Orzhov Syndicate

Wealth is power, and you absolutely can take it with you if you're an undying spirit living in decadent luxury on the ruling council of the Orzhov Syndicate. Built on the crushed dreams and broken bodies of citizens deeply indebted to the syndicate's  banks and loan sharks, Orzhov's elaborate hierarchy of syndics, priests, and oligarchs exists for the single purpose of funneling wealth to the top. Beneath the twin facades of religious hierarchy and banking operat ion, Orzhov is an organized crime syndicate with its fingers in businesses across the city.
The Orzhov's original function was both religious and financial, with the two functions closely related. As Decem Factiones dominant church, the Orzhov continues to preach an oppressive message that equates sin with debt and promises forgiveness to those who make tithes and donations. As Ravnica's principal bank, it stores and secures the riches of the city, collecting interest at high rates to expand its own wealth. Its members truly believe that their work is necessary to the proper functioning of Decem Factiones. Although most other Decem Fationesians see the Orzhov for the corrupt organization it is, many people are still dazzled by the syndicate's promises of wealth. prestige, and longevity.
The Ghost Council, also called the Obzedat, that leads the Orzhov founded the guild and signed the Guildpact, but it isn't clear which members of the original Obzedat might have faded from existence since then and which current members have joined since.

Orzhov Roles

Clerics

Practitioners of the hollow religion. Many of the middle tiers of the Orzhov hold some sort of official religious rank in the guild, from lowly ministrants to high-ranking pontiffs. Orzhov clerics may seem faithless compared to religious practitioners of other planes; they follow their beliefs, but their beliefs center around the distribution of power rather than a divine figure. Clerics are named by their duty. Sinstrikers castigate those who don't follow Orzhov doctrine. Absolvers release followers from their sin, usually in exchange for some lavish gift or favor.

Enders

Professional life-takers. Being a killer for the Orzhov can be a complex duty and can come with many labels. Some are executioners—giants who carry out the righteous judgments of the pontiffs. Some are spectral assassins who "sever business relationships" with snitches and other untrustworthy partners. Others are honorable soldiers who protect the public by eliminating threats. Should the Orzhov decide to end someone—either an Orzhovan or someone outside the guild—the Orzhov like to use the termination to send a message to others. Orzhov killings are often signed with some sort of calling card, or even advertised proudly with a complicated ceremony.

Knights

Paragons of virtue and vice. Knighthood is an honorable status bestowed on Orzhov members who have proven their loyalty and skill in some way. Each time a person is knighted, he or she is becomes associated with a title that expresses some quality of character. This quality need not be a traditionally positive virtue. For example, a Knight of Penance might be a knight who stands for the virtue of atoning for one's past mistakes, while a Knight of Despair might be one who brings woe to the enemies of the Syndicate.

Syndics

Maintainers of the fine print. The Orzhov employ a small army of attorneys, advisors, directors, accountants, counselors, and couriers who manage the business and administrative activities of the guild. Generally, these guild members are called syndics, although they bear a variety of names. Some are powerful lawmages, sometimes called advokists, who are capable of enforcing contracts and creating "verity circles" to encourage associates to speak the truth. Some are coiners, who lend money and keep accounting of the debts of various Ravnican citizens. Some syndics are traffic merchants who coordinate the flow of resources (legitimate and otherwise) and schedule transactions with outside parties. Others, such as fences, hide stashes or carry goods through checkpoints. Although they are not as ostentatious as pontiffs or members of the Obzedat, syndics wield substantial power in the guild, as they often control how the guild interfaces with powerful forces beyond its own membership.

Thrulls

Constructed from flesh, with mask-like faceplates made from devalued coinage, thrulls occupy the bottom rung of the Orzhov status hierarchy. They are magically created to work as servants; they can be found waiting on their masters, fetching messages, or guarding basilica entrances. Skilled death-priests and thrull-fashioners can create larger thrulls outfitted for even stranger purposes—as flying mounts, palanquin-hauler beasts, or walking armored vaults. Some of the Orzhov elite treat thrulls as fashion accessories, parading them around on chains of linked coins like pampered pets.

Angels

Angels are rare among the Orzhov. Angels are traditionally manifestations of faith and community, and so most angels are loath to associate with the guild of wealth and greed. But occasionally an angel becomes disillusioned by the simplistic principles and military strictures of the Boros and desires a place where she can find proper respect. An angel who can aspire to be only a foot soldier among the Boros has the chance to wield the power of an icon among the Orzhov. Orzhov angels can act as executioners, commanders, pontiffs, or other high-ranking officials, but more often they tend to forge their own job descriptions. Angels fly by their own personal codes of order and execute them efficiently and mercilessly.

