"The existence of Omenpaths and access to the larger Multiverse has significantly impacted Strixhaven and Arcavios. Current research also indicates that Arcavios has an unusually high number of Omenpath openings and closings, further complicating its relationship to the Multiverse. Within the university, many conflicting perspectives and proposals have emerged—some scholars view the wider Multiverse as an incredible opportunity for magical learning and development, while others consider it an impending risk of another invasion or an even worse fate.
The majority have embraced the new possibilities, with several xenoplanar fields of study springing up across all the colleges. The inaugural class of off-plane students was welcomed at Strixhaven the year after the invasion, alongside professors from a number of the Multiverse's most prestigious institutions. Strixhaven's reputation has also spawned an unofficial rivalry with off-plane institutions, including the Tolarian Academies and Prism University, as they each seek to attract the most talented mages in the Multiverse."
---The Planeswalker's Guide to Secrets of Strixhaven
Strixhaven has 'unofficial' rivalries with the Tolarian Academies of Dominaria and Prism University of Ravnica.
As a rival to Ravnica as the cultural hub of the Multiverse, shouldn't Avishkar have a school of higher learning for magic users, or are they too focused on inventors?
Is the Wizards' School on Ulgrotha still standing, or has it fallen to Sengir's forces? Or is Ulgrotha off-limits to Strixhaven students, period? (This is why we need a substantial update on Ulgrotha and Sengir in the Magic lore.)
Tolarian Scholar | Sara Winters
Naru Meha, Master Wizard | Matt Stewart
Academy Journeymage | Magali Villeneuve
Naban, Dean of Iteration | Ryan Alexander Lee
Firefist Adept | Lucas Graciano
Wizard’s Lightning | Grzegorz Rutkowski
Jodah, Archmage Eternal | Yongjae Choi
• Ultimate Masters - Illustrated by Mitchell Malloy
It took the banning of temporal manipulation at Tolaria West to teach its students the value of time.
• Urza's Legacy - Illustrated by Jeff Miracola
Motivation was high in the academy once students realized flunking their exams could kill them.
Tolaria, the original island and academy, was sunk during the Phyrexian Invasion. On the island were time bubbles of slow or accelerated time, some big enough to encompass a whole Phyrexian civilisation for a while. The time dilation went from huge, years passing each minute, to the same in the other direction, mere seconds passing in twenty years.
Water has been shown to be resistant to those changes, and with careful use, even allow travel between different time speed zones. Water coming from slow time bubbles have been shown to slow down aging.
Now, what's interesting us today is what happened to those time bubbles AFTER the island sank. Karn closed the temporal rift right before, but because the time travel wasn't well thought out that doesn't change anything or he would've erased his reason to come back in time to close it.
So, let's suppose the time bubbles followed the island... Down into the sea. Now, an interesting thing about the sea, there's a lot of water in the sea. A looooot of it. What's interesting with that is that it might have allowed some of the wildlife to visit different time bubbles.
Crustaceans hmmm? Now, crabs aren't lobsters, but one could imagine different species, caught in fast time, in a colder environment because fast time bubbles have the energy entering them from the sun spread on a longer period... Could they have evolved in a sentient species? With a culture? Some of them might even have been displaced in time when the rifts got worse... Sent to the past. Most of them would have died, arriving in seas too warm from them, but a few would have ended up closer to the poles... Later, an ice age would show up, and the Homarids would go play in Sarpadia.
But maybe they weren't the only thing that got timeshifted. Remember the slow time water? The one that slowed down aging? What would happen to fishes that constantly swam in it? What would happen if, say, a school of fishes or a shark or whatever, consumed large amounts of it, then got stuck in fast time. Consuming everything they can, they would age and age, but wouldn't be able to die of old age. They would grow and grow, devouring everything in their bubble until they get too big for it. Or they get displaced in time and possibly space.
Some time ago I wrote an article regarding the muti-planar storylines that had yet to be resolved. I didn’t write about the many stories to tell on the planes themselves. Be assured, there are tons of loose ends, of potential stories to be had, on each world we’ve seen. Today I’m going to talk about some of the story lines that have been left at a low simmer to cook until we return to that worlds. In this article, I’m going to write about: Dominaria.
(Academy at Tolaria West: Planechase) (Art by James Paick)
Gather `Round! It’s Story Telling Time!
Introduction
Before we get started, I want to let yall know that the purpose of this article isn’t me speculation what’s gonna happen. This article is, instead, about me musing about the many places the Magic Story could draw upon. I’m not making predictions. I’m just saying that there are some of the major possibilities I think could happen.
Slivers
The last time I saw Dominarian Slivers, they were in the Skyshroud Forest, in a constant struggle against the Saprolings. Freylaise managed to keep them contained, but didn’t care for exterminating them. Green characters tend to be all about harmony like that. We know that Slivers are a powerful force. The question is, have they been able to break free now that Freylaise has been gone? I have no doubt that the Slivers have escaped. Just what kind of havoc have they wreaked remains to be seen.
(Sliver Hive: Magic 2015 Core Set) (Art by Igor Kieryluk)
The Cabal and The Order
Despite what some people may think about the Odyssey novels, I thoroughly enjoyed them. In these novels, a powerful financial organization named “The Cabal” held great power throughout the continent of Otaria. If you glance through the cards, you’ll see a great many cards that reference the Cabal. Many famous characters, such as Chainer and Braids were part of the Cabal as well. I wouldn’t call them a world power, but certainly a
The undersea kingdoms were destroyed in the end and The Order suffered heavy losses. But The Order and The Cabal persisted. Each of these forces were powerful, though short sighted. I don’t know for sure if they’ll play a role in the upcoming visit to Dominaria, but I feel that Wizards is wasting some potential if they don’t use them. Not that it’s the worst thing to ignore them. I’d just like to see how those forces have fared.
(Cabal Patriarch: Odyssey) (Art by Mark Zug)
Tolaria
The institution Urza established as his personal military research base under the guise of higher education has become a critical point of Dominaria’s existence. Tolaria, in whichever format it exists in now, will play a tremendous role in Dominaria’s future and development. As an independent entity that has earned respect across the world, rest assured that Tolaria will be a world power.
(Tolaria West: Future Sight) (Art by Khang Le)
Phyrexia
You know there is some Scavenger out there collecting the remnants of Phyrexia. Someone, somewhere, be it an organization or an individual, has been picking at the scars of Dominaria and is going to find pieces of the blight that once ravaged it. That kind of power is dangerous. More importantly, in the hands of someone so short-sighted as to only see the potential for personal power gain within the world, these remnants are even more dangerous. There is no telling that dangers that arise from someone recklessly or foolishly toying with forces beyond their comprehension. A return to Dominaria necessitates the acknowledgement of Phyrexia. It’s preposterous to think otherwise. Dear readers. Phyrexia is terrifying. If they ever manage to rebuild their inter-planar technology, there will be unimaginable doom spelled across the multi-verse. Phyrexia, under Yawgmoth, was single minded and simple- yet immensely powerful and destructive. But free of Yawgmoth’s mortal vision, Phyrexia’s dream and drive to spread the glory of Phyrexia is unstoppable. We can only hope they do not rediscover it...
(Phyrexian Soulgorger: Coldsnap) (Art by Brian Snoddy)
Conclusion
Dominaria has been a constant in Magic’s life and there is so much lore to be drawn upon. These loose ends I’ve presented are but some of the potential storylines. I’m not saying any of these are going to happen. But I do want to remind us all that there are things we must not forget.
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