By Squeeman on Sunday, March 25, 2001 - 11:34 pm:

The following is a story from the old WotC website. The storyline section used to be called the Encyclopedia Dominia and was supposedly written by Taysir. There was also a collection of short stories by collected by Taysir. People don't notice it all that much since the revision, but Taysir was a scholar. He went around compiling evidence about histories, etc. Lol! He should just have gone to Commodore Guff.

Anyway, the little section at the top is Taysir's narration.

By the way. You guys probably weren't paying attention, but I always defend the fact that the Mishra in Planeshift is real. I have had this story since I printed it off the WotC website three years ago. This is eighty percent of what convinced me. I will tell you my theory after the story.

By Squeeman on Sunday, March 25, 2001 - 11:35 pm:

The Interrogation


The following encounter was recreated from a transcript that is, unfortunately, incomplete, having suffered extensive fire damage. Nevertheless, that only known record of the interrogation of a priest of the entity Yawgmoth sheds fascinating light on the philosophy of these mysterious beings.—Taysir

He lay shackled in the dark, and the furrows on his wrists and ankles neither bled nor faded. Some of his brothers could summon light from within, during the deepest stages of meditation, but he could not afford to block out his surroundings: he had been delivered into the hands of dangerous fools.

He heard a door thrown open far down the corridor, and the formless void around him receded in the face of an oncoming torch. He heard the moist squeak of wood on wood, and went momentarily blind as the torchbearer threw open the door. He writhed, and the shackles scored his flesh anew. A second bearer entered, creating a bubble of light barely large enough to contain them all. Through the door and into the bubble strode a stern, bookish man in an inappropriately splendid robe.

"Awake, zealot," the man called, insistent but strangely cautious. "We have little time, and I would make the most of the opportunity you represent."

The prisoner remained silent, but stared unblinkingly at the robed figure.

"Vandal," continued the visitor, "you are at the mercy of your most hated enemies. The Order of the Ebon Hand—" he gestured at the torchbearers, who wore initiates' robes— "will break your body, your spirit, and your mind." He leaned forward slightly, squinting. "I would have words with you before your endless screaming begins."

The prisoner hissed softly. His voice, though soft and monotonous, reeked with casual scorn. "I am Y'sith, Fifth Circle Priest of Yawgmoth. Who do you represent, if not the Order?"

The interrogator smiled. "I am of the Order. But I am here now on my own behalf." He threw his head back, giving the torchlight full play on his features. "I am Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder, Creator of Life, and Race Architect. You are an enemy of the Ebon Hand, and I am here to determine if that marks the limit of the conflict between your goals and mine."

"The Ebon Hand is not our enemy."

"No? Are you not of Phyrexia, false priest? Have not you and your kind stolen the efforts of articiers' efforts for generations? Does not the worship of your Yawgmoth demand that we make war on eachother?"

Y'sith raised his head off the inclined slab and snarled haughtily. "Soft fool. We are a force beyond your ken."

Endrek Sahr smiled once more. "But not our enemy."

"When a swamp insect stings, do you go to war on it? Do you declare it your enemy?" The prisoner lowered his head back onto the slab. "So it is with Yawgmoth and your precious Order. Begone, Master Breeder. You and the Ebon Hand are an annoyance; nothing more."

Sahr's eyes darkened, and drawing a dagger from the folds of his billowing sleeve, he approached with slow, deliberate motions. He rested the knifepoint across the bridge of the captive's nose.

"The bite of some swamp insects can kill," he said, gently inscribing ellipses around Y'sith's eyes. "And some, I think you'll find, bite hard enough to pierce even the hide of a Yawgmoth priest." The dagger tapped solidly on Y'sith's forehead, and clicked as if stricking a stone wrapped in velvet. Then it disappeared back into the robe. "Choose your enemies and friends carefully, Y'sith. Though you are sworn to destroy artificial life, my primary interest is in the genuine variety. I have no need for brass or cogs: my creations are truly alive."

"We do not destroy, soft fool, nor do we accept your distinction between 'true' and 'artificial' life. All life is energy, and we would rather see that energy put to constructive use than allow foolish artificers—or breeders—to make a mockery of it."

"'Constructive use?' No one and nothing has ever returned from your realm, false priest. Is it constructive to consume the work of others, which you find loathesome, and to produce nothing?"

