Ravnica's guilds

Ravnica's society is a tapestry of ten distinct guilds, each with its own philosophy, history, and place in the city's complex ecosystem. Their lore is not just a collection of stories but a reflection of the city's very soul.

### Azorius Senate (White/Blue)

The Azorius are Ravnica's government, its legislative body, and its police force. Led by a series of sphinxes and human lawmages, their core belief is that order is the highest good, and it must be maintained at all costs. They are master bureaucrats, creating a seemingly endless stream of laws and edicts to govern every aspect of Ravnican life. Their magic is often based on the intricate runes of legal documents, counterspells, and the suppression of others. While they are seen by many as stifling and painfully slow, the Azorius believe they are the only thing standing between the city and total anarchy.

In the past, the Azorius have struggled with leaders who were either too dogmatic (Grand Arbiter Augustin IV) or too easily manipulated (Dovin Baan). Their current guildmaster, Lavinia, embodies their commitment to both the letter and the spirit of the law, a pragmatic but unyielding enforcer of order.

### Orzhov Syndicate (White/Black)

More than a guild, the Orzhov Syndicate is a combination of a church, a bank, and a crime syndicate. Their founding principle is that wealth is power, and debt is the ultimate form of control. Their leaders, the spectral council known as the Obzedat, are the ghosts of former patriarchs who have cheated death to continue their rule. The Orzhov offer spiritual services, loans, and protection in exchange for absolute obedience. Their debtors are often bound to the guild even after death, their spirits serving as thralls in a perpetual state of servitude.

The Orzhov’s history is a long chronicle of greed and manipulation, and they are masters of exploiting loopholes to their advantage. The assassination of the Obzedat by the planeswalker Kaya, orchestrated by the cunning Orzhov lawmage Teysa Karlov, marked a new era for the guild, as it transitioned from a ghostly oligarchy to a more modern, yet still-ruthless, power structure.

### House Dimir (Blue/Black)

The House Dimir is Ravnica’s best-kept secret. So well-kept, in fact, that most citizens believe they don't exist, writing them off as a child's fable. Yet, the Dimir are omnipresent, operating as spies, assassins, and information brokers in the city's underbelly. Their original purpose was to be a covert check against the other guilds, but they have grown into a vast, decentralized network of agents. Their guildhall, Duskmantle, is a hidden fortress whose location is known only to the highest echelons of the guild.

Their founder, the vampire Szadek, was arrested and destroyed during the Decamillennial, which ironically brought the guild into the public eye and shattered the Guildpact. In his place, the shapeshifter Lazav now leads the guild. Lazav is a master of disguise and deception, whose very identity is a secret even to many of his own agents. The Dimir's magic focuses on mind manipulation, memory alteration, and invisibility.

### Cult of Rakdos (Black/Red)

The Cult of Rakdos is a guild of hedonists and sadists, whose sole purpose is to provide spectacles for their demonic patron and founder, the ancient demon Rakdos. They are Ravnica's entertainers, circus performers, and laborers, but their shows are often filled with macabre violence and self-destruction. The Rakdos despise rules and order, believing that all life is meaningless without uninhibited chaos and pleasure. Their philosophy is one of theatrical nihilism, where pain and suffering are just part of the show.

Rakdos himself is a slumbering demon whose boredom can bring the entire city to ruin. To keep him appeased, the guild's ringmasters stage grand, grotesque performances. Their guildhall, Rix Maadi, is a volcanic pit where the demon slumbers. The Rakdos exist as a necessary release valve for the city's pent-up frustrations and emotions, a brutal and chaotic counterpoint to the city's rigid structure.

### Golgari Swarm (Black/Green)

The Golgari believe that life and death are part of an endless, beautiful cycle. They are the city's recyclers, its undertakers, and its waste management system. They live in the "undercity," a vast network of tunnels, sewers, and forgotten districts beneath the streets. The Golgari embrace rot and decay, using necromancy and plant magic to raise the dead as their laborers and soldiers. Their society is a sprawling hive-mind, filled with dark elves, gorgons, and undead creatures.

