Ravnica
A vast, sprawling city that covers a wide area on the edge of Lake Ossya, Ravnica teems with intrigue and adventure, driven by the conflicts among the ten powerful guilds that rule the city. More than five thousand years ago, a war tore across modern Breland and the Talenta Plains. Ten armies battled for control of the region that ended with the creation of a magical contract of immense power known as the Guildpact. The leaders of each of the ten armies - ancient beings known as paruns - were the signatories to the Guildpact, and they became the first guildmasters of Ravnica.
The text of the Guildpact spelled out specific roles for each guild within the infrastructure of Ravnica, allowing the city to grow while the guilds coexisted in relative peace. But the true power of the Guildpact was the strength of its magically binding force, which absolutely prevented large-scale violence among the guilds. For five millennia, the city grew and flourished under this structure as the guilds evolved into unique and powerful forces, often venturing far from their original purpose.
Although located in the country of Breland, Ravnica is an independent city-state. It has thus far rejected the noble houses of Noyatu because of the meddling of the guilds. Ravnica has as much influence in Noyatu as a country like Aundair or Breland itself.
City of Guilds
In all their fantastic diversity, the cosmopolitan citizens of Ravnica go about their daily business in bustling markets and shadowy back alleys. Shambling pack animals (mammals, reptiles, insects, and bizarre hybrids alike) carry their loads through the streets, while untamed wild things lurk in verdant greenbelts, rubble-strewn ruins, and sewers. And interwoven throughout it all, ten guilds vie for power, wealth, and influence:Azorius Senate
Bringing order from chaos - that is the mission of the Azorius Senate. Without the extensive legal code crafted and enforced by Azorius, society in Ravnica would crumble, transforming the city into a field of rubble where the Gruul and the Rakdos do whatever they please. the Azorius carry the weighty responsibility with stoic pride, and they perform their work of legislation, investigation, and enforcement with steely determination.Boros Legion
Clad in shining armor and fueled by righteous zeal, the soldiers of the Boros Legion take up steel against the corruption and lawlessness that gnaw at the soul of Ravnica. Combining forces of law with the military strength to back it up, the Boros work to forge Ravnica into a just society, a safe and healthy community for all. From garrisons throughout the sprawling city, disciplined, stalwart soldiers are dispatched to stand firm against Gruul raids, Dimir infiltration, Golgari corruption, and the subtle influence of more nefarious foes.House Dimir
The organization agreed to serve as Ravnica's couriers, information brokers, and librarians at the signing of the Guildpact. However, 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. Though this is all speculation never actually proven by the courts of the Azoious Senate.Golgari Swarm
The teeming masses that compose the Golgari Swarm see themselves as pragmatic above all else, uncowed by the simple fact that death is part of the cycle of life. They lurk in the undercity, where they process the city's waste and see to new life that emerges from death and decay. They believe the idea of life and death as opposing forces to be nothing more than a naive sentimentality. They know everything crumbles and rots in the end, and then new life springs from that rot. Time inevitably passes, bringing both destruction and new creation to all things.Gruul Clans
The Gruul Clans are a wild people in a civilized land, a loose affiliation of bands that squat on the fringes of Ravnican society. The guild's original function was to maintain the natural places around the city, but now they just shun the centers of civilization, which they see as a source of oppression and weakness, and instead haunt Ravnica's alleyways, ruins, and outskirts. They want to see the edifice of civilization torn down so the world can begin to revert to the pure wilderness that thrived before cities grew to cover the world. Then the true order of nature can be restored - an unbridled and brutal state in which only the strong survive and the strongest rule.Izzet League
The Izzet are obsessive experimenters, combining a keen creative intellect with a short attention span. The original mandate of the Izzet guild was to provide solutions to public works projects (sewers, boilers, and roadways), but their increasingly far-fetched experiments satisfy only their insatiable curiosity. Sometimes their experiments yield useful technological advancements; other times they produce unintended mana geysers, spatial rifts, arcane portals, or huge explosions - all of which can be useful in their own way.Orzhov Syndicate
