What exactly is the personality of a rixis character?
Lore forum
Posted on Aug. 21, 2014, 10:57 p.m. by turtur
my friend carolyn has been writing a book she asked me to read a few pages of it and say how the character development has been going her main character and hero of the story is Myron everything he does and thinks SCREAMS grixis with a largely izzet base so i was wondering what different directions could someone go with a grixis character? what is the personality of grixis? and what different types of grixis characters are there? Also what si the good of grixis?
This is an article acting as an interview with the color black, about Grixis. There is one for each shard, all of which are very good reads for color philosophy. This should be helpful for seeing the better (not zombie torn wasteland) side of Grixis and the views of it.http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/9
August 22, 2014 1:56 a.m.
Oletorpedo says... #4
"Keep in mind that grixis is only a splash of red for Lightning Bolt and Terminate . Blue countermagic, black discard/creature removal is what fuels the deck."
Personifying Grixis has nothing to do with what cards are good in the colors, or how . From what turtur is syaing, i read the character as a seeker of knowledge trough experimentation (Izzet), and the means to find knowledge is not inhibited by any moral code or ethics (Black).
I think a Grixis character can vary a lot though, beacuse it all has to do with the amount of any one color. F.ex, a 40/40/20 B/R/U character is likely to react and plan very differently than a 40/40/20/ U/B/R character.
The direction a character like this can go is a hard question answer, seeing as we don't know anything about the character's goals and/or mindset. But i guess he will keep seeking creative or intellectual knowledge through any means necessary.
August 22, 2014 3:18 a.m.
welll...
Something like Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is Grixis
But so is Grixis Illusionist
AAAND even Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
So really it can be pretty broad. Personally I'd say it's pretty heavily selfish and concerned about only the well being of number 1, that being you. Controlling and manipulative to get what you want, often to point of cruelty, and hasty and emotional, acting in rash ways and living off of passion and emotion...I have a little experience with character development myself and this is what I know from what the various colors are supposed to represent.
August 22, 2014 9:18 a.m.
It's important to keep in mind that no color or color combination is inherently evil, just some are more prone to it than others. Grixis is pretty prone to being evil, but there is always a good side.
August 22, 2014 9:23 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... #8
To get the flavor of any color combination I like to look at each color and the flavor of each color and then look at how those combine.
Blue- Knowledge, Subtlety, Control
Black- Amorality, Deceit, Selfishness
Red- Emotion, Impulse, Chaos
So you end up with a Grixis character being intelligent, but ruled by emotion and a want for personal gain. The way they will go about achieving their goals is by unobtrusively manipulating event for their own gain and the detriment of any they feel have wronged them. Grixis characters are unconcerned at what ramifications this may have for innocent bystanders, because they are so self absorbed that they only care about their personal wants.
August 22, 2014 9:44 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #9
Grixis is essentially anti-Selesnya. No group mentality, everything you do is a struggle to gain power for yourself and you will risk anything to do it. You will sacrifice things close to you, you will tear down forged connections, you will manipulate the minds of those closest to you, and you will hurt anybody to get what yo uwant.
Damn, that's dark. I need a nap.
August 22, 2014 10:54 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #10
Yeah, like thispersonisagenius describes, the Alara shards are defined just as much by what they lack as by what they contain. With no connection to White or Green, Grixis is completely lacking in empathy for others and the rest of society, and has no nurturing instinct. The combination of Blue, Black, and Red centered on Black leaves an environment and attitude of always looking out for #1, using whatever power, intellect and raw emotion you have to achieve that goal, and not hesitating to trample over others who get in the way.
This outlook on life is usually regarded as "evil", but a character doesn't have to be a mustache-twirling villain to be Grixis. The most benign form of the philosophy can be seen in something like modern LaVeyan Satanism.
August 22, 2014 12:14 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #11
Unfortunately I feel that many people aren't going to get past their preconceived notions long enough to read that Wikipedia page. The thing that needs to be underscored about black in general and I guess specifically Grixis here is that it is entirely pragmatic and devoid of the notions of "good" and "evil".
Grixis does what it wants and holds true to no higher authority than its own thoughts and emotions. It is devoid of the communal nature of green or the fascist authoritarianism of white.
August 22, 2014 1:38 p.m.
Many of you are commenting what the philosophies of the shard grixis is Im sorry for the confusion when i ask about grixis i was thinking more of the color combination as a whole and with a focus on the different types of grixis characters there could be
August 22, 2014 2:31 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #13
Exactly. Each color associates itself with a kind of persona, with white being justice/righteousness, blue being intelligence, black being selfishness, red being emotion/recklessness and green being natural.
Grixis people tend to be the evil geniuses who reveal their plots in the end out of sheer joy at seeing their plan come to fruition. Blue for coming up with the plan, black because it's an evil plan, and red because they let their emotions overcome them. Also, red because that plan probably involved explosions.
August 22, 2014 2:34 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #14
The thing is that the philosophies of the shard of Grixis are the philosophies of those 3 colors combined. Only one person has take it to mean a deck type and no one has mentioned unearth which are the only two things that are specific to the shard.
The flavor of ANY GW character is on community and rules. They will put the good of the many before the needs of few all the time. This describes the philosophy of The Selesnya Conclave but it also describes Captain Sisay , Rhys the Redeemed , and Juniper Order Ranger .
By the same token while what people have been describing is the philosophy of the shard it is also the natural philosophy that any character in those 3 colors fall into. Now you can take different aspects of the 3 colors to make a different type of character, but they are going to be conflicted because the 3 parts of their personality don't fall into place with each other as naturally as they could.
August 22, 2014 3:18 p.m.
