My first contribution to the M:EM
This story has a beginning, but was only taken far enough to reach the final conflict in the three-set block. How it ends is anyone's guess. If anyone wants to contribute to the saga, let me know!

ELDANGARD

Eldangard is an untamed, pristine world where magic is mysterious and foreign, often superstitious. Even the greatest kingdoms are only a few generations removed from their wild barbaric ancestors, and Humans, Elves and Dwarves still struggle against the ancient forces of the world. The edges of the universe, to anyone's knowledge, are delineated by the great sea-serpents, ancient dragons and feral beasts that lurk in the unknown corners of maps. It is a simple plane whose inhabitants have rarely asked what lies beyond their own kingdom's borders, much less imagined other planes outside of their own. Their history is passed down from generation to generation through songs and stories rather than written words, and the past is filled with larger-than-life heroes whose epic sagas are as much folk tale as they are fact.

Eldangard's people are proud and ambitious, and have the potential for many great deeds. This is a world where the magical arts are a new and brilliant force, and many believe a new golden age awaits for those with the courage to seize power.

The earliest beginnings of this new age are told in the epic saga of Svarthov the Enchanter, though the true details are lost to time. It is the story of a magician long ago whose vision and arcane power were beyond anything known to our own time. He communed with nature at the world-tree's roots, took living fire from the Hraunhallow, and to this day he is the only human to ever visit the sea-dwelling Margyr's sacred abyss, Skuldheim. He was a great soul who gave freely of his knowledge rather than guarding his secrets. But he had great ambitions beyond merely serving the world.

In his later years, many believe he descended into madness. In the prophetic depths of Skuldheim he glimpsed a greater world than the one he knew, an interconnected web of other planes and realities spanning into infinity. He obsessed over this revelation, and began researching a magical spell to probe the boundaries of Eldangard itself and see what lies beyond. In doing so, he tapped into greater and greater sources of mana, stronger than what he could control by himself, trying to pierce the barrier between worlds through brute force. The cataclysm that resulted when his creation failed destroyed him completely, along with his island sanctuary and nearly all of his collected work. The immense energy of his incantation still roils the sea and sends out unpredictable storms into the western coastline of Thengall.

The fabric of the plane itself was unharmed by the efforts of one naive mortal of course. But to the denizens of the multiverse with eyes to see it that event was a blazing beacon that announced the young plane's arrival on a much grander stage. For years, curious wanderers visited the plane to see the remains of Svarthov's failed experiment. Others took a much closer interest in the bold and and ambitious natives of the plane, and some may yet decide to guide the future of Eldangard as they see fit.

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In the kingdom of Thengall these great ambitions are stronger than ever. King Ragvaldur had worked for years to bring the many clans of Eldangard under a single rule. Generations of his forefathers had warred with one another, tribe against tribe, fighting for territory and honor and only enjoying brief years of peace when a powerful enough leader amassed the strength to be left alone. The young Ragvaldur was one of those great leaders, commanding respect among friend and foe alike, but he also had greater goals in mind. First he rose to power among the hunters of the Thengall clans, then waged a campaign against the neighboring Somarvall plainsmen, using a combination of military strength and rough diplomacy to conquer the scattered tribes and then bring them together into one nation. And against all odds it was sucessful. The constant battles between barbarian clans gave way to peaceful trade under his rule, and Thengall grew strong. Year by year his armies advanced, offering prosperity and protection to those who joined his empire willingly, and overwhelming those who rebelled with a formidable military force.

Decades later, Ragvaldur no longer fights at the front of his armies. His heirs and trusted advisors take the field in his stead, leading the slow campaign of expansion. The borders of his nation now clash against new foes, like the implacable Elvish nations or the barbaric Borvar tribes protected by the Hindarsfel mountains to the south, and these new armies have fought Thengall's forces to a standstill. Alliances with the Nithvell dwarves or the trading clans of Eyenkald brought new wealth, but they still resisted annex into the kingdom. Some have said that Ragvaldur's days of glory lay behind him, and his goals were impossible dreams.

