The launch of Disney Lorcana is mere weeks away, and at this point, most of our questions have been answered. There was a lot of mystery surrounding the game when those first seven cards were revealed at last year’s D23 Expo, but in the months that followed we learned all about the Inks and discovered that decks would be limited to just two of them. We saw our first Action card in December, then shortly after that saw all of the products that will be available for the first set. Then, TheGamer got to learn about the story from narrative designer Samantha McFerrin. We also broke the news on the Quick Start Rules, which finally gave fans the info they needed about how the game is played. We even got to reveal a few cards of our own, but don’t tell anyone.
Now, there’s not much left to discover. We’ve seen all the cards included in The First Chapter, we know how the starter decks are built (and how to play them). We know about the organized play program, the promos that will be available, and, if you’re lucky, you may even have some pre-orders in. With all of the game details out in the open, the only questions that remain, for now, surround the story. The realm of Lorcana is a strange and magical place where imagination becomes reality, but there’s still so much we don’t know about this world and its inhabitants, and in particular, Floodborn glimmers. The Floodborn only make a few appearances throughout The First Chapter, but they represent the game’s biggest and most fascinating mystery.
If you haven’t been paying attention to the lore so far, you’re probably at least familiar with the Floodborn by name. This category of glimmer seems to be defined by their ability, Shift, which is so far unique to them, and allows them to replace another of the same Character on the board. The Floodborn are reimagined Disney characters that have major differences from their movie counterparts. Cards like Tinker Bell, Giant Fairy and Hades, King of Olympus depict versions of classic characters that seem to have new stories, abilities, and even biologies. So what are the Floodborn? Where do they come from, and why are they so different from the Disney characters we know and love?
Going back to our interview in March, Samantha McFerrin explained that we, the Illumineers, harness the power of story stars that flow through the Great Illuminary to create glimmers using a tool called an Inkcaster. We can create Storyborn glimmers of characters just as they appear in the Disney films, but we can also create Dreamborn glimmers, versions created by the imaginations of the Illumineers. As for Floodborn, McFerrin said we’d need to wait until the first expansion this fall to find out more about their origins.
We may not know explicitly how the Floodborn came to be until the second set launches on November 17, but we have a few hints right now. During my interview with brand manager and co-designer Ryan Miller for Lorcana Week, he revealed how they’re created. Miller says Floodborn are “similar to Dreamborn, but instead of being summoned by Illumineers, they were actually created by Lorcana itself in a cataclysmic event.”
He doesn’t name that event or describe what it is (I’m calling it The Flood), but currently, the only mechanism we know of that can produce the magical ink that creates glimmers is the Great Illuminary. So here’s a theory: somehow, the Great Illuminary becomes damaged. Ink flows out of it uncontrollably, without an Illumineer to control it. When the flood of ink washes over Storyborn and Dreamborn glimmers, they become the Floodborn. This could be how the narrative of Floodborn aligns with the Shift mechanic they all share. When you use Shift to play a Floodborn character, this could be The Flood taking over and transforming your Storyborn and Dreamborn glimmers.
It’s a lot of conjecture, but we might have some other clues that support this theory. Take a look at the cards Belle, Inventive Engineer and Maurice, World-Famous Inventor. Both inventors have devices that look like they might fit together, but as Lorcana lore YouTuber @warlocklevram points out in this video, it also looks exactly like the star catcher, the mechanism that channels light onto the pages of the lorebook. Could they be building something to repair the broken Great Illuminary, or perhaps something small and portable to replace it? There’s some kind of connection between these two cards and the Great Illuminary, so I suspect it’s connected to the Floodborn, too.
Miller provided one more hint about the Floodborn, though it’s something you likely guessed if you’ve been paying attention. Mickey Mouse, Detective is a Dreamborn card that depicts Mickey investigating a piece of purple seaweed soaking in a puddle of dark ink. In fact, the Duke of Weselton, Opportunistic Official card seems to be investigating the same purple seaweed in what looks like the Great Illuminary. All around him are puddles of dark ink (black liquids have famously gone well for TCG stories, after all). Miller says this is a clue about the Floodborn that will be explored further in the second chapter, but seaweed might lead us to another clue, under the sea.
There’s something going on between Ariel, Whoseit Collector and Flotsam, Ursula’s Spy. You can see some kind of metal orb in the background of Ariel’s Grotto in her card, which Flotsam is stealing in his. The orb looks similar to Maurice's invention, if not the same, so it’s possible all of this is connected. Mickey’s seaweed, Ariel’s orb, Maurice and Belle’s invention, the Great Illuminary, and the Floodborn each present their questions, but they could all be leading us in the same direction. Luckily, we’ll only have to wait a few months to learn more.