Chamber of the Guildpact
| The Chamber of the Guildpact | |
|---|---|
| Embassy of the Guildpact | |
 | |
| Information | |
| Plane | Ravnica |
| Colors |
     |
| Status | Being reconstructed (again) |
| Part of | Gateway Plaza, Precinct One, Tenth District, Ravnica City |
| Scryfall Statistics | |
The Chamber of the Guildpact is the official petition hall and seat of the Living Guildpact on the city-plane of Ravnica. Located within Gateway Plaza in Precinct One of the Tenth District, the Chamber was built to serve as a neutral meeting ground for all ten guilds following the events of the Supreme Verdict, when Jace Beleren became the Living Guildpact — the living embodiment of Ravnica’s magically binding guild law.[1][2]
Description
As the central hall where citizens and guild representatives can bring disputes, petitions, and grievances before the Living Guildpact, the Chamber symbolizes interguild balance and the fragile peace that holds Ravnica together. In theory, the Chamber is open to petitioners of any guild or none, and serves as the place where the Living Guildpact listens to grievances and delivers binding judgments that keep the guilds’ powers in balance. Although the Guildpact’s magic has been weakened at times, the Chamber endures as both a practical court and a powerful symbol that the city’s ten guilds can coexist, at least when forced to do so.
History
Original construction
After the original Guildpact was rendered void during the Decamillennial, the city-plane endured six decades of uneasy truces and rising tensions. Inter-guild feuds became common, with little to enforce any lasting order. Azor I had built a failsafe in the form of the Implicit Maze, however, and the Supreme Verdict at the Forum of Azor ensured Jace Beleren’s ascension as the Living Guildpact, restoring the pact’s magical force — now embodied in his mind and will.[1]
To house this new authority, the Chamber of the Guildpact was constructed within Gateway Plaza, an area designed to represent all ten guilds equally.[2] The site chosen for the embassy held symbolic weight: it rose quite literally from the ashes of Jace’s former sanctum, which he had destroyed amid the chaos of the guilds’ struggles for power to avoid Lazav to steal its secrets. Before construction of the embassy could begin, crews had to clear away mountains of charred wood and debris, a reminder of how fragile the city’s peace remained.[1]
Standing amid the unfinished skeleton of the new building, Jace looked out over the Tenth District — his choice of location a deliberate act of renewal and memory. "Seemed fitting," he told Officer Lavinia, who would become one of his first trusted councilors. The Embassy's grand façade would be the visible seat of his authority, hosting official proceedings and public gatherings — the place that "would go on maps" — while its true workings, like much of the Guildpact's power, remained hidden behind layers of secrecy and delicate alliances. In this way, the Chamber of the Guildpact embodied the city's fragile hope that law and unity could be rebuilt, again and again, from the ruins of old conflicts.[2]
War of the Spark
During the War of the Spark, the Chamber was catastrophically damaged when Nicol Bolas ordered Tezzeret to activate the Planar Bridge atop it, disrupting the leylines that fed the Guildpact's magic and stripping Jace of his power as the Living Guildpact at a crucial moment. Ajani, Chandra, Jaya, and Karn were all inside the embassy when it was torn apart, but they survived with Ajani taking the brunt of the damage. During the war, the remnants of the embassy were used as a getaway route for escaping civilizations fleeing into the Golgari tunnels of the Undercity.[3] Later, Nissa Revane led guild leaders and representatives through a ritual at the ruined Chamber, restoring the damaged leylines and resurrecting Niv-Mizzet as the new Living Guildpact.[4] After the war, the embassy was rebuilt using magic to reconstitute the building back to its pre-war form.[5]
Phyrexian Invasion
During the New Phyrexian Invasion led by Elesh Norn, Ravnica became one of the key planes targeted for compleation and Realmbreaker’s expansion. Vraska, once guildmaster of the Golgari Swarm, re-emerged as a fully compleated general of New Phyrexia, commanding waves of corrupted Golgari and Kraul to overrun the surface and the undercity alike. Haunted by fractured memories of her old life, including Jace and the thaumatic compass she once used to unlock her suppressed mind, Vraska moved like a sleepwalker through her undercity, drifting between brutal commands and moments of mournful recollection. Under her orders, the Chamber of the Guildpact was breached and desecrated, the seat of Ravnican unity cracked open like a dollhouse amid the roots of Realmbreaker, tearing through the city. Resistance came fiercely from Ral Zarek and other Planeswalkers and guild allies. In a final confrontation, Ral stood atop the ruins of the Chamber of the Guildpact and used a device to disrupt Vraska’s compleation, critically wounding her and scattering her swarm.[6]
Murders at Karlov Manor
In the aftermath, the Chamber is under reconstruction once more, though support for the project is low. The new Living Guildpact, Niv-Mizzet, continued to reside at the Chamber despite its destruction for a second time. As a reminder to others of his authority, the Firemind prioritized the restoration of his official chair before other parts of the chamber.[7] Due to tepid guild support and inadequate funding, the chamber's reconstruction was repeatedly delayed, leaving the Guildpact's chair as the only component of the chamber to have been fully repaired. Despite this, the Firemind refused to move and continued to insist that guild leaders meet with him in the neglected chamber.[8] It is hoped the Chamber will once again stand as a visible reminder of Ravnica’s resilience and its endless struggle to maintain order amid ambition and chaos, though its future remains uncertain as the city grapples with fresh conspiracies.
Gallery
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The Chamber and its surroundings
In-game references
- Associated cards:
- Depicted in:
References
- ↑ a b c Doug Beyer (2013) - Dragon's Maze: The Secretist, Part Three, WotC.
- ↑ a b c Doug Beyer (2014) - The Gorgon and the Guildpact. magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast..
- ↑ Greg Weisman (April 2019). "War of the Spark: Ravnica". Del Rey
- ↑ Gateway Plaza
- ↑ As seen on Mana Confluence.
- ↑ Alison Lührs (2023) - Ravnica: One and the Same. magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Emily Teng (February 6, 2024). "The Legends (and characters) of Murders at Karlov Manor". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Emily Teng (February 1, 2024). "Planeswalker's Guide to Murders at Karlov Manor". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
