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Contest: Fill the Arboretum
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The Eternity Lotus was the first of the lotuses. Originating from a long extinct plane, from its seeds sprung aeons of greed, power, and war across the multiverse. Replanted in the Arboretum, it has grown to possess enough power to rival that of the Conflux.
The blue-tinted glow of the lantern, and the moaning of that which lights it, can still be seen and heard in some of the deeper corners of the archives, where few, if any, ever wander. Records show that none actually know which spirit(s) is trapped inside it's sapphire glass globe. The assumption is that more spirits continue to be drawn to it, so, to keep from causing great angst among the Orzhov, it has been stashed deep within the Arboretum where it is unlikely to be found. Surprisingly, the lantern also provides the greatest benefit to spirits as they are the only ones capable of seeing the full brightness of the entrapped soul. According to legend a planeswalker brought the lantern from Innistrad to protect it from, further, misuse.
transforms into: http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/segys-lord-of-the-seige
Or: http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/garthi-guardian-of-the-scale
In An Ancient part of the Arboretum, an old chest that was locked and heavily enchanted was discovered. After many failed attempts at opening the chest, Sarkhan felt an urge to go to ravnica to see. He didn't know why, but he felt connected to it. When he arrived, the chest Easily Opened, without keys or counter-spells. Inside was a plate of armor and a notebook. Sarkhan realized the Armor was crafted from Dragon Scaled. In the journal, in spoke of an ancient planeswalker who had sealed two elder dragon souls inside the armor, to stop the ancient dragon wars on domineria. When activated, the armor morphs into a metal embodiment of the dragons. Which dragon that enchants it depends on the wearers combat style.
This journal of lore originally belongs to the Markov family's collection. It is believed that the author (or authors?) of this journal are some of the earliest Vampires of the Markov family. It is quoted in the Markov Chronicle that
"While most of the newly transformed seemed to be able to gradually adapt to their newfound powers and weaknesses, some of the family members gradually descended into madness for reasons beyond my comprehension..."
What is known however is that some of the mad members eventually contributed to this journal. The content within are mostly lunatic babbling, but among the pages many entries are found to be coded instructions ranging from descriptions on how to prevent this sort of madness disease from spreading within the Vampire family to the nature of their vampiric bonds to even prophecies that are proven correct time to time. Edgar Markov treated this journal as his top secret and kept it in his private study, casting a curse to it that whoever is not part of their bloodline and is not high enough among the ranks would lost their mind upon opening the cover.
Sorin eventually realized the existence of this journal and secretly switched it with an almost perfect duplicate. He also learned how to interact with this journal through sanguimancy and asks questions. The first and only time the journal was put into practical use was during Sorin's battle against the Eldrazis in Zendikar, where the journal lore provided valuable suggestions. However, Sorin soon realized that upon knowing the existence of Eldrazi, the book is succumbing to their influence. Therefore, he decided to donate this book to the Arboretum Archives after he sealed the Eldrazis with Ugin and Nahiri, where the book can be safely stored. During the re-emergence of Eldrazi on both Zendikar, the new keepers of Arboretum noticed that the journal frequently oozes out blood and vibrates violently without any invocation. At the same time, they noticed that any sentient being adjacent to the book reported hearing noises and weird incantations within the storage room and soon reported discomfort.
Driven by curiosity, the planeswalkers designed a plan that involves a dispensable wizard going mad for the purpose of opening the book and collecting Sorin's blood sample, and a newly made Markov vampire by the blood sample collected. Then the Vampire was asked to read the book. The result is [data missing]. The Vampire was kept in another Arboretum cell separate from the book. Based on the limited information provided by the Vampire, the journal is now spewing informations, crazy prophecies and curses without anyone asking for it. Then during the events of Innistrad, the Vampire [data missing] before he dies. It is theorized that the journal is still writing itself based on observations. The Arboretum keepers attempted to contact Sorin on this issue but to no avail.
It was very difficult to pick winners, between great art selection and wonderful lore stories, this one my favorite contests yet! The next one will for sure include lore.
___Engah's Research Notes __________ The Ursatz Mirror __________ Tablet of the Seven Suns_____
#1: @Lujikul - Wonderful lore, Interesting card and great references.
#2: @KimJongMartin - Fantastic mysterious Lore and a very creative card!
#3: @RohanDragoon - Wonderful storytelling and the walker was a nice touch.
Special Mentions!
@MaverickGV - Flux Shifter was great! Fun mechanically an a quirky story.
@Mnemosyne - Grimoire of the Void is dope, and a great art piece.
@TrippleBoggey3 - Mysterious Chambers made me laugh hysterically.
@Kinojitsu_Asahi - Unspeakable Lore was cool, neat references as well.
@cgannon - The King Ender was one of my favorite lore pieces.