Jan 2
I need a story with these two as the main focus. Maybe with them as adversaries pre-Invasion and allies post-Invasion. Just an idea I had as I look through cards. 🙃
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I need a story with these two as the main focus. Maybe with them as adversaries pre-Invasion and allies post-Invasion. Just an idea I had as I look through cards. 🙃
New Capenna: Factions
The New Capenna sneak peek stream contained a brief summary of each of the five factions, but no text version of them were in the associated article. Here’s a transcription.
The Obscura (Esper/white-blue-black)
The Gifted Magicians. Talented wizards and mystics, who use their powers to deceive and blackmail. Using distractions, illusions and hidden mechanisms, they orchestrate scenarios and manipulate outcomes to their benefit. They endeavor to maintain a facade of normalcy in their everyday lives, to allow them to run their schemes without disruption.
The Maestros (Grixis/blue-black-red)
The Elite Assassins. Old money vampires who love the finer things in life and are willing to kill to get them. They maintain a public front as an upstanding organisation of art afficionados, with the goal of preserving the art and culture of Old Capenna. Beneath this polished veneer, they are a shadowy organisation of elite assassins, focused on maintaining power, influence and wealth.
The Riveteers (Jund/black-red-green)
The Destruction Workers. Tough as nails artisans who can break buildings as easily as kneecaps. They're a rowdy, brute-force crime faction who's skills in industry and construction also makes them pros at demolition and intimidation. As skilled artisans, they've transformed the lower levels of the city into a layer worthy of their draconic leader.
The Cabaretti (Naya/red-green-white)
The Party Monsters. A fun-loving cult of druids who throw the hottest parties in town. They're the glitterati of the city and everyone wants to be invited to their feasts and dance halls. They use ancient magic to sway the opinion of the masses and keep the Halo flowing. The party never ends if you keep paying, but the moment you stop you might fight it hard to leave.
The Brokers (Bant/green-white-blue)
The Demonic Lawyers. A demonic law firm that secretly believes a doomsday prophecy, that when the Halo dries up, New Capenna will fail. They maintain public law offices where they handle mundane legal matters like property disputes and physical grievances, but their aggressive solicitors have a dubious reputation for being everywhere, and showing up at every crisis in the city.
so close to blorbofying jaxis the troublemaker... Imagine her boxing style. Super fast hurricane of blows that'd be tough to beat on her own, except she also has shadows around her throwing their own punches in, to make it nigh impossible to predict or defend against.
So if we presume that planes continue to evolve as we saw with Kamigawa, does that mean that given their culture that New Capenna would, theoretically, be able to have gangs based on the families reenact West Side Story.
Could you envision more modern Capenna??
Do y'all want me to get into the weird poly thing the family heads have going on? Because this is how you get me to get into that.
The Obscura have always tread the fine line between "totally legit psychics" and "scam psychics". The invention of things like TV and phones would only exacerbate that already-existing problem.
The invention of new things would also open the doorway to more "methods" for the Obscura to use in their various divinations. They already had cards, crystal balls, and the like before, but someone invents the pendulum (only $9.99 if you call this definitely tolled number!) and it's all the rage for a few years among Obscura agents.
Raffine thinks it's funny as shit and has her own "psychic hotline" for the particularly wealthy to use.
The invention of more modern technology would also improve illusions and sleight-of-hand tricks. You can't tell me the Obscura wouldn't be all over that. Sure, they could just use their own magic, but if there's an easier and cheaper way, why not add that to your repertoire?
Conning people is just so easy in the modern age is what I'm saying.
The Maestros are going to be all over modern art movements, okay? Let's just make that one clear. Opening up the doorway to different types of art (such as pop art, which was popular in the 1940s to 1950s in the United States) leads to a broader range of museums with their own unique flairs.
While Xander hasn't been a fan of every art movement, he does get what they're going for and respects the grind, because holy shit they had to invent all sorts of new techniques and technology to make these pieces. He also has a soft spot for a few of the newer ones, but you'll never hear him say it aloud. (And yes, I'm saying his canon death didn't happen, fight me out behind the Denny's.)
Also, murder has gotten more easy! Or at least more interesting.
Of all of the families, the Riveteers would change the least. They're still a construction-based union, they just have cranes and bulldozers now. They've stayed in business due to demolishing and rebuilding as the years have gone on.
Ziatora still rules this mighty empire of loyal workers, directing her Riveteers on construction sites even as technology makes things faster. Though she does eventually have to invent OSHA because of how many of her workers she has to keep catching.
The existence of frat boys shows that the spirit of the Cabaretti is alive and well in the modern time, even if druidry has fallen to the wayside. A core foundation of the mortal experience is having fun, and the Cabaretti are still here to provide!
They also have their own version of the Michelin Stars going on. Like...I don't know, the Vantoleone Stars, after the Mezzio base that Jetmir refuses to let go of.
To give Jetmir credit, though, he's gotten a lot better about security for the revelries, in case there's a repeat of the Adversary-Crescendo incident. Of all of the family heads, he's adapted to the modern era the fastest.
Given everything going on above, yes, everyone still needs lawyers and security. That's where the Brokers still step in, though it's a lot more decentralized as different offices try to make their mark. Everyone still pays lip service to Falco Spara, but anything beyond that is up in the air.
Spara's still got sleeper agents all over the place, but he's a lot more guarded nowadays. Pretty much everyone is waiting for blood in the water to take him down from the top and put themselves in his place, so he's retreated from the public eye in favor of double- and triple-checking his contracts for loopholes. Even one could knock him from his perch. Rumor has it that the only people in contact with him anymore are his second-in-command and the other family heads.
