Joined: Sep 22, 2013 Posts: 11309 Location: Asleep at the wheel
Preferred Pronoun Set: SE / squinty / squints
I have a general question about the Magic multiverse, and you lot seemed the best to answer it:
What does planeswalking require of the Planeswalker? What part of his power does he use for it, how does the travel seem (the Blind Eternities and all that), and how often can one use this ability?
I have a general question about the Magic multiverse, and you lot seemed the best to answer it:
What does planeswalking require of the Planeswalker? What part of his power does he use for it, how does the travel seem (the Blind Eternities and all that), and how often can one use this ability?
~SE++
A planeswalker has to have a spark to planeswalk, but even then, it takes some concentration and mana to start the process. It is a really really arduous task, so as a consequence, it's not something someone can do often over and over again. Jace once described it as feeling like dying.
The Blind Eternities, meanwhile, is an abstract space, so... suffice to say, you'll have to get creative. I have maybe a half dozen stories or so that try to describe it, but I try and vary the symbolism each time. All I could offer on that front are some samples from what I've done.
_________________
At twilight's end, the shadow's crossed / a new world birthed, the elder lost. Yet on the morn we wake to find / that mem'ry left so far behind. To deafened ears we ask, unseen / "Which is life and which the dream?"
Yeah, I've always viewed it as something that is experienced differently by each planeswalker. Some seem to find it easier than others. Both the book Planeswalker and The Purifying Fire have some descriptions of planeswalking. Personally, I enjoy writing planeswalking scenes, but as Barinellos mentioned, it's an abstract sensation, so those scenes are usually pretty surreal.
Joined: Sep 22, 2013 Posts: 11309 Location: Asleep at the wheel
Preferred Pronoun Set: SE / squinty / squints
Would you have a few short descriptions from various palneswalker's points of view?
Also, would a more experienced Planeswalker be able to planeswalk more frequently? From what I remember, didn't someone chase Nicol Bolas all around the multiverse at the end of Time Spiral, planeswalking multiple times in a day?
Would you have a few short descriptions from various palneswalker's points of view?
Zhiran
Endless expanses of unfathomable oceans stretch to the furthest reaches of eternity while eddies of impossible colors and currents of indescribable beauty danced in darkness. The waves of reality broke upon dream and illusion and cascaded ever onward in enigmatic flows. Within this measureless paradox, tiny glitters of incredible light shone, drifting amongst the swifter tides at a glacial pace. They hung, suspended in the immense vista to all sides, far above and infinitely below, glittering like a thousand unique stars cast haphazardly into the morass of the dark and impossible sea.
A solitary figure looked out upon that vast kaleidoscopic swirl of chaos, his form unmoved by the miraculous tempest that spun around him. His gaze stretched to the sparkle of the farthest worlds, as if he could touch them from where he stood. This was a glory few would ever see, a vista seen only by those few blessed with that intangible essence of aether itself, the spark of a planeswalker.
Queen of the Black Sands
The Blind Eternities. A chaotic swirl of aether, colors existing where there is no light, sound where there is no air. Beings live only mayfly existences in the acidic waters of the multiverse's seas, dreamed by minds which may have never existed. Within these endless lapping waters exist bright sparkling diamonds of sanity and solidity. These are the worlds of the multiverse, planes, each a unique gem that sparkles in the cruel uncaring darkness of the boundless expanses.
Within the far reaches of the Blinds Eternities exist countless crystalline structures, each flawless, each utterly individual in ways that no other plane shall ever be. All but one. A single gem who catches the light of the multiverse and refracts it a thousand times into its own heart, a plane cut and faceted by an event ages past. The desert world of Rabiah.... but deep within the folds and whorls of this gem lies a dark crack.
Some places in the multiverse are avoided by those who tread the aether. Some may be whispered rumors, some unspoken horrors. Some are legendary for their evil and depravity, those are the names most often whispered in fearful bursts, names like Phyrexia... and Dark Rabiah.
Raef
It seemed to stretch out in all directions endlessly, but I knew that this was just a room. I felt no weight, no pain, nothing but the floating sensation that held me. Unsure of what to do, I tried moving forward and felt a sudden heaviness, as if something was dragging at me. A heat started building in my chest, growing hot and I tried to move again. The white room around me started to dissolve, the brilliance shrinking to pin points that shone like stars far out in blackness. I pushed again and felt something holding me. The radiance shone so brightly out in the darkness, halos of prismatic light adding color to the black void, and I felt a sudden need to go to them. The reins holding me pulled abruptly and I glanced down. Multicolored chains wrapped me and as I watched they sank into my body. Where they touched, there was only pain. It wasn't a pain of the body, but a soul deep agony that blazed across my senses. It felt like being dipped in molten metal and it burned as light ate away at my self... my soul, I realized. It rose, sliding across ethereal skin, turning it into shining gold as it passed. My vision flickered as it passed over one eye, closing upon the other slowly. The heat in my chest, different from the terrible fire on my skin, grew to an inferno and fought the shining light that reforged me. The cascade of light slowed as the inner ember resisted and slowly I became aware of something else on the periphery of my mind, something righteous and eager. I recognized it then. It was an angel... and it was coming from inside me. Breath exploded back into my body, an alien sensation in this place. When my eyes snapped open to the real world I felt the heat in my chest ignite into something cool and powerful. The remains of the white room vanished instantly, replaced by the drooping canvas of a medical tent. The hard ground cold under my back, and in that instant, I knew I was alive. Then... I was elsewhere.
