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Post by cajun on May 26, 2020 7:55:25 GMT
"Hello there, young planeswalker, and welcome to the world of Chikyu. My name is Maple, or Professor Maple if you're feeling formal. This world is overrun with creatures, monsters, whatever you want to call them. Some of them are rather nice, you'll find the ones between the villages to be rather curious and eager to meet you, if a bit competitive, and the ones you'll be seeing in this lab are practically tame. Unfortunately, they are the exception."
"Don't stray any further from the villages than the crows do. Beyond that, in the Wilderness, live the true monsters. Very powerful, and very territorial. People train for years to have the skills necessary to survive out there, and sometimes, even that is not enough."
"While going out to make contact with other villages out there is a noble goal, it is by no means a mandatory one. No one will think any less of you if you do not wish to endanger yourself and your loyal monsters."
"But ultimately, someone has to do it."
Things to expect: A one-mana wrath. A card named simply "Bessie". The return of a long-dead mechanic. Phasing out returns!
A Tapir, a Scorpion Bat, and three Eggs.
Four instances of the phrase "extra turn". A Human that puts 20 power on the board.
Appearances by ATV, Bird Jesus, and Lord Helix. A three-mana planeswalker with four loyalty abilities. Sanaito has entered the battlefield.
"You may cast spells from your hand without paying their mana costs." |
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Post by cajun on Sept 5, 2020 5:30:15 GMT
As you might have guessed, Monsters of Chikyu (MON) is a Pokemon fanset. For some, there is no more cursed phrase in the realm of custom Magic. There have been a plethora of them over the years, and I've found almost all of them try to force the Pokemon rules and mechanics into the Magic system, resulting in a set that doesn't feel like a Magic set at all, and sometimes fails at being Pokemon too. I wanted to come at this idea from the other direction.  Chikyu takes much of the Pokemon world, but reimagines it in a way that should make it feel more like a Magic plane. It takes heavy flavor inspiration from Pokemon, but it throws aside things that make no sense within Magic. Wild Pokemon can be truly dangerous monsters, driving the humans of the plane to small enclaves of civilization that the villages are able to secure. While they lack teeth or claws or firebreathing or stone skin, the humans' unique advantage is being able to bond with and train the smaller monsters of Chikyu, which they often begin doing at a young age...
Karina's Deployment (Story Post 1/11)Professor Maple darted back and forth across her single room house that she insisted on calling a lab, nervously moving books and sketches and items back and forth and back again. Behind her plodded a green beast, a knee-high creature that resembled a turtle except with a large flower bloom on its back rather than a shell. Several vines reached out from under the flower, moving some of the relocated things back where they belonged. The monster’s purple eyes swiveled over to a window where an oversized caterpillar had begun tapping at the glass, trying to find a way in. In a brown swoop, some other monster outside ensured that it never would.
“Professor…” came a complaint from behind her. Right, right, she’d almost forgotten the boy was here.
“Just a few minutes more, Masaru, surely,” she reassured him, scanning over the mess of the lab. He finally gave up and began moving stacks of papers that seemed to cover every chair in the room. “We’ve got an important visitor today,” she said to his grumbling. “Someone from far away, who doesn’t know much about this place.”
The boy perked up at that. Chikyu didn’t have visitors. “About this place? You mean... the lab? Or about the village? Where are they from?”
“Well, yes, and yes, and... you’ll see. I’m sure she’ll need someone to help her find her way around out here, and I’m hoping maybeyoucoulddothat?” she ran through with a desperate smile.
“I could probably help her, but what all will—”
“All in good time,” she waved away as she returned to the hopeless cleaning. Good, maybe she can keep you out of too much trouble, she kept to herself. A squawk split through the lab, a warning cry from another of the professor’s monsters guarding the door. Maple charged it, throwing the door open before the boy had gotten to his feet to follow her. Outside, a brown and white bird waved a green stick while continuing to squawk at two intruders. One of them was a darker skinned woman several years older than Maple herself: Reyhsia, the chronicler of culture that Maple had been getting to know well over the past few weeks. The other one was a pale girl she hadn’t met yet, with wild eyes and a spear of all things pointed at her bird, ready for a fight. “They're with me.” Maple said calmly to the bird. With a final squawk it waddled behind her, continuing to leer at the two trespassers. The girl jumped back as well, then with an embarrassed look the spear suddenly vanished. Maple tried not to let it surprise her. She’d seen Reyhsia do the same with her whole body several times, of course her ward would know the trick as well. “Gods, sorry professor.” Reyhsia blurted. She set a gentle hand on the child’s shoulder. “I had not seen your guard at his fiercest before and had not thought to warn her.”Maple waved her off, “I should have warned… all three of you, really,” she admitted. “Now, quickly, come in, come in, both of you,” she stood aside to hold the door open for the two. Reyhsia walked in, and after a few paranoid glances the child followed in after her. “So, you must be little miss Karina?” Maple asked as she walked back in. The girl, however, was now caught in a staring match with the plant monster and didn’t seem to have heard her. Reyhsia elbowed her arm.