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History may have turned out differently, except for the arrival of an intruder into Eldangard's conflict. Eldangard is merely a curiosity to the ones who call themselves Planeswalkers, but a powerful necromancer, Ulrexes, has taken a special notice of it. Many 'walkers, when their spark first ignites, fly uncontrollably through the Blind Eternities and are lost forever. Even those who manage to return to a physical realm sometimes arrive battered and broken by the ravages of the emptiness between worlds. Ulrexes was one of the unfortunates who landed on a strange world wounded to the edge of death, but his mastery over necromancy allowed him to cling to the last scraps of life, his mind and his spark animating a scarred husk of his former body. He continues to amass power throughout the multiverse, seeking to not only extend his life further, but also to restore his body to its former state. On Eldangard, as on many other worlds before, he freely offers his knowledge and the secrets of undeath to those he finds worthy; those with the ambition to seize power, and who he believes can be useful allies in the future. But here in this unrefined world he suspects he has a chance to find a greater secret, in the form of a fellow planeswalker.

Sigrid Anvollar was once a high-ranking soldier in a world she barely remembers, skilled with the spear and adept at tactics. She served her entire life as a warrior for her homeland, more concerned with her own honor and glory than the politics that aimed her into battle. But no amount of skill could have saved her from the chaos of war, when a surprise attack routed her squadron and scattered them. Outnumbered and abandoned by her comrades she held off a tide of enemies for hours in a futile attempt to protect her post. In the moments before she was overrun, her pain and rage ignited her spark and she found herself ripped from her own world. Like Ulrexes she materialized in another plane near death, suffering from her battle wounds as well as the journey through the burning void. But in Eldangard, she encountered a higher power who recognized her bravery in battle and her great potential to serve a purpose for their world. The Valkyrie who preside over war and choose heroes from among the slain used their divine influence to heal her mortal wounds, and took her as their apprentice. She is still a young novice who has yet to harness the full power of her planeswalker's spark, but Ulrexes watches her from afar, coveting the gift that brought her back from the brink of death.

Having chosen his prey, Ulrexes knows the path he must take. The valkyrie are his salvation, and the only way he can call them out from their lofty seclusion is to break the stalemate of Ragvaldur's campaign and ignite an all-out war between nations.

He begins his game with a freely given gift, taking a protege who he will tutor in the necromantic arts. His chosen pawn is Alvisgarm, a skilled sorceror in Thengall's high court, a kingdom where magic still holds superstitious mystery. Although Alvisgarm is only a low-ranking advisor to Ragvaldur he is ambitious enough to take full advantage of the knowledge he is given, and he may be Ulrexes' key to finding the true power in the realm.

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Alvisgarm began serving Ragvaldur by leading expeditions to the borders of Thengall, fighting against rebels and invaders with a small army of trusted soldiers. Armed with a newfound power over death, his battles were great victories with not a single casualty. He was subtle in his words, making no overt claims of his abilities, but rumors inevitably spread that Alvisgarm's armies were unbeatable. Some even believed he was blessed by divine providence, and that the deathless Einherjar warriors of the old sagas had returned to fight for Thengall. To Ragvaldur, this was a clear omen: with Alvisgarm at his side his kingdom would continue to expand, first conquering Borvar, then continuing on to even greater feats. Thengall would be an empire to span ages.

Ulrexes continued to observe his student's work from afar as war erupted once more on Eldangard. The first Theng assaults on Borvar territory through the mountain passes of Hindarsfel were decisive victories that left the barbarian tribes disorganized and defenseless, while Thengall's miraculous undying warriors emerged unscathed. But although Alvisgarm's scouts believed the Borvar clans to have no central leadership and no alliances among them, a unified resistance quickly formed as soon as the Highweald lands were threatened. Fighting intensified, and Alvisgarm was forced to halt the offensive and fall back to a defensive position. Alvisgarm also became aware that his control over death was an imperfect art. His own reputation claimed that the power protecting his armies was a divine gift, but the necromancy was a harrowing process that robbed his loyal Valreth soldiers of some of their humanity every time they were brought back from death.