Leadership within the Golgari is a constant struggle for dominance, with assassinations and coups seen as a natural part of their brutal ecosystem. The guild has been ruled by the gorgon sisters the Sisters of Stone Death, the lich Jarad, and now the planeswalker gorgon Vraska. Vraska has attempted to modernize the guild, but its fundamental beliefs remain unchanged: everything returns to the earth, and from that decay, new life will spring.

### Gruul Clans (Red/Green)

Originally founded to be the guardians of Ravnica's wild spaces, the Gruul Clans are now a collection of anarchic, nomadic tribes. As the city grew to cover the entire plane, their purpose was lost, and they devolved into a bitter, resentful force that seeks to tear down the city and return the world to its natural state. The Gruul embody the concept of might makes right, and their society is loosely organized around the strongest warriors, shamans, and beasts.

The Gruul are despised and feared by the other guilds, but they see themselves as Ravnica's true heart, a reminder that the wild cannot be truly tamed. They conduct raids, destroy property, and clash with the Boros and Azorius to reclaim the land. The Gruul are a force of pure, untamed rage, an embodiment of the urban sprawl's rebellious spirit.

### Boros Legion (Red/White)

The Boros Legion is Ravnica's military. Led by angels, the Boros are a zealous and idealistic force that believes in a righteous and just form of law and order. They are the soldiers, knights, and wojeks who enforce the laws of the Azorius with a fiery passion. The Boros believe in a higher truth, a moral code that transcends the written law. This often puts them at odds with the bureaucracy of the Azorius, as the Boros are willing to use force to achieve their vision of justice.

The Boros have a long history of being led by powerful archangels, from their founder Razia to their current leader, Aurelia. Aurelia's leadership is defined by a pragmatic but fierce sense of justice. She is a powerful tactician who will not hesitate to go to war for her beliefs. The Boros were a key force in the **War of the Spark**, their disciplined legions forming the backbone of the resistance against Bolas's armies.

### Izzet League (Blue/Red)

The Izzet League is Ravnica's engine of innovation. Led by the ancient dragon Niv-Mizzet, the Izzet are responsible for the city's technology, public works, and magical infrastructure. They are brilliant but reckless, often conducting experiments with disregard for the consequences. Their laboratories are filled with unstable magical constructs, sentient golems, and volatile mana conduits. For the Izzet, a successful experiment is good, but an explosion that teaches them something new is even better.

Under Niv-Mizzet's direction, the Izzet's experiments have become more grandiose and mysterious. The guild's history is a series of catastrophic magical failures and accidental discoveries, but in the end, the city relies on their unhinged genius. With Niv-Mizzet as the current Living Guildpact, the Izzet's influence has become even more profound, as they are now the mind and will behind the entire city.

### Selesnya Conclave (Green/White)

The Selesnya Conclave is Ravnica's spiritual and communal heart. Their philosophy is that the city and its people are a single, interconnected organism, and that true peace can only be achieved through unity. They are a large, decentralized society of druids, dryads, and elementals who live in harmony with what little nature remains. The Selesnya are peace-loving, but they are not weak; they can raise vast armies of creatures to defend their sanctuaries and to convert non-believers to their cause.

The Conclave’s spiritual center is Vitu-Ghazi, a massive living tree that serves as their guildhall. Their leader, the triple-dryad Trostani, is a singular being of three minds, a living embodiment of the Selesnya's core ideals. While often seen as a gentle cult of nature-lovers, the Selesnya can be frighteningly zealous in their desire to bring others into the fold, and their "peace" can feel a lot like forced conformity.

### Simic Combine (Green/Blue)

The Simic Combine are Ravnica's bio-engineers and shapers of life. Their original purpose was to be the city's healers and ecologists, ensuring that life could adapt to the ever-changing urban landscape. Over time, their experiments became more radical and ethically questionable. They now focus on creating "krasis," bizarre chimeras of different lifeforms, and transforming people into "Simic Hybrids," creatures with animalistic traits.

The Simic are organized into "clades," each with its own specific research focus. They are a secretive guild, often working in underwater laboratories to hide their grotesque creations from the public. The Simic are driven by a singular goal: to perfect life itself, regardless of the cost. While they see themselves as the saviors of evolution, others see their creations as abominations.