![]() Kaya and Teysa attended the guild summit on behalf of the Orzhov, and witnessed its dissolution after the murder of Isperia. Azorius forces quelled the immediate unrest, and Kaya brought the tithes down to 18%. Kaya raised the Orzhov's existing tithes from 10% to 40% to compensate for the losses caused by forgiving those debts, which quickly led to riots. Despite Teysa warning against it, Kaya freed many people from the debts they owed the guild, particularly the bound ghosts. She has done this at the behest of Nicol Bolas, in exchange for him helping her "troubled family". Lately, the planeswalker Kaya has taken control as guildmaster of Orzhov after taking down the Obzedat. To boost their declining profits in an unstable economy, the Orzhov have begun offering "protection services", promising to shield their customers both from physical harm and fiscal disaster, with the underlying threat that those who refuse to pay will become targets of Orzhov's own thugs and enforcers. They craved wealth, respect, and loyalty. Most of the Deathless appeared as morbidly obese high priests or nobles, but sickly, pale, and ghostly in form. Members of the Obzedat were called the Deathless, as they had managed to cheat mortality, maintaining their consciousness (and their greed) beyond the threshold of death. For example, one of Teysa Karlov's legs is practically useless, and therefore she has been forced to use a walking cane since she learned to walk. The high-ranking members of the Orzhov use magical means known as the Orzhov Blood to extend their lives, but are mutated in many ways that they pass on to their offspring. Each cartel is ruled by a cardinal or kingpin whose role is somewhere between gang leader, bank manager, and high priest. Each cartel claims different territories and markets across Ravnica, and each has its own internal hierarchy of priests, advokists (lawmages), enforcers, and others. Reporting to the Obzedat is a web of competing cartels, which are the individually operating units of the Orzhov Syndicate. Borrowers are not part of the guild, but they can't escape their debt even after their death. ![]() The lowermost position in the guild is taken by the syndics (attorneys, advisors, accountants, couriers etc.). The gray sisters were an order of robed nuns who performed the menial chores of the church, sworn to silence and recruited exclusively from deceased worshippers. who provide the muscle for collecting money on time and in an orderly fashion. This is the highest position anyone can hope to obtain without being born within the guild. Ministrants are the priests and practitioners of Orzhov's religion. Orzhov aristocrats move very slowly from magically prolonged life to semi-undeath to ghosthood. Below the obzedat stood the olicharchs, elite families who have belonged to the Orzhov for generations, and the pontiffs (executive managers). The Syndicate used to be presided over by a council of ghosts, the Obzedat, in Orzhova, the Church of Deals. ![]() ![]() The Orzhov know also how to create thrulls out of remnants of past debtors. Their black flavor can be seen in that they regularly deal with the dead, they never give to charity if they can help it, and continually violate the spirit of the law merely to meet their own ends. It is also symbolized in how they hoard their wealth, but are shown to share with family members or close friends. Their white flavor is exemplified by how they have a strong sense of tradition and community, reflected by the fact that they still partake in all of their ancient rituals and customs despite not worshiping any gods. Most Ravnicans see the Orzhov as a corrupt organization, but many are attracted by promises of wealth, prestige, and longevity. Many Orzhov guild members believe that their actions are necessary for making Ravnica the best it can be, and they are unscrupulous in their methods of seizing power. Should somebody be in debt to them, that person must work off their debt even beyond death. An ostentatious hierarchy of priests, enforcers, and ghostly councilors rules over a congregation of guilt-bound loyalists, indebted ghosts, and thrull servants. The guild is a combination of a religion, credit-lending agency, and crime syndicate. The Orzhov guild is founded on the beliefs that wealth is power, that structure breeds wealth, and that guilt creates structure. While they bear the facade of a religious group and may have been a true faith at the signing of the Guildpact, they now worship only profit and power. Nearly every business in Ravnica ties back to the Orzhov in some way or another. The Orzhov Syndicate is the Ravnican guild of business, where the values of white and black meet and the dead exist solely as capital.
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