Rice fields are full of water. Like...partially flooded. That amount of water would account for Blue. The swampy conditions it creates would account for Black. In the map I posted, I added extra Black becaus of the dead bodies.

What exactly is defined as "Plains?" In the D&D sense, all I get is "Grasslands", but that's so shallow compared to how "Island" can be a literal island/coast, a river, lake, pond, or ocean. I waaaaant to think there's a slight difference between a swamp and a marsh and such, and "Forest" could be used differently, for stuff like "rain forest" or "jungle" or even "really, really, big bush". So what's up with Plains?

Going back to the earlier theory, a plain would be any wide expanse that has an unobstructed view of the sky. It's the open quality of the land that's the most important feature.

What keeps random seemingly colorless things, like a stone street or something from providing ? I feel like... for the most part, esp in the context of d&d, that most sources of mana would be unlikely to be indoors.

Edit: May have stumbled onto something. All I care about is getting an allowance of mana (represented by whatever, tho preferably spell points divided into colors) and that be determined by interaction with lands-- mana bonds (represented by types of terrain spaces)

So, in Pathfinder, Concentration isn't AS simple as in D&D 5E, you likely know that to concentrate for a spell, you must do a concentration check using the ability modifier of your spellcasting ability. Well, my best friend and current GM has awarded a marginal amount of EXP for most rolls, though usually skill checks, to speed up leveling. What if all casters are given a universal action to, while on a space with a designated terrain type, takes a standard action to do a concentration check (a la Pathfinder of course) and instead of the ability modifier, gets a bonus based on the number of identical spaces adjacent to that player, and gets advantage on the roll if it's their color identity (still working out how that changes over the course of the game beyond "you're an elf, you're Green to start, you're a merfolk, you're Blue to start, you're a human, choose 1 color to start") and get disadvantage on the roll if the color is one of your enemy colors. And these concentration checks are worth EXP that is exclusively for leveling up/leveling into a "sub-subclass" as simple as "White Mage" which has no effect on your actual class except how many/what color mana you are awarded every long rest (short rest for Warlocks) depending on the terrain type chosen.

Ravnica has stone plazas and rooftops as plains, so evidently these sorts of landcapes can provide mana.

I still think it's super silly that Ravnican plains are spires and rooftops instead of plazas. Seriously, they look like the exact opposite of what I'd imagine plains to be like. Ravnica even has impossibly wide streets that are as big as the plazas on other planes, but nope, let's go with friggin' towers instead.

I think looking over some non-basic land that produces white mana could give you a few indicators of what creates white mana beyond your basic [c]Plains]/c]:

[c]Abandoned Outpost[/c] - Wide open spaces, accoutrements of civilization...
Arctic Flats - Again, wide open spaces. This will be a reoccurring theme...
Boreal Shelf - You would think that since this is is mostly just ice and water it'd be basically a Blue land. The flat, still nature of the landscape helps give it its white mana.
Calciform Pools - Calcium deposits are a running theme in white (as is salt) for their preserving nature.
Celestial Colonnade - Celestial energy also imbues an area with white mana.
Coastal Tower - As does civilization, which brings order.
Eiganjo Castle - Seats of government as also steeped in white energy.
Forbidding Watchtower - As are societal symbols of control and protection.
Nomad Stadium - Sometimes it could be just as simple as a place where people gather to be a community.
Wanderwine Hub - It doesn't even have to be above ground.

From a general standpoint you can make an argument that the rooftops and spires are a grander version of the uniform blades of grass. Canopies also apparently generate mana.



In regards to Boreal Shelf, both Glacial Fortress and Tarkir's frozen plains are examples of ice-covered lands being occasionally tilted towards mana.

I would argue that Canopies, in general produce mana. It's the "Vista" and "Horizon" parts of those lands that net you mana.

One thing I noticed doesn't come up much, for non-mages, is the concept of affiliation with mana colors sort of known? Is it known that a Goblin of a non-magic class is closely associated with red mana even if he doesn't employ red magic? Or is it just the player knowledge concerning philosophies and such?

Trying to justify color association with or without the involvement of that color of magic. Is there a magicaal (Red) property still true of a typical Goblin if in MTG he has no class creature type?

The consensus is that the concept of five colours of mana is only really understood by a select few groups. This includes Ravnica (though most recent flavour implies that they're unaware for some reason), the Jeskai monks (no word if the Ojutai have this knowledge), some people on Dominaria including the ones Feldon met, and Alara (both before and especially after the Conflux).

Most planes at most recognize different types of magic, like pyromancy and hieromancy. Most people have not dwelt deep enough to see the colour pie.

Right, I thought as much, but the few that do, do they understand the basics we do? (ex: you're a "red-aligned" Goblin Rogue / you're a "blue-aligned" Merfolk Soldier) and if so, where's the affiliation come from?

I doubt they would use the same language to describe color alignment that we do. Even the most philosophical magic theorists might recognize that the power fuels ambition or cruelty is the same that causes the dead to rise or inflicts distress on others. They may even recognize that source as a dangerous path to power, but I doubt they would go around pointing fingers and calling things black. (I say that and then remember that dubbing evil or taboo things "the black arts" is a thing, but that is less a color philosophy and more people being scared of the dark and unknown.)