“Sorry, yes, Karina, sorry,” tumbled forth. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, and…” her eyes fell back down to the plant, which just stared back, motionless. Maple smiled. “Well, I wasn’t sure what they’d tell you, so I prepared a little something…” A spell gathered itself in her hand. That seemed to catch her attention. Karina watched intently as Maple’s spell finished, summoning another monster to her side, a yellow and brown creature with a droopy nose that looked up to Karina with sleepy eyes. "Hello there, young planeswalker, and welcome to the world of Chikyu! My name is Maple, or Professor Maple if you're feeling formal. This world is overrun with creatures, monsters, whatever you want to call them. Some of them are rather nice—you'll find the ones between the villages to be rather curious and eager to meet you, if a bit competitive, and the ones you'll be seeing in this lab are practically tame. Unfortunately, they are the exception. Once you go too far beyond the limits of the villages, you'll be in the Wilderness, the territory of the most dangerous and vicious monsters we have ever seen. People train for years to have the skills necessary to survive out there, and sometimes, even that is not enough."She looked to the girl expectantly. Karina's face dropped and she grabbed for Reyhsia's arm. It was only now that Maple noticed the scar running down the girl's face. Maybe she had gone a little too far. "But! That's not why I asked you here, not exactly," she tried to recover. "While Reyhsia is helping me, I wanted someone to see Chikyu as the children who live here do. Not fighting the worst of the monsters, but living here, and training a monster of your own, so that you can see first hand all this world has to offer... both the bad, and the good." She smiled to try to encourage the girl. It didn't seem to be enough. Time for the last trick up her sleeve. "Masaru, if you w—" the boy was off before she finished, pulling open a hatch in the floor and disappearing into it.
"As children here grow up, we try to find them a small monster of their own, to be their first companion and help them learn..." A strange green creature with a leaf on its head was lifted out from the hole in the floor. It looked timidly towards the three. "You and Masaru are getting them... later than usual, sometimes things don't always work out quite right." A blue and tan ball of fluff followed after, doing a little roll on the floor before jumping to its feet. "Masaru has been helping me with this lot for the last few weeks though, so I'm certain he'll be able to catch you up on what you need to know." "Starting with Noko's with me!" he said, rising out of the hatch with a small blue crocodile hanging over his shoulder. "Go on, pick one of the others!" Karina looked at the two left. The green one looked like it was already trying to find a way back down into the basement, while the other began sniffing around the lab. "What if... what if they don't like me?"
Maple waved a hand at her. "You'll be fine, just go say hi!"Karina started towards the ball of fluff, which trotted over to her as it noticed. It cooed happily at her. Karina knelt down to get a closer look at it, and it seemed its eyes were closed, maybe it was moving by smell? It rubbed and pawed at her, eventually managing to crawl up into her arms. After sitting with it for a bit, she stood up, still cradling the creature. "I guess this one's coming with me."
"Now give her a name!" Marasu shouted from across the room. She turned to the professor, who gave an encouraging nod.
Karina turned the tiny monster around to face her. "Hm... you look like a Fuzzy? No that's not a name, uh, Faye? Marie? Amber?" It chirped at the name. "I think she likes Amber then."
"Great, there's just one last thing to show you, then we'll have Masaru show you around the town, and you can both get to know your new friends. You can call back your monster if they get injured, or into trouble, or maybe too big for where you need to go." Karina focused as another spell gathered in the professor's hand. Her sleepy monster, which hadn't seen to have moved at all since it had been summoned, vanished. "It isn't the hardest to learn but... it takes... a few tries." She trailed off as Karina seemed to copy the spell exactly, causing Amber to vanish into a blue puff. "Uh, uh, now what, do I just do it again, she's fine right? Oh Spirits I messed it up didn't I." Maple had to laugh a little, "Yes, yes, she's okay, just do it again." Karina replicated the spell, a lot less sure of herself until Amber reappeared on the floor, happy as ever. "No way," Marasu whispered. "Well you seem to have gotten the hang of that pretty quick. Just remember, that's mostly a temporary measure, you shouldn't leave a monster like that for very long, they're likely to try to break out if you do anyway."