BlastercoolWeird says... #15
idk you can have characters that are more one color than the other, in the shards/wedge's you can likewise have dashes of that third color.
ultimately the problem I find with writing characters based on shards rather than wedges or guilds is that the colors blend together.
like, a brilliant and exuberant scientist who disregards ethics and concoct elaborate plans to avoid punishment for it, you can interpret that as Grixis but you could probably still say that character is just UR (red doesn't like laws and rules, blue's worst trait is that it looks past boundaries in the name of science) you can get black-like traits by using the colors adjacent to them together.
also speaking personally, I really really resent any description of any Bx alignment as "inherently evil' I feel like Black can and should have as many heroes as any other color
August 22, 2014 9:48 p.m.
KrosanTusker says... #16
Black's good traits are determination and confidence, for example, as well as an ability to commit completely to one goal. A "good" Grixis character might be passionate, driven and ambitious, whereas a "bad" one might be ruthless, manipulative and given over to anger. Han Solo, for example, is a black-aligned hero, as was the protagonist of Kamigawa block (whose name escapes me).
It's interesting that many people who aren't so familiar with the colour pie perceive black to be evil. I think Maro once said that it's because humans, as a species, are centered in White (with splashes of the other colours, of course) and so deplore many black characteristics.
Black, for example, does not believe in selflessness, whereas White understands that society works better when people look out for each other. Black, of course, cares little for the good of society unless it suits its own aims -- but even this isn't inherently evil.
September 2, 2014 10:35 a.m.
biggestmtgnerd says... #17
The key to figuring out grixis is individuality. Red acts how red acts, even if the group doesn't like it. Black acts to help itself out. Blue could really go both ways, since blue wants knowledge, but the reasons may be different: helping oneself or helping others. However, since blue is often defined by wanting control alongside knowledge, and the want for controlling things is selfish, I would put blue as leaning more on the individualistic side.
possible character development:
Starts off as a highly independent person who separates from normal society because he doesn't agree with it or thinks that it isn't right.
Becomes a pariah and an outcast for being different.
Character is now torn, and wants to either show that society who's boss or belong to that society.
As a compromise, he/her decides to take over said society by force. This satisfies his desire to belong by being the one who people have no choice but to treat respectfully, for fear of being punished. It appeases his/her desire to show the society who's boss for obvious reasons. And it is also guided by the character selfish desire for control.
He/she puts the plan for control into motion. He/she recruits fellow pariahs to his cause and feeds them with promises of power and belonging.
Soon, the temptation of the plan consumes his/her mind, and he/she becomes an introvert who doesn't focus on making his/her following loyal, but on developing the plan. Followers start to think that their leader doesn't care for their well-being as they though. They still are, however, very loyal. Can overlap with stage 7.
Sets plan into motion. Everybody doubts the power that the pariah has, and soon he/she has near control of the society. However, self-confidence and Hubris corrupts his/her brain, and the character starts to make stupid mistakes. Can overlap with stage 6.
As the person is making mistakes in his/her war with the society, his/her following starts diminishing, which is increased by the followings disillusion with him. Finally, with less and less followers to support his/herself in the war, the society strikes a vital blow and captures the character. He counts on his following to help break him out of prison, but nobody does. He feels betrayed, his spite grows for the society for ruining his plan, and when he is sentenced to death, his will to survive despite his misery breaks him out of the prison.
On the run, he becomes a wander, never staying in one place long enough to be recognized, never belonging. he wallows in misery, and plans to overthrow the society, yet never has enough drive to carry out a plan. Thinking his life is meaningless, he/she lets go of all his values and lets his bloodlust control him. He starts murdering people, anybody who makes him angry. He starts torturing animals and humans with grotesque pleasure.
Eventually, he runs into someone who is acting exactly like he/she is. The intellectual blue part of him/her realizes that this is getting him nowhere, and he/she pull himself out of what the character is doing. He starts to instead find a different society to put himself in. He acts likably, and soon is respected enough for others to elect him as their leader.
Behind the scenes, he is creating tensions between his current society and his past society until he can have an excuse to cause war between the two. However, somebody finds out what he's doing. knowing that the society the character lives in will kill the character immediately if they find out he was brewing trouble, he instead only breaks the news that the character was a pariah, so that he will be kicked out of the society AND have to live with his utter misery again. His presumption is correct, and the character is kicked out again.
His old society, knowing that rejecting pariahs was what caused all this trouble accepts him into their society. Utterly grateful, he is redeemed, and he vows to be a helpful citizen. People start to respect him, and after a while, he is elected leader of the society.
At first, he is a good and just leader who respects other peoples individual rights, but after a while his nature kicks in again. He starts to be more controlling and possessive about his position. The people rebel and succeed. Knowing that waiting to kill him was what made him escape, they decide to kill him right where he was standing. As his life flashed before his eyes, he started to blame the other murderer for making him become calculated again. His/her last words were spent telling his killers that another murderer was also on the loose, and that they should kill the other one instead. He/she still is killed, but the society also decides to look for the other murderer.
The society looking for the murderer finds out he was the person who spread the rumor, and that he took control after the dead person was kicked out. The society kills the other murderer, but this sparks a war between the two societies. Both are weakened, but neither wins. Instead, a third, power-hungry society conquers both of the other societies in their weakened states, and both cultures of the society are overwhelmed and destroyed.
HAPPY ENDINGS FOREVER!!!!!!!!!
miracleHat says... #2
I will just take Nicol Bolas for example.
Characteristics:
dragon
causes opponents to lose mind (dragon claw touch thing)
powerful arcane spellcasting (best time lord/counter magic stuff)
Anways, grixis goes under:
tyrant
evil
powerful arcane abilities
telepathy
Keep in mind that grixis is only a splash of red for Lightning Bolt and Terminate . Blue countermagic, black discard/creature removal is what fuels the deck.
August 22, 2014 12:03 a.m.