragon
Giant
Shapeshifter
Vampire
Tree folk
Kor
Aven
Troll
Sphinx
Ogre
Imp
Centaur
Orc
Minotaur
Archon
Gorgon
Cyclops
Would you look at that. No more than two score. With the arrival of more planes in the card game I’m sure we’ll add to this list probably Ainok soon. But even still we’ve got room for another 4 species. Wow Xantcha! Spot on observation!
Proximity In The Multiverse
The Blind Eternities don’t have the dimensions required to be grasped as a measure of direction. However, we are aware that there is a measure of proximity. If Dominaria was hundreds of years of near-constant planeswalking away from Equilor, it indicates that there is something that can be understood as proximity. Add to this is what we learn when Urza tries to go back home to Dominaria after it shut him out. He probes Dominaria from every “direction” he could to find out if it was possible to planeswalk there at all.
She took his arm and followed to a "few" more worlds, thirty-three, before he was satisfied that Dominaria was inaccessible behind what he called a shard of the multiverse. -Planeswalker
This sentence gives us the idea that there are at least 33 ways to `walk to a plane. We don’t know how many more probes Urza tried. But this does provide even more proof that there is some sense of proximity in the multiverse. In fact, in Urza’s own words we hear:
“There is an element of proximity in the multiverse...”- Planeswalker
Really. There could be no more solid evidence.
The Overlap Between The Characteristics Of Planeswalking And The Nature Of The Multiverse
Hospitable Words
While we know that there are only so many hospitable worlds in the Multiverse, how is it that modern Planeswalkers are able to move about without randomly arriving on a plane made entirely of toxic gas or boiling lava? While we have seen that even Old Walkers can’t tell what a new plane is like before arriving, we have seen that Planeswalkers seem to be able to tell which worlds are habitable for them.
“...she never understood how Urza found anything in the between-worlds, much less how he distinguished hospitable worlds from inhospitable ones, near from far.” -Planeswalker
This is a convenient story point in that it allows planeswalkers to travel without dying on some unknown plane randomly because they happened to travel there. Especially given how far and few in between hospitable worlds are, why would anyone bother to planeswalk when there is a 90% chance they would arrive and die on a strange world?
The Multiverse Though A Planeswalker’s Eyes
So what does planeswalking look like from a planeswalker’s perspective? Urza gives us an idea of how we can comprehend it.
'Walking the between-worlds wasn't like walking down a path. There was no north or south, left or right, only the background glow of all the planes that were and, rising out of the glow, a sense of those planes that a 'walker could reach in a single stride. By choosing the faintest of the rising planes at each step, Urza insisted they would in time arrive at Equilor, the plane on the edge of time ” -Planeswalker
It’s hard to make sense of what this sentence means when seen at face value. But once we start taking in the other details discussed so far, we get some clues as to what these sentences mean.
The words “By choosing the faintest of the rising planes...” gives us strong evidence to assume that the intensity of the glow is what indicates how proximal the plane is with regards to the Planeswalker.
Were I to take a guess, the color of these glows would provide a clue as to whether or not these planes are hospitable. While this second assumption falls into the realm of speculation, it as fair a guess as can be extrapolated from our current evidence.
Other Forms of Extraplanar Travel
There are other ways to move about between the planes other than just Planeswalking. Those we have seen are:
The path used by The Myojin of Night’s Reach
Phyrexia’s Ambulators, Gates, and Portals
Overlays
And (Arguably) The Void
And (Also Arguably) Elder Dragons
With the changes of The Mending, how many of these methods are still possible? Are any of them still possible? Let’s discuss each of these individually.
The Path Used By The Myojin of Night’s Reach
According to @vorthosjay, there is a theory that the only reason that the path used by the Myojin of Night’s Reach was possible was because of the ringing of the apocalypse chime which weakened the barriers between worlds.
Beside that theory, we have little evidence toward or away from the idea that this type of travel is still possible. I will, however, argue that this type is travel is impossible post-Mending given to the changes of the "walls” between planes. This theory holds especially true if we assume @vorthosjay‘s theory is valid, which I do believe.
Phyrexia’s Ambulators and Gates/Portals
Phyrexia’s portals were incredible and mysterious feats. We have seen their planar portals be small enough to be carried by singular individuals (these are called ambulators). We have seen them be huge enough to transfer legions and legions of Phyrexian battleships and troops.
