#❮ ashiok / headcanon ❯ ━━ ❝ your nightmares inspire me .

[missallanea]

thinking about the Planeswalker muses and wondering what the Blind Eternities look like to them. I imagine for Nissa it's something like being back in Zendikar : ever-shifting, ever-changing, but rooted in nature. Earthen and alive.

I think it would appear to Ashiok as an ever-twisting maze of smoke, the pathways illuminated in between. A cloying, suffocating darkness that they have found their comfort within.

[missallanea-a]

While it's no secret that Ashiok has spent much of their time in Theros, they remain a Planeswalker and as such have explored the far reaches of the multiverse. Here's a quick run-down of their thoughts on the Planes they've visited :

ALARA : was unfortunately not able to visit this Plane prior to the Sundering. Delights in Grixis but has otherwise spent little time here.

AMONKHET : visited some time before the War of the Spark. Was intrigued by the potential of the Trials, but this turned out to just be another colosseum of men killing men. No inspiration to be found.

ARCAVIOS : attempted to reach Strixhaven, but found that it was not quite so easy to breech. Children are full of potential in so many ways, but it seemed Vess was not so foolish as to let the school exist without her personal breed of protection. Disappointing.

CAPENNA : oh, Capenna. Homeplane of their dearest Elspeth, but beyond such a promising ingenue, has little to offer them. The invasion of the Phyrexians is distant memory ( prior, of course, to the Invasion of the Multiverse ) and many citizens are too busy chasing Halo to really have much to play with. Still, they find themself here now and again.

DIRADEN : a plane of eternal twilight, ruins, rot, and fog. If Ashiok didn't know better, they might have believed this to be their homeland. Far less intruiging now that the dark shroud has been destroyed by Chandra Nalaar. Tsk, tsk. Pesky firebug.

DOMINARIA : come now: every Planeswalker worth their spark has made their way to Dominaria at some point. They only wish they could have seen it before the Mending era.

ELDRAINE : a more recent delight of theirs, Ashiok was pulled to this realm by the whispers of the Wicked Slumber. Such noble intentions... such foolish aspirations. Of course, with the spell lifted, they've since withdrawn from Eldraine... but that isn't to say they will never return.

GARGANTIKAR : what can really be said about it? Everything is large. Purely a scientific visit with nothing to be gained.

INNISTRAD : one would think that a nightmare would find more delight in a plane that seems solely inhabitited by werewolves, vampires, and other horrors. But what things do the dead really fear? Of course, they would still love the chance to... pick Sorin Markov's mind.

KALDHEIM : really just a brief blip on their radar. It's much the same to Theros, in that there's something purely human about their warriors. They could certainly play around here for some time, but nothing has intruiged them enough to keep them here.

KAMIGAWA : ever since Kamigawa entered the Neon Dynasty, Ashiok has had little interest in visiting. Perhaps androids do dream of robot sheep, but what fun is there to be made with bits and bytes? Of course, Tamiyo would certainly have made an interesting plaything... shame.

MEDITATION PLANE : also known as Bolas' Meditation Realm and the Prison Realm. Ashiok has been here. When, why, and for what remains a mystery... but given who is housed in this eternal prison, we can assume it wasn't anything good.

NEW PHYREXIA : previously known as both Argentum and Mirrodin. What fun they had here, twisting the nightmares of the Grand Praetor herself. And they didn't even know if Phyrexians were capable of nightmares. Of course, this nightmare may have given Elesh Norn a particular hatred of Elspeth Tirel... but that need for vengeance? What a human desire for a Phyrexian to have.

RAVNICA : Ashiok was, in fact, present in Ravnica during the War of the Spark... although what role they ultimately played, they've thus far shown no interest in revealing. Not their favorite plane to visit, due to the density of the population.

ZENDIKAR : much like Dominaria, this is considered something of a mecca for Planeswalkers. A plane that is home to large sources of mana, now healing from the devistation left in the wake of the Eldrazi titans. Rarely visited these days, in hopes of avoiding running into any of the Gatewatch.

[missallanea-archive]

thinking about Ashiok and how their boon from Phenax makes it so that they are effectively invisible to gods and wondering how that would effect demigods : would they be invisible still? would demigods be able to see them, but only somewhat? personally I love the idea that they can be seen, but their image is hazy, unclear and smoky — very much like the smoke that rolls off of them ordinarily — until they choose to reveal themself.

[missallanea]

muses who are biters ( affectionate ) :

Agnes Drachina Reuben, Eda Clawthorne, Fish Eye, Fox, Jennifer Walters, Miyu, Persephone, Raven Branwen, Ryoko Hakubi, Vex'ahlia

muses who are biters ( derogatory ) :

Ashiok, Demona, Freya, Lunasol Galanodel, Miyu, Mystique, Persephone, Raven Branwen, Ryoko Hakubi, Scylla, Serafine Savoy, Takhisis

muses who like to be bitten ( filth ) :

Demona, Eda Clawthorne, Fox, Maximilian Calypse, Persephone, Vex'ahlia

[missallanea]

I was talking to Mal the other day about how I have a handful of gods on this blog ( Freya, Persephone, & Takhisis specifically ) but also a couple of characters I consider god-adjacent ( Ashiok & the Collector )

and at the time my reasoning for Ashiok was because planeswalkers are all vaguely godlike to non-planeswalkers. A Spark can do quite a lot for a person, after all.

but then as I sat with it, I remembered that Ashiok once just. straight up manipulated an entire plane into believing in a god so much that that god was. born??? Cacophony, my beloved. You didn't deserve what you got.

[missallanea]

I've got the nightmare fuel on the brain so here's a QUICK REMINDER that I don't care that WOTC gave Ashiok Steve Blum as a voice actor, they ( in my interpretation ) low-key sound like Paint, the singer from Les Friction.

Best example & my favorite Ashiok song : Your World Will Fail .