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April 21 - May 5, 2019
The blood-red raptor was the first image in his nightmares for many years to come. The rest were far worse.
This was still Ravnica. The Guildpact Statutes, City Ordinances, and other regulations existed to protect the guilds so they could protect the relatively peaceful development of an entire civilization. Over almost ten millennia, their prosperity had covered the entire surface of the plane in some form or another of urban development.
“I present a pact. A simple system that respects the autonomy of the castes, with independent territory for all—your own kingdoms, with which to do as you please. 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.
Despite ten thousand years of Guildpact peace, or perhaps because of it, there was plenty of evil to go around without a shadowy Tenth Guild behind it all.
“Please disperse in an orderly fashion,” the angel interrupted. “This matinee is canceled, and this theater has been closed pending the investigation of multiple violations of the Guildpact Statutes and the City Ordinances. The League of Wojek apologizes for any inconvenience and hopes you will enjoy the upcoming Decamillennial festivities safely and peacefully.” As an afterthought, she added, “Rioting at this time is not recommended.”
Angels, she had told him, always knew when they were being spoken to directly, even from a great distance. She called it “prayer.”
Borca showed promise, but at this stage in the game Kos found the man still displayed that special boorishness that came with a mix of youth and responsibilities he hadn’t earned. Maybe it wasn’t an entirely fair assessment, but Kos couldn’t help it.
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.
The Devkarin male kills. The Devkarin female makes death less than permanent. These are the gifts of our kind, and in that, we achieve balance. —Matka Velika (8403–8674), from the Matka Scrolls
Under normal circumstances, a ghostly apparition would appear just after death to harmlessly haunt the places it knew in life, and after a few weeks it would simply fade away.
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.
Above all other considerations, you must never create something you cannot destroy.
the veteran pulled a thumb-sized, teardrop-shaped piece of solid mana from the sealed pack on the back of his belt. The ’drop looked a little like a piece of crystal, but that was just because the human eye had no other way to interpret a sliver of raw magic—in this case, a unique healing magic provided exclusively by the Simic to the quartermasters in the League of Wojek.
The nurse treated her patients like everything they had suffered was part of some malevolent design to annoy her.
Please ask about our daily specials. —Pivlichinos menu, in its entirety
“Dining and challenging begins on the mezzanine level, with five courses of delight selected personally by our chef, the famed Jandallare of Venzenzerra. Then, you may accept the challenge of the feeding pits, if you wish you prove your mettle against the undead.”
“Szadek,” Kos said, “I’m placing you under arrest for the murders of Luda, Saint Bayul, and Sergeant Bell Borca of the Tenth Leaguehall. If you try to resist, you will be beaten senseless. I’ve had a very rough week.”
“Live bounties pay better than dead ones, rescues better than that,”
