The Guildpact

The celebration turned sour

During the Decamillenial Celebration of 10,000 ZC, commemorating a monumental anniversary of the Guildpact's signing, the pact was broken, an ancient balance was shattered, and Ravnica was tossed into chaos. It did not take long for power fungry politicians to gain control of elements of the city, seizing power of guilds for their own desires. Eventually the ten thousand year old culture reasserted itself but without the magically binding force that once contained them.

Years later in 10,0075 ZC, the Izzet Guildmaster discovered that Azor, founder of the Azorius Senate, had created a contingency plan that would taker effect if the guildpact was ever broken. An intricate network of ley lines sprawling across the districts of Ravnica, called the Implicit Maze, offered a test the guilds: if they could cooperate tio solve the maze, they would secure the power of a new guildpact. That power was eventually bestowed--incarnated, actually--in the person of Jace Beleren, who became the Living Guildpact. His word became the binding law of Ravnica. Any law he verbally confirmed became magically unbreakable, and the responsibility of keeping the guilds in balance fell to him.