The Dissension
- For the novel, see Dissension (novel).
| The Dissension | |||||
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| Era | Rift Era | ||||
| Date | 4495 AR (10,012 ZC) | ||||
| Location | Ravnica | ||||
| Sets | Dissension | ||||
| Characters | Agrus Kos, Augustin IV, Crixizix, Evern Capobar Feather, Fonn Zunich, Izolda, Jarad vod Savo, Leonos II, Momir Vig, Myczil Savod Zunich, Niv-Mizzet, Rakdos, Szadek, Teysa Karlov | ||||
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| Timeline | |||||
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The Dissension was a brief period of extreme havoc on the plane of Ravnica, involving the rise of the nephilim, the crash of the Parhelion, the awakening of Rakdos, the activation of Project Kraj, and the overlay of the Ghost Quarter of Agyrem on the plane, all happening roughly simultaneously.
Description
The Dissension was a period in the history of Ravnica marked by extreme political turmoil, large-scale structural collapse, and the rise of titanic forces that threatened to unravel the very structure of the city. This chaotic time saw the accumulated effects of the Guildpact’s failure in the wake of the Decamillennial, the awakening of ancient beings like Rakdos and the Nephilim, and the metaphysical merging of the spectral city of Agyrem with Ravnica itself. The event reshaped the power dynamics between Ravnica’s guilds and led to a newfound understanding of non-magically enforced interguild cooperation that replaced the former magical Guildpact with a more fragile, flexible, and negotiable system.
The Dissension began with the dramatic reappearance of the Parhelion, the flagship of the Boros Legion, which was on a collision course with Prahv, the headquarters of the Azorius Senate. As tensions mounted between the guilds, the Azorius, Boros, and Selesnya were embroiled in a scandal involving Feather, one of the plane's highest-ranking beings and the sole remaining angel. She had turned herself in for desertion, oath-breaking, and even guild-matricide. The truth of the matter was revealed in a trial to determine her fate, which was finished briefly before a series of increasingly violent and destructive events.
In the far-flung reaches of Utvara, a master thief named Evern Capobar sought to retrieve cerebral fluid from the remains of a dragon within the Cauldron. Sent by Simic guildmaster Momir Vig, Capobar claimed his prize but discovered that the nephilim — enormous, ancient, and terrifying creatures — had been feeding upon the dragon, and were steadily growing to titanic size. Master Engineer Crixizix of the Izzet League requested assistance from her parun and guildmaster Niv-Mizzet to deal with the rampant nephilim. Although he killed two, Niv-Mizzet flew away after an unforeseen attack from one of the remaining nephilim, claiming to have lost interest in the fight. The partially failed efforts to contain the nephilim’s rampage were compounded by the instability caused by the weakening Guildpact, as the city's nine remaining titan statues failed to be activated by the Boros guildmages.
In Rix Maadi, the Rakdos cultists led by the blood witch Izolda initiated a ritual using the blood of Myczil Savod Zunich, the son of Fonn Zunich and Jarad vod Savo, to awaken the demon Rakdos from his centuries-long slumber. Myc's parents interrupted the ritual, causing Myczil to form a bond of rage with the demon itself. However, Myc's control over Rakdos through this bond was insufficient to stop him, allowing the demon to rampage across Ravnica City. Meanwhile, the Simic and Golgari guildleaders had performed their experiments, activating the cytoplasmic Project Kraj, a monstrous biotechnological experiment. Kraj began absorbing cytoplasts from across the city, becoming an unstoppable force of biological destruction. The threat posed by the nephilim, Rakdos, and Kraj necessitated a joint effort from the guilds to contain the chaos. However, the guilds' fractured state meant that their responses were disjointed and ultimately ineffective.
The heart of the Dissension was the unraveling of the Guildpact itself. Szadek, the Dimir guildmaster, played a central role in orchestrating the collapse of the Guildpact by manipulating the system from within. Szadek’s actions caused a paradox in the Guildpact, leading to its gradual disintegration. His manipulation of the pact ultimately allowed him to challenge the very foundation of Ravnica's social and magical structure. As Szadek’s machinations played out, the Boros and Azorius found themselves overwhelmed by the consequences of the Guildpact’s breakdown. The Parhelion was destroyed in a catastrophic crash after its angels had been slain by Szadek and his forces in Agyrem.
Ultimately, the remaining nephilim were stopped by a combination of resistance by the Ledev team led by Fonn, as well as the power of Rakdos himself. When Kraj and Rakdos faced off against each other, they were evenly matched, and both titans ended up incapacitated. Rakdos was returned to his lava pit in Rix Maadi, and both Svogthir and Momir Vig were killed. Azorius guildmaster Augustin IV met his demise at the hands of Szadek's ghost just before the Parhelion exploded and leveled Prahv. Although Szadek's ghost escaped, calm eventually returned to Ravnica once more. In total, four guilds saw the death of their guildmasters.
One of the most dramatic outcomes of the Dissension was the materialization of Agyrem, the spectral city of ghosts, which became overlaid onto Ravnica itself as the Schism faded from the sky. The appearance of Agyrem marked the beginning of the Ghost Quarter, a region where the boundaries between the living and the dead were blurred. This new, spectral region became a symbol of Ravnica's transformation, where spirits from the afterlife could interact with the living in unpredictable and dangerous ways. The rise of Agyrem also marked the return of Agrus Kos, brought back as a ghost. Kos was tasked with leading the newly formed police force in the Ghost Quarter, responsible for maintaining order in a world where the dead had returned to haunt the living.
With the now established collapse of the magical Guildpact, Ravnica's political and magical systems were forever changed. A new form of interguild cooperation emerged — one not based on the magical constructs of the old pact but on negotiation, mutual dependence, and fragile alliances. Feather became the new guildleader of the Boros, Leonos II took the reigns of the Azorius, Jarad returned from the dead as a lich, and the Simic remained leaderless for several years while the guild reorganized itself and its philosophies.[1]
