神河当時 - フレイバーの世界：色と種族

LET THERE BE LIGHT!
First, though, it’ll be useful to take a quick overview of how Magic worlds come into being in a larger sense. The setting, of course, is key to Magic. It establishes everything from usable creature types to art to even mechanics. The process often starts with a "hook," a large-picture description of what makes this world unique. For Mirrodin, the hook would be "all metal." For Kamigawa, it’d be "Japanese." These choices can have influences either way; Mirrodin was concepted as metallic because of the decision to put in a lot of artifacts in the block. Kamigawa, as you’ve read in other articles, did the opposite, influencing mechanics to a great extent.

Another important factor is how the colors divide. How do the environments and species interact? This became even more important, and complex, with the new race/class model. Obviously, with "Human" as a creature type, we can’t let them become too common, or unbalance certain colors with them (especially white). This has led to Creative considering "Human" as belonging in each color by default, then finding a non-human species for each color. This way, it’s a lot more likely that the human/non-human ratio will be balanced both within and among the colors. For example, Mirrodin’s Leonin could’ve been foxes, or a mix of big cat species (like tigers and pumas), before we settled on lions.

Leonin BattlemageWe’re careful to try keeping species as appropriate to the color as possible. With the Leonin, for example, the image of lions as fierce fighters, and their organization into prides, both fit white very well. We also look for reusability. After all, having only one really iconic creature type for a color (as goblins are for red) is a little limiting, so we’re always looking to expand the stable of creature type for future use, for when we don’t feel like using that already iconic type. So don’t assume that a species, past or present, is unusable forever just because they’re first presented as being native to a certain world. You just may see them again in a different block! That’s just one of the reasons the "multiverse" model of the Magic universe is so appealing: the potential interactions between worlds and planes.

These choices also influence art. The use of light in Leonin-related spells is a direct result of their cultural write-up that I mentioned at the top of the article. Their use of razorgrass as a spell component (as in Razorgrass Screen) came from considering how the Leonin would interact with this harsh environment.

引用元
WORLDS OF FLAVOR Posted in Feature on April 11, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/worlds-flavor-2005-04-11

神河の世界観がどのように作られたか、どのようにカードに反映されているか、を解説した記事です。

色ごとに主要な種族を設定します。当時は、人間を増やしすぎたり、特定の色に偏らせたりするのは良くないと考えられていたようです。その結果、各色に均等に人間がいるものとして、それ以外に主要な人間型の種族がいる、という設定にされました。

人間がどの色にもいることは大抵の次元で共通していることです。
一方、『イニストラード』で人間が緑白の主要種族と設定され、そのまま何度も再訪されています。また、『イコリア：巨獣の棲処』でも人間シナジーが特定の色に割り当てられていますし、イクサランでは恐竜と吸血鬼とマーフォークと海賊（人間が多い）となっています。人間を全ての色に均等に配置すべき、という指針は薄れているようです。

また、自分で神河のエキスパンションを作っていて思ったことの１つが、黒のネズミ・忍者はイメージ上問題ないが、青のムーンフォーク・忍者はイメージに合わない、ということです。また、侍についても、狐・侍やネズミ・侍に比べて、ゴブリン・侍が合わないのも同様と言えます。どちらのケースも、公式でもそうしたカードは作られていません。侍も忍者も神河、ひいては日本らしい職業なのですが、そこに主要種族を使いづらいのはなんとも困ったところです。

再訪するに当たって、そうした違和感を減らすために、種族の色配分を変えるのか、ムーンフォーク・忍者やゴブリン・侍を作ってくるのか、気になるところです。