Strixhaven
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Strixhaven is a school (as in university, not discipline) of magic on the plane of Arcavios. The school has five prominent colleges of magic, each hosting two opposing colors. The five colleges were founded some 700 years ago by five elder dragons. As you might have guessed, this is a setting chiefly for wizards but there is space for shamans, clerics, and druids as well.
Lore
At the birth of the world, as the mana of two worlds overlapped in conflicting ways, many forms of life adapted to the new structure and many new forms of life were spawned. Five particularly powerful vortices of overlapping mana became luminous spheres, from which hatched five dragons. These dragons have become emblems of the magic of the plane, living symbols of the clashing forces of the five dichotomies.
The Founder Dragons were the first to master the magic of the five opposing combinations. When the humanoid races arose, the dragons were at first angered that mortals would try to harness the wild forces of magic, but they came to realize that only through disciplined study would magic be in safe hands. So, centuries ago, the dragons founded an institution devoted to the study of the five mana dichotomies, and that institution is now known as Strixhaven. The five colleges were based around the magic mastered by each of those dragons.
To this day, the Founder Dragons roam the world, the five deadly sages of the skies. They no longer associate directly with Strixhaven, preferring to let the deans of the colleges speak in their stead. The dragons' wisdom is vast, but their tempers can be short. Mages seek them out only to learn the most elusive of secrets.
Factions
Although the main conflict of the plane is centred on not-Voldemort and not-Death Eaters trying to destroy not-Hogwarts for the evulz, the five colleges themselves are based on opposing colors of magic and like Hogwarts they like to encourage rivalries between themselves. They even have their own not-Quidditch sport, Mage Tower, to channel these rivalries, but unlike no-fun-allowed Hogwarts students from different colleges are encouraged to fight each other in magical duels whenever necessary, the professors themselves encouraging and sometimes getting in on the action as well.
Lorehold
Named for the elder dragon Velomachus Lorehold, the college of Lorehold focuses on archaeomancy - that is, drawing magical power from the secrets of the past. Being red and white colors, they try to summon war spirits and awaken statues to fight for them in addition to slinging fireballs and lightning blasts at their rivals. Despite being the history nerds of the setting, their theme appears to revolve around being both sides of Indiana Jones but instead of ancient traps and crazy Nazis to deal with, the statues themselves can come alive with murderous intent...
Since their chief flavour is archaeology, Lorehold has a strong emphasis on artifacts, artifact creatures, and 3/2 Spirit tokens that represent reawakened ghosts of ancient warriors. They don't have a specific mechanic per se but they have surprising amounts of recursion and card advantage for a normally aggressive tempo color combination.
Their heads are Plargg, the Dean of Chaos representing red and Augusta, the Dean of Order representing white.
Prismari
The college of arts and performance, named for the elder dragon Galazeth Prismari. They focus on trying to create exquisite masterpieces through magic and paint or breath-taking performances full of fire and color and flaming colors too. Being obsessed with arts and crafts as their way of making bold statements, they like casting really big spells that can be converted to Treasures as necessary. To give you an idea of how over-the-top they are, their orchestra is so metal their music summons literal thunderstorms and arcane explosions so they always have to practise outside.
Their heads are Uvilda, Dean of Perfection representing blue and Nassari, Dean of Expression representing red.
Quandrix
Who knew mathematics could be magical? The college of Quandrix was founded by elder dragon Tanazir Quandrix and represents all the math nerds out there. Except instead of throwing away the equations and formulas at the end of the day, Quandrix students channel them into elementals called Fractals which can grow exponentially in size through tinkering with the numbers. They like to view magic as formulas and theories to be solved, and programs to feed into gigantic Fractals to crush any who would stand in their way.
Witherbloom
Silverquill
| Settings of Magic: The Gathering | |
|---|---|
| Pre-revisionist: | First Magic Sets - First Urza Block - Arabian Nights Legends - Homelands - Ice Age - Mirage |
| Weatherlight Saga: | Portal Starter Sets - Second Urza Block Tempest Block - Masques Block - Invasion Block |
| Post-Weatherlight: | Otaria Block - Mirrodin - Kamigawa - Ravnica - Time Spiral |
| After the Mending: | Lorwyn - Alara - Zendikar - New Phyrexia Innistrad - Return to Ravnica - Theros - Tarkir - Eldraine - Ikoria |
| Two-Block Paradigm: | Kaladesh - Amonkhet - Ixalan |
| Post Two-Block Paradigm: | Eldraine - Ikoria - Kaldheim - Strixhaven |
| Never in a standard set: | Fiora (Where the Conspiracy sets take place) - Kylem (Battlebond) |