Factions - Season 0: Factions
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| Mechanics | Set Description | Factions | Skeleton |
The factions of the original set are characterized by their distinct color identities. This site contains the description of each faction. The factions are sorted by their color identity.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| Verdanic |
| Tropolus |
| Dybbuks of Strellia |
Verdanic
Links: Concept
Color Identity: 
Contributors: shikadi (creator)
Mechanical Identity: life is a resource. as only the last single life counts.
Races/Classes: Zombie, Skeleton, Human ; Rogues, Assassins and Wizards.
Faction Description: The Verdanic city was once a beautiful city. Now it is slowly turning into a necropolis, with Mormle planning and putting his plans into action to slowly take control of the city with an army of assassins. He brainwashes local citizen, trains them to become assassins and puts more pressure on the leader of said city.
Tropolus
Links: Concept
Color Identity: 
Contributors: Jaxck (creator)
Mechanical Identity: Tropolus is all about protection. The Tropoluns use heavy prevention, life gain, and protection to prevent the loss of their islands. In smaller circles, the Tacani have started to experiment with using blue mana to prevent the enemy from every casting their spells, but that is still in the future.
Faction Description: An archipelago of tropical islands near the north of the relatively warm, equatorial sea. Tropolus has no humans, save the occasional travelers, as the only species allowed into the interior of the islands are the native Tropolun Rhox and Tacani Elves. Within the islands, there are ancient reefs which have been built up to the point where they now form great salt flats, and are an excellent source of white mana.
Dybbuks of Strellia
Links: Concept
Color Identity:
Contributors: void_nothing (creator)
Location: North-Central Purea
Races/Classes: Humans, Zombies, Unicorns (sentient), Nomads, Clerics, Soldiers
Mechanical Identity: Slow punishment, through The Fallen-type effects and Auras in the vein of Pillory of the Sleepless
Faction Description: The waste of Strellia is a glassy desert, covered in weird sedges and the yurts of the unicorn-taming nomads led by Ilbataar, a living mummy. The Strellian nomads do not revile civilized, settled life; indeed, they view it as the highest end of their existence, but they believe that they were called to scour the world before building their cities and palaces. Thus they continue to wander, combating "impurity" wherever they find it to pave the way for what they believe is destined to be their future hedonist paradise. They worship two gods, one of whom represents the night sky and the other of whom is dust.
Zilsix, Magus Academy
Links: Concept
Color Identity: 
Contributors: Mshnik (creator)
Mechanical Identity: Messing with spells like swerving, countering, copying
Faction Description: The massive Zilsix, Magus Academy is built on the Diled peninsula-plateau, exactly between east and west in the southern hemisphere. As the academy lacks green's savagery, white's drive for the common good and black's drive for selfish gain, the academy is united under one word: progress. Meaning, lets see what cool stuff we can do with explosives and some sorcery. Containing a mix of vedalken and humans, the academy is entirely devoted to new breakthroughs in sorcery and mechanics (very slight artifact focus). However, as the academy lacks a central leader, mages often disagree on what "progress" means, and usually end up stealing other's experiments for their own use. (Thus the focus on messing with your and your opponent's spells.)
One night, Aethan (protagonist) woke up from a dream of great mages in combat, one a cat-man, one with a metal arm, and one a dragon. Thinking nothing of it, he passed his day, and went back to sleep the next night. this time he was visited by a nightmare of gigantic gray monstrosities destroying civilization all over a world. Though he does not understand his dreams, he knows that they are prophesy, and begins attempting to study them. One night he sees a mage teleport from one world to another. He wakes up in a frenzy and runs to his lab. Aethan is trying to build an interplanar portal. Once the portal is completed, Aethan walks through, igniting his spark in the process.
Actur Rainforest
Links: Concept
Color Identity:
Contributors: lifeinsepia (creator)
Mechanical Identity: Death touch and some flash, with just a teensy weensy touch of control (but only a little bit). The Death touch and the flash will be balanced, and will only appear on the same cards very rarely. Flash will be more common than death touch.
Characteristic and Iconic creature types: Snakes. Mostly snakes, but with some other tropical creatures like big spiders, some behemoths and the occasional human, roaming around.
