Merveaux

Illustration by Neal Hanson

### Inhabitants

Angels, aven, azra, bearfolk, catfolk, demons, devils, dragons, dragonfolk, dryads, dwarves, elves, frogfolk, gnomes, goblins, humans, ogres, orcs, rodentfolk, satyrs, sphinxes, vampires

## Other information

### Creator

Mattelonian

**Merveaux** is a plane inspired by art and artistic expression with a focus on the European renaissance. Inspired by various European countries, it places an especial focus on France, but also maintains aesthetics taken from Italy (especially Venice and Rome), Spain, the United Kingdom and Greece. The plane is post-scarcity, with its inhabitants spending their time working on honing their skills and becoming renowned for their artistic capabilities. Its main draw is the titular capital, an ever-growing and towering city whose architects work to make sure maintains enough greenery to keep the space healthy and clean.

Merveaux is the setting for Merveaux (set).

## History

### The Expulsion of the Monarchy

Prior to -33PM, Merveaux was a monarchy ruled by the royal family of house Rochefort. During -33PM, however, the king and his retinue went for an inspection of the countryside, and upon returning had found the city had formed into a commune and disbarred his reentry, forcing him to live the rest of his life in relative obscurity. This was the impetus for the spark event of Perceval, the crown prince at the time.

### The Grand Festival

Each decade, to celebrate the events of the Monarchy's rejection, the city holds a festival of the arts ("The Grand Festival") where anybody is able to present a piece of work to be judged. Traditionally this is a great impetus for technological advancement for the plane, as new technologies are conceptualised en masse. Eventually, one winner is selected, and the plane's worldsoul is invoked during an ultimate celebration to close the event.

## Worldsoul and Magic System

### Worldsoul

The Worldsoul of Merveaux is the incarnation of the concept of Creativity, as expressed via the plane's unique requirements on spellcasting and heavy natural focus on the arts. During the events of the set Merveaux (set), an "artificial worldsoul" crafted as the concept of Ingenuity was created. It is currently unknown whether this influences the plane's leylines or if it's merely a powerful standard incarnation rather than a true worldsoul.

### Magic System

The nature of the plane's Worldsoul results in a unique method of accessing the inherent mana of the plane - spells can only be cast via artistic expression and artistic expression inherently becomes magical. The two are inextricably linked on the plane, to the degree where creating art without intent of a spell may cause unintended magical effects. This is something planeswalkers to the plane have to adapt to, as the leylines of the plane refuse to grant mana otherwise, much to the chagrin of the less artistically inclined ones.

## Notable People

### Native Planeswalkers

* Roland
* Pascal
* Perceval
* Eiyo

### Known Planeswalker Visitors

* Elaphia
* Lyon
* Davriel Cane

## Trivia

* The concept of a European art-based set was original conceptualised by user RC\_Orchid aka Squire, who iterated on the set several times before abandoning the idea and custom magic as a whole, allowing its current creator to take the parts that inspired him and create something new.