Plot Synopsis - Planeshift Novel

[Istanbul]

SPOILER SPACE! What follows is a very brief, but revealing plot synopsis of what goes on in the Planeshift novel.
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Okay. You've been warned.

Hanna is still dead.
Mirri is still dead.
Crovax is still evil.
Ertai is still evil.
Tahngarth is still alive.
Sisay is still alive.
Karn is still alive...or whatever.

Taysir, Daria, and Kristin are all dead. Daria and Kristin are killed by Tevesh Szat, who is then killed by Urza, who then kills Taysir. As Urza walks through Phyrexia, he gets more and more entranced by all the artifice, until he willingly submits to Yawgmoth. At the end of the novel, he's kneeling in front of Yawgmoth.

Darigaaz becomes a god as he kills a dragon to free Rith...then four to free Treva...then they awaken Dromar and Crosis. This sounds cool, except that when they're finally gods, they decide to rid the world of everything that's NOT a dragon. Ultimately, Darigaaz sacrifices himself to weaken the group. Rith is subsequently recaptured, as is Crosis, and the dragons turn on Treva and Dromar.

The Weatherlight is battered pretty bad, but comes back with a metallic hull and all sorts of other goodies. It *pulverizes* Predator, but Ertai gets to Gerrard and Squee. He brings them to Crovax. Squee is killed, and implanted with a spinal graft to bring him back. Hanna is then shown off as a trophy to Gerrard, who gives himself to Yawgmoth to get her back. He's kneeling beside Urza at the end of the novel.

Agnate (the leader of the Metathran) ends up allying himself with Dralnu, a lich lord, in Urborg. They fight side-by-side against the Phyrexians...but Dralnu has infected him with a plague of his own, in order to kill Agnate and bring him back as a minion. They catch Dralnu in the act, and kill him, but not before Agnate dies.

Karn has recovered a lot of his lost memories, and it turns out that he gets stronger every time he remembers. He's the one who shocks Darigaaz back to consciousness. Also turns out that he's linked to the Thran Tome.

Most of the elves are dead.
Most of the Metathran are dead.
Most of the minotaurs are dead.
Most of the Keldons are dead.
Gerrard and Urza have submitted to Yawgmoth.
In short, Dominaria is losing.

 

[Azreal the Soulmaster]

good, i hate gerrard and Urza, man they are annoying

 

[Purple_jester]

Yeah! Yawgmoth rules! I can see it now. The Weatherlight gets destroyed, Urza dies, Karn is smashed, and just when Yawgmoth is about to finally triumph, Mishra comes back to life and takes over! Whee!!!

Did you ever wonder why black in T2 sucks so much when in the novels Phyrexia is winning?

 

[Istanbul]

No, I can pretty much guarantee that Mishra doesn't take over.
Yawgmoth has him bound securely, and is torturing him endlessly for centuries. Urza's final test is to see his brother being tortured like that, and walk right on past without helping him...and he does.

 

[Chaos Turtle]

Echoes of The Empire Strikes Back...

Part 2 is always such a downer.

God help us if Apocalypse has cute little fuzzy things that save the day.

 

[Zadok001]

Do Kavu count as cute little fuzzy things?

Personally, I have high hopes that Apocalypse will just kill all the characters, Yawgmoth included, throw the plot out the window, and let us get on with our game. If I see _one more card_ with "Ertai's" in the name, I'm gonna explode.

 

[Chaos Turtle]

Personally, I can't wait to see Squee, the Corrupted...

 

[Azreal the Soulmaster]

hey whats wrong with Ertai, he is your staple arrogant good to bad character

 

[SwingMage]

exactly

 

[Hetemti]

The Phyrexian invasion worked according to plan.
All that remains of what was once Dominaria is part of Shiv, protected by the Defence Grid generated by the Viashino's mana rig, and Tolaria, kept slightly out of phase by Teferi.