As the Borvar began to push back against the invaders, Ragvaldur was not dissuaded from his goal. In fact, his zeal had only intensified. Decades of prosperity had passed, but the days of Thengall's great conquest were still remembered by many. His advisors called for him to raise even larger armies, and each of his generals longed for another chance to prove their greatness on the field of battle. Alvisgarm formed his own alliances unknown to the other generals, calling on old covens of sorcerors, called the Mordraefen, to share the secrets of Ulrexes' necromancy. Amid the clamor for war, Ragvaldur stated his intentions to wage conquest over not just the Borvar, but also the deep forests of Alfheim and the sacred lands of the elemental tribes, the Hraunhallow. Some called him mad, but in Ragvaldur's eyes he had been granted a divine gift. War would go forward.

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Meanwhile, amid the growing chaos of war, Ulrexes needs only to wait for his plan to come to fruition. Ragvaldur may have been a fool to declare a war on so many fronts, but Ulrexes underestimated just how stubborn the king truly was. Instead of being crushed by the counterattack of the Borvar humans, the Alfheim nation and the scheming Margyr, he has regrouped his forces and returned with a fighting force stronger than ever.

There is no doubt in Ulrexes' mind that Thengall will fall, and his apprentice Alvisgarm will fall with it. Thengall's allies have begun to abandon it, its own people murmur of rebellion against Ragvaldur's madness, and the barbarian tribes of Borvar and Hindarsfel have rallied an army thousands strong, ready to march on the capital of Arnfast. But the outcome of the war is no longer his concern. The prophesied final battle of Ragnarok has arrived. Great heroes have risen to fight, ancient spirits of nature stride on the battlefields, and the dead champions of long forgotten ages have answered the call. The world may end, but it is accomplished; the Valkyrie ride into war once more.

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People and Places

Thengall - An expansive nation ruled by King Ragvaldur, uniting many parts of the land that were once disorganized collections of villages. It consists of the capital city of Arenfast and its surrounding lands, the Somarvall plains, and the rocky Gulbrand countryside. The people of Gulbrand are largely accepting of the Theng's rule, but their old traditions remain strong and the young and impulsive are often openly defiant against Ragvaldur's authority. The Thengs are strongly White aligned, with Green influence among practicioners of Gulbrand's old druidic ways.

Oakthyrn - An ancient and vast forest to the northwest of Gulbrand. The elves of Oakthyrn call a small portion of the forest their homeland, Alfheim, but they are nomadic by nature and don't believe in artifical notions of borders to their land. It is also the home of a mystic enclave of Yetis. Normally feral creatures, they have learned wisdom from the Elves and taken it upon themselves to protect the wild lands. The entire forest is suffused in Green mana, and those who live there adopt its way of life by instinct.

Hraunhallow - A vast burning field in the foothills of a great volcano. It is the home of the impulsive Muspeljar, elementals of fire and stone. They are born from a sacred cavern on the mountain, and return to the fire fields as their lifespan comes to an end. Despite their great knowledge of magic and warfare, they use no tools or weapons, relying only on their own strengths and the strength of their closest friends and kin. The Muspeljar are Red aligned, but there are many tales of those who reject their companions and live only for themselves, becoming cruel and cold as they journey inevitably into Blackness.

Eyenkald - A chain of islands east of Thengall, a place constantly battered by storms ever since Svarthov's great spell shattered the island of Odella. Despite the harsh conditions many rugged seafarers make their home there, often under the protection of local mages who seek to tap into the spell energy that permeates the islands. The community of wizards has formed their own outpost in the islands, a "library" where magical knowledge is transcribed into runes and carved into the natural rock. The people of the islands pledge a loose allegiance to Thengall, but the mages of Eyenkald are entirely Blue aligned in their motives and undoubtedly hold secrets from their allies.

Hindarsfel - A nation built high in the mountains to the west. Its people are hunters and gatherers by nature and have few cities or villages of any kind, but are known to be fierce warriors. They are led by those with magical knowledge, revering the shamans' connection with nature above all other guidance. They are a mixture of Green and Red philosophies, a fierce and emotional people tempered by a respect for nature's balance.

