Thanks, maybe this will fit the Flavor of the world....



What you think?

That art is amazing.

Nice! The little guys don't look like Viashino though, so maybe a rename will still be required. Basically, any Illpyre group/location not associated with viashino. Or you could just go super general and make it like a Wasteland War-Walker or something. And I guess the "viashino" in the flavour text will need swapping out too.

That is great art, and fitting.

How about the name Ihuaivulu for Anjomeddon? It's Mapuche instead of Inca, but it is a mythical fire dragon from South America.

That is too hard to pronounce

Spell it Iwaivulu?

I think we need to focus more on the underground wizards referenced in Subterranean Scrawlings in order to draw the flavor home of the spell deck as it currently stands. Maybe make some more of the engrave cards that were flavored for Frostwynd into Illpyre flavor, describing the over-flow of creativity that causes some wizards to descend into their own private worlds of magic when that's all they can do to escape a barren hellscape with no water. Keep in mind that and are the allies of , and that when they are mixed together in a bad way, they can produce madness. I feel like a frenzied bunch of gnome wizards going crazy within the paths left behind by Sandpit Wurms would be a really captivating flavor to base the spell deck on. You can engrave things into the sprawling walls of underground labyrinths just as well as you can into ice.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is the difference between the RU spells-matter wizards and the U maybe W artificers. Up until now I kind of imagined them as being one and the same, but perhaps that was a mistake. The artificers are trying to preserve relics of the past, what's the goal of the UR guys? To forge a new path? Do the two factions have a realtionship?

I know this is too little too late, but I feel like Egypt would be a more-iconic inspiration for Illpyre than Incans. And Frostwynd could be Norse. Two of the most awesome mythologies of all time in one set.

Yeah, a little late on that one.

Maybe the UR spell guys are the masters of an underground network connecting Illpyre to Frostwynd. The mail, if you will. But also the spies and eyes.

I could see them being the only guys who can send messages long distances. That would be neat. Not sure about them being spies though. A literally underground network of passageways strikes me as hokey. Also it's not like anything restricts travel between Frostwynd and Illpyre so there's not much point to it.
Maybe they're just different subfactions of the academics? They both make artifact creatures after all. They just have very different ways of doing it. I'm picturing a arts/sciences type split.

I'm starting to think we should organize the card types into five two-colored factions, each with its own related mechanic. Restructure Starstill from the ground up as a "choose your card type" kind of set. That would give the set focus, add a hook for players to latch onto, and pare down the complexity of what we're trying to do.

Here's a timeline I drew up when I was bored in class. Give it a look and see if you have any problems with it.

Distant past
Anjomeddon And Glac born.
Anjo/Glac's parent leaves the plane, perhaps never to return.
Baharaz arrives on the plane.
Baharaz subjugates the dragons and conquers the plane (not necessarily in that order)

Elori is born, becomes a priest of Baharaz's empire.
Elori transcends the physical.

The Golden Age
Baharaz goes MIA.
Without Baharaz the empire continues in a somewhat less malign form. Elori may have some power helping run it.
The arts and sciences reach incredible heights- artifice and enchantment are interwoven as nowhere else in the multiverse.
The dragons rebel.
The Starstill occurs. Things go south. Most people die.
The Institute becomes a gathering place for those trying to reverse the Starstill. Though they fail, through their collective efforts the Institute becomes a prominent player in the post Starstill world.
A once prosperous city escapes total death as Wanuranti's necropolis.
Elori enlists the help of Anjomeddon and combines elements of the Baharazian faith and authoritarian beliefs to found his own religion which grows quickly.

Starstill (the set)
Baharaz returns to the plane. Lays low planning his next move.
Aloise arrives on the plane. Can't find what she's looking for, so she heads to the institute.
Aloise is directed to Steelbridge to contact an expert on the preStarstill era (who turns out to be Baharaz scheming his return to power? An agent of Wanuranti?).
Aloise heads moonward. Gathers allies. Runs into Wanuranti. Runs into treefolk?
Moonrise. Aloise raises the moon but sabotages its weapon potential and leaves Baharaz trapped in low orbit.
Happy end.

This still leaves a lot up in the air and there's a lot of things that could move around. Gruff could run into Aloise at pretty much any point. The Wanuranti thing could happen before Stellbridge, maybe even as soon as Aloise planeswalks. Elori could be a bajillion years old or just a hundred. When did he run into Anjo anyways?