Knowing the Rig's Grid won't last for long, the Phyrexians focus on Tolaria. Yawgmoth sends Urza to meet Teferi and order his surrender, and destroy him if he refuses...

"You continue to resist the inevitable. Why? You know you can't stop us," said Urza as he appeared before Teferi.
Teferi picked up his Puzzle Box. "I told you that I wouldn't follow you, yet you keep asking me to do as you say."
Urza dropped his hand from his Chimeric Staff. "We are claiming Tolaria. If you interfere, we will destroy you."
Teferi smirked, "You jest with me. No one is ever destroyed at the hands of the Phyrexians, they just become spare parts."
Urza stood silently, casting a icy stare. Teferi's Telepethy kicked in, and he realized that they might make an exception just for him. At this thought, he realized that Urza was reading his mind too. He had to act before Urza realized what Teferi's plan was.
"You're right. This is foolish. Tolaria is yours." Teferi phased out. His only thought was curiosity if his hasty reversal tipped off Urza.

It hadn't. Urza informed Yawgmoth that Tolaria was ripe for the taking.

Two months had past since the invasion of Tolaria.
The only survivors of the assaut on Dominaria were 500 Viashino, a handful of Soltari Gurrillas who phased in during the planeshift, and a few random goblins. Food supplies dwindled and the powerstones were failing. They realized that it would not be long until the brothers of the Thran reclaimed the last relic of their heritage.

Urza was in the New Academy, built from the rubble of the one previous as well as with traditional Phyrexian steel. He was observing the Viashino's futile efforts to save their scaly hides through a small portal as Phyrexia lauched a full-scale attack on the last stronghold of Dominaria.

The last powerstone exausted and the Grid fell. The Viashino and the Phrexians engaged in battle, or more correctly, a slaughter. Pieces of Moggs and Viashinos began to litter the desert. Then, a distortion appeared and Urza saw the Rig vanish. Urza rose to his feet astonished when a familiar face appeared before him.

"Why's your mouth agape, Urzy? You look like you just saw Reality Ripple in front of your face!" Said a jovial Teferi.
"I would Terminate you for this, but it's too late. When the Rig phases in again, it will be ours!" exclaimed Urza.
Teferi smiled. "Obviously you never paid any attention to Barrin's complaints about a...pest...problem Tolaria had."
"What do you mean?" Urza asked, his voice showing signs of contempt.
"You'll see...it's my turn to play and the cute little fuzzy things should be here any second now."
A Paralax Wave rolled across the land in all directions, with Tolaria as it's epicenter. "I was breeding them for a special occasion, and this is it. They are all yours. Have fun!" With a smirk and a laugh Teferi phased out again.
All was silent. Urza became stricken with paranoia. Teferi had a plan. But what force could he summon that could take on Urza, could take on all of Phyrexia?

Urza heard a crunch.
Then a smash.
Then...giggling.

He opened the door and saw the Arificer's worst nightmare.
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Beebles.

What seemed like a Tidal Surge of the little pink and grey beasts flooded into his chamber, Bubbling and Bouncing all the way. They broke his Staff of the Ages, cracked his Ice Cauldron, and ate his potted Black Lotii. Then he saw a flash. He was standing (soon kneeling) before Yawgmoth.
"You have failed me, Urza."
"What do you mean? How have I fa--" Urza was cut short as his spinal implant was triggered.
"Look to the portal. See our forces being decimated by little balls of fluf? We can't stop them. The grey ones break right through our Soul Barriers and the pink ones Shatter our equipment. We can't block a single one, moreless the Tidal Waves of them that Teferi has phased into Phyrexia. You've doomed the ascention of the Phyrexian race because you didn't stop that Meddling Mage when you had the chance," Yawgmoth stated, not showing the least bit of emotion.
"What is my fate?" Urza asked, humbly.
"The same as mine...the same as mine."

Urza began to stand, but before he could, he heard the sound. The sound of a million beebles about to tear through the chamber's door.

