.....Overall though this speculation seems painfully feudal (not at shot at the speculators in any way) because for every good guess we come up with, there's a chance that creative has made a different plane that's a better fit.
Come! Fight my fellow lords, for fife, life, and the right to bear (false) alarms!
I don't know why but of all the characters whose origin I'm most curious to discover (despite my indifference to the character himself) it's Jace. Wizards likes Jace and seem to have something grand in the works for him therefore I fully expect his homeplane to be someplace of great import like Equilor or something. Nissa's first plane visited is another interesting puzzle. Either it will be a plane that caused her to appreciate the primal glory she treasures in her plane such as the metallic late-mirroden, or the cityscaped world of Ravnica, or it could be a plane that may have caused her original xenophobia such as Lorwen and the Elve's former dominance there.
Remember, we are in the next stage of Design, so whatever the themes are in the setting after BFZ it has to revolve around a mood, theme or set of emotions that creative wants us to experience:
Theros: Heroism, patronage from gods,fate,The hero's journey, savagery (monstrosity)
Tarkir: Change, Choices, consequence,the more things change the more they stay the same, initiative over fate,Whoops-my-bad,
Battle for Zendikar- different Heroes same purpose, Avengers Assemble!, Teamwork, Allies?, inescapable Threat, Reunion, taking a stand, sacrifices (Speculation of Course)
Undergroundplane: Claustrophobia,eerieness, alien,hidden beauty,Societal pariahs, vengeance on the above ground?,limited resources,accepting differences? (Just for example)
There's been an increasing amount of hints on the MTG database talking about dwarves, as well as some talk by Maro. Though this opinion is still of itself baseless, I would suspect Underground World as being the world we'll visit after Zendikar's return.
Here's a weird thought: Could Gideon be the son of Heliod? They both share an certain indestructibility about them, We know that Gideon's father wasn't around when Gideon was born and there is an entire trope of being the heroic offspring of deity common in Greek myth that Theros never hit.
Maybe there is a simple explanation for Sorin being dodgy about Nahiri. Maybe he doesn't want to confront her after the Eldrazi were released. She was against imprisoning them there considering it was her home world. Maybe he's avoiding her like children avoid parents when they do something wrong.
"So, remember way back when we imprisoned those Lovecraftian Horror things and we said they weren't going to get out? Yeah... so there was this fire mage and a mind mage... and this weird dragon guy.... then this thing happened with this elf lady... long story short.... Ugin's back!"
The thing is Sorin is kinda beyond feeling that kind of guilt. whatever happened between him and Nahiri it has to be sufficiently terrible as to nag at even him! While the release of the Eldrazi is a big deal, he wasn't really the one responsible for their release. No, whatever it is, I think it is far more personally related to direct actions taken by him. That's my 2 cents
I'm gonna jump on the bandwagon for what I have read about what others think. That Nahiri and Avacyn are somehow very connected, maybe even the same being. It makes a whole lot of sense to me that an angel can make really good use out of a chunk of the moon and make it into a crazy demon prison if it knows lots of lithomancy things.
well, thats not usually how angels are naturally created but I don't know if the same rules apply when a PW is creating an angel and not just an aether copy mind you.
The UR article states Sorin telling Ugin that Nahiri is alive but not on Zendikar. If Nahiri is truly stuck in a Zendikari hedron as some have speculated then Sorin would have lied to Ugin (which is not terribly unlikely). That or he believes being sealed doesn't 'qualify'. If Sorin is telling the truth then it is unlikely we'll see Nahiri during BFZ as I'm sure Wizards has plans to actually see what Sorin did with her. This cannot occur during Origins since much of Origins seems to be in the past. Nor do I think they would do so in a supplemental product.
If Nahiri is not on Zendikar and Sorin is being truthful it may be that he has somehow transformed her into Avycen the guardian of his plane but i'm sure there are hiccups to the theory that I can't think of at the moment. It is interesting and I'll be the first one to admit that there is sufficient evidence to wonder at this. Also is it just me or is Avycen paler than most angels? It could be in my head but if the speculation is true it may explain some of Sorin's protectiveness over her, although it may be just over-protectiveness over Innistrad itself.
Conspiracy was received well enough that Conspiracy 2 is an eventuality (and Fiora is the appropriate setting for it). So the question is when, not if.
Fiora as a full block is also possible, but it would require a different way of 'selling' the Fiora duplicity on cards than with the Watermarked 15th card per pack. Since you can't have a standard legal product with cards that require drafting mechanically. But on the other hand basic Fiora lands would be cool.
Fiora is also, technically, possible in Origins as one of the 10 planes involved with the 5 walkers.
That would be cool. Although it is hard for me to see it as being the home of any of the planeswalkers involved. maybe an interesting first stop tho.
So there's been no talk of a return to Fiora or a second Conspiracy set, which surprises me as I thought it was a financial success. Does anyone else think we'll return there and if so when? I kinda would like Fiora to be featured in a full 2-set block but I realize that such would not fit the multiplayer context and conspiracy-draft format that the story-line is centered on. If the return is just another supplimentary set I hope a greater percentage of cards are new ones that explore more depth into the plane and it's story-line. Particularly it's main Plotting characters and the planeswalkers from there, Dack and Darretti. Also it interests me in that though the flavor is similar to Ravnica, the urban element does not extend to the entirety of the plane, providing Creative an avenue of exploration. Fiora is my new favorite 'backwater' (Insignificant to the current narrative") plane.
