A Brief History of Lorwyn

A World Without Night

Lorwyn is a plane defined by a single, unnatural condition: there is no night. The sun never truly sets, and the world exists in a state of perpetual daylight. This eternal brightness shapes every aspect of life on the plane, from its ecosystems to the cultures and moral frameworks of its inhabitants. Fear, death, and cruelty exist, but they are muted, ritualized, or ignored. Lorwyn is not a paradise because it is safe; it is a paradise because it refuses to acknowledge darkness.

Tribes of Daylight

The societies of Lorwyn are organized almost entirely around distinct tribes, each embodying an exaggerated worldview. The kithkin survive through shared thought and collective memory, fiercely protective of their communities and deeply fearful of outsiders. Elves equate beauty with moral worth, building an elegant but ruthless culture that eradicates anything deemed ugly or impure. Giants live emotionally and impulsively, while merrow rely on intellect, politics, and leverage. Boggart goblins treat pain and chaos as joy, treefolk embody ancient memory and patience, and the faeries linger at the edges of society, quietly manipulating thoughts, dreams, and fears.

The Great Aurora

Lorwyn is only half of a larger truth. Periodically, the plane undergoes a reality-altering event known as the Great Aurora. When it occurs, Lorwyn transforms into Shadowmoor, its dark reflection. The sun sets, the world becomes hostile, and the emotional tone of existence inverts. Hope gives way to despair, whimsy to cruelty, and cooperation to suspicion. The same people remain, but their world and their natures twist to match the darkness.

A World That Forgets

What makes the Aurora truly dangerous is that no one remembers it happening. Each transformation rewrites history in the minds of the plane’s inhabitants. When Lorwyn exists, it has always been daylight. When Shadowmoor reigns, the world has always been dark. Only a select few understand that the plane is trapped in a repeating lie.

Oona and the Broken Cycle

The cycle is not natural. It is enforced by Oona, Queen of the Fae, who seized control of the plane’s rhythm long ago. Feeding on secrets, dreams, and identity, she harvests psychic energy as the world reshapes itself. In Lorwyn she rules from the margins; in Shadowmoor she rules through fear. The endless alternation serves her power and keeps the plane compliant and forgetful.

After the Aurora

When Oona is defeated and the Great Aurora ends, Lorwyn changes forever. Day and night both exist at last. The people of the plane must learn to live with memory, fear, and uncertainty. Beauty no longer guarantees goodness, and innocence can no longer be preserved by ignorance.

Why Lorwyn Endures

Lorwyn’s story is not about stopping destruction, but about confronting stagnation. It asks whether a world without darkness can ever truly grow, and whether comfort without choice is a form of freedom at all. In the end, Lorwyn’s greatest danger was never the coming of night, but the lie that daylight alone was enough.