New Capenna Story
Lore forum
Posted on April 3, 2022, 10:32 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
The story of Streets of New Capenna has begun, so I shall post the links to its chapters, so far.
Side Story: the Side of Freedom
I included the side story, because Vivien is in it, and I shall post the remaining stories when WotC posts them on their website.
I was really hoping that Phyrexia would not be involved in two consecutive sets, since Jin-Gitaxias did not appear immediately after Vorinclex, and I also wish that this story would be self-contained, and not overshadowed by a larger plot.
I notice that the name of the plane on which New Capenna is set has not yet been revealed, so, obviously, there must be a reason for that, and it has not yet been confirmed whether or not this plane is Elspeth's home plane, so I hope that that information is eventually revealed, as well.
Elspeth and Vivien seem to be friends, at the moment, but I worry that they shall clash after Elspeth learns that Vivien is working with Urabrask.
I wonder what role Ob Nixilis shall have in the story; he is allied with no one, loyal only to himself, so I expect him to be a wild card in the story.
What does everyone else think of the story of New Capenna, thus far?
TypicalTimmy says... #3
I thought New Capenna was on Kawigama and was the 2nd half of the story? The high-neon cyberpunk fantasy with the gangster territory-war beneath it.
Also, isn't Elspeth native to Theros, and she first Planeswalked to Alara where she met Ajani?
As for Ob Nixilis, I'm pretty sure he's the 5th and Mardu Demon leader. He has a card which has the artwork spoiled
April 3, 2022 11:23 p.m. Edited.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
TypicalTimmy, I am sorry to say that none of those are true, but I expect that the proper information shall be revealed, soon.
April 3, 2022 11:37 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #5
You know, it just occurred to me.
The name of the plane very well could be New Capenna. The name, "Streets of New Capenna" could refer to the street / gangster / Mafia warring of a large and prosperous city named New Capenna, or it could be much like Ravnica; a plane-wide metropolis.
My vote is that New Capenna is actually the name of the plane, itself.
April 4, 2022 2:47 a.m.
New Capenna is the only known habitable city on the plane... As far as we know the plane consists of New Capenna only, as the only mention of the area outside the city is that it is thought to no longer support life - though we get this info from a character that does not seem to truly know.
It is likely Elspeth's home plane, though you'd have to take Ajani's word for it. It seems unrecognizable to Elspeth as home; however, a massive change occurred when Demons inherited it & likely the angels made some sacrifice (details yet unknown) to somehow repel the Phyrexians from this last bastion. I think the dwindling substance "Halo" likely links to Angel's "blood" in some way (just a theory)
April 4, 2022 7:11 a.m.
Honestly, I don't know. As someone who loves books and has a good interest in magic, I'm still waiting for the magic story that really pulls me in.
It probably doesn't help that I'm currently rereading Tolkien and he's just such a hard act to follow : )
April 4, 2022 7:43 a.m.
RicketyEng says... #8
In the first side story (The Contract Breaker), we got a glimpse of the ruins and limited amount of life existing under/outside the city which is known as Old Capenna. The world building stream on Thursday confirmed that this is indeed Elspeth's home plane and that she grew up in a Phyrexian dungeon of one of the few pockets of Phyrexian hold-outs. This reconciled the details from the stories saying the angels and demons fought off an enemy a few hundred years ago, with the obvious fact that Elspeth is not several hundred years old. The original name of the plane seems lost from living memory, but given that the city is the only bastion of civilization on the plane (a lot like Naktamun was on Amonkhet) then the plane is effectively known as Capenna.
I agree with Gleeock that the Halo is probably connected to the angels in some way. I think Ob Nixilis is going to find out.
DDJ, wrt your thoughts on seeing another Phyrexian preator so soon, we can't exactly expect to see only one per year in this lead up to fighting New Phyrexia or else the build up would take at least four years. We are most likely going back to New Phyrexia next year for Magic's 30th anniversary so we should expect at to see Sheoldred and/or Elesh Norn at some point in the next few sets. One of them will likely appear in Dominaria United (I'm super excited that Teferi and Wrenn are going to bring back Zhalfir); we shouldn't expect to see anyone current in The Brothers' War since it is an event set set in the past; after that we either get our return to New Phyrexia or a winter and spring set before the return in the fall.
April 4, 2022 9:58 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #9
RicketyEng, yes, I am excited to see full scale war against Phyrexia, again, but I am worried that WotC may permanently kill them off, this time, which I do not wish to see happen, as they are this game's oldest and most iconic villains; given that both Bolas and Emrakul are imprisoned, but not dead, I shall remain hopeful that WotC realizes that it would not be wise to permanently eradicate Phyrexia, for the sake of the story.
April 4, 2022 1:19 p.m.
