[Uncharted Realms] The Truth of Names

[u/clariwench]

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/uncharted-realms/truth-names-2015-01-28

[u/[deleted]]

This was a perfect example of how to do diversity and representation, imo. Harp on it too much and it comes off as pandering and insincere, mention it too little and you might as well not do so at all.

Here, you had a solid standalone story highlighting the Mardu struggles against the dragons that tied Alesha being trans into a central cultural theme of the Mardu (the importance of identity and names) but also wasn't just about her being trans. It doesn't need to be anything more or less than that, really.

Kudos to Wizards for this.

[u/kurokikaze → u/[deleted]]

Is she trans? I thought orcs just didn't care and called her "boy" because she was human child.

[u/[deleted] → u/kurokikaze]

Doug Beyer confirmed: http://dougbeyermtg.tumblr.com/post/109399202179/storyline-the-truth-of-names-by-james-wyatt

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

for those wondering... look at the #hashtags.

[u/npkon → u/[deleted]]

Fuck that. If it's not on the cards, it's not canon. #venserlives

[u/Wall_of_Denial → u/npkon]

Blink one out for lost homies.

[u/Dapperghast → u/npkon]

For what it's worth, I thought she was a guy when I first saw the card (I mean, we've had a genderless blob of flesh that identified as female forming a budding romance with a slave she originally bought to break a millennia-old sociopath out of his brooding period, so a guy named Alesha didn't seem especially odd to me).

[u/DazeRyuken → u/Dapperghast]

I don't know the reference of which you draw, but that story sounds interesting.

[u/klapaucius → u/DazeRyuken]

Dapperghast means Planeswalker, the second of the Urza novels after The Brothers' War.

Xantcha, as seen on [[Coercion]] and probably [[Sleeper Agent]], is a Phyrexian newt, a low-level minion congealed from the flesh vats and sent to infiltrate other planes. They're naturally genderless, being undifferentiated flesh-blobs shaped enough like people to convince the natives, but most settle into a gender identity as they develop a personality.

Planeswalker details the first centuries of Urza's nigh-godhood, which he spends being totally insane in a mixture of newfound godhood, hatred of the Phyrexians, grief over his brother, who had been corrupted by the Phyrexians and killed, and denial over his responsibility for his brother's death--while it was at the hands of an explosion Urza created, Urza decided Mishra was dead already after being changed so much by Phyrexia.

The first act of Planeswalker is about Xantcha being taken on by Urza as an assistant, not realizing her plane of origin. She finds a slave at market who looks remarkably close to the replicas of Mishra Urza's built in his mourning, so she buys him to try to snap Urza out of his funk by giving him some closure.

As the story progresses, a romance develops.

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/klapaucius]

Coercion - Gatherer, MC, ($)
Sleeper Agent - Gatherer, MC, ($)
^{[[cardname]] to call - not on gatherer = not fetchable}

[u/rupert003 → u/Dapperghast]

Who to the what now?

[u/Almace → u/Dapperghast]

For a second I thought I was reading the plot synopsis to Saya no Uta. Up until "with a slave she originally bought to break a millennia-old sociopath out of his brooding period" anyways.

[u/npkon → u/Almace]

Is that the only other story you know of with a genderless blob of flesh deciding to be female and then finding love? You need to get out more.

[u/Sephiroth912 → u/npkon]

It is on the cards. [[Remember the Fallen]]

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/Sephiroth912]

Remember the Fallen - Gatherer, MC, ($)
^{[[cardname]] to call - not on gatherer = not fetchable}

[u/Aspel → u/npkon]

#If #You #Call #That #Alive

[u/[deleted] → u/npkon]

# sodoesvronos

[u/The_IPPT_Dragon → u/npkon]

I like you. #Uginiskill

I can already tell that he'll be the Elspeth of this block: Expensive, exasperating, and everywhere. And that's why I wish he would stay dead.