Golgari Swarm

Black Green

The teeming masses that compose the Golgari Swarm see themselves as pragmatic above all else, uncowed by the simple fact that death is part of the cycle of life. They believe the idea of life and death as opposing forces to be nothing more than naive sentimentality. They know everything crumbles and rots in the end, and then new life springs from that rot. Time inevitably passes, bringing both destruction and new creation to all things.

The original mandate of the Golgari Swarm under the leadership of Svogthir, its Devkarin founder, was to maintain Ravnica's agriculture and manage its waste. But Svogthir's interest in necromancy, and his eventual transformation into a lich, shaped the course of the guild's activities and gave birth to its philosophy of embracing death as part of nature's cycle

Alignment: Usually neutral, often evil

Suggested Races: Human, elf (dark)

Suggested Classes: Druid, fighter, ranger, rogue, wizard

The Golgari Swarm might suit your character if one or more of the following statements are true:

• You're drawn to the darker side of nature or the greener side of necromancy.
• You are drawn to sinister, creepy, or grim characters.
• You like elves and druids but want to explore an unusual direction.

Structure

The leadership of the Golgari has undergone several major changes, but the nature of the swarm makes it easily adaptable to the churn of continuous cycles. Being alive isn't a prerequisite for leadership, as demonstrated by the rule of the current guildmaster, the elf lich Jarad Vod Savo. Assassination is seen as a perfectly valid means of effecting political change, which is how Jarad's sister, Savra, took control of the guild before him. Various groups of people and monsters coexist within the swarm, their relative power waxing and waning with the years, and through it all, the guild goes on.

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 machinations among elves, medusas, kraul, and other creatures rarely bring any significant improvement to the lives of the swarm's countless members, but often cause disruption and occasionally disaster. Most guild members believe it's best to keep their heads down and stay out of the political conflict and to avoid attracting the disfavor of the Ochran, the guild's order of assassins. More adventurous members might enjoy intrigue and politics, or might unwittingly become tangled up in the schemes of the guild's leaders.

Jarad maintains a council of shamans and rogues to serve as a combination of advisory parliament and spy agency. These high chancellors rarely convene publicly, preferring to disperse themselves throughout the swarm to keep information flowing from the nucleus to every part of the organism.

Public Agenda

The Golgari Swarm celebrates the growth and vibrancy of the natural world, but gives equal attention to nature's facets of destruction, decay, and death. It finds allies and agents in the form of fungi, oozes, insects, diseases, and other unsavory aspects of nature, and it uses the power of nature actively toward the goal of advancing its own place in the world. But the Golgari have also learned patience from nature; they are content to work from the shadows, harnessing the energy that comes from decay while the civilization of Ravnica slowly erodes and destroys itself.

The teeming hordes of the Golgari Swarm believe it is finally their time to shine. They have dwelled under the streets and under the sway of the other guilds for too long. They are convinced that Ravnica's institutions are now on the verge of collapse and that the absence of the Living Guildpact proves it. However, the Golgari are neither surprised nor panicked by this, for they believe that all things eventually rot and die, and from this decay, new life blooms. As such, the Golgari see the looming interguild conflict as a necessary final push to bring about a new era—their era.

The Golgari are preparing for upheaval. They have sealed many of the passages leading into the undercity, making their territory seem like an impregnable subterranean fortress. Within it, the Golgari domain retains its grandeur, a mysterious and wondrous kingdom. The rare visitors who stumble into it are awed by its beauty and its aura of ancient power. Palatial architecture fills cavernous sewer chambers, and luminescent spores float through the air to shed an otherworldly light on the moss-covered masonry. Entering Golgari territory feels like stepping into a secret world of dangerous beauty.

Assets

Similar to a swarm of insects, the Golgari collectively behave more like a single organism than a scattering of individuals. New members aren't recruited or initiated into the Golgari Swarm; you have been absorbed and incorporated, and the biological system of the swarm funneled you to where your talents are most needed to contribute to the health of the guild. Your position within the guild is defined by your capabilities.

You might act as a shaman of the Golgari if you are a spellcaster—perhaps a wizard specialized in the School of Necromancy, a druid of the Circle of the Land, or a druid of the Circle of Spores (described in chapter 1). In this revered position, you teach and advise other members of the swarm, keeping them attuned to the natural cycle of death and regrowth. You might manipulate that natural cycle by wielding the magic of death, snuffing out life and reanimating the dead. Or you might wield your magic to spread fungal rot and noxious gases, preparing parts of the city for annexation.

If you aren't adept at magic, the swarm still needs you. Golgari warriors both defend the guild's territory and, when necessary, take offensive action. If you are a fighter (typically of the Champion archetype), you can serve as a shock trooper, perhaps fighting alongside kraul and trolls on behalf of the swarm. If you are a ranger (likely of the Beast Master archetype) or a rogue (of the Thief or Assassin archetype), you are more of a skirmisher. Golgari rangers favor insects and reptiles as companions.

History

Guild Background

Golgari Agent

You are a member of a teeming horde-one small part of a sprawling organism. Just as you are part of the swarm, the swarm is part of a larger ecosystem, a never-ending cycle of life, death, rot, and rebirth. You have spent your life in the slow churn of that ecosystem, in the dark places of the city where the messy parts of existence are on display. There is little squeamishness among the Golgari, no fear of death or taboo about the dead, just a fierce affirmation of the cycle.