Y'sith hissed again. "No one and nothing ever created on this plane is fit to survive in Phyrexia. We do not destroy your misguided efforts: Phyrexia does. It winnows out the weak and cauterizes the diseased. We no more loathe your artifacts than a sugeon loathes a gangrenous limb. Remember that the best and brightest of your artificers conquered entire cities with a clumsy recreation of a machine he glimpsed in Phyrexia, the height of artifact purity. But your pathetic marveling at his poor copy, this 'dragon engine' demonstrates the poverty of your imagination and will."

"I see Phyrexian ire still runs deep on that subject. But again, I fail to see why your disdain for mechanical creatures should put you at odds with me. Artificers build machines: Phyrexia destroys them. But I am no artificer." Sahr turned away from the shackled priest, stroking his chinas he spoke. "If, as you say, there is no difference between real and mechanical life in Phyrexia, and if by Phyrexian standards, the greatest of our artificers was a groping child, then perhaps it is time for your faith and my work to interesect."

Sahr drew an armchair alonside the slab, and a torchbearer followed. The Master Breeder sat silently as the second bearer moved to illuminate Y'sith, and then said, "Do you not see how much we have to share with one another? I understand that there are machines in Phyrexia that cannot be distinguished from living creatures; here, I build living creatures from nothing. My thrulls are alive, infused with eldrich energy until such time as the Order chooses to release it."

Y'sith spat on the floor, an oily froth, as close to Sahr's feet as he could manage. "You are deluded, Endrek Sahr. The creatures you breed are as inferior as any that are built. They would not survive the First Sphere. 'Infused with energy?'" He sneered and spat again. "The wonders of Phyrexia draw power from the ambient energy around them. Your thrulls are perpetually limited by the single spark of creation. They will never be any more or less than they are at the moment of inception."

The priest's voice cracked with anger, and he fell back, panting softly. "We hold base dabblers such as you in the lowest regard. Just as you would not allow an initiate access to your most powerful secrets, we will not allow you to litter this or any other plane with your jetsam.

"As I lie here now, so does Mishra lie deeps in the center of Phyrexia, his body wracked with fresh pain and torments day in and day out. He shrieks and cries in his prison, and begs us to forgive his transgressions against our faith. But he will never be forgiven. He will never be released." Y'sith rose up on his slab. "And when your time on this plane is done, Master Breeder, you will join him."

Endrek Sahr was silent for several long moments. Then, with a short, barking laugh, he rose expansively from his seat. Thank you, my truculent friend. Though you have unwisely refused my invitation to share knowledge, you have nonetheless given me food for thought." He drew his dagger once more and rammed it deeply into the arm or the chair, where it quivered. "May the rest of your conversations with the Order be as beneficial."

The Master Breeder turned then, his mind furiously baying from the dark inspiration it had just winded. He made haste from the chamber, leaving his attendants to collect the torch and dagger and re-bar the door. The light they carried faded down the corridor.

Alone, Y'sith listened for a moment, face expressionless, and then briefly smiled. It was a grim smile, one that set his lips like razors against eachother. His eyes were alight, reflecting for barely a heartbeat the dark and malevolent brilliance that lies at the heart of Phyrexia itself.

And then, all was darkness.

By Squeeman on Monday, March 26, 2001 - 12:15 am:

Well, thats it. One of the remnants of the glory of the former WotC website.

This, by the way, along with a story of Empress Galina's reteat to Atlantis, from the homarids, and a narration by a goblin, is my favorite.

It is a good example of a contrast of faiths and shows how the Phyrexians think.

I have a bunch of these stories printed out. Two have already been posted on this website. One, at the bottom and posted by moi, is the City of Brass. Another one, Tande's Journal was posted not so long ago by someone else.

I have other stories, including: a first person narrative of Scalebane's Elite, and their quest to find the Amber Prison (Weatherlight and Rashida, and Asmira included); the journal of a Breathstealer who kills the Vizier of Aqimat; The City of Brass (already posted); a story about a Serendib efrret who lives in Rabiah- it obhtains a boon from a planeswalker and rampges around the countryside; Tande's Journal (already posted); the Interrogation (already posted- DUH!); a brief history of Benalia; a story about a Benalish Hero in training; a story about a Shanodin dryad who goes as an emmisary to Llanowar; a hilarious tale about an Ironclaw goblin who goes paragliding in a goblin kite an crash lands in Llanowar Forest, then returns to tell the tale (hoo boy!); an elven fable; a story of Galina's escape from Vodalia and; a story about merfolk who plot to kill Galina because she siezed power from the Lords of Atlantis and is now Empress again.

