History of Ravnica

Ravnica is a plane defined by its history, a sprawling chronicle of a city that grew to consume its entire world. This history is inextricably linked to the ten Guilds, who, for millennia, have been the architects, caretakers, and saboteurs of this unique urban civilization.

### The Dawn of the Guildpact

Before the Guilds, there was war. Ravnica was a plane of warring factions, city-states, and primordial forces, each vying for dominance. This brutal and unending conflict brought the plane to the brink of ruin. It was at this critical juncture that the planeswalker Azor I, a sphinx lawmage, intervened. He gathered the leaders of the ten most powerful factions, known as the Paruns, and proposed a solution to their perpetual war: a magical contract of immense power that would bind them all.

This document, the **Guildpact**, was an intricate magical construct. It did not simply end the war; it gave each faction a designated purpose and role within the city. The Azorius Senate would be the lawmakers and bureaucracy. The Boros Legion would be the military and police. The Izzet League would be the innovators and public works engineers. The Selesnya Conclave would be the spiritual and communal core. The Golgari Swarm would manage the city’s decay and provide for its agriculture. The Simic Combine would be the biomancers, ensuring life could adapt to the ever-expanding city. The Orzhov Syndicate would handle commerce and religion, building a powerful plutocracy. The Cult of Rakdos would be the entertainers and laborers, channeling chaos into spectacle to appease their ancient demon master. The Gruul Clans, once guardians of the wilds, were assigned to prevent the city from overgrowing. And finally, the House Dimir would be the secret keepers, assassins, and intelligence agents, a necessary evil meant to keep the other guilds in check through covert means.

The Guildpact was signed with blood and magic, an unbreakable bond that transformed the warring factions into the ten Guilds of Ravnica. For ten thousand years, it held the city in a state of enforced balance, allowing Ravnica to grow from a collection of city-states into a single, seamless metropolis covering the entire plane.

### The Decamillennial and the Breaking of the Pact

As the millennia passed, the Guildpact, while functional, became less a tool of peace and more a source of tension. Its ancient clauses were open to interpretation, and guilds constantly sought loopholes to gain an advantage. This cold war of political maneuvering and sabotage reached a climax during the Decamillennial, the 10,000th anniversary of the Guildpact's signing.

The long-forgotten Dimir Guildmaster, Szadek, a powerful vampire, had a grand plan. He had been manipulating events for centuries, all to achieve one goal: the dissolution of the Guildpact. He knew that the pact, a living magical document, had a hidden clause: if a member of the Dimir, whose existence was meant to be secret, were to be publicly arrested for breaking a law *written into the Guildpact itself*, it would create a paradox that would shatter the magical contract.

Szadek manipulated a low-ranking Boros wojek, Agrus Kos, into investigating a series of murders. Kos, a tenacious and honest detective, slowly unraveled Szadek's complex plot, unwittingly doing the vampire's bidding every step of the way. Szadek's machinations drew in characters from across the guilds, from the Orzhov baroness Teysa Karlov to the Golgari shaman Savra. The climax occurred when Kos finally cornered and arrested Szadek. The paradox was triggered, and the Guildpact broke, its magical essence dispersing across the plane.

The shattering of the Guildpact plunged Ravnica into chaos. Guilds that had been held in check for ten thousand years were now free to openly pursue their ambitions. The Gruul, already resentful of their lost purpose, began their campaign of city-wide destruction. The Boros and Azorius, no longer bound by an overarching law, found themselves in a state of cold war, each believing their method of maintaining order was superior. This era of upheaval became known as the Age of the Guildless, as the Guilds' power waned and the populace struggled to survive.

### The Implicit Maze and the Living Guildpact

In the aftermath of the Guildpact's dissolution, a new magical contingency plan, also created by Azor I, began to surface: the **Implicit Maze**. A network of magical ley lines crisscrossed the city, offering a path to re-establish the Guildpact's power. The Guilds, recognizing their own self-interest, agreed to a competition: each would choose a champion to race through the maze. The first to reach the center would be infused with the Guildpact's power, becoming the **Living Guildpact**, a singular being whose word would become magically enforced law.

The race was on. Each guild's champion brought their unique skills to bear. Niv-Mizzet's Izzet champion, Ral Zarek, used his mastery of lightning and geomancy. The Selesnya sent a massive wurm, Trostani, who was a three-in-one dryad collective. The Golgari's champion, the gorgon Vraska, used her petrifying gaze and cunning. The Boros's champion, the angel Aurelia, led the charge with fiery resolve.

Ultimately, the planeswalker Jace Beleren, who had been an advisor to the Izzet and had a deep connection to the city's leylines, was the one who solved the maze. He wasn't a guild champion, but his mastery of mind magic allowed him to perceive the hidden pathways and navigate the impossible puzzle. Upon reaching the center, he was unwillingly imbued with the power of the Guildpact. Jace Beleren became the Living Guildpact, the embodiment of the law, his voice capable of settling all disputes between the guilds. For a time, he brought a fragile peace to Ravnica, though his nature as a planeswalker meant he was often absent, leaving the city to its own devices.

### War of the Spark and a New Beginning

The final major chapter of Ravnica's history thus far was the **War of the Spark**. The elder dragon planeswalker Nicol Bolas chose Ravnica as the stage for his master plan. He had gathered an army of Phyrexians and other grotesque creatures from across the multiverse and trapped dozens of planeswalkers on the plane to harvest their sparks and achieve godhood.

In the face of this existential threat, the ten Guilds were forced to set aside their rivalries and fight for the survival of their world. Led by the remaining planeswalkers, including Gideon Jura, Liliana Vess, and Chandra Nalaar, the guilds united their forces. The Boros and Azorius fought alongside the Gruul and Rakdos. The Selesnya and Simic worked together to create biological weapons to combat Bolas's army. Even the supposedly nonexistent Dimir came out of the shadows to provide critical intelligence.

In the climactic confrontation, the guilds, led by the restored Living Guildpact, Niv-Mizzet (who had been resurrected in the process), managed to defeat Bolas. The war ravaged the city, leaving countless casualties and permanent scars. But in the end, Ravnica survived.

With the threat of Bolas gone, Ravnica was left to rebuild. Niv-Mizzet, now a Living Guildpact himself, became the final authority on the plane's laws. The war changed the very fabric of the city and its people. For the first time in millennia, the guilds had fought side-by-side against a common enemy. The old rivalries remain, but the memory of their unity in the face of annihilation lingers, shaping a new and uncertain future for the City of Guilds.