Page 52 - Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica

The three most important power groups within the
Golgari are the Devkarin elves, the medusas (also
called gorgons in Ravnica), and the insectile kraul.
Jarad is an undead representative of the Devkarin, so
the elves claim a privileged position within the guild for
the moment.
Members of the Golgari Swarm live in the shadow
of Jarad and the leaders of the individual factions. The
GOLGARI SWARM machinations among elves, medusas, kraul, and other
creatures rarely bring any significant improvement to
A S!vlALL CROWD OF PALE ELVES AND HUMANS STEPPED the lives of the swarm's countless members, but often
into the light. Bits of bone and detritus woven into their cause disruption and occasionally disaster. Most guild
matted hair clicked lightly. Their chitinous armor swarmed members believe it's best to keep their heads down and
stay out of the political conflict and to avoid attracting
with tiny, riotous insects that moved in and out of the sheen
the disfavor of the Och ran, the guild's order of assas-
of moss growing on their shoulders-a bed for sprouting sins. More adventurous members might enjoy intrigue
fungi. Whether it was the Golgari themselves who had made and politics, or might unwittingly become tangled up in
the chittering sound or their bugs. Ra/ could not be sure. the schemes of the guild's leaders.
Jarad maintains a council of shamans and rogues to
-Doug Beyer, Return to Ravnica: The Secretist
serve as a combination of advisory parliament and spy
agency. These high chancellors rarely convene pub-
The teeming masses that compose the Golgari Swarm licly, preferring to disperse themselves throughout the
see themselves as pragmatic above all else, uncowed by swarm to keep information flowing from the nucleus to
the simple fact that death is part of the cycle of life. They every part of the organism.
believe the idea of life and death as opposing forces to
be nothing more than naive sentimentality. They know GOALS OF THE GOLGARI
everything crumbles and rots in the end, and then new The Golgari Swarm celebrates the growth and vibrancy
life springs from that rot. Time inevitably passes, bring- of the natural world, but gives equal attention to nature's
ing both destruction and new creation to all things.
The original mandate of the Golgari Swarm under facets of destruction, decay, and death. It finds allies and
the leadership of Svogthir, its Devkarin founder, was to agents in the form of fungi, oozes, insects, diseases, and
maintain Ravnica's agriculture and manage its waste.
But Svogthir's interest in necromancy, and his eventual D ARK ELVES OF THE G O LGARI
transformation into a lich, shaped the course of the Also called the elves of shadow, the Devkarin are one of
guild's activities and gave birth to its philosophy of em- the three branches of Ravnica's elf race. Like other elves,
bracing death as part of nature's cycle. the Devkarin are adept spellcasters, counting most of the
Golgari's shamans among their number.
After being cast out of the nascent Selesnya Conclave
I NSIDE T H E SWARM millennia ago, the Devkarin found a home amid the cor-
The leadership of the Golgari has undergone several rupted and overgrown places of Ravnica, and the Devkarin
major changes, but the nature of the swarm makes it necromancer Svogthir became the founder of the Golgari
Swarm. Since then, the Devkarin have been a major influ-
easily adaptable to the churn of continuous cycles. Being ence in the guild, even during the times when they didn't
alive isn't a prerequisite for leadership, as demonstrated hold absolute power. Regardless of who rules the guild, the
by the rule of the current guild master, the elf lichJarad Devkarin follow the guidance of a high priest, called the
Yod Savo. Assassination is seen as a perfectly valid matka. The matka's spiritual leadership usually aligns with
means of effecting political change, which is how Jarad's the guildmaster's temporal commands, but during times
sister, Savra, took control of the guild before him. Var- when the guild is ruled by a non-elf faction, the matka can
ious groups of people and monsters coexist within the be a significant dissenting voice.
swarm, their relative power waxing and waning with the
years, and through it all, the guild goes on.

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