Introduction To: Magic the Gathering

Welcome to the first in the "Introduction To: ______" series, where i will talk about the world and story of a game, disregarding anything about how to play, this is a strictly Flavor-based primer to the world and story of a game, in this case, Magic: The Gathering:

Not the stock logo colors, but I like orange

most official introductions to the mythology go something Like this:

You are a planeswalker. In the vast Multiverse, only you and your kind know of the countless worlds beyond your own. You have seen realities that would make a mundane wizard cower in awe. You have laid eyes upon the Blind Eternities. You are an iconoclast with an arsenal of sorcery at your command. Your gift drives you to seek out Magical knowledge, to test your limits, to forge your destiny.

(From Wizards.Com)

Okay, that's technically true, but it's also trying to shove a very complex concept, built on through out dozens of books and hundreds upon thousands of Flavor texts, into a single blurb, so, you play as a planeswalker?, let's hold off on that bit for now.

"That's okay, We'll wait"

Everything in M:TG takes place in the Multiverse(Called Dominia in older materials), a collection of universes called "Planes" and, between them, the "Blind Eternities" a formless chaotic void of aether. At the "center" of the Multiverse is Dominaria, which, when it was introduced, was the closest to a classic fantasy world you'll find in Magic, Dominiaria is the "Nexus" of the Multiverse, meaning whatever happens there affects the rest of the Multiverse. Why? Because the writers needed a way to raise the stakes.

You guys just have to be the center of everything!

Some planes hold entire cosmoses in them, others just one planet, and others still hold flat worlds spanning to infinity or inverted world on the inside of spheres. laws of physics are not the same everywhere so every form of world exists somewhere out there in the Eternities. (I plan on exploring each plane in more detail in future posts.)

"It's so beauti--OH GOD IA! IA! CTHULU PHTAGN"

What is the same everywhere (well, almost everywhere) is Mana the energy used to do magic, to cast spells, craft artifacts and summon creatures, it comes in five colors and flows from the landscape. White, which is the color of holiness,valor,angels,peace and so on is naturally produced by plains. Green, the color of growth, nature, savagery and life flows from Forests. Red Mana, representing anger, fire, lightning, destruction and speed flows from Mountains. Black is the color of death, madness, evil, corruption,shadows and sickness, it flows from Swamps. and Blue is the color that represents knowledge, order, water, inspiration and so on flows from Islands. Mana can be drawn from your surroundings or from the memory or bond of a location far away, even across the Blind Eternities 

Environmental Energy 

Most inhabitants of most Planes know nothing of the Multiverse, they go about their lives on one world oblivious to the rest, but some, a very, very, rare few, are born with a "spark" which through some traumatic event might ignite turning them into a Planeswalker, A Godlike, near immortal being capable of taking any shape, survive any attack, and seemingly learn any spell, even capable of createing entire Planes.

"Awesome!"  you might say/think "i get to play as one of those?" Nope.

See, on Dominaria, the Apocalypse happened, like 4 times.

Let's just say this world is...accident prone

By the last time, Time it's self was ripping apart, and to save it, some planeswalkers sacrificed their sparks, permanently rewriting what a planeswalker is. now they are just very powerful, preternaturally talented mages capable of traversing the planes. and seeing as some planes had developed artificial plansewalking technology, that last part is of varying usefulness.  

While most Characters can be be discussed in posts dedicated to their Plane, two Villains should probably be touched on:

Nicol Bolas, is a Dragon Planeswalker, he is a super genius and last of his kind, he's had numerous evil plans, but currently, his schtick is trying to regain the power he had before the nature of the planeswalker spark was changed

Honestly, I though he was taller

and Phyrexia, an Artificial Plane created by a long dead Planeswalker, it's like an inter-dimensional  cross between The Borg, The Cybermen, Daleks, Zombies, The Flood from Halo, The Flood from Doctor Who, Nazis and the average 1950's American's idea of Soviet Russia. With a Doctrine as convoluted and sinister as you might expect from that blend, i'll have to dedicate a post to it at some point.

I feel, despite not having a mouth, this one speaks for it's self.

That generally covers, on the grandest scale the Multiverse of Magic: The Gathering, I look forward to talking about specific Planes in More detail in future posts, If you have Information, Theories, or Corrections about Magic:The Gathering, let me know.