Magic: the Gathering -- the Transguild Promenade

[Sathanas Rex]

Ah, Ravnica. City of Guilds. Truly, a crossway of people, ideas and mana. Like any metropolis, it bustles with people, each leading their own lives, crossing and never crossing others'… the ambition of the masses is so low, truly. Survive, live on, repeat endlessly. And yet, such a city could be a keystone to far greater ambitions. Perhaps, after Alara, this is the right plane to focus my attentions on.

~

Welcome to Ravnica, where the ambitions of the few flow into, alongside and against the ambition of the many. You have always known it to be so, and have always observed from a distance, a step-removed from the anthill. Indeed, your ambitions have always aligned with those of the many -- it is your task to safeguard those ambitions, and make sure an individual ambition does not become too great and threaten the livelihood of everyone else. People speak of the Azorius, and the Dimir, but truly, it is you who have kept balance: you are the Transguild Promenade. An organization not affiliated to any one Guild, dedicated to preserving the chaotic balance of Ravnica. Your life is dangerous, however. There are many who would have you arrested, or beheaded, or worse still. Furthermore, recently, unsettling events have been afoot. You have heard rumors of plots and machinations unlike those before, and an even greater threat, an ambition so overbearing the lesser could end up trampled over.

in a more direct form

We are all individuals who find ourselves in Ravnica and have formed, or joined, depending on how long we've been around, an organization called the Transguild Promenade. It's like a secret Guild, not affiliated to any other, tasked with preserving the balance in Ravnica and ensuring an individual Guild doesn't get too powerful. We're going to have to deal with enemies from other Guilds but also a larger, more dangerous plot set up by Bolas and his pawns.

Mana, casting and so forth

Every creature we have encountered, spell we have learned and artifact we have uncovered is stored in our mind as knowledge. Casting a spell is fairly straightforward. When we wish to summon a creature, we pull it from the aether. If some of you are not familiar with how that works, we basically create a 3D illusion. It's an illusion yes, but it is still capable of ripping your head off. As for mana. What I was thinking is that any being with magic needs to be a) in an area with its mana present and b) the larger the spell, the more time and mana required to cast it. So a druid in a forest is going to be in his home turf, expect him to be able to drop a Worldspine Wurm with (relative) ease. Conversely an illusionist might have more difficulty in a forest. In a large city like Ravnica, there's going to be a flow of all colors at all the time, but this flow is, I reckon, not going to be too overwhelming for any individual color. This means any mage can cast spells at any time in Ravnica, but is going to have difficulty bringing big creatures out.

~

more to be added as I give this further thought. This is also a brainstorming thread!

I think we're pretty full as far as people go.

[Brasslazer]

I'm in!

[Thoughtseizer]

Inb4 we have Karn Liberated as a main enemy. Those colorless things be evil creatures!

[Gisk]

Is this going to tie in to events in the recent canon? Because I don't really know them.

[Sathanas Rex]

nah, I haven't been following the Theros block closely either. As long as you're familiar with Ravnica things should be chill.

Also, shall we could not be planeswalkers and then be awakened. That could have us focus on the issues in Ravnica before moving onto greater things once the plot demands it.

[Thoughtseizer]

Sounds okay to me, but which part of lore will the RP take place? To further elaborate, is it going to be within the Ravnica block, or the Return to Ravnica block?

Edit: Now that I look at the story told in Ravnica vs. Return to Ravnica, I think it'll be during Ravnica's block.

[Gisk]

I'm not really familiar with most of the story, but I can always look things up. I like the plan of us being unawakened planeswalkers. The only thing that gets me is that that is extraordinarily unlikely. Perhaps there's a planeswalker behind the scenes, recognizing his or her own, and keeping tabs on them.

[Thoughtseizer]

I think that is Nicol Bolas, correct me if I am mistaken. I could see Jace or Garruk resting themselves for another awakening, but planeswalkers such as Chandra and Lilliana I highly doubt.

[Gisk]

I don't know enough about Nicol Bolas' motives or plans to make that kind of decision, but he's definitely one I'd think of.

[Thoughtseizer]

Yeah, I could see Nicol Bolas being definite in terms of a motive for the planeswalkers to awaken.

[Gisk]

To be honest, I think it might be easier if we step away from canon events and make our own plot. I like the "new planeswalkers being manipulated by the ultimate meddler" idea. I think that has enough potential to be a plot in and of itself.

[Gisk]

One reason I'm leaning that way is so that we could hail from any plane in the multiverse, rather than being bound to Ravnnica.

[Sathanas Rex]

Canon characters are definitely not going to be playable. I hate it when people do that.

Also, Bolas is definitely going to be up his antics. That was mentioned in the opening post. Further, yes, the events will be unrelated to the canon story, though loosely drawing from it.

[Gisk]

Alright, cool.

[Goat God]

Hello all. I will be on and off for a while. Summer school and all. I hate Health. Sathanas Rex, you have my permission to do my Rp, as long as I can help GM somewhat.

[Thoughtseizer]

So, we're going to be OC planeswalkers from the several planes of the multiverse? I can deal with this. I suppose the schemes of this higher planeswalker, or even Bolas, will bring them together to Ravnica?

[Goat God]

I had an idea that all Planeswalkers have a pocket dimension called their "Library."
When a planeswalker encounters a creature, person, or place, the story is recorded in a book in the planeswalker's Library.
Planeswalkers carry a book inclueding 60 of these "encounters" so that they can summon a copy of the things that they have seen or done.
for example;
Lets say that a planeswalker witnesses a battle between The Rakos and the Boros. There are Griffins. The planeswalker nocties the Griffins. They are recorded in the book in the library.

[Gisk]

I thought Sath reckoned we were all from Ravnica. Personally I prefer the freedom to choose my plane of origin.

Goat: the library is a plot device translated into a game mechanic, which you're trying to translate back into a completely different plot device.

[Sathanas Rex]

I was thinking we weren't even planeswalkers: what I was thinking is we're dudes part of the Transguild Promenade, we don't even know about Bolas. Then we accidentally mess up Bolas' plans and shit goes doooown. From there we would be eventually awakened. However if everyone prefers, we can already be planeswalkers. The thing is, starting as planeswalkers, we really wouldn't have formed the Transguild Promenade cause we're not even from Ravnica.

Also also I will be creating elaborate and strong rules for the use of mana. Give me a bit for those.

[Thoughtseizer]

So, we'll start off as normal Transguild peacekeepers, I guess you can call them, and we'll unknowingly foil one of Bolas' plan and realize our potential?