Rix Maadi
| Rix Maadi | |
|---|---|
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| Information | |
| Plane | Ravnica |
| Colors |
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| Part of | The Undercity, Tenth District, Ravnica City |
Rix Maadi (/rɪks mɑːdi/, riks MAH-dee[1]), or the Dungeon Palace,[2] is the guildhall of the Cult of Rakdos on Ravnica. It is located deep in the Undercity — lower even than the Golgari — under a large mountain.[3] Enclosing an active volcano, it holds the lava pit in which Rakdos slumbers.
Description
Rix Maadi was a beehive-like structure, so shaped because the Cult of Rakdos was constantly adding to it by piling on more junk. Jagged, spiky chimneys dotted the outer surface and leaked thin streams of black smoke. Rix Maadi was part of the undercity but in truth a separate Rakdos world that, it was said, had levels that went far deeper into the ground than any one stretch of the Golgari domain — deeper even than Grigor’s Canyon. There, the Rakdos mined the metals that made them a major power in the world despite their distinctly antisocial bent.[4]
Rix Maadi stands at the far end of a courtyard, the Festival Grounds, its ornate stone edifice flanked by jagged basalt pillars flowing with lava streams. The façade is the only part of the guildhall that resembles an actual building. Inside, Rix Maadi is a large natural cavern with ledges and rooms scattered along its walls, home to the Defiler's minions, blood witches, and servants. Rakdos's lava pit is the chamber's central feature and is the size of a large lake, with crisscrossing stone pathways and docks for people to gather and entertain. The high ceiling is adorned with steel cables, cages, and hooks to hang people, who are cut in a way to ensure they bleed out slowly. Their blood is then captured in basins that are scattered around the cavern floor. After death, their bodies are either hurled into the great lava pit or left for the scavenging hellhounds.[5]
The most direct route to Rix Maadi is down an immense stone staircase that leads down an ancient tunnel carved deep into the earth by a wurm and reinforced with thick stone pillars. Rakdos members call this subterranean passage the Demon's Vestibule.[6][7]
Within the guildhall are the Dungeon Ballrooms, a party venue, and the Jester's Crypt, a dark tunnel where Rakdos takes cultists who displease him. The Crypt, which is shrouded by a supernatural mist of pure shadow, is also used when blood witches are created.[7]
History
Part of the Implicit Maze leading to the Cult of Rakdos guild gate took the maze runners through Rix Maadi. During the running of the maze, a battle broke out between the local Rakdos and Selesnya representatives, involving the maze runners Exava and Emmara Tandris, and both guild leaders, Rakdos and Trostani. It became a massive melee, and both Emmara and Exava received sword wounds in the battle, but both survived and continued to the end of the maze at the Forum of Azor.[8]
During the War of the Spark, Vraska, Ral Zarek, Kaya Cassir, Teyo Verada, and Araithia Shokta passed through the Demon's Vestibule and the Festival Grounds to arrive in Rix Maadi, hoping for aid from the Rakdos to resurrect Niv-Mizzet as the new Living Guildpact. Although Rakdos himself refused to aid, Tomik Vrona brought the corpse of the razor witch Hekara, delivering her into the Jester's Crypt, where she was resurrected into a blood witch, at the cost of Tomik's personal thrull servant's life. Hekara then volunteered to join the other guilds to attend the ritual, much to Exava's annoyance.[9]
After the war, Teyo returned alone, looking for Rat. He faced a dollmaker puppeteering a mockery of him named "Teyo Veridiot", fought off the hellhound Whipsaw, and finally conferred with Hekara. The blood-witch had not seen Rat since her resurrection, though, and Teyo had to leave empty-handed.[10]
In-game references
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References
- ↑ Matt Cavotta (May 10, 2006). "Behold, the Power of Kashkaval!". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021.
- ↑ James Wyatt and Jeremy Crawford (November 2018). "D&D Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica", Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Seanan McGuire (January 15, 2024). "Rot Before Recovery, the DVD extras". Seanan McGuire.
- ↑ Cory J. Herndon (2006) - Dissension, WotC.
- ↑ James Wyatt (January 2019). "The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Ravnica'". Wizards of the Coast
- ↑ The Magic Creative Team (September 19, 2012). "Planeswalker's Guide to Return to Ravnica: Part 3". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2019-07-23.
- ↑ a b Greg Weisman (June 5, 2019). "War of the Spark: Ravnica – Operation Desperation". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Doug Beyer (2013) - Dragon's Maze: The Secretist, Part Three, WotC.
- ↑ Greg Weisman (April 2019). "War of the Spark: Ravnica". Del Rey.
- ↑ Greg Weisman (Novemmber 2019) - War of the Spark: Forsaken, Del Rey.
