So everyone is familiar with Ravnica, a classic example of how each color pair comes together and forms an interesting combination. However, whenever I start designing philosophies for Guilds in my own magic sets, they tend to fall right on top of the Ravnica guilds and it ends up being too similar.
I want to ask all of you what some interesting ideas for each color pair could be? They don't necessarily have to be totally different from their Ravnican cousins, either. I'm mainly just looking for some sort of inspiration in what color pairs have to offer.
When I was working on the philosophies for my viking custom set, there was a subtheme of Red and Blue poets and singers who told often exaggerated or otherwise questionably true stories because the truth of the story wasn't the fact of it happening but the realizations the story led people to.
"Poetry exists partly to undermine the certainties of an accepted intellectual system, by opening a fissure of awareness at which the reality of the unconquered world may enter", "Slip-shod Sibyls", Germaine Greer, Viking, 1995, p.3
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“Tell me who you walk with, and I'll tell you who you are.” Esmeralda Santiago Art is life itself.
I was once making a set which had 'modern' flavor - by modern I mean XIX century western world.
The main theme of this plane is that magic has to kept secret (yeah, this is a World of Darkness ripoff). Revealing the existence of the super natural to the ordinary citizen is very dangerous as it causes retaliation by the ruling force of the plane: the Clockwork - a machine that rules over almost all parts of this plane and commands a army of machine men in disguise. Instead of guilds that are organized and have a hierarchy, the Aggregations are more or less like schools of thought. Their defining feature is their stance in how to cope with the existence of the Clockwork as well was what kind of magic they tend to teach each other.
WU are artificers and sages who tries to live alongside the Clockwork by understanding it's inner workings and avoid it's wrath at any cost.
UB are paranoid dimensional mages who tries to escape the persecution by traveling to distant, alien worlds.
BR commune with demons and efreets to obtain wealth and pleasure in life. They live the contradiction of trying to exploit their gifts while risking their life for it.
RG are animalists who see the Clockwork as a colonizer and the struggle against it as the struggle to preserve their traditions. They survive by living among themselves in rural communities, isolated from the non-magical humans.
GW are spiritualists who befriends and nurture spiritual creatures who are invisible to the Clockwork. They believe in a primordial force that will one day break free and destroy the Clockwork.
WB are assassins for hire from ancient times who excels in death magic. This is the only truly hierarchical aggregation. They have several inner rules to not disturb the Clockwork - aside from working for it occasionally.
UR are very traditional alchemists, elementalists and summoners who believe practicing magic is a end in itself. They downplay the clockwork as mere machine and don't pay attention to it. They think magic will develop to a point humans will abandon technology - until that day they live in exile.
BG are heretic cultists who believe magic is their birth right. They despise non-magic people and the Clockwork, to the point they slaughter and slave then whenever History allows. They live in secret, parallel societies.
RW are the most recent Aggregation and they don't have any tradition in magic. Instead, they excel at recruiting more people to their cause. They are the most organized effort to overthrow the Clockwork and seek to liberate all mankind.
GU are animists who charts, protects and guide people to Havens - hidden sanctuaries where the influence of the clockwork is diminished.
Well, you can make a formula or game out of it - two-color factions are usually made by combining a major aspect of each of the colors' philosophies, which are fairly broad, as you know. So you can, effectively, mix and match in this way once you identify what those aspects actually are. For example, the Azorius Senate is white in that it cares about law, order, and justice, and blue in that it's cold, analytical, verbose, and emotionless. You could make a totally new white and blue faction by playing up white being a color of holiness and religion and blue being a color of perfectionism and meticulous planning, and have the faction be a religious organization determined to reshape the world so that everything is more perfect over a glacial timespan of many centuries.
One intersting way to look at it to me always was the synthesis of means and end. Each color pair is described as trying to achieve a particular end through particular means.
Let's look at a red-white faction as an example:
White wants to achieve Peace through Structure
Red wants to achieve Freedom through Action
Now by recombining the means and ends you get two different expressions of the same color combination:
Red-White wants to achieve Peace through Action
White-Red wants to achieve Freedom through Structure
Red-White is what we find in the Ravnican Boros. They are a form of police: Peacekeepers. But they are not the typical monowhite Lawkeepers - they are the kind of loose cannon officers that don't throw the book at people, but ignore the book and get into the fray if they see the need. They are cowboys who shoot bad people and ask questions later, but always with the end in mind to keep their city safe. Despite stepping outside the law to achieve their goals, they are very much agents of the law in name and their own mind.