"Now, I've got some supplies around here somewhere, where did they go," she looks around the lab before a vine stretches over with two bags. "Ah, yes, wonderful. A little bit of adventuring gear, to get you to the next town or so, if that's what you choose to do. Now, run off you two, or, four now. Miss Reyhsia and I have some things to talk over before she leaves..." ---
Karina and Masaru left the lab, their new monsters trotting by their sides. The lab and the rest of the village seemed to be nestled in a clearing surrounded by the forest that was much-too-close in Karina's opinion. Her eyes darted around frantically with every bird call and grumble from the trees around them. “Hey, relax,” Masaru laughed, “we’re fine here. Especially with that stick thing you had, that’s going to be scarier than anything that’s going to sneak up on us out here.” Her eyes remained glued to the trees surrounding them. "Maybe instead of worrying, you can tell me how you did that disappearing act with it? I've never seen that happen with anything but a monster.""Um, it's a spell I learned." She reached out a hand and the spear materialized from nothing. "It sounds like I'd be safer with it, right?" She snaps into a defensive stance before Masaru can respond. The two monsters stop slightly ahead of them and stare back at them. "Must have been why it was so easy... and no, that's really more what you have a monster for. Maybe it'd be better if we had a friendly battle, to show you how that goes. Neither of them will get hurt," he cut off her next question, "they'll know to practice instead of really hurt each other." The two animals seemed to understand what was happening, and were already starting to square off before Karina was quite sure what was happening. Masaru ran behind his tiny crocodile and Karina followed suit. "At first, you really just need to tell them what to do," Marasu shouted, "but as you get better, you come up with strategies, and it's like you don't need to say anything! Noko, hmmm, start it easy with a leer!" Noko leapt forward and bit at the air, giving a nasty face that seemed to unsettle Karina more than Amber. "Now you go!"
"Um, do, do that too, I guess?" Amber barked in response, then flames shot from her back to challenge back, before fading back into nothing. "WHY CAN YOU DO THAT?"
"Now time to get serious!" If Masaru heard her shouting, he didn't acknowledge it. "Let's drench them, Noko!" The crocodile jumped up nearly as high as Marasu was tall and launched a torrent of water from its mouth. A few thoughts flickered through Karina's mind as the attack surged towards her new friend, but only one turned into action—jumping in front of the attack to uselessly block with her spear. The force knocked her off her feet, with Amber jumping clear as she fell. She sat there, half stunned and now dripping wet from her hair to her boots. "I—You—What—I'm sorry!" Marasu said, running past Noko to her, "I've never seen that before either... you... you don't really know much of anything about fighting, do you?""I do!" she protested, "Just with this," she said as she shook the spear. "All this other stuff is new," she mumbled. "Why don't we head to the healing center here, we'll get you dried off, and try a little smaller steps?"Karina huffed but pulled herself up. "Alright. Can't give up that easily, can I?"Masaru pointed out the next little house they were going to. After a few moments of walking in silence, he said, " Can I ask where are you from, since it's clearly not from anywhere near here?"Karina tensed up. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone that.""Oh, a secret? Has that lady been keeping you locked up your whole life or something?""What? No! It's... I'm just not from... here. But I'm going to explore around here, and help map the area, and maybe see all these different monsters if they're not too scary, and learn all kinds of new spells and..." her excitement trailed off at the mention of spells. "But you weren't supposed to tell anyone that?"
"...Kinda.""Well there's some spells to learn, but that usually comes later, healing spells and stuff, so you can guard without jumping into the line of fire." He tried to stifle a laugh and received a glare in return. "That one, at least, isn't really a secret, but we're gonna need to do a lot more training before you're ready for any of that."Karina gave a sigh of relief. "Good, I could use fewer secrets." Marasu gave her a look at that, but decided against prying any further, at least for now. And before we sign off for the night: Mechanics
Experience returns from WindyDelcarlo, letting our monsters level up and change with enough training. Experience primarily appears in green and white, with some appearances in blue and red as well.
Vanguard is a new pseudo-keyword similar to exalted, letting a trainer choose their champion and support it from the sidelines so it doesn't have to fight alone. Vanguard appears in white, blue, and red.
But Pokemon battles are more than just slamming into each other. Harness represents the Pokemon attack mechanic, giving you big discounts on spells by allowing one of your creatures to help pay for it. Harness appears primarily in red and blue, with one card each in the other three colors.