I have printed the stories out, but they are not on my desktop. I have to type one up each time I want to present one. I can do this, but not often. I save them after I type them up, so I can post them again, but it takes time to type them up. If you want another one, come to a consensus on which one, and I will put some time aside and type it up just for you guys, but don't go haywire on me.

I think a section in Phyrexia for such short stories would be a nice idea. Another idea is a timeline illustrating ALL the so far occurred events. I don't mean a general one like the one they have on the WotC website that only lists the time of the recent books and some expansions. I mean it would be a good idea to find out about actuall events and post them there. Eg. Summit of the Null Moon, Rathi overlay, Tivadar's Crusade, Garth in Arena, Dragon War, Jehuel Carthalion vs. Tevesh Szat. These would be good entries. For those like Garth in Arena, we could get approximations, and narrow down.

For example: In the Shattered Alliance, there is a short entry in one of Jodah's files about the resurfacing of the Coral Helm. The Coral Helm, if you'll remember, is the artifact that Gull and Greensleeves used to 'tag' their opponents. I am still looking for a loophole to allow that trilogy into the modern timeline. Anyway, if it resurfaced, that would be shortly after it got to Terisiare from Aerona. It may have wandered around Aerona for a while before ending up in Terisiare, say about three hundred years (this is just a guess- do not base any facts on the 300 years). Gull and Greensleeves still had it at the end of Final Sacrifice. The end of Final Sacrifice was about two years after Shattered Chains. In Shattered Chains, Hammen Jr. is 2 yrs old. Therefore, the final scene in Arena, where Garth and Noreen reappear is two years and nine months earlier. They had dissapeared three years prior to that, so five years and nine months before Shattered Chains, Garth fought in the Arena. There would be no certain date.

However, since the Ice Age reached eventually Aerona and there is no mention of excess snow, we can guess that it happened before the Ice Age developed at all i.e. during the Dark, which occurred only in Terisiare. They mention that the Brother's War was centuries ago. The Ice Age started about at 400-500AR. Four to five centuries are still centuries.

So we can safely assume that the Gull and Greensleeves trilogy happened during the period of the Dark, but in Aerona, where they were not affected. The Arena affair happened a few years earlier.

See how easy that was?

I've just proven that the trilogy is not an impossible event in Dominarian history.

I'm great at finding loopholes. Got a problem? I'll find a loophole.

By eidtelnvil on Monday, March 26, 2001 - 09:47 am:

Geez, and WotC doesn't really make up for it with their wonderful new site does it. (please note sarcasm as their site blows)

By Smilie on Monday, March 26, 2001 - 01:42 pm:

Hi folks !

Great stories, Squeeman ! Thanks for posting, I also think that ther should be a shortstory section at Phyrexia.com !
But I don´t agree with you if you say the WotC site sucks. Admittedly, I rarely look at the Magic section, but the D&D section is great, and the whole site is greatly accessible and structured.

Smilie Planestourist
So.Be.It.

By Dirty Liar (Randomspammer) on Monday, March 26, 2001 - 02:51 pm:

Didnt the Rag Man give the merfolk who brought him Jodah a coral helm? I always assumed that since Grubb was writing with back knowledge he incorporated as many cards from the Dark as possible.
Side thought:Tivadars Crusade destroys all Goblins. Dralnu's Crusade makes all goblins more powerful. Sounds like it might just be a conflict of interests. Anyone think anything about this?

By Gelcur on Monday, March 26, 2001 - 06:04 pm:

Squeeman I have been trying to do this as well thought finding time has been hard. If you don't mind I'd like to work with you on it. I haven't read the other books for a while but I do remember them fairly well. I also own all books released to date so... Well tell me either way.

By Squeeman on Monday, March 26, 2001 - 08:36 pm:

Okay.

Here goes for a continuation of that argument.

In the book, the Brothers' War, it never states that Lat-Nam was not attacked. Terisia city is half a continent west of Argive, etc, so we can guess that Mishra pushed across the entire continent. If he had heard about Lat-Nam, he would doubtlessly attack it and probably destroy it.