Wealth is power, and you absolutely can take it with you if you're an undying spirit living in decadent luxury on the ruling council of the Orzhov Syndicate. A sinister combination of church and bank, the Orzhov Syndicate is controlled by the Obzedat, a cabal of ancient spirits often called the Ghost Council. Built on crushed dreams and broken bodies of citizens deeply indebted to the syndicate's banks and loan sharks, Orzhov's elaborate hierarchy of syndics, priests, and oligarchs exists for the single purpose of funneling wealth to the top.Cult of Rakdos
Tomorrow is an illusion; everything is ridiculous. Members of the Cult of Rakdos have witnessed the grandiose speeches and self-important plans of other guilds and concluded that their rivals take themselves far too seriously. Since death comes for everyone, and since order tends inevitably towards chaos, the Rakdos believe that unrestrained, moment-to-moment hedonism is the only sane way to live. Of course, few other Ravnicans would describe the Rakdos as sane. As laid out in the Guildpact, the guild was intended to fill the roles concerning entertainment, mining, and manual labor. Some argue that any effort to give a demonic cult a respectable role in society was doomed to failure, but the cult remains part of Ravnica's social fabric nevertheless.Selesnya Conclave
Like a thriving garden, carefully tended and abundantly fertile, the communities of the Selesnya Conclave are a harmonious union of nature and civilization. The members of the conclave dream of embracing all of Ravnica in their peaceful union. In the meantime, they are growing an army, preparing to resist the ambition and destructive impulses of the other guilds and fight to defend their way of life. The guild seeks to bring nature and the city into balance. The original function of the conclave involved conservation and charity, but its focus has long been on expanding its community, in which all members are cared for and nature is preserved in harmony with civilization.Simic Combine
The secrets of life are revealed in the laboratories of the Simin, and their research notes plumb and catalog nature's wonders. Their original mission was to oversee issues of public health, but the Simic came to believe that complete health - of individuals and society as a whole - depends on the mutual adaptation of nature and civilization to one another. Thus, biological experimentation has always been among its primary concerns.The Tenth District
Ravnica is known as the Tenth District because it is one of the Ten Districts, a categorization of the ten independent city-states in Noyatu. The Tenth Distric is a sprawling place. To be governed effectively, it is broken into six precincts, each the size of a small city.Precinct One
This is the hub of the wealthy and powerful, where courtly games and espionage play out among visitors gawking at the impressive architecture. The precinct is also known as the Guildpact Precinct.Precinct Two
Many professionals live here in clean and orderly neighborhoods, in the shadow of New Prahv, while mob bosses coerce residents in order to enrich themselves and influence local politics.Precinct Three
In the Greenbelt, nature has encroached into the urban environment to varying degrees, and folk here provide bountiful sustenance and domesticated beasts for most of the city.Precinct Four
Constantly in a state of turmoil, the scarred streets of Precinct Four are a proving ground for soldiers and marauders alike. Visitors here had best be spoiling for a fight.Precinct Five
Precinct Five is where the learned folk of Ravnica gather to discuss theory or to put their knowledge to practical use in the precinct's many schools, libraries, and laboratories.Precinct Six
In the hardscrabble neighborhoods of Precinct Six, the working folk eke out a living by toiling as warehouses, docks, and factories controlled by callous employers. When night comes, the residents hide indoors to avoid becoming prey to creatures that stalk the darkness.Population: 300,000 (55% humans, 12% elves, 10% goblinoids, 4% loxodon, 3% vedalken, 3% centaurs, 13% other races)
Government: The Azorius Senate functions as the government of Ravnica, built on the three columns of a legislative, a judicial, and an executive branch. The Boros Legion also functions as Ravnica's standing army.
Defense: The Boros Legion is Ravnica's army, but the city has the police force of the Azorius, the militia of the Selesnya Conclave, and different experiments made by the Izzet League.
Hallmarks: Guilds, technology, luxury
Guildmasters
Azorius Senate: Supreme Judge Isperia (Sphinx) Boros Legion: Warleader Aurelia (Angel) House Dimir: Lazav the Faceless (Male Human) Golgari Swarm: Jarad Vod Savo (Lich) Gruul Clans: Borborygmos (Cyclops) Izzet League: Niv-Mizzet (Dragon) Orzhov Syndicate: Obsedat, the Ghost Council (Ghosts) Cult of Rakdos: Rakdos (Demon) Selesnya Conclave: Trostani (Dryads) Simic Combine: Prime Speaker Zegana (Merfolk)
Founding Date
7142 PDE
Alternative Name(s)
The Tenth District
Type
Metropolis
Included Locations
Owning Organization
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