Jormunsol - A legendary tree that towers above the Oakthyrn forest. Its roots spread for miles under the forest floor, and temples are built in its branches. As the war in Eldangard rages on, many of the elves and yetis of the forest fall back to its sacred grove to make a last stand. The ancient nature spirit Ratatosk, who takes the form of a great squirrel, makes his home in the highest branches and occasionally lends his wisdom to the elves of the temples.

Skuldheim - An abyss in the ocean floor, guarded by merfolk who distrust the surface world. By looking into the blackness of the bottomless ocean trench, one can see hidden secrets and visions of the future. The elite wizards of the Margyr train their bodies to withstand the crushing depths and venture even further into Skuldheim's mind-warping chasm.

Nithvell - The capital city of the Dvergan nations, carved from the mountainside itself. The strength of the dwarven people lies mostly in craftsmanship and trade rather than military force, but their city's walls have never been breached in over two thousand years. They have a long-standing alliance with the Thengs, but they are uneasy with the sudden changes in Ragvaldur's military plans.

Utgar - Commonly called the Outland by the Thengs. This desolate arctic waste holds nothing of value to the civilized people of the world, but there are rumors of great beasts and giants who rule over the snow fields. "Utgar" is also the name given to the tribes of savage yetis who live at the borders of this region, on the outskirts of the elven lands.

The Mordraefen - A secret society of mages who seek out forgotten and forbidden forms of magic. A growing number of their members do not actively practice spellcraft, but hold allegiance to the group for their own political purposes. However all of that changed when Ulrexes revealed a portion of his necromantic knowledge to Alvisgarm, and the mages gained access to true power like they had never known before.

Hjalmir Icebrand - When the war reaches its final battle, Hjalmir will be leading the charge against the demon-empowered armies of Alvisgarm. He represents a unifying figure for the barbarian tribes known as the Borvar. He shares ancestry with the royal line that currently leads the empire of Thengall, and if history had taken a different turn it could just as easily have been him on the throne. A born leader and a mighty warrior, he blazes a trail for his legions to follow to victory.

Leitnir Ironside - A dwarf with decades of battle experience and an unwavering sense of duty. He is well respected among the Dvergan, and his decision of whether or not to fight alongside Thengall in the coming battle may sway the entire dwarf nation one way or the other.

Firbard Forestfather - A Yeti shaman, originally from the Utgar tribes, who felt the call of Jormunsol and chose to venture into Oakthyrn and learn the ways of the Elves.

Orvandil Northwolf - A devoted cavalry leader who follows Ragvaldur's campaign without question. He was only a child when the Somarvall province was conquered and brought into the Thengall kingdom, and believes that a strong enough military leader can bring the same prosperity to the entire world.

Niskival - An Eyenkald sorceror and master illusionist. He recognizes that Ragvaldur is fighting a failing battle, and he intends to position himself to seize power when the world's nations lie in ruins. His illusionary servants, empowered by the magical remnants of Svarthov's Portal, gather information all throughout the warring kingdoms.

Balthrundir - The eldest living elemental among the Muspeljar. His life force is tied to a raging volcano deep in the Hraunhallow, which he rarely ventures away from. He is not a formal leader, but when he speaks the other Muspeljar listen.

Starkald the Bloodless - Starkald was a champion among the Thengall mounted soldiers, known for his reckless courage and ruthless fighting tactics. While he served under Alvisgarm's command his entire legion was slain on the front lines and revived by Mordraefen magic. Many soldiers believed they were saved by the Valkyrie, or chosen by fate to survive the impossible. But Starkald felt the corruption in his soul and reveled in it, becoming even more bloodthirsty in combat and flaunting his mortal wounds as a badge of honor.

Virthand - A valkyrie summoned by the rising tide of war in Eldangard. Unlike the valkyrie of folklore who presided over the wars that defined nations in the past, her essence is corrupted by the deception and powermongering at the heart of Ragvaldur's crusade. The dead that she chooses as her heroes rise as tortured phantoms, and rather than bringing victory she seeks only to continue the slaughter.

This plane is awesome.