Remember that in the Gathering Dark, Sima says something about 'we survived' or 'we rebuilt'. Anyway, theres nothing to say that the wizards there didn't rebuild after a while. Lat-Nam is a fairly large island. They could not rebuild where the school had once been, because the ground was poisoned and the air was noxious after the attack. They would have rebuilt somewhere else. Thus, when Gull and Greensleeves came to Lat-Nam, and were actually looking for ruins, they would not have ended up in the actual school.

Assuming it happened during the Dark Ages, then the sages of Lat-Nam were very xenophobic at the time. They did not want anybody (other than their recruits) to know about the island. When Gull and Greensleeves came, they could easily have put wards around the school so that no one would find it.

You see? All of this is, of course, hypothetical, but it is still the largest possibility. And you can't fault me on my approximation of the time.

Tell me if anything is missing.

I wouldn't mind helping you on this Gelcur, though I'm going on a one week trip. Also, the only old books that I have read are Arena, Shattered Chains, Whispering Woods, and Final Sacrifice, and I live in Nepal where I can't buy them and I am not allowed right now to order any Magic books off Amazon, etc, but I will do my best to help you apart from that.

As for the Coral Helm that Rag Man gave the merfolk, they could have been the ones to shoot it off into space in the first place, or its another one.

By Matthew Manley (Webmaster) on Monday, March 26, 2001 - 09:58 pm:

Wasn't the College of Lat-Nam attacked by Mishra's forces in The Brothers' War? I remember reading how they had a tough time against it because they used magic. Ashnod personally attacked one of the people who got stuck (the name escapes me right now, L-something I believe).

Matthew Manley,
Webmaster at Phyrexia.com

By P0s73r wh1l3 gh0s73r (Lim_D3us) on Monday, March 26, 2001 - 10:11 pm:

Loran. I think that was the attack on Terisia city though. Not sure if they ever attacked Lat-Nam but I'm doubtful about it.

By MagicKid (Pikachu_Killer) on Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 05:40 am:

Wasn't that some place with the Ivory Towers? It wasn't Lat-Nam, Drafna and Hurkyl were visiting.

By eidtelnvil on Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 10:48 am:

Smilie, yes, I did mean that the WotC Magic section sucks (I don't know about the others). Sorry.

By Scott_McGough on Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 11:11 am:

Hello, Phyrexians,

Just wanted to stand up and take credit, because I was the one who wrote The Interrogation. Thanks to all those who liked it and said so.

I had a lot of input from Pete Venters (the Continuity Manager at the time) and the story was intended to give people a taste of what Phyrexia/Phyrexians were like and to plant the first seeds of the Brothers' return to the storyline. With hindsight, you can look at how Y@wgm@th treats Endrek Sahr and Urza and know for a fact that he is a jealous god who *hates* the idea of competition when it comes to building/breeding new creatures from scratch.

So, is the Mishra that Urza sees in Planeshift really his brother? Is the Phyrexian Endrek Sahr interrogates telling the truth, or just trying to freak Sahr out? You'll have to wait and see.

One thing I can do, if no one guesses (or has guessed already), is to tell you what "food for though" Sahr is considering at the end of the story...and how in the long run, Phyrexia won this little encounter with the Master Breeder. Hint: it's tied to the storyline of Fallen Empires and one card in particular. Oh, and a disclaimer: I can only tell you what we had in mind at the time The Interrogation was written. The new Story Team may have other plans.

Cheers,

Scott McG, former Magic Story Guy and current Magic author

By Nifallor Ruler of Kairon and Tealover. on Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 11:31 am:

Thank you for your comment.

By Draco (Draco) on Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 01:27 pm:

I'm guessing the card is the creature that Sahr created that was the main reasun for his execution: Derelor. I could be wrong though.

And yes, the story is very, very good.

By Smilie on Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 02:03 pm:

Hi folks !