The skin of the world ripped away from me and I found myself in another place, one of tumbling chaos and worlds, a place between places, vaguely familiar from before. Worlds hung in the void, surrounded by susurrating auras of light and sound. Behind me I felt the world I knew, familiar and safe in this terrible void. With a thought I was staring at the canvas tents again, coughing blood and gripping my chest, feeling rough scars raked bloodily across my skin. Breath came quick and my head darted around. Awareness slipped away and I didn’t fight. The last thing I heard as I passed out was the soft patter of rain. Just like the day my brother had died.
Alessa
“There was fire, so powerful that I felt it in my bones. The ground split, came apart, and storms raged over the seas. There was no sky, only the clouds and ash and lightning. In that moment, I saw the death of my world and in the vision I felt a like I was being torn apart. I was pushed out of the world and into chaos itself, colors I can’t describe woven into an infinite geometry of amazing complexity. My sight ran, a thousand lines of possibility springing to realization in that moment, each as realized as the other. It was the rampant potential of the Eternities and it might have been the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
Quote:
Also, would a more experienced Planeswalker be able to planeswalk more frequently? From what I remember, didn't someone chase Nicol Bolas all around the multiverse at the end of Time Spiral, planeswalking multiple times in a day?
~SE++
That was before the mending.
_________________
At twilight's end, the shadow's crossed / a new world birthed, the elder lost. Yet on the morn we wake to find / that mem'ry left so far behind. To deafened ears we ask, unseen / "Which is life and which the dream?"
Joined: Sep 22, 2013 Posts: 11309 Location: Asleep at the wheel
Preferred Pronoun Set: SE / squinty / squints
Okay, so the mending nerfed their power, which from what I recall, was the reasoning they gave so they could print Planeswalker cards. Planeswalkers gave up their power to mend the rifts, but could new Planeswalkers eventually gain enough power to use more of their old abilities?
Okay, so the mending nerfed their power, which from what I recall, was the reasoning they gave so they could print Planeswalker cards. Planeswalkers gave up their power to mend the rifts, but could new Planeswalkers eventually gain enough power to use more of their old abilities?
~SE++
Not really. They'd have to individually master spells that simulate their old abilities, but none of that would be tied to the spark.
We do know though, that with enough mana, a walker can walk several times without stressing themselves, but it requires them to refresh their mana bonds in between trips. There are very very very few who would have enough mana to do that.
_________________
At twilight's end, the shadow's crossed / a new world birthed, the elder lost. Yet on the morn we wake to find / that mem'ry left so far behind. To deafened ears we ask, unseen / "Which is life and which the dream?"
See, here's my reasoning. The Blind Eternities are full of AEther, which is pure magical energy. I'm at a loss for a source, but it was previously explained to me that all planes are made of what's basically solidified AEther. Mages channel AEther through mana-bonded lands, which gives your pure AEther a quality referred to as 'color' [and is why the Eldrazi, creatures of the Blind Eternities, use colorless mana]. Spells like Unsummon seem to be dissolving the creature's physical form back into AEther (more often seen on counterspells, methinks, though I'm having a hard time thinking of examples), so we know that the Planeswalker Spark is not the only way to do that. What I reckon, then, is the power of the Spark is that it allows the Planeswalker to, when dissolving her-or himself into AEther, maintain consciousness and cohesion while in the Blind Eternities (rather than being scattered, as the Blind Eternities are consistently described as a highly chaotic place) and thus travel.
There's some truth to that. It's been described before how the Spark as protection against the chaos of the Blind Eternities, which would otherwise tear something apart.
The Weatherlight's engine created an envelope of reality that protected it from the effects. Without it, its planeshifting ability would have... not really worked out so great for the crew.
Joined: Sep 22, 2013 Posts: 11309 Location: Asleep at the wheel
Preferred Pronoun Set: SE / squinty / squints
So.... AEther is kinda like the Lifestream from Final Fantasy VII? Also, I always assumed that summoning was pulling someone through the AEther and unsommon was sending them back.
So.... AEther is kinda like the Lifestream from Final Fantasy VII? Also, I always assumed that summoning was pulling someone through the AEther and unsommon was sending them back.