And finally is our long dead mechanic... well perhaps not dead, maybe just phased out. Phasing returns in its action form only as the 'return-to-pokeball' mechanic rather than flicker, after all, you don't want to lose your experiences and evolutions at the end of the fight, do you? Planeswalker Profile: Karina Oblay
Colors:    Age: 14 Birth Plane: Festenya (1920’s plane) Occupation: Student of the Seventh Circle Initiative's Division of Exploration Skills: Karina is able to copy spells shortly after she sees them. With patience and practice, she is able to cast these spells without needing to copy them from others. She is also being trained in spear combat, mostly for self-defense. Spark Event: Being given the spark of psychopathic planeswalker Kirino Oblay, who's memories, and possibly personality, still lurks in Karina's spark. Other Notes: Karina was orphaned at 8 years old, and learned to fend for herself on the streets of Festenya. After a year and a half of barely staying alive, she encountered Okus, the mind controlling hat, which brought her to the Arena. There she was taken in by the Seventh Circle Initiative, given the spark of Kirino Oblay, broke free of Okus's control, and met her now girlfriend Hannah Delcarlo-Nisita. She now divides her time between schooling, working with the 7CI (currently, on Chikyu), and spending time on Volaria with Hannah. Karina has recently started suffering from nightmares and triggered flashbacks of her past.  oh lord why did i stall out so long now one of my mechanics is taken and ikoria stole some of the thunder and
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Post by cajun on Sept 7, 2020 2:54:50 GMT
Some weeks ago…The night and sea had stretched out forever around them. Ema had lost count of how many islands they had already put behind them on their journey, but the great landmass that waited ahead of them promised it was nearly at its end. She could feel in her bones that this was the continent at the edges of the oldest maps from back home… or maybe it was just the salt water finding its way into her most recent cuts again as she and a little purple monster drifted along on its large red gemstone. The spiky-headed gremlin was hunched over, using its clawed hands to paddle the improvised raft along the mostly calm waters. It hadn’t been her first choice for crossing the sea between Hoenn and here, but it was the one that was still with her. “Any good eating down there, Nirami?” Ema asked her ferrygremlin. Nirami’s gemstone eyes shone as her head turned to stare down the sea. After a few seconds, she plunged into the water, emerging after only a moment with a still squirming orange fish in her ear to ear grin. “Great. Uh, you can have that one, I’ll wait until we can have a fire.” Ema quickly looked away from the creature as it munched down the fish. The sound was gross enough without having to watch it too. Instead, she tried to look down into the water as Nirami had. Back home, it would have been teeming with fish, crabs, whales, eels, coral… countless monsters happy to attack them for daring to be in their waters. Here, the fish seemed more content to let them be, and even the jellyfish weren’t too aggressive. “The water’s so much safer out here, but is that enough to get everyone, anyone, out here?” she wondered aloud. Nirami had no answers, and continued paddling for the mainland. Light was just beginning to filter into the sky as the gem boat landed on the shore. As the two walked up the beach, a small glowing sphere in Nirami’s back dimmed, causing her to shrink slightly, and the large gem to dissolve back to light behind them. She stumbled on the sand, the effort of paddling from the last island hitting all at once. “Good work, Nirami, now you get some rest, okay?” Ema smiled as a spell whisked the monster away. Four more followed in quick succession, summoning a bipedal mongoose, a giant angry ice ball, a mantis as tall as Ema, and a slightly taller monster that almost looked like a living dress, but for the green hair and red blade pointing from its chest. The last smiled at her, and Ema couldn’t help but smile back. “Okay, I think we’ve made it, I think we’ve really made it,” she tried to impress her excitement on the monsters, and desperately tried not to yawn despite being as tired as Nirami had been. “Emonoru,” she said, pointing to the mantis, “I need you scouting. Use those wings of yours, figure out what we need to avoid, and where to go next. Sanaito, you’re with him, keep him out of too much trouble,” she whispered. The mantis buzzed its wings and trekked its way up the sands, followed by the silent footsteps of the green haired monster. With them gone, Ema allowed herself one yawn. “Onigori, you stay around here, freeze anything that’s not one of us or a person, got it? We’ve got this far, we don’t need to take any more chances than we have to.” The ice ball roared and floated off. He probably got the idea. “And… Zankon,” she yawned again. “I need you guarding me and Nirami, okay?” Zankon crossed his fearsome claws, each larger than Ema’s hand. He definitely got the idea. The two trudged up a different way up the beach, finding a suitable place for their temporary camp. --- --- A gentle hand pushed Ema awake after a lot of insistence. “Sanaito? You’re supposed to be scouting?” she questioned, still not quite awake. Sanaito ushered her up. The sun was already sinking down for the day. It looked like it would be another night with just Nirami, Ema realized. Sanaito began pulling on her