I feel like it would be a good middle ground for top-dog Phyrexian to "ascend" from all this & stay an enigmatic+malignant force in the end but without all the Borglike expansionism. Like a mysterious Yawgmothian power-broker - I keep thinking of Hellraiser & the Puzzlebox, something just bizarre, ancient, evil, but without the unifying Borglike story. Then you'd still have Phyrexians as sort of an external force that would maybe pop into things by happenstance but would offer great power or corrupt a would-be mustache twirling villain at the cost of that villain having to return to some Phyrexian hell some day for endless vivisection & soul-twisting experimentation.
April 4, 2022 3:18 p.m.
& maybe Phyrexians that align with Urabrask's likely thoughts on the importance of individuality/self will splinter off into some weird Phyrexian group that are "more than the sum of their parts"
As for Capenna; I think Ob Nix probably already knows what "Halo" is & is either synthetically producing it somehow or outsourcing it from another plane since he has that ability (they note that the Adversary seems to have his own supply). Probably milking angel's blood off another plane where they still exist (in the most evil way possible) then using his planeswalking ability to ship it on over to New Capenna :)
April 4, 2022 3:25 p.m.
"New Capenna is the only known habitable city on the plane... As far as we know the plane consists of New Capenna only, as the only mention of the area outside the city is that it is thought to no longer support life - though we get this info from a character that does not seem to truly know." --Gleeock
I hope this isn't true. If a plane has only one meaningful location, then it doesn't matter how big the plane is. It's literally meaningless outside of that one location. I had this problem with Amonkhet, and I don't want to have it again.
April 4, 2022 5:45 p.m.
RicketyEng corrected my line of thought. There apparently is limited life outside of new Capenna. Not sure how consequential it will be to the story though.
April 4, 2022 10:32 p.m.
Gleeock Thanks, I missed that. My apologies to RicketyEng.
April 4, 2022 10:34 p.m.
RicketyEng says... #15
Don't get me wrong; New Capenna is a lot like Naktamun. We only saw some feral raccoonfolk in the ruins of Old Capenna. It is most likely that 99% of anything living outside of New Capenna is either Phyrexian or their prisoners (like Elspeth was before sparking).
April 5, 2022 7:04 a.m.
& there we have it, Xander got greased already by Ob Nix... It's alright Xander wasn't really much of a demon anyway.
April 5, 2022 2:25 p.m.
RicketyEng says... #17
If Urabrask's idea for revolution works then that might lead to New Phyrexia being able to coexist with the rest of the multiverse.
April 6, 2022 11:56 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #18
Here are the two remaining stories:
Overall, I feel that the story of this set was not quite as spectacular as that of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, which is still the best story that this game has had in a long time, but it still was very entertaining.
The story did have some areas in which it could have improved; for example, I feel that Ob Nxilis was entirely superfluous to the story, as the city already had plenty of internal tension to fuel the plot and conflicts, making an outside force unnecessary. Also, how is it that Giada was able to produce halo? Was she actually an angel disguised as a human? And will the angels ever return to the city? What is the name of the plane on which New Capenna is located? I do hope that those questions shall be answered, eventually.
RicketyEng, that is an interesting idea, but that would undermine Phyrexia's status as the game's greatest villains.
April 10, 2022 6:44 p.m.
RicketyEng says... #19
Yes Giada was an angel.
I don't think Mob Nixilis was completely superfluous. The five families had co-existed for centuries in relative peace by keeping each other in check. Xander explains it to Elspeth that they all know to operate "within each other's budget." The Adversary showing up and making a power play upset that balance and caused a churn. With Elspeth removing both the Font and the Adversary from play a fresh balance is able to be established. I suppose it could theoretically have been written so that the Font was the only destabilizing force. However, it was the Adversary creating and exacerbating a Halo shortage that amplified the Font's importance. I also think it was pretty awesome to see Elspeth successfully fight off Ob Nixilis where Gideon had previously fallen to his very strong combat tactics. We wouldn't get to see that without Nixilis in the story.
April 11, 2022 10:04 a.m.
Though I will say, whoever is directing the settings and worldbuilding is on point : )
I do like the structure better than Kami Neon, and I love the setting, but I don't know. It's headed in the right direction, and I'm happy about that!
April 16, 2022 5:31 p.m.
so im currently taking in the story through the work of Aether Hub on YouTube.... I honestly think its pretty good overall.... I just HATE the flavor though... the breaking away from the more traditional "Fantasy" settings like Alara or Tarkir but thats just a personal preference.
Gleeock says... #2
Has some of the warts of other MtG writings... but beyond that I am fascinated so far. I hope Ob Nix stays as wildcard because it is refreshing when everything does not heavily link to the same unified massive Fantasy Opera story - it especially makes sense with planeswalkers that several of them would be more self-involved on a given plane. I'm excited for Jund Demon Dragon to show up. Jetmir seems interesting, I love the idea of massive Gatsby-style hot-air balloon parties with socialites & famous folk. You gotta wonder what the Master of Metal is thinking with "siding with freedom" -- doesn't really seem like a normal character concern for him, though I guess he could abhor any form of slavery given his Bolas experience.... Seems like a core idea though, not very
April 3, 2022 10:45 p.m.