My custom set lore: What do you think?
Lore forum
Posted on April 16, 2014, 2:01 a.m. by zandl
I'm in the beginning stages of designing a custom set for a big 'ole cube. It's going to be a Zendikar revisit. I LOVED Zendikar block and decided to start designing cards in a preexisting plane to avoid designing entirely from the ground up.
I've written out what I think is the first draft of the lore for this revisit of Zendikar. It doesn't cover all of the characters I plan on showing in the set, but some described are not relevant beyond what they provide in the lore itself.
Let me know what you think of this as a first draft. I hope it makes sense (at least) and seems decently plausible as a storyline. (Also 2 things: First, I apologize for the apostrophes not carrying over from Google Drive -shrug- I don't know. Second, the main character's gender is technically never defined, though I'll refer to him as, well, "him" for the sake of writing a biography without saying "his" name every line.)
In the wake of Gideon Jura planeswalking away from Zendikar to desperately find help on the plane of Ravnica, the Eldrazi Titans began to take Zendikar siege. The very land of the plane itself, however, forcefully rebelled against the Eldrazi oppression as if defying its own doom. Due to an enormous amount of naturally generated mana from across the entire plane, the Eldrazi Titans were ejected from Zendikar and shunned back to the Blind Eternities from whence they arrived several millennia ago. Curiously, the menacingly looming Hedrons did not follow the Eldrazi out of the plane. Though they have closed to their original positions prior to the Awakening, they now gently resonate with an alien energy that is a boon for some of the weakened individuals and a nightmarish risk in the eyes of others.The plane as we once knew it was not entirely lost to the insatiable hunger of the Titans and we rejoin the plane at the onset of the reconstruction. Zendikars omniscient and benevolent angels, including Iona and Linvala, whose unbreaking devotion to the inhabitants of the plane, have spearheaded the restoration of both mana energy and the physical world. As can be expected, both aspects of the plane were severely damaged during the onslaught. Because of this, the magic and physical energies which once flowed freely and bountifully through Zendikar are now unpredictable, inconsistent, and potentially dangerous.The various races of Zendikar are desperate to regain control of the mana they once housed as well as the lands that housed them. Most Kor tribes and the Elves of Bala Ged are recuperating well while others, most notable of which are the Merfolk of the sea and the Goblins of the mountainous regions in Akoum, are coping unfavorably with the shifted, broken landforms. Certain continents and regions of Zendikar remain relatively unscathed, though Sejiri and the angelic ruins of Emeria have all but crumbled and the vampire city of Malakir seems to have disappeared entirely.As we last met with Ashiok on the plane of Theros, he was deeply involved in a bargain with Phenex, the God of Deception. Ashiok was to aid Phenax with inciting a massive battle which would inevitably destroy both sides and create another necropolis for Phenax to rule over. The God of Deception found himself wrapped up in his new city of death and intentionally cast Ashiok and his secretive half of the bargain to the side. Even with a Planeswalkers Spark and power, Ashiok knew confronting a God was a suicidal gesture and, with every other heavenly being on Theros knowing he sided with Phenax, left to pursue his shady ambitions.Whilst Planeswalking through the Multiverse and gauging his odds of finding what he wanted, Ashiok landed on a dusty and wartorn Kamigawa, an electrically charged but innocent Alara, and, finally, on a freshly repentant Innistrad. After lurking in the shadows and observing a seemingly ancient Planeswalker for some time, Ashiok presented himself to Sorin Markov as a wandering necromage. Sorins immediate impulse (with the plane of Innistrad still cautious of anything evil) was to dispatch his new acquaintance on the spot, though a more playful idea sprang up. In Sorins mind, Zendikar was now either non-existent or destroyed beyond repair from the Eldrazi, not knowing its true fate. If he sent Ashiok there with the alure of ancient, plane-warping magic, he would surely be annihilated upon arrival. Ashiok jumped at the very words from Sorins lips and cracked through the breach into the Blind Eternities, destined for Zendikar.Ashiok, in shadow, opened his eyes and was immediately bombarded by fleeting, mind-splitting images of impossibly powerful entities, an alien army of immense stature, and a plan that failed so dramatically. As he regained his composure, he knew from the images what he standing between; Hedrons lined the coast of the island he landed upon. He knew the entities were gone, but he sensed the overwhelming, crushing fear they instilled in all of this new planes inhabitants, including the angelic residents of Emeria. He understood the Hedrons were a living testament of the Eldrazi and their history of reality-shaping destruction and rapacious hunger. He also understood he could use his newfound knowledge of the Eldrazi to fearmonger the inhabitants of Zendikar into doing his bidding. The only question that remained with Ashiok was a simple one: Who could stop him?
SwiftDeath says... #3
I'll leave this message here so I don't forget and come back to read it when it's not 4am.
April 16, 2014 3:49 a.m.
axdsadassdw says... #5
Story's great. Let's make a new set from this. Probably not
April 17, 2014 3:41 a.m.
smash10101 says... #7
Ashiok does not prescribe to your puny gender identities. Ashiok is a planewalker, not a "he." (Can Ashiok be referred to as an it? I guess I imagine Ashiok as something similar to LOTA from Schlock Mercenary. "LOTA is too large for your puny pronouns.")
Anyways, I like the idea of the story. I don't know too much about the story of Theros or what Ashiok was doing there, or how plausible this story is, but it seems intriguing.
As for apostrophes not appearing when copy-pasted from a word processor, that is because they get turned into 'smart quotes' and they don't show up on T/O. The trick it to replace them with straight one, which can be hard as they are usually autocorrected.
April 17, 2014 9:54 a.m.
Yeah, I ran into the apostrophe problem while writing various articles in the past. I wound up just using the HTML code for them.
April 17, 2014 12:12 p.m.
smash10101 says... #9
I tricked my computer into not 'fixing' my apostrophes for when I write articles that I never finish. DOn't remember how I did it though.
kmcree says... #2
Its late here, and I'm about to pass out, so I can't really say anything intelligent or coherent about this, other than the fact that I like it. Cool idea, I'd be interested to follow Ashiok a little more and see him developed.
April 16, 2014 3:20 a.m.