The Tenth District

Center Stage

At the center of life on Ravnica, the Tenth District is a sprawling place. To be governed effectively, it is broken into six precincts, each the size of a small city. This article describes the various features you can find in those wondrous places.

• Precinct One . This is the hub of the wealthy and powerful, where courtly games and espionage play out among visitors gawking at the impressive architecture. The precinct is also known as the Guildpact Precinct.
• Precinct Two. Many professionals live here in clean and orderly neighborhoods, in the shadow of New Prahv, while mob bosses coerce residents in order to enrich themselves and influence local politics.
• Precinct Three. In the Greenbelt, nature has encroached into the urban environment to varying degrees, and folk here provide bountiful sustenance and domesticated beasts for most of the district.
• Precinct Four. Constantly in a state of turmoil, the scarred streets of Precinct Four are a proving ground for soldiers and marauders alike. Visitors here had best be spoiling for a fight.
• Precinct Five. Precinct Five is where the learned folk of the Tenth District gather to discuss theory or to put their knowledge to practical use in the precinct’s many schools, libraries, and laboratories.
• Precinct Six. In the hardscrabble neighborhoods of Precinct Six, the working folk eke out a living by toiling at warehouses, docks, and factories controlled by callous employers. When night comes, the residents hide indoors to avoid becoming prey to creatures that stalk the darkness.

Major Trade Ways

Two major avenues run across the whole Tenth District, crossing precinct lines.

Tin Street is the longest thoroughfare in the city, a vital center of trade, and a hub of activity day and night. In addition to its shopping attractions, Tin Street is also a popular spot for nightlife, with its many restaurants and theaters. Much of the street runs through the western part of Precinct Four, and other parts are claimed by goblin gangs. The prominent presence of Boros soldiers along the length of Tin Street helps the populace feel safer, but the threat of rubblebelt raiders and goblin thieves remains.

The Transguild Promenade makes its way across the district from the edge of the rubblebelt in Precinct Four to the southern gates of Precinct One. The Promenade’s northern reach is heavily patrolled by Boros soldiers, and caravans coming from the north employ heavily armed escorts to ensure their safe passage through the ruined areas. Markets and parks line the avenue as it winds through Precinct One, and parades clog the street on festive holidays.

Millennial Platform

Anchored by enormous chains at the juncture of Precincts One, Three, and Four, the Millennial Platform is a floating observation deck that affords the best overhead view of the Tenth District. The most exclusive restaurant in the district is located here. Every citizen is given a token that can be redeemed for one airship ride to the platform anytime during the coming year, but those who want to dine at the Millennial Restaurant might have to make a reservation months in advance.

Beneath the Streets

Even though most Ravnicans think the city begins at ground level and stretches upward, the part of the city that lies beneath the streets impacts the lives of everyone. Immediately underground are the city works, such as the sewers and the transit system. Below the complex network of tunnels and passages that make up the city works lies the undercity—a realm populated by creatures that shun the surface world.

City Works

The Izzet League is responsible for constructing and maintaining public works, including sewers and other pipe systems. Many members of the Golgari Swarm live or work here, farming fungus and scavenging for valuable trinkets in the muck. Orzhov crypts and vaults, Dimir hideouts, and Simic laboratories can also be found in the city works.

Sewers

A vast, winding sewer network runs under the Tenth District, lit by continual flame spells. Some of the tunnels are simply storm sewers, meant to carry rainwater (and the debris it washes from the streets) into great cisterns, where it is purified and sent into the pipes in the plumbing system that serves Ravnica’s nicer neighborhoods. Others carry waste and refuse out of those neighborhoods, depositing it in different cisterns or dumping it into the subterranean oceans of the undercity.

Pipe Tunnels

Around the sewer system, smaller tunnel networks carry steam, distilled magical energy, and water to various places throughout the city. These passages are large enough for a humanoid to walk through but are often quite uncomfortable, filled with impure air and stifling heat.

Transit Tunnels

Magically charged tracks line the floors of tube-like tunnels that send vehicular constructs to major locations in the Tenth District and beyond. The tunnels open into small stations that have staircases leading up to the surface.

Crypts

Ancient resting places lie in secret chambers below the surface of Ravnica. Many of them have been magically warded to prevent unauthorized entry. Some of these sites are homes for restless undead or gathering places for thieves, smugglers, and other criminals.

Under City

Deep below the Tenth District lies a vast, thriving community of folk who have no desire or choice to live under the sky. Here, the Dimir, Golgari, Rakdos, and Simic hold sway in the caverns, causeways, and bodies of water that grace the darkest depths.

Nightveil

The sprawling residence of many of the House Dimir elite, parts of Nightveil overlap the Tenth District in the undercity. An extensive system of natural caverns houses high-walled mansions and sunken crypts that have a grand, sinister motif. Patrolling specters and other incorporeal undead make it difficult for the unwelcome to enter.

Duskmantle

The Dimir guildhall is protected by memory wards (glyphs of warding that store modify memory spells) to ensure that few know of its existence. Those who are called there never remember what transpired, beyond what is necessary. Most assume that the place lies somewhere within Nightveil, but it could lie anywhere in the undercity.

Korozda

Also called the Maze of Decay, Korozda is an arched subterranean cathedral surrounded by fungal hedgerows and moss-encrusted ruins. In its center is a great amphitheater where the most important issues are brought to the Golgari’s attention. Penvar, the Hanging Keep, is a castle fixed upside down on the ceiling above the entrance to Korozda. Its soldiers, predominantly the insectoid kraul, prevent any unauthorized visitors to the Golgari stronghold.

Rix Maadi

Known as the Dungeon Palace, this is the guildhall of the Cult of Rakdos, and the lava-filled lair of the demon himself. An immense, crumbling, red stone staircase called the Demon’s Vestibule begins the journey from the Smelting District down into the depths, treating travelers to terrifying images depicted on banners as they descend. Farther down, the temperature rises and the passage eventually opens up into the Festival Grounds, where the bloodiest performances of the Rakdos and their torturous equipment are on display.

The Undersea

Rivers, lakes, and oceans run deep below the surface of Ravnica. Several of them connect to the Simic habitats known as zonots. They are also used as thoroughfares by aquatic races and monsters.

Click the links for more detailed articles on these locations. Some things may change as the story progresses. :)