Disclaimer: I don't particularly enjoy planes that are build on real-life places or mythology. I didn't like Theros all that much (Although I liked small aspects of it.) and the only reason I liked Innistrad is that it played of horror tropes, rather than on being Medieval Germany with some monsters. To put it briefly: I'm massively biased here.

For starters, this is not a plane. It's a history. Whether the history is interesting or not I'm not going to comment on, but the plane definitely needs work. There are some brief looks at the world in your "People and Places" thing, but it's not enough. You definitely need to expand on that.

Furthermore, you need to show how this is a Magic-plane, instead of a Nordic-inspired fantasy world. There's some mention of mana in there, but you could easily lose those and the plane would stop being about Magic.

That's my first impression. I think I might come across as harsh, but I think your plane has significant potential, it just need to be polished.

Specific points:


Are those all the races your are planning to use? There is some mention of Merfolk and Yetis (are these sapient?) and I guess Valkyries can be typed as Angels. One way to increase the M:tG-ness of the plane is by using specific races.


This doesn't really come across in the rest of your description, and I think it could be developed more.


I'm really not sure on how this works. The guy used magic that send out some kind of magical energy across the Blind Eternities in some way? And this was visible on other planes?


[Citation Needed]. I know this isn't a big part of your story or anything, but to the best of my knowledge, becoming a planeswalker doesn't work like this.


I'm not clear on her history. She's some incredibly capable person (on Gideon Jura levels) who ascended, ended up on another plane pretty much dead and then somehow immediately came back to her home-plane to become fully healed? Is that correct?


Is it? The last time you mentioned them they intervened after a simple ambush.

I personally don't care much for the history you laid out, but that could be just me. I assume it reads like a saga, but to me it comes across as "great men history" without any information about the underlying social structures that actually drive history. I hope someone with more knowledge of mythology and classical storytelling can come in and explain how I'm wrong.

Yxoque, some of what you're looking for is in the card sets themselves. From what I've seen browsing through them, there's more development culturally and environmentally there.

That said, I see what you're saying RE: Great Men models of history but I feel like that's probably just the name of the game when you're working with a setting like this that's heavily based in the Sagas Of Old, as it were.

Maybe the way of mediating that would be for Fallingman to add more into the Guide about the actual world and cultures. I mean the work's clearly been done since it shows up on the cards; it just needs to be written out, as far as I can see.

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I actually don't mind the real-world sources here. I think you've done a good job of making this an interesting narrative in and of itself rather than just reproducing the mythology whole-cloth. In particular I'm digging the lack of gods. That's an intriguing choice.

The story is interesting as well, and as far as "evil villain plots to foment war for their own ends" narratives go, yours sure makes a lot more sense than Nicol Bolas's "smash Alara together and eat all the energy" plan

One concern I have is with the lich walker. Undead 'walkers should only really be possible in very rare exceptional circumstances, and I'm noooot sure the explanation you have here suffices. As Yxoque points out, 'walking is disorienting and disturbing, but seldom, from what we've seen, deadly for a 'walker. And I think the explanation of how he was able to preserve both himself and his spark needs expansion. It's also troublesome because we've got three different undead 'walkers in our archives already which is probably pushing it to begin with. >_< That said, one is off limits because the character is private and the author is gone, and one is sort of a... semi-planeswalker and it's sort of ambiguous whether he even has his spark anymore (it's complicated). So maybe it wouldn't be a big deal?

That said, I like what you've got here. We've had some other dabblings in Norsish territory but this feels like its own world, it doesn't feel like there's overlap with what others have done already. So that's great. And the basic story is intriguing. I also love the sets. It seems like a really mechanically interesting block with great flavor. Every time I look through it again I notice something new and interesting. It's one of the things from YMTC (along with Solphos) that's on my shortlist of stuff I'd like to see come over here and join our archives, but that I hesitated initiating contact over because I knew there were usually minor things that needed tweaking (the lich for Eldangard; the use of a canon planeswalker in Solphos).

I'll check out the card sets and potentially update my opinion :-)

And yeah, it's really a personal thing, with the setting. Either I won't appreciate the setting ever, or it could grow on me. That happened with Jakkard.

