Lorwyn–Shadowmoor

Lorwyn–Shadowmoor
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Visions of lorwyn.jpg}}|250px]]
Information
First seen	Lorwyn
Last seen	March of the Machine
Rabiah Scale	6
Status	Fused, being invaded by New Phyrexia's Machine Legion

Lorwyn–Shadowmoor was a plane with two aspects. While Lorwyn represents day, Shadowmoor is night. Lorwyn switched to Shadowmoor cyclically every 300 years, an unnatural event triggered by the Great Aurora.

Lorwyn

Lorwyn is one of two aspects of the plane Lorwyn–Shadowmoor, and the setting of the Lorwyn block. The plane is small, temperate, and believed to be flat. The known portion of the plane, known as the Blessed Nation, is heavily forested and ringed by high mountains, outside of which lays the mysterious Primal Beyond. The world has no oceans or large lakes; all of its water comes from a system of rivers and streams connected by the subterranean Dark Meanders. Lorwyn exists in perpetual midsummer and eternal daytime, though its denizens still operate on a daily cycle. The plane observes dawn, noon, and dusk, with no night, with its day beginning when the sun grazes the eastern horizon and ending as it grazes the western.

Currency on Lorwyn is composed of "threads" of precious metal, in denominations of copper, silver, and gold, grouped in size into threads, ropes, and coils.

Creatures of Lorwyn

The indigenous wildlife of the Lorwyn is dominated by eight sapient races: elves, kithkin, merrows, flamekin, boggarts, treefolk, giants and faeries. Lorwyn is one of the few known places in the multiverse where humans do not occur naturally. In addition, Lorwyn supports a menagerie of animal and supernatural life, including wisents, springjacks, cervins, a semisapient race of mimics known as changelings and the majestic greater elementals. All of them thrive in Lorwyn's temperate environment and unending growing season, preserving the plane's character as an unspoiled natural wilderness.

Each of the nine races (including the Changelings), known as the Tribes, live in an uneasy state of peace; skirmishes and small battles occur from time to time, but full-scale war is unknown. The Tribes are highly provincial and distrustful of those outside their race; all are wary of the cruel and powerful elves, who functions as the plane's de facto rulers.

Lorwyn is a backwater world rarely visited by planeswalkers. Those who know of its existence regard it as an idyllic paradise. Late in Lorwyn's history, the barriers between the Tribes began to break down as individuals from different races came together into new tribes based on common goals (soldiers, wizards, and so on).

• Boggarts
• Elementals
  • Flamekin
  • Greater Elementals
• Elves
• Fae
  • Groundlings
• Giants
• Kithkin
• Merrow
• Treefolk
• Changelings

Locations

• Gilt-Leaf Wood
• Glen Elendra
• The Great Forest
  • Murmuring Bosk
  • Wren's Run
• The Honeystone River, drunk dry by the treefolk monk Adair River Span.
• Kithkin clachans:
  • Ballyrush
  • Burrenton
  • Cloverdell
  • Dundoolin
  • Goldmeadow
  • Kinsbaile
• The Merrow Lanes (Lorwyn's rivers)
  • The Wanderwine
    • The Dark Meanders
• The Mountain ranges. Realm of giants, some wanderlust-stricken flamekin, and hostile greater elementals, so exercise caution.
  • Amphitheater of Galanda Feudkiller.
• Mount Tanufel
• Porringer Valley
• The Stand of Tulimeer, an outpost of treefolk and other trees attempting to establish a new forest on a rocky outcropping near flamekin lands.
• Velis Vel
• Howltooth Hollow, a cave that secretly imprisoned a barghest.
• Mosswort Bridge, a bridge under which a troll was imprisoned.
• Shelldock Isles, ancient shells used by Lorwyn's denizens as picnic spots before they awoke into kraken during Aurora.
• Spinerock Knoll, an overgrown mountain that housed a dragon. The forge-tenders of Burrenton traditionally use pebbles from the Knoll, whose magic gives the fuel consistent heat. Its crater would later serve as inspiration for dragonfire-obsessed witches.
• Windbrisk Heights, a raptor whose wings were frozen for generations in the shape of a blustery cliff.

Shadowmoor

Shadowmoor, the setting of the Shadowmoor block, is the other facet of the plane Lorwyn–Shadowmoor. Whereas Lorwyn was defined by its greenness, especially its forests, its dark reflection is practically devoid of green. In contrast to its daytime aspect, the plane of Shadowmoor exists in perpetual dusk, where the sun is never directly visible, and the only light seems to come from unseen sources. Though the sun is always hidden behind a blanket of cloud, Shadowmoor still observes dawn, dusk, and night, albeit with no noon.

The former inhabitants of Lorwyn don't recall their previous lives and remember having always lived in Shadowmoor. There are, however, a handful of beings who retain their memories; for example, in the storyline's latest Great Aurora: Ashling, Brigid Baeli, Maralen, Oona, the Vendilion Clique, Rosheen Meanderer, and The Sapling.