So, what does everyone think?

I really think Frostwynd should just be called Frostblight. The problem is that Illpyre doesn't have an equivalent "super hot" zone, and two because "Illpyre Frostblight" sounds a lot more badass than with the -wynd.

And I really think Graven Giant should just say "this world" instead of "Velnaria". It would be cooler to leave the name of the world from before there was a Starstill a mystery.

Edit: Oh, no flavor text on cc cards?

Graven Giant

We definitely need something for players to latch on to. I'm not sure if your plan requires colour-based factions though. In a set divided between geographic locations and card types another division would just confuse people. Maybe we could use naming to give some hints as to what cards work well with each other but I wouldn't make factions a focus.
Is it feasible for the draft format to be built around trying to get as many of one card type as possible? That would be one way to do it.

I actually think that the factions could work. Here's a rough draft with card type, name, colors, and some notes

Artifacts -- Archaeologist's Covenant ()
"Reclaim the Past for a Better Future"
The Archaeologist's Covenant has a basic, abiding belief that Velnaria is a world fallen from a previous, superior state. In artifacts, the lessons and powers of the past may be extracted and applied to the present day. As such, they hunt for and collect artifacts whenever able. The Covenant operates primarily in Frostwynd (the conditions of which best preserve old relics) but may fund expeditions throughout the world

Creatures -- Tenders of the Pulse ()
"Lives End. Life Continues."
The Tenders of the pulse, based in Maraka, are a society of druids, foresters, and other wilderness-loving folks who see life -- the totality of life -- as the greatest good in the world. Their cause is to promote and tend for anything with a pulse, and spread the living nature of the twilit lands into Frostwynd and Maraka both.

Enchantments -- Soul-loom Disciples ()
"We Shall Weave the Tapestry of Reality"
The Soul-loom Disciples believe that there is an underlying weave of all reality, and that by knowing how to structure it, the permanent forms of magic and ultimately the whole of reality itself may be brought to heel. The Soul-loom leadership is interested in manipulating and perhaps even controlling manifestations of the "pure weave". This can put them in conflict with, or make them untrusted allies of other planar factions. Currently, they're trying to co-opt Elori

Sorceries -- Imperial Preservers ()
"The True Reign Will Come"
Lead by Bahraz's undead lieutenants, or else similarly immortal beings trained by the now vanished originals, the Preservers seek to return Bahraz (now known simply as "His Eminence", the cult having forgotten their master's very name) to rule over all of Velnaria with an iron fist. They are long-viewed and work dark magic in hidden places, seeking to alifn the world for His return. Little do they know how worthless their efforts to subvert sapient society are to Bahraz...

Instants -- Blightmage Conclave ()
"DEATH TO ALL"
The Blightmage Conclave is a group of wizards that have seen the depths of the world's poles, the absolute sterility of the heart of Frostwynd and Illpyre... and find it to be good. It is the belief of the Conclave that all life must end. It may burn, or it may freeze, but either way it has to be destroyed. They kill, burn, and salt the fields after them. Their attacks are focused against "the land of Heresy" (Maraka) but they'll happily help along death and destruction in the more liveable regions of Frostwynd and Illpyre too.

The archeologists match up with the Institute/Academy/Whatever we already have for artifacts. Since engrave makes artifact tokens maybe the UR guys could just be another discipline of study for our academics.

The RG guys really do need fleshing out. Maybe this is a good path to take with them. I would add B to the mix though, since the archetype seems to be headed that way.

The Soul Loom disciples have a great philosophy for Mastery. I would remove the more religious aspects though so they don't step on the Elorians' toes.

I like the Imperial Preservers as the control deck. Baharaz has to have some presence in the story.

The Blightmage guys don't really do anything for me thematically. Also, if there was an instats-only faction it would have to have blue in it. I wouldn't split instants and sorceries as they are essentially the same flavourfully. That's really the big problem with 5 factions- there are only really four card types. Maybe with a mastery "all the types, not just one" faction you could make 5 factions work, but I don't see any other way.

We can have a land faction. How about enchantments, instants and sorceries, lands, artifacts, creatures? (Incidentally, this also justifies the inclusion of enemy duals in the set.)

Change it to artifacts and creatures and I'm on board with this.