MTG Salvation

What is Paiura?
Paiura is a plane where mana can flow freely throughout the world. Elementals watch over the plane, led by their elemental lords. The Elementals possess a powerful artifact, the Celestial Loop, that secures the flow of mana in Paiura.

Young adventurers travel Paiura to find their calling. The world of Paiura consists of five interconnected lands, based on the wedge color combinations. The five great Elemental aspects are associated with the allied tri-color combinations. However, multicolor is not the main focus of the Paiura set. Paiura introduces a new card type, the sanctuaries. Sanctuaries are temples dedicated to worship the elemental gods of Paiura, academies where young wizards learn the arcane arts or just havens for traveling adventurers.

The five great elemental lords are:
Azrar, the Aspect of Air, element of freedom and passion.
Iavu, the Aspect of Water, element of wisdom and change.
Niadi, the Aspect of Life, element of nature and light.
Mnteros, the Aspect of Earth, element of death and renewal.
Vezavetru, the Aspect of Fire, element of energy and emotion.

Design:
Paiura is a three set block, where Paiura is a large set and the other two small sets.
"Paiura", the first set, is completed and in playtesting.
The second set is called "Reign of Elements" and is currently in development.
The third set of the block is called "Unification" and is currently in design.

My thanks go to ThoughtriotX for helping me with the wording and to Tahazzar for constant feedback.

Paiura was born far outside the known multiverse. The plane was a single large continent interfused by a powerful, primordial energy known as the Kalin. This energy unified all four basic elements to one and was the source of all mortal life on Paiura. Elemental creatures reigned on Paiura and watched over the plane as it evolved.

However, at some point in its history, Paiura drifted into the multiverse and came in contact with the five colors of mana. The mana began to connect with the plane and separated the elements into five. From the Kalin, five new elemental lineages were born. Their elemental lords were:

W Azrar, the Aspect of Air
U Iavu, the Aspect of Water
B Yrestu, the Aspect of Darkness
R Vezavetru, the Aspect of Fire
G Mnteros, the Aspect of Earth

Many other smaller aspects were born, but these were the five omnipotent rulers of the plane. Four of the colors of mana could manifest into one of the four basic elements, each having a counterpart, but the black mana manifested itself in something that had no counterpart in the other elements.

The plane was torn apart by the separation. The continent began to drift into five parts and mortal civilizations were destroyed by violent earthquakes. To prevent the further collapse, the elemental lords came up with a plan to give some part of their power into an artifact that would unify the colors of mana into one again. However, recognizing the contradiction of his own existence, Yrestu didn’t wish to unite his essence with the others and dismissed the plan, stating that the only way for Paiura to survive was to be seperated from the multiverse again.

This is when the Aspects turned on each other. Yrestu was forcefully drained of his essence and imprisoned deep under Paiura. The black mana now roaming uncontrolled through Paiura was absorbed by the other elements. A lesser Aspect, Niadi, was ascended by the others to become the new fifth element in the cycle – Life.
Hastily, the five great Aspects continued with creating the artifact known as the Celestial Loop. This powerful artifact controlled the flow of mana in the plane and stopped the separation. The colors of mana connected with the different elements shifted and the black mana was incorporated into fire, water and earth.

Each element now joined three colors of mana in itself:

WUB: Water
UBR: Fire
BRG: Earth
RGW: Life
GWU: Air

The elements now complemented perfectly and the cycle was closed.

Though the continent was no longer torn apart, a small separation remained. Five lands were created:

Bojega – a misty swampland, inhabited by giant mushrooms.
Vezadun – a volcanic peninsula with untamed rainforests.
Iavuret – a vast tropical ocean with paradisiac islands.
Tiya – an endless highland with a cold, dusty climate and high mountains.
Sunveil – A flatland with lush meadows and enchanted forests.

The mortal races of Paiura began to settle. The elves went to Bojega and the forests of Sunveil and began practicing druidism. Vezadun attracted many shamans because of its primordial energies blistering in the air. Humans built their own empire in the plains of Sunveil, which was later named Toria. Many human tribes also went to the Tiya highlands and began to live a nomadic life. Only Iavuret was shaped directly by Iavu. He filled the ocean with giant kraken, turtles and leviathans. This discouraged anyone from ever going there except for the toughest pirates.

The mortal races built many temples to worship the elemental lords which were now residing inside their respective elemental planes, separated from the physical world. Their agents still lived among the mortals to keep watch, but the five great Aspects themselves remained relatively passive. Only Niadi was a bit chatty in nature and always invited the elves to his plane on a cup of nectar.