arm, directing her to a spot on the beach where the other monsters had gathered, including a purple gremlin who had broken out of Ema’s spell as she slept. Nirami gnawed on an ice crystal, one like several scattered across the beach. On closer inspection, each of the crystals contained a large green caterpillar or spider. “Good work Onigori,” she nodded. Emonoru tapped at the sand. Lines had been carved into the ground, with leaves sprinkled around most of it. Sanaito pointed to an ice crystal that had been shoved in the ground. “There. We are there?” The blade in Sanaito’s chest lit up. That was a yes. “Okay, so the leaves are more forest, then where—” Emonoru’s blade tapped a rectangle in the sand, then pointed to Ema. “People?” His wings buzzed. “Well what are we waiting for!” She grinned and started running to where the map promised the first civilization in weeks. She swerved back to the camp after a few steps. “Right, gotta get our stuff, right,” she laughed at herself.  Night had crept up on them again before they reached their destination. In the back of her mind, she knew they should just set up camp and wait for morning, but she was done with waiting. She’d been searching for weeks, and lost her first companion to get this far. It needed to be worth it. Nirami crawled around somewhere in the shadows nearby, only being heard rather than seen. Sanaito stepped just behind Ema, while Zankon scurried ahead watching for trouble. The other two were already resting, like all of us should be… Then there it was in the middle of their path. A yellow monster that always seemed to be asleep, an uncommon sight the group had encountered before. What was much rarer was the scars running around half the creature’s face, and the ear it seemed to be missing on the same side. Ema and then Zankon moved for the creature, but a hand pulled Ema back. Feelings of dread from Sanaito flooded her head. As the mongoose reached the yellow monster, it reached out a hand to touch him. And they both disappeared. “Zankon!” Ema cried and tore herself away from Sanaito to where the two had vanished. There was a cry of pain in the distance. They hadn’t gotten far. Ema summoned Emonoru back to her side, just as the teleporting monster returned. Except this time, with two black-suited thugs in tow. Nirami launched from the shadows, clawing and biting at the face of one. The other flew back at a telekinetic shove from Sanaito. The yellow creature was gone again, then back in another second with two more. Before Ema could react, a snake towered over one, while a red lizard with a flaming tail appeared beside the other. “Kill the bug!” one yelled. “Get the girl and whatever else will come with her!” “No! What?” Flames built in the lizard’s mouth. “Onigori!” A flash of light summoned the ice ball between the sudden jet of flames and the bug, the ice covering Onigori not even sweating to the heat. He roared a chilling wind at the assailants. The lizard stood down and shielded its tail. The snake lunged, spraying poison wildly. Sanaito swept her arms wide, casting a protective spell around them. The poison shot fell uselessly to the ground, and Ema got one moment of silence.
A mass of webbing shot from behind Ema, ensnaring the thug still tangling with Nirami, along with the gremlin. Ema turned to find the yellow blur vanishing again between two more thugs, and two more monsters. A very furry monkey with bulging muscles rocketed into the air. A red spider larger than herself turned its focus to her.
It was too much. Her monsters needed commands but there was slashing and hissing behind her. There was a loud CRACK followed by a pained roar from Onigori. Get the girl, they had said. “Wait!” Emonoru and Onigori vanished, their foes plowing into the ground. Sanaito… refused her spell, instead stepping in front of her and maintaining golden walls around her as best she could. “What do you want? Why are you doing this?”
The one by the spider smirked. “The boss wants to see you.” He nodded and the spider fired a barrage of needles. Sanaito’s eyes glowed, but she was already at her limit. The least she could do was block the attack with her own body.
She doubled over as the poison sunk in. The shields around her dissolved away. “No!” Ema fell to Sanaito's side, casting her best panicked antidote spell, “Just stop, and we’ll go, we’ll talk with your boss.” She heard a laugh through the footsteps and the tears.
No. The thugs hesitated at the new voice that they hadn't so much heard as known. Sanaito weakly raised an arm. The wind turned, rushing towards where she pointed. After a moment, the spider began sliding backwards, then scrambling for a grip on the ground. They shouted in confusion as the spider slipped and slipped and slipped, until it was yanked into a growing pit of darkness, reduced to nothing in a blink.
Those behind them were already running away. “I did NOT sign up for this!” Sanaito stood back up tall. The men slipped ever so slightly.
“Don’t do this,” Ema whispered. Sanaito faltered. She had her order.
She shoved at the man.
And then she was gone.
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Today
Sanaito stood at the spherical crater she had created… who knew how long ago. Too long ago. All other traces of what had occurred here had been lost to time. She instinctively touched the spherical stone on the string around her neck. It still shone, barely. She’s not here. Of course. But. She’s somewhere. Lost. Afraid. Alone.
But not for long.
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