You just planeswalked into Ravnica, a buzzing world-city in which anything can happen within a day.

Many species live there, you're free to interact with them. You could come across a goblin rogue breaking in a bakery, or a rhino soldier, making sure peace prevails in the streets. You could look up and notice angels staying vigilant about the whereabouts of wanted criminals, sharing the skies with wise and enigmatic sphinxes, going on about their days as lawmages. You could encounter a orzhov oligarch surrounded by their thrull and spirits slaves, doing their pilgrimage to some church of the Orthodoxy, before an Izzet spellcraft accidentally blows up a conduit, unleashing elementals and steam everywhere. You could end your day by sitting on a bench, in a selesnyan conclave, watching as the sun sets and hides behind the uncountables spires of the city.

In here, ten guilds may open their arms to you:

• The Azorius Senate : They function as the official ravnican government, and the primary judiciary force. Their legislation is the only thing keeping Ravnica from falling into chaos. They are characterized as being extremely bureaucratic, formalistic and fastidious. Their parun is the elder sphinx Azor I, who founded the first Guildpact, an ancient and powerful spell that keeps the whole plane from falling apart. If you wanted to be a lawyer, that's probably where you should head to.

• House Dimir : They are a guild of secrecy and manipulation. A shadowy organisation whose designs are to twist the whole city to its ends. Each information running through this guild is filtered by many need-to-know levels, and only a handful of elites spread across all the city know of the most important ones. The guild's parun was the vampire Szadek, who passed away. From now on, Lazav the Shapeshifter is the one pulling the strings. Smugglers, assassins, thieves and spies are all welcomed here.

• Cult of Rakdos : The biggest name in the entertainment industry. The main cult's purpose is to attend to menial labor, including assassinations. The secondary purpose is... to organize the most thrilling and entertaining spectacles through fire, pain and blood. That's right, the majority (and that's an understatement) of Rakdos followers are straight up masochistic maniacs who won't hesitate to spill blood and laugh it off in extremely violent events. The whole cult is centered around Rakdos, an elder demon who seeks entertainment whenever he wakes up from his years-long naps. Without it, the demon would rampage over the city in no time.

• The Gruul Clans : Nothing's really official about this "rogue guild". It's made up of smaller clans and tribes who originally seeked to keep civilization in check through ritual riots and raids, leaving everything but ruins in their wake. However, the Azorius Senate was not happy with it, and decided to write them off of the jurisdiction. No more protection, no more recognition. Just unhinged rebels and rioters, anarchists and looters, who follow many ancestral rites of rage and fire. Their "leader" is Borborygmos, the giant cyclops, who screams the loudest and punches the hardest.

• The Selesnya Conclave : The Conclave could be described as a "selfless, nurturing, spiritual group" or a "brainwashing nature cult". Depends on who you're asking. Alongside the Boros Legion, they were appointed by the Azorius Senate to establish and maintain peace and unity in Ravnica. Despite their "good-natured" surface, they used to send agents to silence the most "problematic" citizens. They are mainly clerics and druids who only seek to spread the roots of Vitu-Ghazi, the selesnyan world-tree. Their leaders are Trostani, which are three triplets dryads merged together by their roots. The three of them represent the selesnyan core values : Order, Life and Harmony.

• The Orzhov Syndicate : This is the guild of businesses, and economy, where every soul is in debt to them, one way or another. Founded on the belief that money serves power, the guild is an amalgam of religion, banking and organized crime, and it contains some of Ravnica's wealthiest and most oppressed citizens. Their leadership includes an extravagant hierarchy of priests, enforcers and ghostly councilors who rule over the indebted spirits of the guild. The guild's leader and matriarch is the opulent Teysa Karlov.

• The Izzet League : They are the ones who attend Ravnica's engineering works. Water and energy supply systems, heating systems, roadway, you name it. The Izzet members are mainly known to be obsessive and creative intellectuals, who are known to perform magical experiments to abandon, often leading to spectacular but severe results. Full of scientists and spellcrafters, their first for knowledge knows no bound. The Izzet's parun is the arrogant elder dragon Niv-Mizzet, who is also the living incarnation of the Guildpact.

• The Golgari Swarm : The Swarm is the embodiement of life and death as a cycle ; growth is power that comes slowly, but is also ruthless and inevitable. They are not afraid of death, they plan it, and claim it as their own. Most of the members regrow as plant-zombies, or even fungi, but they are themselves very respectful and aware of their condition. They mostly work as the food suppliers for the whole city, serving cheap and nutrient-packed gruel to those who can't afford meat or magically-created produces. The guild leader is Vraska, the cunning gorgon.

• The Boros Legion : They are the fist of the Senate, the sword of justice in Ravnica. The Legion is made of zealous and righteous flamesword-wielding soldiers who firmly believe in true harmony within Ravnica, even if blood must be shed for it. They are known for mainly using fire and healing spells, on top of their talentuous swordsmanship. They strike quickly and efficiently. The guild leader is Aurelia, the truthful and righteous angel.

• The Simic Combine : This guild's main duty is to preserve the natural world even as the city continues to grow. They use magic to coax new morphologies in existing creatures, and many of their members are renowned bio-engineers and doctors, due to their advanced knowledge of anatomy and biology. Emotionally distant with the other guilds, the average citizen would think of them as "crazy mutant-makers," which isn't false, but this remains one of the most important guilds of the city. Their guildleader is the wizard merfolk Zegana, the Primespeaker.

Note 1: I did not create this world/lore, it was all written by the talented folks at Wizards of the Coast for Magic: The Gathering.

Note 2: If you are not familiar with MTG, I suggest you to try it, you're definitely missing out on something.

(Stunning artwork made by Alayna Danner for Magic: The Gathering)

Keywords : magic, magic the gathering, ravnica, rpg, fantasy, guild, worldbuilding, roleplay