Prominent Location & Character: The jungle its self is the main location, and as it's mostly devoid of humans there aren't that many. I'm thinking a legendary snake, and maybe a snake lord. They won't be like the Kamigawa snakes though, I mean ACTUAL snakes.
Ohzalk
Links: Concept
Color Identity:
Contributors: SCDL (creator)
Mechanical Identity: Mechanics of the Ohzalk are changing one permanent into another, and spellshaping. (So in general, manipulation of resources)
Region: ???
Races: The race of the Ohzalk is Shapeshifter, since in general members are constantly morphing themselves into new forms.
Faction Description: The Ohzalk was a group founded by the mage, Osamon Laak. He left society and gathered together a clan of mages who were proficient in the art of Alchemy from other factions and encouraged them to defect. Since they aren't well established, they have no homeland, and are often driven out of lands for causing dissent. Because of this, they're position on the globe is ever changing. (And it serves as a clever metaphor for the constant change of the Ohzalk.)
Camps at which the Ohzalk have stayed can be easily identified by clearings that are drastically different from it's surroundings.
The Ohzalk philosophy is that change is a good thing, something to be encouraged. Change for the sake of change should always be encouraged, and stagnancy should never occur.
Main Character: The main character of this faction is it's founder, Osamon Laak. Osamon was once a mage of an Azorious-esque faction, until he questioned the rules set forth by the rulers. Why must one remain orderly and in line. Why can't a person be an individual rather than a sheep of the leaders.The more he questioned these rules, the more he driven to change them. With a questioning of rules came a questioning of the rules reality itself. He decided that nothing should be set in stone, and everything should be manipulable.
At that he defected from the faction and created his own nomadic people. He made it his sole purpose in life to change everything that is, into something that isn't, to spite the very laws that bind reality. Ironically his guild became not only a place for those who questioned the rules, but those who wanted to create those of their own. This was however, embraced by Osamon. He admired the desire to create rules of ones own to counter those of reality.
Color Breakdown: This embraces red in it's desire for creativity and spontaneity, since if you can change anything at whim, you can express your emotion through everything.
This embraces white in it's desire to control and have order, since if everything changes at your whim, it is now under your total control.
This embraces blue in it's desire for creation and everything being deliberate, since when you control what everything is, nothing is accidental.
This goes against green's fundamental beliefs in the natural order. They take what is natural and turn it into the unnatural.
This goes against black in a denial of death, decay, and corruption. If everything can be changed into a better state once it wears out, then it can never succumbs to the harsh realities black relies on.
Ghonoa
Links: Concept
Color Identity:
Contributors: Mulldrifter77 (creator)
Mechanical Identity: Discarding cards as costs and lots of recursion (maybe a return of Madness)
Region: Southwest Purea
Races: Centaur, Elf, Snake
Faction Description: Ghonoa is a muggy, slow, mysterious land. The landscape is dominated by long, marshy inlets, called fjords. The strips of land that line the fjords are covered in dark, misty woods. The Mists cover the island, chilling cold, fogging everything in sight. The Mist is so cold that it seems to bog down life on the island, its inhabitants living bleak, simple lives. It pervades into their minds, driving them to apathy and even madness.
Ghonoa lacks the idealism and passion of Red and White, and thus no alliances or civilizations appear there. Inhabitants fight and struggle for survival in the chilly, misty woods and swamplands. Centaur are the most populous race on Ghonoa, and they fight for their territories while divinating about the future, curious but uncaring as to what it holds. Elves are similar to those of Lorwyn, but lack the hierarchy. They use poison and traps to fight the other residents of the islands, and most live on top of the highest trees, which barely protrude above the Mists. They live as occasional hunters, brooding atop their trees in a state of corroding inertness. Many large snakes inhabit the woody marshes of Ghonoa, and their surprise attacks are always dangerous.
Ghonoa is similar to the plane of Jund in that the inhabitants live primal lives, fighting to survive. But here, it isn't about who is strongest, but who is most cunning. Ironic, since the Mists are slowing decomposing the thoughts and motivations of Ghonoans.