Over the years, a number of planes have essentially had large numbers of creatures taken from other planes for their populations, and similarly over the years, a number of possible origin planes have been suggested. Granted, this does not mean that, say, vedalken HAD to originate on Alara, but we do at least have a potential source world now. However, some remain unknown. What else is left and where might we see them?
(note: certain creatures, like goblins and elves, are left out of this list as, let's face it, the only worlds we visited that left either of the above examples were Ulgrotha, Rabiah, Kamigawa and Mercadia)
The blinkmoths are the ones I find exceptionally curious, as they seem particularly well-suited for Mirrodin despite not originating there, neither Karn nor Memnarch brought them over, and they seemed able to planeswalk or similarly vanish from the scene, but only when a new sun dawned.
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
Well part of the problem with tracing where the Mirrodin Vedalken are from is that we have to actually find the four armed Vedalken again. Most all of the Vedalken we've seen had only two arms, so that particular displacement leaves larger questions than others.
As for Ravnica, well.... they were all native to Ravnica. So they weren't transjuxtaposed from somewhere else. The races of Ravnica would be more likely to fall under the Source column than the question column.
I was under the impression that Vedalken had mutated into having four arms in Mirrodin, and the original ones were more like the Alara/Ravnica versions.
Also, I don't think any of the races in Ravnica is natural to the plane - before being planeswalker free, it probably posed as an interesting planeswalker hub and they could've brought many creatures from different lands.
I was under the impression that Vedalken had mutated into having four arms in Mirrodin, and the original ones were more like the Alara/Ravnica versions.
Also, I don't think any of the races in Ravnica is natural to the plane - before being planeswalker free, it probably posed as an interesting planeswalker hub and they could've brought many creatures from different lands.
Also: dragon dude in Phyrexia - what gives.
Oh come on, that's like saying Dominaria has no native species because it's frequented so much by planeswalkers. Occam's Razor would state that Ravnican species are native to Ravnica. It's not easy, nor natural for planeswalkers to bring new races with them.
As for the Mirrodin Vedalken, we really don't know one way or another. We know nothing aside from what we have seen, so we should take it that Vedalken on Mirrodin have four arms. Whether that was natural for that species of Vedalken, we don't know.
I forgot about the Aven not being native to Dominaria! Now that would be interesting to find out. That's one that I think would be worth searching for.
The other most interesting one would be where the different Rathi races came from.
But Ravnica... yeah, I'm guessing all of those races were native. The vast diversity is easily explained as well: think of how many races exist on Dominaria. Wouldn't they be widespread and dispersed if the whole plane were covered in a massive over-populated city?
The one thing that really interests me is where Cosmic Larvae come from. There was an incredible Epileptic Trees theory on the Wizards forum a few months ago where some of us came up with the theory that the Larvae are actually the first forms of things like Cosmic Horror and the Nephilim. Of course, the whole theory was based on one line in a Mark Rosewater article about Nephilim not being native to Ravnica, but hey, Wild Mass Guessing doesn't have to make sense.
I recall that in one of the 'introducing Ravnica'-articles the plane was referred to as a central hub with a lot of inter-plane traffic (before the signing of the guildpact), and that was the reason for the big variety of sentient creature types on the plane. And the Vedalken wiki (http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Vedalken) clearly states that because of the mycosynth mutation of Mirrodin all Vedalken grew extra arms and started wearing fishbowles as a fashion item or something like that. As Vigean Graftmage is a Ravnican Vedalken Mutant it becomes clear that Vedalken as a race tend to grow extra arms when exposed to some kind of mutation trigger.
I suppose one can consider Vedalken...Frog-folk? I say this because frogs tend to grow extra limbs when exposed to radiation and mutation. Vedalken are similar, and you know I've always thought of them as kind of slimy, for some reason. They are hairless, like many amphibians [if not all], as well.
I recall that in one of the 'introducing Ravnica'-articles the plane was referred to as a central hub with a lot of inter-plane traffic (before the signing of the guildpact), and that was the reason for the big variety of sentient creature types on the plane. And the Vedalken wiki (http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Vedalken) clearly states that because of the mycosynth mutation of Mirrodin all Vedalken grew extra arms and started wearing fishbowles as a fashion item or something like that. As Vigean Graftmage is a Ravnican Vedalken Mutant it becomes clear that Vedalken as a race tend to grow extra arms when exposed to some kind of mutation trigger.
Man, I don't get tired of being right.
Now, what I want to hear is theories about the dead dragon in Phyrexia -- maybe dude's a Eldrazi?
Now, what I want to hear is theories about the dead dragon in Phyrexia -- maybe dude's a Eldrazi?
Naturally he was an extremely powerful Planeswalker. Not much else is known about him. When Dyfed originally took Yawgmoth to explore planes of the Multiverse, she took him to Phyrexia, an artificial realm where he saw the dead Planeswalker (death from unknown causes?).
Just about the only thing confirmed is that this was an extraordinarily powerful
'Walker (very few can actually create planes: Karn, Serra...).