Now white-red would be quite different. They could be structured and constrained, maybe with a philosophy that prohibits interference unless to help people to cast of the yoke of tyranny. They fight oppression, but in a structured manner. They could be an order of wandering anarchist monks, or freedom fighters that build networks of resistance. They might be methodological and organized, keeping resistance cells compartmentalized and everyone trained on the end, honoring a code among the outlaws. But they are agents of dissent.
This is just one collor pair and already this approach created the foundation for two ideas of new red-white factions: Anarcho-monks and freedom fighters. Other approaches are to extrapolate/mix-and-match from existing monocolored organizations (what would a crossover between the philosophies of Elesh Norn and Urabrask the Hidden look like? What kind of society would Lorwyn kith develop if infused with red?) or intrapolate from factions with more colors (like we have seen in KTK to DTK, but how would Jeskai change if instead of becoming white-blue they had ended red-white).
Oh, yeah, the Giants of Lorwyn actually are a red-white tribe and they examplify a nomadic lifestyle that I think fits red-white very well.
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
I want to ask all of you what some interesting ideas for each color pair could be? They don't necessarily have to be totally different from their Ravnican cousins, either. I'm mainly just looking for some sort of inspiration in what color pairs have to offer.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Art is life itself.
The main theme of this plane is that magic has to kept secret (yeah, this is a World of Darkness ripoff). Revealing the existence of the super natural to the ordinary citizen is very dangerous as it causes retaliation by the ruling force of the plane: the Clockwork - a machine that rules over almost all parts of this plane and commands a army of machine men in disguise. Instead of guilds that are organized and have a hierarchy, the Aggregations are more or less like schools of thought. Their defining feature is their stance in how to cope with the existence of the Clockwork as well was what kind of magic they tend to teach each other.
WU are artificers and sages who tries to live alongside the Clockwork by understanding it's inner workings and avoid it's wrath at any cost.
UB are paranoid dimensional mages who tries to escape the persecution by traveling to distant, alien worlds.
BR commune with demons and efreets to obtain wealth and pleasure in life. They live the contradiction of trying to exploit their gifts while risking their life for it.
RG are animalists who see the Clockwork as a colonizer and the struggle against it as the struggle to preserve their traditions. They survive by living among themselves in rural communities, isolated from the non-magical humans.
GW are spiritualists who befriends and nurture spiritual creatures who are invisible to the Clockwork. They believe in a primordial force that will one day break free and destroy the Clockwork.
WB are assassins for hire from ancient times who excels in death magic. This is the only truly hierarchical aggregation. They have several inner rules to not disturb the Clockwork - aside from working for it occasionally.
UR are very traditional alchemists, elementalists and summoners who believe practicing magic is a end in itself. They downplay the clockwork as mere machine and don't pay attention to it. They think magic will develop to a point humans will abandon technology - until that day they live in exile.
BG are heretic cultists who believe magic is their birth right. They despise non-magic people and the Clockwork, to the point they slaughter and slave then whenever History allows. They live in secret, parallel societies.
RW are the most recent Aggregation and they don't have any tradition in magic. Instead, they excel at recruiting more people to their cause. They are the most organized effort to overthrow the Clockwork and seek to liberate all mankind.
GU are animists who charts, protects and guide people to Havens - hidden sanctuaries where the influence of the clockwork is diminished.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Let's look at a red-white faction as an example:
Now by recombining the means and ends you get two different expressions of the same color combination:
Red-White is what we find in the Ravnican Boros. They are a form of police: Peacekeepers. But they are not the typical monowhite Lawkeepers - they are the kind of loose cannon officers that don't throw the book at people, but ignore the book and get into the fray if they see the need. They are cowboys who shoot bad people and ask questions later, but always with the end in mind to keep their city safe. Despite stepping outside the law to achieve their goals, they are very much agents of the law in name and their own mind.
Now white-red would be quite different. They could be structured and constrained, maybe with a philosophy that prohibits interference unless to help people to cast of the yoke of tyranny. They fight oppression, but in a structured manner. They could be an order of wandering anarchist monks, or freedom fighters that build networks of resistance. They might be methodological and organized, keeping resistance cells compartmentalized and everyone trained on the end, honoring a code among the outlaws. But they are agents of dissent.
This is just one collor pair and already this approach created the foundation for two ideas of new red-white factions: Anarcho-monks and freedom fighters. Other approaches are to extrapolate/mix-and-match from existing monocolored organizations (what would a crossover between the philosophies of Elesh Norn and Urabrask the Hidden look like? What kind of society would Lorwyn kith develop if infused with red?) or intrapolate from factions with more colors (like we have seen in KTK to DTK, but how would Jeskai change if instead of becoming white-blue they had ended red-white).
Oh, yeah, the Giants of Lorwyn actually are a red-white tribe and they examplify a nomadic lifestyle that I think fits red-white very well.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
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Legends: The Elder Dragons
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