I'll admit that a lot of the plotting and "cosmology" of how this plane relates to others was mostly discovery-writing, ie. I invented the character interactions at the very moment I started putting the characters into words. I'll try to justify some of the choices here:

Svarthov's spell - From the descriptions of Zendikar and it's unique, especially potent mana sources, I got the impression that Planeswalkers have an instinctive "feel" for places of interest in the Multiverse. Ravnica seems to be a sort of hub for all sorts of plots, and that can't just be coincidence. Perhaps planeswalkers share rumors, or are drawn to places that other walkers have been before. The end result of Svarthov's experiments, attempting to see or travel into other planes, somehow "marked" the plane as something that would draw planeswalkers to it.

The dangers of Planeswalking - Since the Spark is usually ignited due to some kind of intense, traumatic experience, and the Blind Eternities have been described as a chaotic, unlivable space, it seems unlikely to me that every Planeswalker's first journey is trouble free. For every one that masters their talents (the ones that good stories are written about), there may be dozens who never survive the perils of the multiverse. It's possible that official Magic cosmology contradicts me, and the Spark itself really does have some kind of protective power that prevents individuals from walking into worlds of pure fire or solid rock, and keeps them shielded from exposure to the Blind Eternities. I can adjust the backstory as needed, since I think the important things are that both Sigrid and Ulrexes were nearly dead when they first stumbled into a new world.

Sigrid - Her home plane is unknown to the story, and she has never found her way back there. The war that defined her on her own world nearly killed her, and her very first planeswalk took her to Eldangard. In order for her to meet the Valkyrie, I believe that she would have needed to travel directly into their domain, a physical place somewhere on the plane, unknown to the natives of Eldangard. The valkyrie themselves, like most Angels, are created beings. They come into existence during times of conflict as living embodiments of the war they preside over, and guide the course of chaotic events towards victory and eventual order. However (for some reason?) they are no longer appearing as often as they used to in the old stories, remaining isolated. They give their gifts of life to great heroes, and although Sigrid's war was in a distant plane they still recognized her greatness.

Ulrexes - Ulrexes did not truly die. But while his soul/spark never actually left his body, most of his flesh was already dead and he was able to adapt his necromantic knowledge to keep himself moving and breathing. He exists on the very border between life and death, and suspects that unlike a true Undead he may be able to reverse the process and regain whole life again. He calls himself a Lich because his soul and body are being forcibly bound together by magic, basically indistinguishable from many of the undead mages he has known before. He's a unique abomination, planeswalking only on a technicality, but he'll take what he can get.

No more time right now, but I'll maybe put in some more details later.

Nice. I was wondering, from your description, whether Ulrexes might have had something like that going on. That clears with me, personally, though I'd like to hear what other folks have to say. In fact, I like that whole idea a lot.

The Spark does protect Planeswalkers from the chaos of the Blind Eternities. That's part of its power and purpose. Now, planeswalking to a world of lava? Yeah, that could totally happen, and maybe that's what happened to Ulrexes (or something similar)?

Svarthov's spell checks out with me as well. I think of it as similar to the effects of Feroz's Ban: Ulgrotha was apparently hidden from other 'walkers by its effects. If planes can be hidden, they can be painted day-glo orange as well, and it sounds like that's what Svarthov did, effectively.

Thanks for addressing my concerns. I'll try and respond tomorrow, but I'm pretty tired right now.

Eh it's only, what, two in the morning where you are? Surely you can put off sleep a little longer

I like the idea of Ulrexes taking his first Planeswalk to some horrifying world of caustic atmosphere or necrotic plagues and barely escaping with his life, if "ravaged by the chaotic void" doesn't work. It probably tells you a lot about his current character too. I imagine he'd harbor a bit of resentment towards other planeswalkers, the lucky ones who didn't get thrown into a pit of certain death when their "gift" manifested.

Yeah, that's a pretty great hook actually. The sheer arbitrary stupidity of it, the senselessness, is fascinating, and certainly enough to push even someone who ISN'T steeped in the dark arts over the edge of reason.

The funny thing is that I stayed awake until 4 AM browsing tumblr.

And with funny, I mean I regret that decision right now.