Skill Proficiencies Nature, Survival

Tool Proficiencies Poisoner's Kit

Languages Choose one of Elvish, Giant, or Kraul

Equipment A Golgari insignia, a poisoner's kit, a pet beetle or spider, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp worth of mixed coins

Features

Feature: Undercity Paths

You know hidden, underground pathways that you can use to bypass crowds, obstacles, and observation as you move through the city. When you aren't in combat, you and companions you lead can travel between any two locations in the city twice as fast as your speed would normally allow. The paths of the undercity are haunted by dangers that rarely brave the light of the surface world, so your journey isn't guaranteed to be safe.

Guild Spells

Prerequisite: Spellcasting or Pact Magic class feature

For you, the spells on the Golgari Guild Spells table are added to the spell list of your spellcasting class. (If you are a multiclass character with multiple spell lists, these spells are added to all of them.) Spells can be found in the Spells by Guild Tables.

Golgari magic is often accompanied by a sickly green glow and a rotting stench.

Suggested Characteristics

Members of the Golgari Swarm are unmistakably products of the undercity, ill at ease amid the comforts of civilization. They bring about the same discomfort in others by reminding them of death's inevitable approach.

Traits

1d8	Trait
1	Remember, I could kill you in your sleep. Or put centipedes in your bedroll
2	I like to remind people of their inevitable demise.
3	Sometimes I give voice to the whispers of the rot, which I hear but no one else does.
4	I do my best to discourage anyone from approaching or talking to me.
5	I have accepted my death. Hence, I don't fear it.
6	Like roots growing through stone, I am relentless and determined in my action.
7	I put my knowledge of anatomy to use by narrating the injuries my enemies suffer in grisly detail.
8	Like a wild animal, I lash out viciously when I'm provoked—and I'm easily provoked.

Ideal

1d6	Ideal
1	Guild. My guild is all that really matters. (Any)
2	Stoicism. All of us are part of the cyclical march of nature, which will continue with or without us. (Neutral)
3	Nature. The natural world is more important than the edifices of the city and civilization. (Neutral)
4	Interdependence. We are all part of nature's web. (Lawful)
5	Ambition. The time of Golgari ascendance is at hand, and I intend to have a prominent place in the new world order. (Evil)
6	Live and Let Live. Meddling in the affairs of other guilds is a great way to get squashed like a bug. (Neutral)

Bond

1d6	Bonds
1	I cherish the finger of a family member who was petrified by a medusa.
2	I have an identical twin who is as different from me as any person could be.
3	I want to lead one faction of the guild to a new position of dominance.
4	I love spending time in the moss-covered building where I took part in my first reclamation mission.
5	I found something in the sewer that must never come to light.
6	I am forever grateful to the reclaimer who found me floating facedown in the sewer, moments from death.

Flaw

1d6	Flaws
1	Death comes for us all, so you can't expect me to take care of someone who can't fight it off.
2	I assume that anyone outside the Golgari looks down on me.
3	I feel a need for revenge against those who enjoy the privilege of living above ground.
4	I don't bother to couch my opinions in flattering words.
5	I can't help but pocket any trinket or coin I come across, no matter how worthless.
6	I'm convinced that I'm better and stronger than members of other guilds, isolated as they are from the realities of life and death.

Contacts

To the extent that the Golgari Swarm acts like a single organism, you are connected to every other member in some way or another. Convinced that the rest of the world is out to get you, you find it easy to form close bonds with your guild mates, and harder to make meaningful connections with others. Roll twice on the Golgari Contacts Table (for an ally and a rival) and once on the Non-Golgari Contacts Table.

How do I fit in?

As part of the Golgari Swarm, you are a specialized instrument of the greater body. Your orders, when you have such, come from the guildmaster by way of his chancellors, who carry his messages throughout the guild. The swarm relies on you to advance the greater good by protecting some part, however small, of its teeming existence. That responsibility doesn't mean you're indispensable; your eventual death is part of your purpose and function, too, and you'll be replaced even as your body provides nutrients to further the swarm's growth.

A classic adventuring role for a member of the Golgari involves crawling through dungeon-like environments—the sewers and ancient vaults of the undercity—in search of treasures left behind by the dead. Sometimes you might be sent to find a specific item believed lost in a dangerous part of the undercity. At other times, you could be asked to collect samples of a specific fungus, retrieve a body floating in the muck of the sewers, or bring back whatever booty you can to help fill the swarm's coffers.

You might gain enough renown to become a member of the Ochran, assigned to a variety of tasks concerning thievery, assassination, or the protection of important figures in your guild. You might steal something because the guild needs it, or because its loss will bring harm to another guild, hastening that group's decline. You could be assigned to kill an outspoken and active enemy of the Golgari, such as an overzealous Boros captain whose raids into the undercity have approached dangerously close to the swarm's inner sanctum. Or you could serve as a bodyguard to one of Guildmaster Jarad's high chancellors, escorting this figure through the undercity while being ready to intervene at a moment's notice if things go wrong.

The shamans of the Golgari use their magic to accelerate the cycle of decay and regrowth. You might be sent to spread spores throughout an area that the Golgari want to claim as their territory or to convince the inhabitants of such a territory to abandon it. You might also contend with the ever-present threat of hostile monsters encroaching into Golgari-controlled regions.

Leader

Jarad Vod Savo