In the recently released
Planeswalker's Guide to Aetherdrift, you'll notice that the plane formerly named Kaladesh is now named Avishkar (AH-vish-kar). While that guide goes into the in-universe reason for this change, we wanted to share the real-world reasons behind it.
When we first started working on
Aetherdrift, we were excited for
Magic to return to one of the players' most beloved planes: a bright and hopeful world of invention that took inspiration from real-world India. We knew we had heard feedback at the release of the original
Kaladesh set that that name carried unfortunate connotations in some dialects of the Hindi language, and we wanted to ensure our return to the plane was done thoughtfully and respectfully. So, as an early step in building the
Aetherdrift set, we engaged a group of subject-matter and language experts to work with us and help guide us as we built the set. Our goal was to find a way to honor the spirit of the plane and its real-world inspiration.
Here's what our consultants said. When we created the original
Kaladesh set, we chose the word "kala-" (kalā, kah-LAH) as a word that can mean "tomorrow" or "art," combined with "-desh," meaning "home" or "country." Unfortunately, the term "kala" (kālā, KAH-lah) can also be associated with the meaning "black," and often carries derogatory colorist and racist connotations when applied to a person.
We didn't want that connotation to hang over this plane each time we visited it. Instead, we decided to take
Aetherdrift as our opportunity to implement a new name.
We generated a host of possible names for the plane and reviewed them with the same group of consultants. We discussed the pros and cons of each of the candidate names and worked through their pronunciations, meanings, and connotations. Together, we selected Avishkar, from the Hindi word "aavishkar" meaning "invention." The consultants vetted the name and its spelling, and the decision was made.
Another decision was whether we'd want to go back and change the lore so that this plane was
always named Avishkar. We chose not to go that route. The canon is this: This setting was, in fact, historically named Kaladesh before this time in the continuity, but its name has now become Avishkar due to in-world story events. Check out our
Planeswalker's Guide to Aetherdrift for more about the in-world downfall of the Consulate that led to the name change among the denizens of Avishkar.
Similarly, we have not changed historical terminology in past products or cards. The name of the set
Kaladesh remains
Kaladesh,
Kaladesh Remastered will still be searchable as
Kaladesh Remastered, and past cards like Invasion of Kaladesh or Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh will keep those names. We will not use the term "Kaladesh" anymore going forward except to refer to past products or the time in the storyline when Avishkar bore its previous name.
We hope you love
Aetherdrift and the plane of Avishkar as much as we do.
