Looking for a lore designer / writer for a MTG set

[ryder052]

Hello everyone,

First of all, so much great discussion and thought fodder here

I'm a veteran Magic: The Gathering card designer. Currently working on a realistic custom set with a complex world and lore. Would anybody be interested in helping be flesh out the setting and/or create an appealing storyline?

I'd be happy to share more details if I sparked your interest!

Happy New Year!

 

[Aldarion]

What kind of help do you need? I am working on my own world, so I'm not going to be writing you a setting from ground up, but if you get stuck on an issue or something, I'd be more than happy to help.

 

[ryder052]

I have a somewhat-general concept of the world and a pretty good understanding of the five factions fighting for influence.
I'd like somebody to help me with the details, there is a lot of ground to cover and I just don't have enough spare time to do it all by myself within a reasonable time frame.

As an example, I'm currently defining supernatural beings that are objects of a cult. These beings are of primal nature, divine beasts of sorts, vastly different from "traditional" angels and demons. The only thing that I know of that can relate is Fenrir from Norse mythology. I have defined three major "gods", now I should define some lower-level beings (angel-level). Details.

Another example, there is an organization of business middle-men, overseeing most of the high-profile deals taking place. There is a shadowy figurehead behind it, maintaining a high level of scrutiny for a reason, clearly waiting for something. What could that be? What is the story behind it? This is obviously more than just details, it's an important piece of lore. A much needed one.

My end goal is to have a playable MTG set, but for the experience to be complete, there needs to be a solid setting behind it, ideally with a story. This is a long term project, if I can complete it this year I'd be happy. I'll accept every bit of help I can get

 

[Aldarion]

As an example, I'm currently defining supernatural beings that are objects of a cult. These beings are of primal nature, divine beasts of sorts, vastly different from "traditional" angels and demons. The only thing that I know of that can relate is Fenrir from Norse mythology. I have defined three major "gods", now I should define some lower-level beings (angel-level). Details.

If you are interested in divine beasts, you should look to Eastern mythology for inspiration. For example, Chinese have Four Holy Beasts:

Four Holy Beasts - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Four Symbols - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

They are associated with, and guardians of, the four cardinal directions of the world.

Four directions of the world are also associated with various elements as well as various colors. Again from Wikipedia:

Four Auspicious Beasts	Five directions	Five seasons	Times of day[9]	Five colors	Wuxing	Four Symbols	Yao	hideFive Gods[10]
Azure Dragon	East	Spring	Dawn	Blue-green	Wood	Young yang	⚍	Goumang (句芒) / Chong (重)
Vermilion Bird	South	Summer	Midday	Red	Fire	Old yang	⚌	Zhurong (祝融) / Li (犁)
White Tiger	West	Autumn	Dusk	White	Metal	Young yin	⚎	Rushou (蓐收) / Gai (該)
Black Tortoise	North	Winter	Midnight	Black	Water	Old yin	⚏	Xuanming (玄冥) / Xiu & Xi (修 & 熙)
Yellow Dragon or Qilin	Central	Midsummer		Yellow	Earth			Houtu (后土) / Goulong (句龍)

Note that these concepts are not unique to China. Ancient Persians (and also ancient Croatians, who are a Persian tribe that only got assimilated into Slavs over time) used colors to denote directions of the world; "White" and "Red" Croatia come from this. In Peria, East was associated with color blue, West was associated with color white, South was associated with color red and North was associated with color black. Modern Iran kept these associations, though in their coding the color blue for East was replaced by green.

And if you use elemental magic in the setting, you can also use it to determine which gods provide followers with which magic - just use the "Wuxing" from the table above.

Also, you have a happy accident here - since you have five factions fighting for influence... and there are five divine beasts overall. So just assign each cult one of the beasts from the table above and you are done with it.

Another example, there is an organization of business middle-men, overseeing most of the high-profile deals taking place. There is a shadowy figurehead behind it, maintaining a high level of scrutiny for a reason, clearly waiting for something. What could that be? What is the story behind it? This is obviously more than just details, it's an important piece of lore. A much needed one.

That would depend on what is the world like. Medieval? Medieval with magical communication? Modern? Each era had its own organizations.

My end goal is to have a playable MTG set, but for the experience to be complete, there needs to be a solid setting behind it, ideally with a story. This is a long term project, if I can complete it this year I'd be happy. I'll accept every bit of help I can get

LOL. In my book, "a year" is nothing approaching a long-term project.

I mean, all of the above I have written is the stuff I had come across while working on my setting. I've been working on it on-and-off since 2019, and I'm nowhere near being done with it. Although the most difficult part I will soon be done with, hopefully.

 

[Queshire]

So what's the setting's big idea? Kaldheim is the viking world, New Capenna is the demon mobster world, Kamigawa is the cyberpunk world, etc. What's this one's big idea?

 

[ryder052]

So what's the setting's big idea? Kaldheim is the viking world, New Capenna is the demon mobster world, Kamigawa is the cyberpunk world, etc. What's this one's big idea?

I should probably start with this. Chalantra (not final) is a highly developed corporate world. The five factions are:
- Gyraga (progress-obsessed scientists)
- Phandeon (anarchist cultists of the beast-gods)
- Medimulver (balanced growth / eco evangelists)
- Orodon ('always been here' big fish megacorp)
- Faaruso (the middle-men, agents)

These aren't as clearly cut as usual, the world isn't divided and there are no faction territories (with small exceptions), it's a (hopefully neatly organized) hot soup of all colors and shades of grey.

Back to the divine beasts, they are objects of Phandeon worship. As I mentioned, I already have my major beasts:
- Phoenix (destruction & rebirth),
- Wolverine (fierceness & endurance)
- Undefined Powerful Magical Beast (the overlord, Zeus/Odin-tier god)

The Chinese mythology reference is much appreciated nevertheless, thanks Aldarion.

Not sure if posting questions / issues to solve / invent here is my preferred way of collaborating. I'd rather have a private channel with a willing collaborer so we can advance together the relevant topics.

Side note: I had designed a viking-themed set before Kaldheim became a thing