...I almost feel bad for all the puns in this section.
As for everyone else, well.
The government and law system are still auctions rather than functional. (Though that's not too different from our modern day, huh?) Generally, as long as you get a mean enough Broker for a lawyer, your case is as good as won (or thrown out) regardless of your actual guilt status.
The angels are hanging around, adapting to either join the crime families (though it's very awkward between them and the demons) or creating their own merry bands of misfits. A good number of them work for the various newspapers, doing what they can to either help or hinder as they see fit - and according to their central color, of course.
Efforts to get back down to Old Capenna and see what's down there now have some public support, because enough time has passed that people have forgotten (other than Spara, who never forgets) what used to be down there. It's a free-for-all, as it requires a different set of survival skills from New Capenna, and no current attempts to rebuild down there have been successful with all of the monsters still running around.
Time continues to march forward, and so do the mortals of New Capenna. The primary question raised is how long the angels, demons, and avatars can keep up.
~Jasper
(P.S. All of the divider graphics were made by me, over on @jasper-graphics!)
MAGIC FACTIONS BRACKET, ROUND TWO!
Orc Raiders vs. Building Haters
The Mardu Horde
The Riveteers
The Riveteers and the Mardu both trounced their opponents soundly, so now these two literal heavy hitters are going to have it out! Will speed beat steel? It's up to you!
Make your choice!
Riveteers Ascendancy Spell Creation (Episode 3)
I'm alive!
Yes, I've been testing this spell (er...sigil) and I have returned with an update! Our theories from episode two are holding up just fine. That's...kind of a miracle. To recap:
You'd also want something easy to re-do that these three sources will empower. I'm personally fond of sigils, but it could be a chant or a series of motions. And, of course, you'd want to have your already-existing or semi-constant personal protection(s), such as charms, wards, or a secret third thing. I don't care, keep your protections secret, it's none of my business. So having said that, my three colored energy sources would be... You guys really think I'm gonna say what I'd actually use? Yeah, no. We'll use amber, red calcite, and bloodstone as the stand-ins for the rocks I'd actually use. (Frankly, bloodstone could probably cover every instance, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.) You could plants or something else for the energy sources, but given that the Riveteers are led by a dragon, crystals make sense for me and are generally my preferred tools anyway. So how would we put this together practically? I can imagine that we'd charge the sigil (or your preferred alternative) with the three energy sources, imbuing it with the power of the three colors, and then energectically connect it to your personal protection that you want your excess energy to go to. I'm not going to get into that part, as this is not a thing on energy work, but you could probably make a physical line from the sigil (or other physical trigger) to your protection method (provided it's also physical, like a charm) if you have issues with visualization (like I do).
So with that, I gift you a variety of sigils drawn by me that you can use if you don't want to make your own:
Making it simple, here are your steps:
1: Collect your three sources of Black, Red, and Green energy. These should have to do with afterlives/otherworlds, life after death, rebirth, or recycling; energy or recharging; and protection. If you do not work often with this concept, then you can just use amber, red calcite, and bloodstone. Or three bloodstones, it's pulling a lot of weight.
2: Make sure your personal protection that you want to link to is currently active or can be reactivated during the casting.
3: Select your sigil or other form of casting.
4 (if your personal protection is physical): Connect your sigil to the personal protection by the rocks in a line, from Black to Red to Green.
4 (if your personal protection is non-physical): Connect your sigil to yourself with the line of rocks, from Black to Red to Green. Generally, your input hand is the most ideal for this.
5: Connect the sigil to the protection via energy through the rocks. Set the activation and deactivation phrase for the sigil to turn it on and off as needed. Tell the sigil what it's supposed to do in very clear language, i.e.
"You will draw excess energy from me after casting to charge my protections. You will activate when I say [insert activation phrase]. You will deactivate when I say [insert deactivation phrase]."
6: Close out the spell however you'd like, if you're into that. I just activated mine right away.
What do y'all think? An interesting spell from a bunch of Tumblr poll options, yeah?
Links and sources and whatnot:
Episode 1: https://jasper-pagan-witch.tumblr.com/post/710909319907098624/oh-wow-i-didnt-even-think-of-that-i-tend-to-go
Episode 2: https://jasper-pagan-witch.tumblr.com/post/710912713196503040/riveteers-ascendancy-spell-creation-episode-2
Riveteers Ascendancy on Scryfall: https://scryfall.com/card/snc/216/riveteers-ascendancy
The MTG Colors section of my Tumblr grimoire: https://jasper-grimoire.tumblr.com/tagged/section%3A%20mtg%20colors
Riveteers on the MTG wiki: https://breezewiki.com/mtg/wiki/Riveteers
My MTG enchanting board, made as a visualization aid for myself that y'all can use: https://jasper-pagan-witch.tumblr.com/post/683003298601680896/my-mtg-enchanting-board
There’s no Blue in Jund but there IS a blue collar now~~~
from MtGJP Twitter
Magic: the Gathering - New Capenna ‘Riveteers’
One of the five crime families of New Capenna, the Riveteers are construction workers. They are associated with Black / Red / Green mana, but are centered in red. The Riveteers are tough-as-nails artisans who can break buildings as easily as kneecaps. They are a rowdy, brute-force crime faction whose skills in industry and construction also make them pros at demolition and intimidation. As skilled artisans, they have transformed the lower levels of the city into a lair worthy of their draconic leader.