~SE++
Sadly, Squinty, this is a whole can of worms. AEther was once described to me as being more like Reality Acid, or antimatter. I sort of think of it as the concentrated essence of existence. But whichever way you look at it, it's the summoning question that really gets people up in arms.
There are several schools of thought when it comes to what summoning actually is, and each explanation has its own set of logical flaws attached to it. In the early days of Magic, and especially in the pre-revisionist books, summoning was very much drawing a creature or object through the AEther in a fairly literal sense. The escapades of Greensleeves and Gull in The Whispering Woods and Shattered Chains certainly support this theory, and it's the one I personally hold to, as well. However, it caused problems when you look at legendary creatures (especially with modern rules...) and creatures from the distant past or from planes that have been destroyed or significantly altered.
The other most prevalent theory is the "AEther copy" theory, wherein what a mage summons is not the actual, original creature, but rather a copy of that creature made out of AEther. This theory tends to avoid a lot of the logical problems of the first one, but it also, to me, weakens the meaning of the whole thing. I mean, personally, they're little better than illusions at that point. However, those who support this theory will point out that it explains how legends can be killed on the battlefield and then summoned again later, or how you can summon, say, Ertai, the Corrupted, and then also summon Ertai, Wizard Adept, which is an earlier version of the same man. Another problem the "copy" theory has, though, is the interaction with the graveyard and reanimation and things like that.
So basically, it's a question that Wizards of the Coast blatantly and intentionally refuses to answer, because there seems to be no one answer that covers all of the gameplay mechanics. As I said, I personally hold to the physical summoning theory, but to each their own, especially on something like this.
AEther copier here. I like it because it avoids moral issues with me slaughtering summoned enemies and because it makes changing Planeswalkers' clothes to fit the relevant plane a LOT easier.
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If you enjoy crossing the streams a little, check out my fiction in progress: Take the Black!
I either apologize in advance or refuse to apologize for overly long text posts.
AEther copier here. I like it because it avoids moral issues with me slaughtering summoned enemies and because it makes changing Planeswalkers' clothes to fit the relevant plane a LOT easier.
Yeah, I suspect most people support the AEther Copy theory. I suppose the easiest thing would be to say that both are options for planeswalkers, and some prefer one method, some prefer the other.
It kind of has to be both, because literally none of Homelands makes any sense if summoning across planes doesn't work, but the Ice Age saga is very clear about aether copies, but Jace behaves in AoA as though his summoned creatures are real. No matter what you choose, whole novels collapse, so it's probably best to just assume both are true.
It kind of has to be both, because literally none of Homelands makes any sense if summoning across planes doesn't work, but the Ice Age saga is very clear about aether copies, but Jace behaves in AoA as though his summoned creatures are real. No matter what you choose, whole novels collapse, so it's probably best to just assume both are true.
Not only that, but in recent events, we have walkers whose goal is to find creatures and transplant them in one manner or another. Kiora, and with the set name "Dragons of Tarkir" we can expect Sarkhan to mangle the issue even further. Ugh...
Anyways, going back to the aether issue, I have always subscribed to it as a form of proto-mana, an energy that condenses in the material realm and the influence of the material ends up adding a layer of intrinsic meaning to it, causing it to prism into one of the five colors based on the meaning attached to the land. At the core of this is the fact that, without any doubt at all, aether naturally responds to thought. It's true of the eternities as well as Iquatana.
With all of that said, I don't think the material world is made of aether since I view it the two as anathema to one another. The matter/antimatter metaphor is apt in that regard.
_________________
At twilight's end, the shadow's crossed / a new world birthed, the elder lost. Yet on the morn we wake to find / that mem'ry left so far behind. To deafened ears we ask, unseen / "Which is life and which the dream?"
As I understand it, summoning creatures is one can of worms, while mana bonds are at least five cans of what you expect to be worms but out pours some kind of nondescript vapor. I've seen it represented rather effectively as remembering locations, but I don't think I've read enough stuff to have even seen other versions mentioned. I usually stay out of my characters' heads, so it isn't a big issue for me unless we're talking about cutting mana bonds off.
_________________
If you enjoy crossing the streams a little, check out my fiction in progress: Take the Black!
I either apologize in advance or refuse to apologize for overly long text posts.
So.... summoning can be either pulling the literal creature through or making a copy, got it.
And I guess this is a can of worms as well, but mana is due to remembering the lands they were from, how do they channel it? What does that entail?
~SE++
Once again, I personalize how the mages interpret mana. Raef, for example, experiences mana as a tactile sensation, Alessa interprets it in cords and threads of light.
As to how a mage would actually call to the mana, it is the memory of a connection to a land. That memory gives access to the power that rests in a land. View the memory as a key and the land as a door. The memory opens the door and allows mana to flow out.
_________________
At twilight's end, the shadow's crossed / a new world birthed, the elder lost. Yet on the morn we wake to find / that mem'ry left so far behind. To deafened ears we ask, unseen / "Which is life and which the dream?"
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