Plus, I'm a functional scientist myself. It kind of feels like I'm meant to ponder such things. In fact, the appeal of working out a sensible and symmetrical elemental system in my mind is probably similar to the drive a lot of physicists have in their search for a theory of everything. If I were smart enough to fully comprehend both general relativity and quantum mechanics, I might spend my showers trying to merge them in my brain. But I'm not, so that shower time is spent thinking about how MTG's colors interact with Pokémon's types. And the result, so far, is this work in progress...
I'm thinking this is a broad overview of the Inner Planes, the sources of elements and energy that give rise to the physical world. There are still Outer Planes of various philosophical persuasions that are filtered through these elements to create our experience of the universe. On the wheel so far, you'll find the colors of MTG, some Pokémon types (video games and card game may be represented separately, since they do differ in a way that reduces the number of types for the TCG), most of the Duel Masters civilizations, a couple of World of Warcraft classes (using their Hearthstone icons), and one stray aspect from the Star Wars: Unlimited TCG. The Ravnican guilds whose color combinations fit the wheel are also represented, in part because I think it's cool how the Boros logo echos Pokémon's Fighting symbol, and how Dimir and Psychic share an eye in their icons (plus the colors kind of work!).
Also, I stole that color wheel in the middle from here; let me know if it seems like gratuitous theft, please. I do think I like the hexagonal RGB+CMY skeleton for the wheel!
Okay, enough blabbing. If you have thoughts, criticisms, or suggestions, please throw 'em my way!
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Look, Dad, all those philosophy classes are paying off! |
I would love to post a smart, supportive comment, but honestly I have no idea what's going on here! Sorry!
ReplyDeleteHaha...that's actually a really helpful thing to tell me because I need to be reminded sometimes when I get so lost in my own thoughts that I don't understand when I'm relaying inscrutable nerdcode I generated in my own detached mind. I'm going to see what I can do to make this more relatable for an upcoming post... Thank you!!
DeleteDo you know any dysfunctional scientists? ;)
ReplyDeleteHa! That was weird wording, wasn't it...? I guess I always try to dance around a bold declaration that "I KNOW SCIENCE!" because it seems a bit pretentious in a world where most intelligent people have some amount of scientific literacy.
DeleteBut I also guess the answer is yes, pretty much all of us, in one way or another... ;)
This reminds me a little (a lot?) of the colours of magic from Warhammer. It may be worth looking at that for some extra inspiration, if you're not already familiar.
ReplyDeleteThere's a summary here; it's not the most organised page, but the Overview and Winds of Magic sections will give you the gist.
Oh wow, that fits REALLY well! Thank you...I wasn't very familiar with Warhammer magic at all (other than a little of its Warp/Chaos connection), and this is an excellent magical structure to try to fit into my broad approach.
DeleteI'll have to get the symbols for some (maybe all?) of the Orders onto the wheel. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since it's very much based on the color wheel and some classic color associations, but I am somewhat amazed at how well most of this fits. Just little stuff like having death in purple and situated right next to shadow magic...
Yeah, this is great. Thank you!