Technically, though he wasn't a dragon--he just enjoyed taking to form of one. See Tevash Szat and Nicol Bolas (though Bolas was actually an Elder Dragon in Dominaria).
The one thing that really interests me is where Cosmic Larvae come from. There was an incredible Epileptic Trees theory on the Wizards forum a few months ago where some of us came up with the theory that the Larvae are actually the first forms of things like Cosmic Horror and the Nephilim. Of course, the whole theory was based on one line in a Mark Rosewater article about Nephilim not being native to Ravnica, but hey, Wild Mass Guessing doesn't have to make sense.
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
The next step up is to lands that can produce any color mana. (Yes, I understand I've skipped right past quad lands but until we go to the home plane of the Nephilim I think you're out of luck; you heard me, I don't think the Nephilim were from Ravnica—discuss)
As others have already said, we've been told that it was the result of the vedalken drinking the Blinkmoth serum. It was clearly stated that the original vedalken didn't have four arms.
It's been about two years since I've read the Mirrodin saga, and to be truthful, I wasn't paying a LOT of attention. (I skipped that godawful second book altogether. Nothing of value was lost.)
Ironically, I think it was probably an article that stated they mutated. Makes you wonder if when they got sent back to their original world if they still had the four arms.
I always wondered if the beings from Mirrodin remained partially metallic after being transported back home. This is an another interesting question...
Just what I remember from the last chapter of Fifth Dawn, I think they were all fleshy like Glissa was in her flashbacks.
There are a few origins I would love to see. Blinkmoths, the dragon pwalker in Phyrexia, woudl love to see a short story on Equilor(let us know exactly what is going on there).
Would love to see an article on races too, possibly letting us know where races like Kor and Vedaken are from and how they are only on a limited number of planes. Why merfolk ar eonly on some planes, Avens on others. Are they carried over to there or do they naturally evolve? How come there are planes like Kamigawa with races that are only foudn on that plane(Kitsune, snake people and rabbit people. Sorry I have a horrible memory with races).
Considering the Eldrazi were called a "brood" maybe they're Slivers! /kidding
But as for the actual Slivers, I was under the impression they were just genetic experiments created by Volrath and then dumped in his basement.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The difference between MTG and science is that one has people dressed up in silly clothes, using words you can't understand and doing potentially quite dangerous stuff while the other has people dressed up in silly clothes, using words you can't understand and doing potentially quite dangerous stuff while playing cards."
My Decks: WAnglesW WUBRGThe BroodGRBUW WUGAllymillGUW
Slivers ar eonly on Dominaria as of right now. They were genetically mutated by Volrath and dumped below the Stronghold. Supposedly almost all the Slivers wer ekilled in the overlay. Last we saw them they were being killed by Freyalise with her big tree, right before she morphed into a missle. LMFAO!!
Slivers ar eonly on Dominaria as of right now. They were genetically mutated by Volrath and dumped below the Stronghold. Supposedly almost all the Slivers wer ekilled in the overlay. Last we saw them they were being killed by Freyalise with her big tree, right before she morphed into a missle. LMFAO!!
Wut, I seem to recall from the books that she wasn't killing them, but mind-controlling them into killing the phyrexians for her...which they did a stellar job of. But then, most of the "story" for slivers have generally been in the flavor text, not the actual books they're aligned with. ie: Onslaught never once mentions them.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The difference between MTG and science is that one has people dressed up in silly clothes, using words you can't understand and doing potentially quite dangerous stuff while the other has people dressed up in silly clothes, using words you can't understand and doing potentially quite dangerous stuff while playing cards."
My Decks: WAnglesW WUBRGThe BroodGRBUW WUGAllymillGUW
Perhaps they are made in the same way Thrulls were made, by some yet-as-unknown party. It would make sense. Slivers are not unlike Thrulls in their adaptability. The thing that puts them apart is the Hive Mind that the Slivers have. Thrulls had no distinguishable leader, but the Slivers had their Queen, then Overlord and after that Legion.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
[I was permabanned and all I got to show for it was .... well, nothing.]
(note: certain creatures, like goblins and elves, are left out of this list as, let's face it, the only worlds we visited that left either of the above examples were Ulgrotha, Rabiah, Kamigawa and Mercadia)
Conglomerations:
Dominaria (Otaria):
Aven (confirmed planar immigrant in Odyssey)
Mirrodin:
Leonin, loxodons, vedalken, nim, vampires, fangrens, vorracs, blinkmoths
Rath:
Dal, Dauthi, Kor, slivers, Soltari, spikes, Thalakos, Vec (and many more)
Ravnica:
Loxodons, vedalken, vampires, flame-kin, root-kin, wood-kin
Sources:
Alara:
Aven, leonin, vedalken
Dominaria (unknown location):
Dauthi, Soltari, Thalakos
Lorwyn:
Flamekin
Zendikar:
Kor
The blinkmoths are the ones I find exceptionally curious, as they seem particularly well-suited for Mirrodin despite not originating there, neither Karn nor Memnarch brought them over, and they seemed able to planeswalk or similarly vanish from the scene, but only when a new sun dawned.