The invasion was over.


Hanna woke alone in a bed of cooing beebles. All the Phyrexians had been reduced to scatterings of random organs. Their machines and buildings in pieces. As she waded through layers of beebles she found what was left of Gerrard, Urza, and Squee. No remnants of Yawgmoth were to be found. She realized that only she was spared from the beeble's rath because the Phyrexians never bothered to implant a spinal control rod.

For many weeks she traveld the Domiarian landscape hoping to find other survivors. She traveled from continent to continent hoping, but found nothing but starving beebles. One night, while sleeping, she felt something touch her. Thinking it was a restless beeble, she ignored it. Then she smelled something most foul and felt something drip on her forehead. The jumped up and saw two figures, shadows before her campfire. A gust of wind blew an ember onto the back of the shorter figure. The mogg burst into flames, the taller figure burst into laughter.

From behind her another creature attacked Hanna and put a bag over her head. Struck by a stone, she fell unconcious.

She awoke to a corse voice. "We're leaving now, are you coming with us?" Hanna opened her eyes to see the Viashino from the night before and two moggs. One charred brown and another playing with a rock.

"Leaving? Where?" Hanna asked.
"We were only able to salvage three things. A Worn Powerstone, a Temporal Aperture, and a Spellbook. It tells of a land of Legends, another world like ours, that never met with the Thran monsters. The Stone has enough power to send five and ten. Only four and ten of us survived. We're leaving now. Are you coming with us?"

 

[Cateran Emperor]

D'oh, I just got my own book today. It sounds quite wacky, so I'd best get started...

 

[Cateran Emperor]

Ok, that was an excellent read.

Now I have to wait 4 months to see what happens. For any interested parties, Karn has the final words in the book. After the Weatherlight crashes near the Stronghold, he climbs out of the engine room with that wacky Thran Tome and says:

"I know how to win the war. I know how to save the world."

What he knows, it's going to be a while in the making. (sigh)

By the way, shouldn't this be in storyline discussion?

 

[The Magic Jackal]

Wow, that must have been a long readin session. Did urza really submit to Yawgmoth? I have trouble believing that after working to defeat him for thousands of years that he would really give in to him. If so, that's some bad writing.

 

[FoundationOfRancor]

First off, I cant wait to get and read this novel, it looks awesome.

Second, I can see how Urza could submit. For like, 2 years they've been bitchin about how Urza's technicues are exaclty like the Yawgmoths...so I dont think its a far stratch for Urza to relize this, and for him to think that fighting this war is suicide.

...maybe

 

[Istanbul]

It's not about winning or losing. Urza has always had his eyes on the prize, regardless of what may come. And when Urza saw the Phyrexian level of artifice and technology, he just fell in love with it, to the point where he couldn't bear to destroy it.

 

[Chaos Turtle]

But... why didn't he fall in love with it during his first invasion of Phyrexia?

Was he just too driven by thoughts of revenge?

 

[MrXarvox]

It's been millenia since then. The post-brothers' war Phyrexia was probably rather desolate and primitive, at least by Phyrexian standards. War kind of does that to you.
Now, after a VERY long time, Urza gets to see the great machines Yawgmoth has built since then. And he likes them.

 

[Spiderman]

this better not end up like SO many other stories where they time travel back to the point before the widespread death and destruction happen and make it so it doesn't (change the future, in other words). That would be SO cliche'd....

 

[Istanbul]

Another thing you have to realize is that the present-day Phyrexia is pretty sophisticated. None of the barren wasteland, post-Armageddon-looking stuff you see in the early days of M:TG. It even specifically says that it's hard to tell the mechanical stuff from the real thing. Add to that the fact that Urza even actually comes out and says that Phyrexian technology has picked up where Thran technology left off, and is it really that surprising that he was seduced by the promise of being able to play with it?

 

[The Magic Jackal]

So if the new phyrexia is so cool, why do the new black cards suck so much?