Spirits

When an Orzhov guild member dies, his or her debt to the guild is usually not paid. Servitude that persists into undeath is often a condition of membership, allowing the Orzhov to command hundreds of spirit servants at any one time. Note that these spirit-debtors are in a much different plight than the ghost councilors of the Obzedat, who have achieved a state of deathless, autocratic power.

Structure

The Orzhov guild is ruled by the Obzedat, a council of ghostly autocrats who have maintained their wealth and power even as they've shed their mortal forms. Members of the Obzedat are called the Deathless, as they have managed to cheat mortality, maintaining their consciousness (and their greed) beyond the threshold of death. Most of the Deathless appear as morbidly obese high priests or nobles, but sickly, pale, and ghostly in form. They are as paranoid and spiteful as dictators, often going out of their way to thwart ambitious underlings, crush rumormongers, and spy on potential enemies. They crave wealth, respect, and loyalty. The Obzedat rarely speak directly with those outside the guild; instead, they communicate through the official Grand Envoy, Teysa Karlov.
Reporting to the Obzedat is a web of cartels, which are the individually operating units of the Orzhov Syndicate. Each cartel claims different territories and markets across Decem Factiones, and each has its own internal hierarchy of priests, lawmages, enforcers, and others. Each cartel is ruled by a cardinal or kingpin whose role is somewhere between gang leader, bank manager, and high priest. Cartels quarrel among themselves over resources and markets and how best to curry favor with Teysa and the Obzedat.

Culture

he Orzhov guild was founded on the belief that wealth is power, that structure breeds wealth, and that guilt creates structure. The guild is run like a combination religion, credit-lending agency, and crime syndicate, with an ostentatious hierarchy of priests, enforcers, and ghostly councilors ruling over a congregation of guiltbound servants, indebted ghosts, and thrulls. Many Orzhov guild members truly believe that their rule is necessary for making Ravnica the best it can be, and they are unscrupulous in their methods of making sure they seize power. Most Ravnicans see the Orzhov for the corrupt organization they are, but many are lured in by their promises of wealth, prestige, and longevity.

Public Agenda

The Orzhov Syndicate is dedicated to the quest for power. It sees the value in an organized, structured, law-abiding community, because it is adept at exploiting laws and structures for its own gain. It sees itself, in a perfect world, as the arbiter and enforcer of a social order that keeps everyone in their place and the Orzhov in the highest place.
Increasing tensions in Ravnica have led to an atmosphere of instability, and to counter this, the Orzhov Syndicate promises the trappings of a  stable, ordered life amid the chaos-for a price. The Orzhov believe that adherence to hierarchy is the key to success, and they find great comfort in the rigid structure of their guild.
To boost their declining profits in a vacillating economy, the Orzhov have begun offering protection services, promising to shield their "customers" from both physical harm and fiscal disaster. These operations amount to racketeering, bringing with them the underlying threat that those who refuse to pay for  protection become targets of the Orzhov's thugs and enforcers.
The Azorius are the greatest threat to Orzhov's operations. In times past, the Orzhov danced along the edges of the law and presented an appearance of legality, but the combination of an ever-expanding legal code and the guild's move into racketeering and other explicitly illegal activities has made it vulnerable to Azorius enforcement. So far, the Azorius have demonstrated more interest in cracking down on the chaotic activity of the Gruul and the Rakdos, but Azorius arresters also routinely shut down Orzhov protection rackets and take enforcers into custody. To make matters worse, the Azorius Senate's increasing use of precognitive magic is proving difficult for the Orzhov to work around.
So far, the syndicate's most effective tactic has been to increase the layers of separation between the day-to-day criminal operations of the guild and the leadership, ensuring that no matter how many street-level thugs and syndics are apprehended to fill the Azorius prisons, the guild's leadership remains intact. Contact between the oligarchs and lower-ranking members of the guild is increasingly rare in this situation, and even the pontiffs find it ever more difficult to arrange a hearing with their superiors.

Type

Illicit, Syndicate

Leader

Teysa Karlov

Ruling Organization

The Obzedat, the Ghost Council

Leader Title

Guildmaster

Subsidiary Organizations

• The Obzedat, the Ghost Council

Location

Orzhova, the Cathedral Opulent

Controlled Territories

• Coiner's Row
• Irbitov: The Mausoleum District
• Orzhova, the Cathedral Opulent
• Vizkopa Bank

Notable Members

• Teysa Karlov