Ravnica: City of Guilds (Magic: The Gathering: Ravnica Cycle, #1)

by Cory J. Herndon

Each caste provides something key to the survival of this new, united Ravnica. I, Azor, with my allies in both camps of this endless caste war, have conceived something more than a document. When our leaders, the paruns, sign it in blood, its magic shall ensure peace for as long as Ravnica exists. My friends, my enemies, this,” the man finished with a flourish, “is the Guildpact.”

Not that there actually were ten guilds of Ravnica anymore, if there ever had been. Like most educated Ravnicans, Kos knew that Szadek, the vampire guildmaster of the Dimir, was at best a folk myth.

Don’t wake me for the morning brief. —Epitaph of Wojek Sergeant Yrbog Vink (2525–2642 Z.C.)

He had to get through an hour of the most painful mental torture ever devised by the Azorius bureaucracy, and those people knew mental torture. The morning brief.

The Selesnya Conclave held that the souls of the dead were meant to join together into something greater, the hive-consciousness of the dryads. The Golgari captured the ghosts of the dead and used necrotic energy to create the undead. Other guilds possessed varying degrees of these two belief systems for the most part, but the Boros—the guild of which the League was but a small part—was the only guild that regularly destroyed ghosts, burning them from the face Ravnica. Kos sometimes wondered if he would pay a price for utterly obliterating the remnants of a living soul when he himself died. At his age, that could be any time.

In the final battle in the pit, one side or the other had purchased one of the first portable mana bombs developed by the Izzet in the 7100s. The result had obliterated both the Gruul and Rakdos forces, along with every last spectator and the towers for several blocks around.

The Dimir, the so-called ‘Tenth Guild,’ is a fiction concocted to frighten children and those with the minds of children—a useful fiction. —First Judge Azorius (47 R.C.–98 Z.C.), from the Guildpact Statutes appendixes

Svogthir was a parun, an original signatory to the Guildpact. Svogthir had signed third, after Razia of the Boros Legion and Azor the Judge, giving his allies on the side of chaos an excuse to follow his lead. It wasn’t an exaggeration, the scrolls read, to say that if not for the Golgari and Svogthir’s simple act of wisdom, there would be no guilds today.

“No, I’m quite insane,” Svogthir replied. “Trust me, no one thinks through his plans as thoroughly as a crazy wizard, especially one who is so completely, utterly bored. Do we have a deal, Matka Savra?”

Above all other considerations, you must never create something you cannot destroy. —Matka Tajini (331–612 Z.C.), from the Matka Scrolls

This agreement is a legal postmortem contract between Bell Borca, hereafter referred to as the policy holder, and Vlerel, Orytane, Fodret, and Wundico, Licensed Orzhov Vengeance Assurors, Limited, hereafter referred to as the insurer. In the event of the policy holder’s homicide,’” he read, “‘the policy holder chooses Agrus Kos, hereafter referred to as the avenger—

To this end, the policy holder shall accept enchantment by an insurer-approved ectomancer. Said enchantment shall allow the policy holder’s spectral remains’—I think that means ‘ghost’—‘spectral remains to function as normal, with complete memory and personality intact until such time as revenge is served upon the guilty or their representatives and/or guardians as determined by the avenger. To comply with the Vengeance Act of 3920, the policy holder’s spectral remains shall only be visible or audible to the avenger. To complete the terms of this contract, the killer or killers of the policy holder must be found guilty in a court of Ravnican law.’ Then it’s signed, and there’s a seal, see?” “Finished

If there are only nine guilds, why are there ten sentinel titans? Ten sections of Ravnica? And ten points on the badge of a wojek? Surely this is more than mere coincidence. —“Tenth Guild: Fact or Fallacy?” the Ravnican Guildpact Journal (13 Zuun 9451 Z.C.)