The way that Xantcha described the ambulators can only give us so much information.
“The ambulators could be anchored anywhere. Once unrolled, they were tunnels, direct passages from one specific place to another, no detours allowed, but a 'walker made his own path here, there and everywhere...”-Planeswalker
And later we see...
"Searcherpriests don't "walk between-worlds...They use ambulators, but I don't know how they set the stones to find new worlds.”-Planeswalker
It’s not much to work with other than the fact that these ambulators (and by this logic portals/gates) creates something like a planar tunnel. Urza eventually figured out and taught Xantcha how to set the portals, so apparently there was some kind of logic to it. Were I to speculate, I would guess that these stones set the planar coordinates.
But in the post-Mending multiverse, are such things possible?
Old Walkers who survived The Mending experienced the changes in the Multiverse seem to believe that such technology is no longer possible. At least, Liliana thought it impossible, and she’s from Dominaria where there would be the most knowledge about interplanar travel via technology available.
“...Tezzeret was building something like an old-fashioned planar portal, the sort of thing that had caused so much chaos in Dominaria's ancient history. As far as she had known, such things were impossible now, now that the Multiverse had...changed.” -Puppets
However, there is powerful evidence that travel via technology is still possible as seen in Breakthrough when Rashmi beholds the Multiverse.
Overlays
The only instance in which this has happened is when the artificial plane of Rath aligned its planar coordinates with Dominaria’s. Very unique and very special circumstances. I am virtually 100% certain this will never happen again. Enough said with this.
The Void and the Elder Dragons
In this respect, I will have to defer to @vorthosjay once again. His understanding is significantly better than mine when it comes to this subject. The Void itself an interesting subject I am willing to discuss further in another article. But for now, let @vorthosjay‘s words carry the weight behind these two remaining methods of travel.
Conclusion
Planeswalking is still something we only know so much about. We have sufficient evidence to have an understanding of the action as a whole, but we cannot and will not understand the exact science behind it. There is simply no need to know so much detail. That mystique is part of what makes planeswalkers so special to us as fans. Also, establishing hard and fast rules set in stone is dangerous to the Creative Team. It puts restrictions on them. Even so, the information we have now is quite enough to keep us busy.
Thank you for reading. I hope you found this Treatise informative and entertaining. As a storyteller, sometimes there are things that I simply must talk about. This is one of those subjects and I am glad I finally made time to get around to it.
If you liked what you read, hit that “Reblog” button. For more insights into Magic: The Gathering’s storytelling, hit that “Follow” button. Check out my blog and search up “ premiere issue “ to see my greatest works. Or, you could press the “Premiere Issue” Tagegory Button on the left side of the blog.
The next subjects I intend to write a Treatise about is “The Nature of the Planeswalker Spark”. I’ve already made good progress on it but I’ll save it for another date.
Thanks again!
- @the-foxwolf
I only tag blogs for my articles that I feel merit doing so. If any of you find this practice in any way improper, let me know. I use this judiciously and only for my biggest works, so I hope it is no mistake of mine to do so. Let me know if you feel otherwise. I am tagging the Vorthos blogs I know, my biggest fans, and most of the people I follow.
Looking over final edits for Episode 1 of Planeswalking. #planeswalking #mtg #magicthegathering #podcast #pilot #comingsoon #editing https://www.instagram.com/p/CFvYXLinyx9/?igshid=1bi8n4mw9ntpm
In the studio again today!!!!! One day at a time, one step at a time. Can’t wait for all of you to hear it. #recording #voiceover #podcast #magicthegathering #planeswalking #planeswalker #studio #patience https://www.instagram.com/p/CFR-eabn8Y5/?igshid=1g2b3chk9zx02
A new Magic the Gathering podcast in development. Fictional based podcast that takes you into the Magic the Gathering Multiverse as your hosts try to find their way home. Stay tuned for more on our development and release dates. #mtg #mtgarena #planeswalker #planeswalking #planeswalkingmtg #tcg #podcast #development #new #passion #artitst #herewego https://www.instagram.com/p/CFANjwSnZlY/?igshid=1rw1grf4hm09e
