Mirage/Oasis
| Mirage: Oasis | ||||
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| Publishing Information | ||||
| Author(s) | Wolfgang Baur, Kij Johnson, Michael G. Ryan, Mike Selinker, Teeuwynn, and Jennifer Clarke Wilkes | |||
| First printing | 1996 | |||
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Oasis was a complex web-published weaving of stories created by Wizards of the Coast in 1996, based on the Mirage expansion for Magic: The Gathering.
Description
The world of Mirage is a place of strange creatures and powerful magics, set on the tropical continent of Jamuraa, with its sweeping savannahs and its lush jungles. At the time of Mirage, Jamuraa is under attack as a powerful mage, Kaervek, attempts to take over the continent.
Oasis does not tell Kaervek's saga, but rather focuses on the stories of creatures caught in the vortex of events during this troubled time. They are featured in a braided novel, where different characters lead you through their perceptions of a single larger story. The website's layout allowed the reader to follow one of many story threads, chapter by chapter, all narrated by Hakim Loreweaver, a master storyteller.
The stories sometimes connect and sometimes diverge, but they all lead up to a meeting at the oasis in the story's center. You could follow the story paths that interested you and ignore the rest, or you could read them all.
The Oasis site included six distinct stories - a wizard's story, a panther's story, a warrior's story, a shadow's story, a goatherd's story, and a spirit's story - plus Hakim Loreweavers's commentary and several shorter stories scattered throughout. In addition, one of the designers of the Mirage set, Bill Rose, provided background and strategy hints for some of the cards illustrated in the stories.
Contest
Your goal, as you read Hakim's stories, was to determine who was trapped inside the Amber Prison, a magical artifact from the Mirage card set. There were no convoluted puzzles to solve or long forms to fill out, although your chances of knowing the correct answer improved as you read more of the stories.
Readers who completed the story were asked to solve the mystery of who was in the amber prison. Submitting the correct answer and an email address would qualify the entry for prizes.