Gruul Clans

The Gruul Clans are kinds of anarcho-syndicalist communes, whose members take it in turn to act as a sort of "executive officer of the week". Said executive officers are usually decided by who is strongest and the best at fighting. The clans are hard to unify, but they all believe in the dissolution of the structures of society and authority as they currently exist, and many believe the literal structures, the city itself, should be destroyed so that the world can return to its original natural state.
The Gruul Clans are a wild people in a civilized land, a loose affiliation of bands that squat on the fringes of Ravnican society. They shun the centers of civilization, which they see as a source of oppression and weakness, and instead haunt Ravnica’s alleyways, abandoned zones, and ruins. They want to see the edifice of civilization torn down so the world can revert to the pure wilderness that thrived before the city grew to cover everything. Then the true order of nature can be restored — an unbridled and brutal state in which only the strong survive and the strongest rule. In a world covered with city streets and towering buildings, the Gruul are the most out of place, the most ill at ease, and the most eager to topple it all and start fresh. Constant ritualistic warfare reverberates among the clans, every skirmish reinforcing their doctrine of the survival of the fittest. They frequently send sorties into civilized areas to secure goods — and to wreak havoc.
The first leader of the Gruul was Cisarzim, a cyclops who was purportedly the ancestor of Borborygmos, the current guildmaster. Cisarzim was called the Lord of Chaos, and his guild’s original function as maintainers of Ravnica’s natural places meant keeping his faction as remote as possible from the civilized parts of the world. The gradual expansion of the city, however, has driven the Gruul into smaller and smaller refuges.

THE GRUUL VIEW ON OTHER GUILDS
Since every other guild participates to some extent in the establishment and sustenance of the civilization that the Gruul despise, the Gruul look down on all other guilds as soft, corrupt, or downright abhorrent.
Azorius. “Civilization is a disease, and the Azorius are its plague bearers. Once they are destroyed, Ravnica will reclaim its primal essence.”
Boros. “Puppets who are all too eager to kneel at the feet of their angel handlers.”
Dimir. “Skulkers, whisperers, and back-stabbers! They are an infestation of roaches. If they remain in the shadows, they will be crushed beneath the rubble of a city that we bring down on their heads. If they face us in open battle, well, then we’ll have a good laugh.”
Golgari. “Hermits and under-dwellers. They see that civilization must be brought to its knees, but they just want to replace it with another of their design.”
Izzet. “Like us, they respect the powerful. But they seek it in their gadgets and try to contain it in jars.”
Orzhov. “The schemers of the Orzhov are the festering wound on a limb that must be hacked away. They amass their power by preying on the weak, so how powerful can they be?”
Rakdos. “The guild of fools. They waste their potential on acts of mockery while the real work of razing the city remains undone.”
Selesnya. “The Selesnya would coddle a wolf, teach it to fetch sticks, and call it a dog. We prefer to starve the wolf, let it hunt for its food, and make it a stronger wolf.”
Simic. “The Simic enjoy twisting nature, but they will not enjoy it when nature twists back.”

Culture

So far as any philosophy can be said to underlie the Gruul way of life, it is about living in the now, with little concern for forethought, planning, or speculation. Impulse drives the actions of the Gruul Clans. They want to live their lives unimpeded, and they lash out when something tries to stand in their way. Emotion and impulsiveness drive them as they seek to do what they want, take what they want, and smash what they want.

Public Agenda

Anarchy.

Type

Geopolitical, Clan

Leader

Borborygmos

Notable Members

• Borborygmos