EDIT: You have to remember that our understanding of the color philosophy comes from a structured understanding of a game that neatly fits mechanics and people into distinct groups of colors. Trying to impose that concept on a people who don't know that they are part of a game system would be like if astral signs were real and someone came up to you and tried to explain that everything you did and everything that you are was determined by the alignment of Venus and Mars in relation to the where the Moon was on the month you were born while Jupiter was in ascent.

I just had a breakthrough of sorts. All the cards that allow one to draw cards could be interpreted in lore as deepening ones knowledge in whatever magical field they specialize in.

The difficulty of interpreting game mechanics and rules into lore is real.

I think the point where a mage would become somewhat aware of colour-alignment is when he tries to summon people. Provided you have a basic understanding of different colours, you'd probably notice that summoning your average goblin just doesn't work without or that merpeople generally require . The same is true for animals from different habitats. On the other hand, a red mage who lives in the mountains, only has access to red mana and mostly just encounters people and creatures who also live in the mountains might never figure that out and just go with using red mana forever without any difficulties. He could just summon pretty much every barbarian, ogre, goblin, dwarf, cougar or mountain goat he has seen.

Which brings us to the causes of colour affiliation, and as far as we know, the environment you live in does play a role. That's also explicitly confirmed in Legends II for instance. The same trilogy also states that the spells you frequently use influence what colour you are, and so does your race if it's something colour specific like elf. For instance, Marhault Elsdragon is stated to be because his army base is in the mountains and because he often uses red mana from those mountains; he's also green because he's a half-elf and his elven heritage pushes him towards green (he uses some green elven magic, too). That all neatly lines up with what we see on the cards, too. And more often than not, those factors go hand in hand, because living in the forest not only makes you more likely to be green to begin with, it also means you'll probably use green mana if you're a spellcaster, so you being green-aligned becomes a self-sustaining loop of sorts. If you're also an elf, you probably have a natural affinity for both using green mana and living in a forest anyway. Devoted Hero or Keen-Eyed Archers might be white elves because they grew up in a white environment and with white values, perhaps with a typical white military background. They might have undergone a change from to later in life, too, like Kamahl did from to . In Kamahl's case, a change of perspective or personal philosophy was involved, but he also started hanging out in a forest and using green mana, so it's probably a bit of a hen-or-egg situation. The way colour affiliation and environment are portrayed in Magic, there's also often a correlation between people's personality and the environment they live in. Living on a aligned farm might go hand in hand with valuing community and co-operation among 'the little people', having to survive in a rough swamp society (e.g. Takenuma swamp) might make people more ruthless and fuel ambition to get out of there and have a better life. That's a super simplistic way of looking at it and by no means the main cause of colour alignment, but I feel it's sometimes portrayed like that, even if it might be flimsy.

and characters that do recognize the colour pie and aren't at each other's throats probably have field days discussing this...

That makes sense, yeah. I self-identify as and I know I'd be on board with doing that .

That's actually.....pretty enlightening tbh lol But what if spellcasting wasn't involved? Besides being summoned by a mage, especially a planeswalker and being told "oh, you're a merfolk, turns out I used what is best described as blue mana to summon you. I tried the other kinds of mana but couldn't summon you." and/or "you live/your kind is most frequently residing in the mountains, where red mana is most commonly drawn from." are there any non-meta characteristics possessed by a color-aligned race that might come up in a singular case of a member of that race whose path in life never brings them to the art of spellcasting?

Even if they come up, the people who are involved probably don't care and don't know about the colour pie anyway. I think that's where it would touch on questions of nature vs nurture or the "always chaotic evil" syndrome. I mean, yeah, generally speaking, elves are usually portrayed as beeing more in touch with their surroundings and 'in tune with nature' etc., whereas goblins tend to show many red characteristics in their behaviour. So you could probably explain the personality profiles and philosophies of the colours to someone in-universe and tell them how their own personality and way of life (and perhaps that of their race, if they're goblins or vedalken or whatever) makes them this or that colour. Even without the colour pie, people in-universe probably ascribe certain attributes to the members of non-human races that may or may not be stereotypes and that might vaguely match the respective colour on the colour pie. Maybe the thing that I said about certain environments fostering certain personality traits of the respective colour might factor into it, too, though I don't really like how simplistic that is as an explanation. And even then, it would still come down to a nature vs nurture debate, especially when applied to non-human races. If the kor really are mostly in their outlook and philosophy, then is it because kor minds just work that way or because their nomadic, community oriented way of life pushes their personality towards ? Or maybe their 'kor mind' is programmed to choose that way of life, which in turn cements their being ? Just an example.

But I think when it comes to Magic as a card game, the meta-stuff about exposure to actual mana influencing a creature/tribe/race's colour is useful to keep in mind, especially when talking about humans. It takes away some of the uneasiness of saying "Well, all Keldons are red because they're bloodthirsty war fetishists" or "All Benalians are white because they're disciplined and righteous". Because that would end up sounding a lot like some of the more dangerous stereotypes and propaganda from real life. Well, Keld in particular is a very 'extreme' nation whose culture glorifies and revolves mostly around waging war and raiding other nations, so claiming that growing up in that society likely makes you wouldn't be entirely baseless. But even then, extreme societies like that aren't really a thing in real life, and most random human nations you could pick on Dominaria aren't like that either. I think I'm rambling a bit, but I hope it was interesting to read at least.