However, something was not right. In many of Paiura’s regions a corruption of the land slowly began to spread. The incorporation of black mana into the other elements was unnatural – the land itself was corrupted and now it slowly became apparent. While the elves of Bojega could maintain a fragile balance of life and death, the corruption of the earth in Tiya drove many of its tribes insane and into mindless, bloodthirsty creatures. The unfortunate sailors and pirates that sailed through Iavuret too often were disfigured, transformed into creatures of the ocean’s dark depths.

Centuries later, Paiura is visited by several planeswalkers from other worlds. Iadera, an alien planeswalker from an unknown plane, bonds with the elves of Bojega and learns about their ancient druidism. Kiora Atua, a merfolk planeswalker, travels to Iavuret with a small group of her merfolk to study its majestic marine creatures, its ancient temples and a weird, powerful source of energy somewhere hidden deep beneath the ocean. Elspeth Tirel has been living as a citizen of Toria incognito for quite some time to find peace and shelter. Finally, Tezzeret is sent by Nicol Bolas to Paiura to steal the powerful artifact known as the Celestial Loop, planning on misusing its power to bend mana for his schemes.

Paiura also spawned a planeswalker itself, Jukjuk. Being a goblin and thus not the most intelligent creature, many consider Jukjuk a threat for Paiura as he will eventually misuse his powers to do something incredibly dumb.

Sanctuaries
Sanctuaries are the main focus of Paiura. Sanctuary is a new permanent type. A sanctuary card has a number printed in the lower right-hand corner, similar to a planeswalker. This number determines the number of sanctuary counters this permanent enters the battlefield with. A sanctuary can be attacked by creatures just like a planeswalker and damage causes sanctuary counters to be removed.

Sanctuaries increase the importance of a good defense. Therefore, Paiura is a slow and defensive format. However, a creature that can deal a quick blow to an opponent to take out his sanctuary might be valuable as well? Of course, sanctuaries can also be destroyed by targeted removal – however, the more powerful sanctuaries are all hexproof.

Shelter
Shelter is an ability word closely related to sanctuaries. An ability, highlighted by Shelter is only active as long as you control a sanctuary.

Vitality
Vitality is another ability word. It is used on abilities that only have an effect if you gained life this turn.

Primal
Primal highlights an ability that triggers when a creature is exiled from the battlefield.

Snailshell
Snailshell highlights an ability that causes a creature to assign combat damage based on its toughness rather than its power.

Recurring keyword: Fight, Landcycling

Paiura focuses on the five wedge-based lands of Paiura. Reign of Elements will focus on the five arc color combinations of the Elemental lords. The mana in Paiura is complex and there are many different synergies appearing throughout the color combinations. These are the five lands:

BGW Bojega

Bojega is a giant living swamp. Its inhabitants are elven and human druids, wild animals and giant mushrooms. The major mechanic of Bojega is gaining and draining life. Several creatures have abilities to drain life symmetrically but very fast. To get the better end out of it, life gain effects keep you ahead of your opponent. Vitality adds an additional incentive to gaining life.

GUB Iavuret

Iavuret is a group of small tropical islands. Its inhabitants are marine creatures, such as kraken and turtles, pirates and merfolk. Iavuret is the most defensive of the five tribes. Hidden on the ocean floor are sacred temples that need to be protected from the curiosity of the land dwellers. Their major mechanics are defensive creatures and “More toughness than power”.

RWU Toria

Toria is noble human and elven empire. Toria’s inhabitants are mages, knights or rogues. Its key mechanic is artifacts. Spells appear in artifact form, such as an artifact that shocks a creature when it enters the battlefield. This artifact can later be used by a wizard to be transformed into a golem warrior.

WBR Tiya

The Tiya highlands are the home of the barbarian tribes. Its inhabitants are humans, goblins, centaurs and minotaurs. Barbarian tribes wage war on each other since countless generations. However, on the snow-covered peaks of the highest mountains you can still find peace in the temples of air. Tiya is the most aggressive of the five lands. Its major mechanic is “Attacking matters”.

URG Vezadun

If you want to learn the ways of the shaman, you should travel to the volcanic rainforests of Vezadun. Its inhabitants are jungle animals, shamans of various races and elementals. Its major mechanic is summoning elemental tokens and sending them back to the elemental planes, which manifests in the ability word primal.