I like Dromoka a lot, but one thing bothers me:
Didn't Dromoka say she was impressed by the Abzan's tradition od adopting Krumar? If so, why in this new society do they not practice it anymore?
I find both the premises of Kolaghan and Atarka hard to comprehend. For Kolaghan If you are merely a band of kill-enthusiasts without any sense of structure and basically follow continuously a lighting-crazed dragon with little regard for their lives, how are they producing offspring? I mean, do the childbearing humanoids rush into battle sword in hand and baby on their back? I mean I guess socially it wouldn't have to be females that do this, but seeing as they mostly appear mammalian and there isn't infant formula around it would be difficult to raise offspring successfully if your clan is centered on everybody joining the raid. Sombody's gotta watch the kids,whether its papa orc or mama orc maybe doesnt matter but SOMEBODY has to right?
EDIT: The Kolaghan do have horses so horse-milk is available I guess. They are a pastoral society if you take out the crazy killcrave they feel...
I also agree that the voracious hunting of the Atarka also seems very insensible. No fauna can survive such aggressive hunting by humanoid and dragon at the extent the guide suggests. It's not like bunnies and reindeer pop out of storms like angry red snowflakes. Tarkir dragons kinda do...
Does anyone else think that Tarkir is much worse-off than it was before the time travel? The honor of the Mardu and the pride Temur were completely destroyed (they just mindlessly destroy/hunt under the threat of death from their dragon overlords), bears are on the verge of extinction, the Atarkan humanoids are starving, the Jeskai (and to a lesser extent the Abzan) have given up on free will and become religious fanatics that view Ojutai (or in Abzan's case Dromoka) as perfect, and the efreet have been subjugated. The only people who don't seem worse off are the Sultai/Silumgar, and that is just because they were always completely oppressed. It just seems a lot worse than Tarkir was in Khans of Tarkir or in Fate Reforged.
Is Tarkier worse now?
That depends....Are you a Dragon?
Come! Fight my fellow lords, for fife, life, and the right to bear (false) alarms!
Theros: Heroism, patronage from gods,fate,The hero's journey, savagery (monstrosity)
Tarkir: Change, Choices, consequence,the more things change the more they stay the same, initiative over fate,Whoops-my-bad,
Battle for Zendikar- different Heroes same purpose, Avengers Assemble!, Teamwork, Allies?, inescapable Threat, Reunion, taking a stand, sacrifices (Speculation of Course)
Undergroundplane: Claustrophobia,eerieness, alien,hidden beauty,Societal pariahs, vengeance on the above ground?,limited resources,accepting differences? (Just for example)
The thing is Sorin is kinda beyond feeling that kind of guilt. whatever happened between him and Nahiri it has to be sufficiently terrible as to nag at even him! While the release of the Eldrazi is a big deal, he wasn't really the one responsible for their release. No, whatever it is, I think it is far more personally related to direct actions taken by him. That's my 2 cents
Yeah, the "Nahiri is Avacyn" theory falls apart in that case. interesting tho.
well, thats not usually how angels are naturally created but I don't know if the same rules apply when a PW is creating an angel and not just an aether copy mind you.
The UR article states Sorin telling Ugin that Nahiri is alive but not on Zendikar. If Nahiri is truly stuck in a Zendikari hedron as some have speculated then Sorin would have lied to Ugin (which is not terribly unlikely). That or he believes being sealed doesn't 'qualify'. If Sorin is telling the truth then it is unlikely we'll see Nahiri during BFZ as I'm sure Wizards has plans to actually see what Sorin did with her. This cannot occur during Origins since much of Origins seems to be in the past. Nor do I think they would do so in a supplemental product.
If Nahiri is not on Zendikar and Sorin is being truthful it may be that he has somehow transformed her into Avycen the guardian of his plane but i'm sure there are hiccups to the theory that I can't think of at the moment. It is interesting and I'll be the first one to admit that there is sufficient evidence to wonder at this. Also is it just me or is Avycen paler than most angels? It could be in my head but if the speculation is true it may explain some of Sorin's protectiveness over her, although it may be just over-protectiveness over Innistrad itself.
That would be cool. Although it is hard for me to see it as being the home of any of the planeswalkers involved. maybe an interesting first stop tho.
Didn't Dromoka say she was impressed by the Abzan's tradition od adopting Krumar? If so, why in this new society do they not practice it anymore?
I find both the premises of Kolaghan and Atarka hard to comprehend. For Kolaghan If you are merely a band of kill-enthusiasts without any sense of structure and basically follow continuously a lighting-crazed dragon with little regard for their lives, how are they producing offspring? I mean, do the childbearing humanoids rush into battle sword in hand and baby on their back? I mean I guess socially it wouldn't have to be females that do this, but seeing as they mostly appear mammalian and there isn't infant formula around it would be difficult to raise offspring successfully if your clan is centered on everybody joining the raid. Sombody's gotta watch the kids,whether its papa orc or mama orc maybe doesnt matter but SOMEBODY has to right?
EDIT: The Kolaghan do have horses so horse-milk is available I guess. They are a pastoral society if you take out the crazy killcrave they feel...
I also agree that the voracious hunting of the Atarka also seems very insensible. No fauna can survive such aggressive hunting by humanoid and dragon at the extent the guide suggests. It's not like bunnies and reindeer pop out of storms like angry red snowflakes. Tarkir dragons kinda do...
Is Tarkier worse now?
That depends....Are you a Dragon?