"Great, Scott !"
-Brad

Thanks for the comment, and congrats for the story - it´s truly great.
Matt, Lat-Nam is not attacked in The Brother´s War, as said before, but the city of ivory towers, Terisia City is. But Lat-Nam is mentioned, indeed :
Hurkyl and her husband Drafna, sorcerers who help to defend Terisia City´s stores of knowledge, come from there. Useless anyway.
Loran was sent away shortly before the levelling of Terisia City by Feldon to save its most powerful device, the Golgothian Sylex (which later caused Urza becoming a planeswalker). Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on point of view), Loran was captured by Mishra´s renegade assistant Ashnod the Uncaring, who took the Sylex from her, during the battle of Argoth gave it to Tawnos, who handed it to Urza - who used it to destroy (or better, pulverize) his brother Mishra.
Anybody got an idea how Phyrexia managed to put him together again ? Was it really Mishra whom Urza destroyed ? Propably, as he still bore the weakstone (Go, go, go, Glacian !!!). But it may as well be that it was just a Phyrexian clone (such as Belbe was of Avila) of him who was given the Weakstone (???) to look real. But the Mishra in the Seventh (?) Sphere could be a clone either.
Many questions to be answered in Apocalypse...

Smilie Planestourist
So.Be.It.

By Me on Wednesday, March 28, 2001 - 07:01 am:

Damn, still too long to wait, any other opinions??

By Ikit Claw (Ikit) on Wednesday, March 28, 2001 - 08:10 am:

Hey Me, you don't have to wait that long until Apocalypse comes out. Just search for J.King's adress, visit him with a gun, and say if he wouldn't tell you what's going to happen in Apocalypse, you'd shoot him (at least, that's waht I allways do)

By eidtelnvil on Wednesday, March 28, 2001 - 12:12 pm:

Scott, it's really great to see you here in Phyrexia and to read The Interrogation--loved it.

I heard a nasty rumor that maybe someone could shed some light on for me:
Scott, what do you mean by former Magic story guy? I heard somewhere that Garfield wasn't sattisfied with the way the Weatherlight story is turning out. I didn't place to much faith in it until the last line of your post. Anybody have any info on this?

By Brandon on Wednesday, March 28, 2001 - 12:13 pm:

I'm pretty sure that the whole Gull-Greensleeves trilogy was meant to occur in modern Dominarian times. The Dark didn't only occur on Terisiare, it was all over, though probably not as drastic. And I'm willing to bet that the College of Lat-Nam was destroyed by the Brothers.

By Scott_McGough on Wednesday, March 28, 2001 - 01:46 pm:

Draco is dead right. Pete Venters and I intended for the Phyrexian to give Sahr the idea for the
derelor, which is powerful but continuously sucks up black mana from the mage who casted it. On the derelor card from FE, the flavor text cites Endrek Sahr's execution order, which states he was executed for creating that creature. It may take a while, but the Big Y always gets revenge.

Oh, and to eidtelnvil: I left WotC last May to concentrate on writing fiction. So far, so good: Keldon Fire was in The Myths of Magic, I have another story in The Dragons of Magic (published this August), and I've got a few other irons in the fire.

When I was the Story Guy, however, Richard Garfield had literally and absolutely nothing to do with story generation or execution, so I think the rumor you heard is just that. I honestly don't know what Garfield's opinion of the Weatherlight story is, but I know that none of the continuity/story people who left during the past four years did so because of it.

In all honesty, I only signed off that way to remind people who I was and who I am (in other words, a new Phyrexian newt wouldn't have to wonder why this Scott guy pretends to know everything). Being the Story Guy was great, but I do prefer being one of the authors.

Does that answer your question?

McG

By Matthew Manley (Webmaster) on Wednesday, March 28, 2001 - 02:58 pm:

Scott, is the picture at http://www.phyrexia.com/images/PossibleYawgmoth1.bmp the Ineffable himself or just another "Yawgmoth's Bargain"-like deal? This is straight from WotC's Planeshift manga at the very beginning and end.

Matthew Manley,
Webmaster at Phyrexia.com

By PlagueLord on Wednesday, March 28, 2001 - 04:19 pm:

Nice story, I didn't know Yawgm*th had and thing to do with the Order. Thanx for shedding some light on the subject.

By Lim-Deűs, Lim-Dűl's High Guard (Lim_Deus) on Wednesday, March 28, 2001 - 06:49 pm:

Yeah, that was a good story. One of the ones I remember reading while WotC still had their old storyline section up.

By Ikit Claw (Ikit) on Thursday, March 29, 2001 - 05:32 am:

Back to Brandon's post:
Sorry dude, but Urza and Mishra didn't destroyed Lat-Nam. It even existed during Ice Age.

