House Dimir
CONFIDENTIAL
House Dimir, to the average Ravnican citizen, are just the couriers, messengers and information brokers of the city. But they are much more than that. No knowledge or secret is safe from the Dimir's machinations, and their layers of artifice extend even to their own members, who may never know who they're getting their orders from. House Dimir is Ravnica’s dark secret: behind a facade of respectable messengers and reporters lurks an association of spies and assassins whose existence is barely suspected by the populace at large. Secrecy is both House Dimir’s best weapon and its best defense, and much of the guild’s work is hidden even from other members. Dimir agents leave no trace of their covert activities, warping the memories of witnesses to their crimes and even wiping their own minds to remove any evidence of their completed assignments. The first guildmaster of House Dimir was a vampire named Szadek, whose organization agreed to serve as Ravnica’s couriers, information brokers, and librarians. But Szadek also used his guild’s expertise at gathering information to build a vast spy network, and before long, the secret operations of the guild vastly outweighed its overt ones. Eventually the guild disappeared into the shadows, and most Ravnicans came to doubt its existence. An immortal entity, Szadek ruled the guild for ten thousand years until he was arrested and killed in the turmoil of the Decamillennial Celebration. Although the current Guildmaster of House Dimir is a closely guarded secret known only to the highest ranking members, it is suspected to be REDACTED. The whereabouts of the guildhall is rumored to be REDACTED.| THE DIMIR VIEW ON OTHER GUILDS |
|---|
| To House Dimir, every other guild is a potential source of information, its members all potential foils and patsies. |
| Azorius. “They can’t be allowed to monopolize the flow of knowledge. Clog their networks with misinformation. To stop someone from discerning the truth, drown them in plausible untruths.” |
| Boros. “Not inherently dangerous. The true danger is that they’ll drag down all we’ve worked for while chasing some romantic crusade. Continue to direct their righteous fury toward our strongest enemy—until the Boros threaten to become the strongest.” |
| Golgari. “We once appreciated them for their ability to make a corpse disappear, but we found that too many of our victims rose up to face us again. Now we use the city’s fear of the swarm to keep them in their place. The more the Golgari try to rise from the mire of their reputation, the more we make them wallow in it.” |
| Gruul. “They’ve always been convenient scapegoats, but their recent aggressiveness threatens to become a larger problem. We must thin their numbers—selectively and without confrontation. Catch them alone in the dark, and take them out one by one.” |
| Izzet. “Even an overloaded, sizzled clock is still right twice a day. When Izzet experiments succeed, they can have unpredictable consequences for active missions. Their activities must be monitored at all times.” |
| Orzhov. “We’re amused at how well they’ve used their hierarchy to mask the corruption of their organization, but their need for the public’s trust gives us an edge. They can be manipulated by playing on their fear of the people discovering their ruse.” |
| Rakdos. “They’ve turned pointless activity into an art form, but their performances nevertheless make very useful distractions. Let them be bright and loud, drawing all attention, while we slip quietly through the dark.” |
| Selesnya. “Strength without guile is perhaps the most dangerous kind. One can’t bluff the player who can’t conceive of bluffing. Currently, the covert war plays to our strengths; we must ensure that the conclave never becomes conscious of the advantages they possess.” |
| Simic. “They are never short of intriguing surprises, so we know they are gearing up for something. Keep eyes inside their organization to see what their efforts are leading to—but don’t be tempted to partake of their enhancements.” |
Culture
[Confidential]
House Dimir is all about secrets and misinformation, even where its own members are concerned. Any given Dimir agent knows of no more than a handful of alleyway contacts and dossier drop spots. One agent knows another only by a code name, or receives communications only at a particular meeting spot at a specific place and time. Every self-proclaimed expert with an opinion on the matter has a theory about the guild’s intentions, and all those guesses about Dimir’s motivations and pursuits contradict each other, frustrating any attempt to get to the truth of things. The public face of Dimir remains inscrutable, which some interpret as the best evidence that the guild’s true plans mean something dire for the Ravnican populace. To House Dimir, knowledge is power. The guild hungers to learn everything it doesn’t already know, especially the weaknesses of its adversaries, and to exploit those weaknesses for its own gain. Conversely, the house holds its own secrets tightly, because it doesn’t want its enemies to turn the tables. The Dimir lurk in the shadows, methodically gathering the knowledge they need to remake Ravnica to their advantage.
House Dimir’s progress toward its goals depends on a web woven from meticulously gathered intelligence. Unpredictable behavior by other guilds can destabilize that web. When the Boros take sudden, forceful action inspired by an unexpected burst of zeal, the Dimir can be caught off guard. The Selesnya behave predictably on the whole, but the members of the conclave are so numerous that it can be hard for the Dimir to keep track of their activities. Of all the other guilds, the Izzet and the Gruul concern the Dimir the most; their erratic methods of decision-making, combined with their unflinching approach to danger, can quickly undermine any Dimir strategy designed to contain them.
Public Agenda
To provide trusted, safe and secure communications and services between the people of Ravnica.
