Ravnican guild

Legendary Ravnicans. L to R: Rakdos, Niv-Mizzet, Tolsimir Wolfblood, Isperia, Borborygmos, Savra, Circu, Teysa, Firemane Angel, and Momir Vig.

The Guilds of Ravnica are ten sociopolitical factions that hold power on the city plane of Ravnica. Each guild has its own distinct ideology that unifies its members with one another, with the guild itself, with its functions and purposes, and with its structure.

In the game of Magic: The Gathering, guilds are represented by two-colored pairings of Magic's five colors and have, to date, been predominantly featured in the Ravnica and Return to Ravnica blocks.

The ten Guilds

The guild crests and their place in the Color pie

The guilds are:

Azorius Senate House Dimir Cult of Rakdos Gruul Clans Selesnya Conclave

Orzhov Syndicate Izzet League Golgari Swarm Boros Legion Simic Combine

Each guild has a Parun, which is the founder of a guild and first guildmaster. Besides a guildmaster, each guild also features its own guildmages and a champion.

Some characters from Ravnica, such as the unguilded Krenko and Yeva of the Selesnya Conclave, are not featured in any of the cards from those blocks, but still bear the indelible influence of the guilds of Ravnica.

History

Guild flags from the Return to Ravnica block

The older crests from the Ravnica block

Collectively, the guilds of Ravnica have ruled the plane for 10,000 years, since the signing of the ancient and magically potent Guildpact, a binding spell, document, and contract, that details the specific role and responsibilities of each of these guilds.

Prior to the events of the novel Dissension, guilds would try to find loopholes so as to increase their power without breaching it. Following Dissension, however, guilds are no longer bound by the document; and, although the guilds themselves have not completely collapsed, their influence on the city and plane of Ravnica has diminished, as demonstrated in the Return to Ravnica block storyline arc.

After the breaking of the Guildpact, Teysa Karlov of the Orzhov Syndicate drafted a new, non-magical document amongst the guilds in the interest of cooperation and stability for Ravnica; however, the powerful and wealthy became even more powerful and wealthy and, by and large, the guilds had disappeared.

Gradually, the general populace's distrust of the guilds diminished and, once again, the guilds returned and became ascendant. Old guild and factional loyalties rekindled, and new guildmasters assumed the mantle of a majority of the guilds; only the Izzet League, Orzhov Syndicate, and the Cult of the Rakdos retained their original guildmasters.

In the events of the Return to Ravnica block, planeswalker Jace Beleren collaborated with Niv-Mizzet of the Izzet League, while planeswalker Gideon Jura was in alliance with Aurelia, commanding Boros Legion soldiers.

Guilds of Ravnica

Guild	Crest	Colors	Parun	Guildmaster	Mazerunner	Notable members	Formal Guildpact civic function	Notes
Azorius Senate			Azor I	Augustin IV Leonos II Isperia	Lavinia		Ravnica's government and legal sector.
Boros Legion			Razia	Vinrenn Aurelia	Tajic	Agrus Kos	Ravnica's security force, constabulary, and standing army.
House Dimir			Szadek	Lazav	Mirko Vosk	Circu	Ravnica's couriers, information brokers, and librarians.	In practice, little information on the Dimir is known. It is, however, known that the Dimir are involved in assassinations, criminal activity, and espionage on a contractual basis.
Golgari Swarm			Svogthir	Sisters of Stone Death Savra Jarad	Varolz	Vraska	Ravnica's agricultural and waste management sectors.
Gruul Clans			Cisarzim	Borborygmos	Ruric Thar	Ulasht Domri Rade	Ravnica's foresters, gamekeepers, park rangers, wildlife officers, and wildskeepers.	The Gruul Clans were not formally organized and, with time, became increasingly unorganized and fractured, with no central authority. With the wilds declining, the role of the Clans has also diminished, and many Gruul Clans members and entire groups, or clans, have adopted an anarcho-primitivist ideology and become Ravnica's defenders of nature, intent on destroying civilization.
Izzet League			Niv-Mizzet		Melek	Tibor and Lumia Ral Zarek	Ravnica's formative and physical scientists and engineers.
Orzhov Syndicate			Obzedat		Teysa		Ravnica's dominant religious order, as well as its largest bank.	The parun of the Orzhov Syndicate, the Obzedat, is a council of the ghosts of Orzhov patriarchs and matriarchs, not a singular individual. In practice, the Orzhov Syndicate is also involved in slavery, both in life and in the afterlife.
Cult of Rakdos			Rakdos	Izolda/Lyzolda	Exava		Ravnica's entertainment, food industry, mining, and other blue-collar manual labor and pink-collar service sectors.	In practice, the Cult of Rakdos is also involved in criminal activity, civil disorder, and slave trade industry.
Selesnya Conclave			Mat'Selesnya	Trostani	Emmara Tandris	Tolsimir Wolfblood Yeva	Conservationists and charities, as well as a nature cult that competes with the Orzhova faith.	The Selesnya Conclave parun, Mat'selesnya, is an elemental formed from the fusion of numerous dryads, and powers the Guildpact.
Simic Combine			Simic	Momir Vig Zegana	Vorel	Project Kraj	Ravnica's life scientists and conservationists.

Sources

• Cory J. Herndon. (2005.) Ravnica Cycle, Book I: Ravnica, City of Guilds, Wizards of the Coast. ISBN-13 978-0786937929.
• Cory J. Herndon. (2006.) Ravnica Cycle, Book II: Guildpact, Wizards of the Coast. ISBN-13 978-0786939893.
• Cory J. Herndon. (2006.) Ravnica Cycle, Book III: Dissension, Wizards of the Coast. ISBN-13 978-0786940011.