By eidtelnvil on Thursday, March 29, 2001 - 10:59 am:

Scott, thanks a lot for putting my mind at ease. -whew!- Loved "Keldon Fire" btw.

By Smilie on Thursday, March 29, 2001 - 02:06 pm:

Hi folks !

Thanks for the clarification, Scott, finally we see how every event in MtG´s continuity is linked to each other.
If it´s the Q&A hour now, why not ask one of my oldest questions : How long did you already have the whole Urza vs. Youknowwhom in mind at the storyline department ? Since Antiquities, when you started printing cards with their names in title ? When Visions came out ? Tell me, please ?

Oh, and Matt : I think that the pictue at the beginning of the comic was Crovax from a different angle, hearing Y-Dot´s suggestive voice...


Smilie Planestourist
So.Be.It.

By Jaya on Thursday, March 29, 2001 - 03:56 pm:

Also, while on the topic of the Fallen Empires, I have a question. Even before the Weatherlight cycle, many people seemed to think that Torach and the infamous gate were both linked to Phyrexia somehow. Now that we know far more about Phyrexia, it seems even more probable. Is that correct?

-Jaya, "A song spun from darkness will still bring birds to dance."

By Matthew Manley (Webmaster) on Thursday, March 29, 2001 - 08:27 pm:

Smilie,

To be quite honest, I don't know for sure what the heck it is. I doubt it's Crovax because of the Phyrexians talking to him/it and the fact that it didn't move much. Plus I don't think it looks at all like Crovax from any angle. Definitely want some kind of word on this from somebody who knows for sure!

Matthew Manley,
Webmaster at Phyrexia.com

By Gelcur on Thursday, March 29, 2001 - 08:51 pm:

Here are my thoughts on the Lat-Nam topic if you look at the AQ map it shows Lat-Nam as an island now check the Ice Age map? Its odd where the city of the Unseen is located. It is clearly part of the continent. Now if I remember correctly and I might be wrong. Lat-Nam = City of Shadow = Schoool of the Unseen. And the Monastary of Gix = Wizards Conclave = Tresserhorn. So I think the Lat-Nam sunk or it was destroyed by the sylex after shock a small island could have been ravaged by the waves and they moved to the shore?

Scott who is in your previous position? Could you direct him here to answer questions as well? I'm happy to see that you are still with us and with WotC. You wouldn't happen to know anything about a book called "Song of Time" and its sequel "Shadow of Time". I know it was written but never printed. Since were talking about old story lines I figured it would nice to know.

By planeswalker on Thursday, March 29, 2001 - 09:36 pm:

If I recall Jodah makes a comment about his school being on the grounds of Lat-Nam

By eidtelnvil on Friday, March 30, 2001 - 12:07 pm:

I've always felt the figure in question is just an ancient Rathi sculpture of what the artist's impression of the Ineffable is--pure evil in a chaotic form.

While we're on the topic of forms for Our Father, has anybody seen the art of the Seventh Edition card "Y4wgmoth's Edict"? (haha, I have it and you don't!) It features an ancient book (Phyrexian grimoire?) with solid black pages. There are ancient runes written in gray ink which cannot be deciphered. One rune is for certain, though: a cirlce with a line bisecting it. I once heard somewhere that this was the symbol of Phyrexia. Now the weird part: the pages are being turned by an octopus-like tentacle. I place no faith whatsoever in this being the Ineffable or one of his followers. Maybe some Vodalian creature got its tentacles on one of our books? Oh, and the flavor text of the card shows some definate foreshadowing: "The warping of bodies and souls has become the heart of Y4wgmoth's existence." Creeeepy.

By Jaya on Friday, March 30, 2001 - 04:12 pm:

I do not get out of this Sphere much, but Squeeman said earlier someone had already posted another selection from the Encyclopedia Dominaria entitled: "Tande's Journal."

I do not see that here, so a link would be helpful.

-Jaya, "All I know is that I know nothing."

By Satan's Angel (The_One) on Friday, March 30, 2001 - 07:46 pm:

The tentacle could be Geyadrone's. I mean, she's the only intelligent creature that we know that have tentacles and how can our brethren be so careless to let an octopus or vodalian creature to have it? If it's an octopus or vodalian creature planeswalker, I understand, but a normal creature?