Another difference between the two planes is that some creatures who are dormant in Lorwyn are active in Shadowmoor, while others now hide from sight on the new plane. Ouphes, korrigans, pucas, kelpies, scarecrows, and nightmarish, mythical beings that had slumbered beneath Lorwyn's surface have reemerged in the ambient night. What races have survived the change have been thoroughly altered by the tainted darkness covering Shadowmoor. In particular, the demeanor of each race has taken a turn for the worse. The kithkin have become withdrawn and distrusting of the other inhabitants of the plane and the boggarts are now violent brutes. The flamekin, now called cinders, have lost their passion and become hateful shadows of themselves; giants have lost their intelligence, and rely in their basic instincts; the merrows are spiteful pirates and raiders who lurk in their murky rivers; the treefolk are warped skeletons of bark and branches; and the playful changelings have become the malicious mimics.

The elves, in contrast, were one tribe to experience a more positive difference. They became the last remnant of Lorwyn's older, idyllic environment. Pressed by hostile conditions, the elves were forced to battle for their very existence. Rather than lording over the plane and oppressing the other species to conform to their values of beauty and grace, the ironic reversal in their situation shifted the elves from arrogance to humbled self-preservation.

The only race that remained mostly the same is the fae because they are protected by Oona's magic, and thus have remained mischievous and unpredictable.

Creatures of Shadowmoor

Humanoid races

• Cinders
• Duergars
• Elves
• Fae
  • Groundlings
• Ghosts
• Giants
• Goblins
  • Boggarts
  • Hobgoblins
  • Redcaps
  • Spriggans
• Hags
  • Gwyllion
  • Swamp Hags
• Kithkin
• Merfolk
  • Merrows
  • Selkies
• Noggles
• Ouphes
• Treefolk
• Trows

Monsters

• Beasts
  • Bogles
  • Kelpies
• Demigods
• Greater Elementals
• Dieflyns
• Korrigans
• Scarecrows
• Shapeshifters
  • Mimics
  • Pucas

Flora

• Moonglove
• Nettlevine

Locations

• Ashenmoor
• The Dark Meanders
• Kithkin douns
  • Ballynock
  • Barrenton
  • Kinscaer, south of Mistmeadow.
  • Mistmeadow
• Glen Elendra
• Mount Kulrath
• Velis Vel
• The Wanderbrine
• Wilt-Leaf Wood, just east of Mistmeadow, across a river.
• Creakwood
• Raven's Run
• Cayr Ulios
• Farhaven

Lorwyn–Shadowmoor fused

At the end of the Eventide, the Great Aurora is no more, although the resulting plane's structure and races have not been disclosed yet. Maralen was one of the main participants in the return of the natural day/night cycle to the plane.

Phyrexian invasion

Lorwyn was a target in New Phyrexia's Invasion of the Multiverse. Although the aspect of Lorwyn appears to be dominant, some elements of Shadowmoor have survived to the present, such as both worlds' versions of kithkin. The Phyrexian appearance was apparently so unsightly to the eyes of the plane's inhabitants that both perfects and eyeblights worked together in unprecedented kinship to repel the invaders.

Languages

• Merrow
  • "Paupurfylln" is the Merrow name for the school called Paperfin by other cultures.

Planeswalker visitors

• Ajani Goldmane
• Chandra Nalaar
• Garruk Wildspeaker
• Jace Beleren
• Liliana Vess
• Nissa Revane
• Ugin

In-game references

Lorwyn

Represented in:

• Glen Elendra
• Goldmeadow
• The Great Forest
• Velis Vel

Associated cards:

• Invasion of Lorwyn

Referred to:

• Ancient Amphitheater
• Aquitect's Will (Lorwyn)
• Bitterblossom
• Dolmen Gate
• Drowner of Secrets
• Eyeblight's Ending
• Hillcomber Giant
• Horde of Notions
• Hostile Realm
• Kithkin Billyrider
• Luminescent Rain
• Merrow Commerce
• Mirror Entity
• Mournwhelk
• Streambed Aquitects (Lorwyn)
• War-Spike Changeling

Shadowmoor

Represented in:

• Raven's Run

Associated cards:

• Invasion of Lorwyn

Referred to:

• Call the Skybreaker
• Compleated Huntmaster
• Elvish Hexhunter
• Fertilid's Favor
• Incremental Blight
• Inkfathom Infiltrator
• Kithkin Billyrider
• Mana Reflection
• Nettle Sentinel
• Noggle Bandit
• Odious Trow
• Pale Wayfarer
• Prismwake Merrow
• Scrapbasket
• Stream Hopper
• Talonrend
• Thoughtweft Gambit
• Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
• Wound Reflection (Shadowmoor)

External links

• Planes of Existence: Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, magicthegathering.com