So yeah, where might these others show up?
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
As for Ravnica, well.... they were all native to Ravnica. So they weren't transjuxtaposed from somewhere else. The races of Ravnica would be more likely to fall under the Source column than the question column.
Also, I don't think any of the races in Ravnica is natural to the plane - before being planeswalker free, it probably posed as an interesting planeswalker hub and they could've brought many creatures from different lands.
Also: dragon dude in Phyrexia - what gives.
Oh come on, that's like saying Dominaria has no native species because it's frequented so much by planeswalkers. Occam's Razor would state that Ravnican species are native to Ravnica. It's not easy, nor natural for planeswalkers to bring new races with them.
As for the Mirrodin Vedalken, we really don't know one way or another. We know nothing aside from what we have seen, so we should take it that Vedalken on Mirrodin have four arms. Whether that was natural for that species of Vedalken, we don't know.
The only plane we can directly tie in where each race came from is Mirrodin.
The other most interesting one would be where the different Rathi races came from.
But Ravnica... yeah, I'm guessing all of those races were native. The vast diversity is easily explained as well: think of how many races exist on Dominaria. Wouldn't they be widespread and dispersed if the whole plane were covered in a massive over-populated city?
The one thing that really interests me is where Cosmic Larvae come from. There was an incredible Epileptic Trees theory on the Wizards forum a few months ago where some of us came up with the theory that the Larvae are actually the first forms of things like Cosmic Horror and the Nephilim. Of course, the whole theory was based on one line in a Mark Rosewater article about Nephilim not being native to Ravnica, but hey, Wild Mass Guessing doesn't have to make sense.
FRAGMENTS: A Shards of Alara Anthology
I suppose one can consider Vedalken...Frog-folk? I say this because frogs tend to grow extra limbs when exposed to radiation and mutation. Vedalken are similar, and you know I've always thought of them as kind of slimy, for some reason. They are hairless, like many amphibians [if not all], as well.
Maybe that's something?
~Lil Kalki
Proud Disciple of the Church of the Wary
Man, I don't get tired of being right.
Now, what I want to hear is theories about the dead dragon in Phyrexia -- maybe dude's a Eldrazi?
Naturally he was an extremely powerful Planeswalker. Not much else is known about him. When Dyfed originally took Yawgmoth to explore planes of the Multiverse, she took him to Phyrexia, an artificial realm where he saw the dead Planeswalker (death from unknown causes?).
Just about the only thing confirmed is that this was an extraordinarily powerful
'Walker (very few can actually create planes: Karn, Serra...).
Technically, though he wasn't a dragon--he just enjoyed taking to form of one. See Tevash Szat and Nicol Bolas (though Bolas was actually an Elder Dragon in Dominaria).
...any chance you have a link to said article?
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
This is true
HOWEVER!
Most of Rath's stuff, such as slivers and Kor are NOT like this, which is why it's always fun to see a homeworld.
Also about Blinkmoths, they were the only creatures on Mirrodin with Memnarch before the whole "Yoink let's take it to Mirrodin" saga began...
Wish me luck...
[hunts for a while]
The thread:
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75842/18869114/Nephilim_An_Invasive_Species?num=10&pg=1
The article:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/31
The quote:
FRAGMENTS: A Shards of Alara Anthology
It's been about two years since I've read the Mirrodin saga, and to be truthful, I wasn't paying a LOT of attention. (I skipped that godawful second book altogether. Nothing of value was lost.)
Ironically, I think it was probably an article that stated they mutated. Makes you wonder if when they got sent back to their original world if they still had the four arms.
Just what I remember from the last chapter of Fifth Dawn, I think they were all fleshy like Glissa was in her flashbacks.
I would only be certain that a given creature hales from a given plane if a canon source said it.
Plenty of creature types occur naturally on a given plane.
Butcher of Words.
Made by Spiderboy4
Would love to see an article on races too, possibly letting us know where races like Kor and Vedaken are from and how they are only on a limited number of planes. Why merfolk ar eonly on some planes, Avens on others. Are they carried over to there or do they naturally evolve? How come there are planes like Kamigawa with races that are only foudn on that plane(Kitsune, snake people and rabbit people. Sorry I have a horrible memory with races).
"Death - an outmoded concept. We sleep, and we change."
Awesome sig and avatar by Mr. Stuff over at High~Light Studios!
Xbox Live - eidtelnvil
PlayStation Network - eidtelnvil
Currently reading It by Stephen King
Currently playing Persona 4
But as for the actual Slivers, I was under the impression they were just genetic experiments created by Volrath and then dumped in his basement.
WAnglesW
WUBRGThe BroodGRBUW
WUGAllymillGUW
Wut, I seem to recall from the books that she wasn't killing them, but mind-controlling them into killing the phyrexians for her...which they did a stellar job of. But then, most of the "story" for slivers have generally been in the flavor text, not the actual books they're aligned with. ie: Onslaught never once mentions them.
WAnglesW
WUBRGThe BroodGRBUW
WUGAllymillGUW
Well the weaver king took control away from her, both the slivers and saprolings.