"Argh! It's an american exchange student! Duck!"

By P0s73r wh1l3 gh0s73r (Lim_D3us) on Friday, March 30, 2001 - 07:51 pm:

The book has tentacles coming out of it? It's probably just symbolizing evil because, well, it looks evil lol. I doubt there's any "hidden meaning" or something.

By xod on Saturday, March 31, 2001 - 09:35 am:

Umm, first, everyone can visit this link for a picture:

http://www.wizards.com/magic/advanced/7e/7e_artpreview.asp?preview=22#

Now, where to start? The symbol on the binding is the greek letter theta, lowercase. To expect to gain any more information from it is pointless, it probably contains none.
As for the tentacle, it's not coming out of the book, it is opening it. I don't exactly understand the reasoning behind the tentacle, it is not particularly phyrexian, nor does it represent a sea creture. I would venture that it's just to represent some random evil creature, and no one in particular. Besides, Greel had tentacles too. I'm NOT saying it's Greel (because it's not), but this just proves that it could be almost anything.

xod

By Ikit Claw (Ikit) on Saturday, March 31, 2001 - 10:43 am:

The Greek letter is not theta but phi, sorry
(exuce me for such an antfucking interruption, please continue)

By Scott_McGough on Saturday, March 31, 2001 - 01:27 pm:

Okay, trying to recap on some Q&A:

Matt, I'm afraid don't know what that picture is (at http://www.phyrexia.com/images/PossibleYawgmoth1.bmp), but I'm 90% positive it's not Crovax or the Big Y. I had no input or contact with the image before it was released, so I don't know what they had in mind, though.


Smilie, the Urza/Phyrexia feud is as old as Antiquities (it was always brother vs. brother with Phyrexia kind of instigating). I'm not sure when the Big Y was brought in to be the god-king of Phyrexia, but it was before I joined the story team (I did work for the Story Team during Stronghold and Exodus, but I didn't join the team until Urza's Legacy). I suspect that Pete Venters always had the Ineffable in mind as he fleshed out the stories he worked on.

Jaya, I'm not sure if I understand the depth of your question, but yes, there is a definite connection between Tourach, the gate, and Phyrexia. Tourach is not Phyrexian, mind you, but he has been aligned with them in the past (like in FE) even if they aren't working for the exact same goals. Again, I have to defer to Pete Venters (who started putting all this stuff together)and the current story team (who may have other ideas), but Phyrexia has been a lingering threat from Antiquities all the way through Invasion and as far as I know, all the story teams intended it that way.

Gelcur, I honestly don't know who has taken over as Story Guy (or Gal), so I can't encourage them to drop by for a visit and give official answers to some of these questions, but I bet an email to Continuity@wizards.com would help. I've heard of the the two novels you mentioned, but they if they were written, they were both written way before my time at Wizards, so I have no inside information about them.

And to everyone, I would stop looking for a named character to attach to that tentacle in the 7E Yawgmoth's Edict image. I wrote the art description, and it's just supposed to be a Phyrexian functionary who's reading its master's orders from the terrible book (and the circle with the line through it is the Mark of Yawgmoth, not a Greek letter). Again, the new team may have told the artist to put a specific tentatcle for a specific purpose in the image, but that would be news to me.

Scott McG

By Matthew Manley (Webmaster) on Saturday, March 31, 2001 - 01:48 pm:

Ah, the "Mark of Yawgmoth," it now has a name I've been wondering since Urza's Saga (notice the symbol is also on our PCs for "on/off"). =]

What is the Nemesis symbol (in the logo) that is seen all the time with the bottom part of the face gone?

Thanks Scott for clearing that up.

Matthew Manley,
Webmaster at Phyrexia.com

By xod on Saturday, March 31, 2001 - 03:29 pm:

Argh, foiled again.
And I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling mages.

Mark of Yawgmoth? Cool, but I never realized there was such a thing. Where would I find another picture with the mark in it?

xod

By Mechanical Theif (Sax_The_Walker) on Saturday, March 31, 2001 - 03:37 pm:

Grrr.... Phyrexians.... The only good ones are ones that are in peices and in my pockets...


"Ouch!!! These claws hurt, and the poison burns alot! But im POSITIVE it'll get me a shiny new penny when I get to the market." - Mechanical Theif

By Scott_McGough on Saturday, March 31, 2001 - 06:03 pm:

xod,

There's about a hundred of them, scattered all through the cards in the Urza block right on up to present day. One that leaps to mind is Yawgmoth's Agenda, which shows Tsabo praying before a Dominarian globe that has the Mark of Yawgmoth inscribed around it. Lots of Phyrexians have the Mark or the crying mask as part of their outfits (like Crovax does).


The crying mask Matt mentioned was unofficially called the Mask of Yawgmoth and first appeared in either the Tempest block or the Urza's block (I forget which, but it was part of the initial Phyrexian design that Pete Venters, Dave Alsop, and Chippy worked on at that time). It's mostly ceremonial, but it looks really, really cool.

Scott McG

By Aires on Saturday, March 31, 2001 - 06:58 pm:

Interesting...Is this mask the symbol of the next set!? Isn't it !? It is in the cover of the book. Coul it mean an ill omen???

-Legend-

By PlagueLord on Saturday, March 31, 2001 - 10:29 pm:

Thanx for clearing that up, I thought it was the Mask of Pain, or the Screaming Mask.

By eidtelnvil on Saturday, March 31, 2001 - 11:06 pm:

I believe the mask is also enscribed onto the Erratic Portal from Exodus as well as the Phyrexian portal ships that frequent Invasion. I didn't mean to spark such inquiry about the tentacle-thing on "Y4wgmoth's Edict." As I said, we shouldn't place any faith in this being Our Father. Since Seventh Edition is labeled as an "Advanced" set instead of "Expert," there are few references to the Weatherlight Saga or any other major storyline arc in Magic. The tentacle is probably there just to make a new player realize that a tentacle turning a page on an entirely black book is out of the ordinary and ultimately evil. It wouldn't bother me to find out that the creature isn't even Phyrexian.

By Squeeman on Thursday, April 05, 2001 - 08:16 am:

It seems no one was listening when I gave my theory. The book, The Brothers' War makes no mention of an attack on Lat-Nam. They mention Terisia City.

However, they do not say the Lat-Nam was NOT attacked.

Mishra had pushed all the way west to Terisia City and kept going. He may have reached the coast and heard about Lat-Nam and sent an army out there.

The College was devastated, but there were survivors.

They could not rebuild at the original cite as the ground, the air, and the water were poisoned and decimated.

They build somewhere else on the island, which, if you look at a map, is fairly big.

400 yrs later

Gull and Greensleeves arrive on the island. They are where they want to be- where the original school was built and the helm was created. They do not need to wander too far around the island.

Furthermore, as the Church is being a pain, the College, as you know, does not like strange people hanging around, especially ones that are too often involved in magical battles.

They probably set up wards to keep the newcomers away and prevent them from finding the school through magical scrying.

I also saw someone say that the Ice Age affected most of the world. I agree with this and even stated so in my theory. The Ice Age started in Terisiare and affected other places slightly later.

This little episode happened during the dark ages, which are mostly considered 'dark' because the golden age is over in Terisiare. Aerona has not faced the same amount of devastation because it did not have its own version of the Brothers' War to collapse all the Empires, so there would not be any notice of such troubles.

And, as Jeff Grubb stated, people living in this time did not think of it as a 'dark age', but simply as the time that they lived in.

Any questions?

When I get back to Nepal, where I live, I will post another story.

By Jaya on Thursday, April 05, 2001 - 10:04 pm:

Scott,
Thank you. That answers the majority of my questions, and many more. One thing, if you are writing outside the M:tG universe, be sure to drop by and tell us where those stories can be found.

Squeeman,
In the story of Johan, it mentions the Ice Age as well as the archmage(if not by name). The story is based in Jumaraa, so yes, the age of ice was global.

-Jaya, "Gratitude. Gratitude for all that is."

By DiasFlac on Wednesday, June 06, 2001 - 09:59 pm:

What a wonderful thread

By Squeeman on Thursday, June 07, 2001 - 06:40 am:

Rats. I never caught that last remarks by Jaya when they were first posted. The Ice Age WAS global (although it did not affect Zhalfir), but it hit Terisiare first, and then other places. Aerona may have gotten the full blast of the Age of Ice later on, or at the same time, but the Dark Ages were mainly in Terisiare.

And yes, I would consider this one of the fine threads.