Greg Weisman - War Of The Spark_ Ravnica

Ral understood—with the Embassy of the Guildpact in ruins—why Jace had spontaneously chosen the Azorius Senate House as his fallback position, but the mind-mage could hardly have
chosen worse.
The stone corpse of Isperia had not been moved from the chamber. Probably couldn’t be moved without sacrilegiously breaking off a wing or two. So Vraska’s victim now stood as an
unmistakable reminder of shattered guild alliances.
Ral had sent Izzet representatives to every other guild, summoning their guildmasters to this emergency conference, yet despite the obvious external threat from Bolas and the Eternals,
the response was less than encouraging.
He ran through a mental checklist of all ten guilds:
—
The Izzet League.
Ral, himself, was there, of course, as guildmaster of the Izzet, and although they had never exactly been great fans of each other, Chamberlain Maree was by his side. She, at least,
understood that this was no time for petty infighting. Besides, they had one last plan, one last gift, one last wild stab at salvation from the late, great Firemind to pitch to the other guilds.
—
The Orzhov Syndicate.
Ral was relieved when Guildmaster Kaya arrived safely to represent the Orzhov, though how much loyalty she actually commanded within the Syndicate was debatable.
“Not even debatable,” she said. “Teyo and Rat and I finally made it to the Cathedral Opulent. The pontiffs and oligarchs hardly deigned to put up a façade of cooperation. When they said
they would stand behind me, their words translated to ‘far behind me.’ They could barely stifle their contempt long enough to pay me lip service.”
“See, that’s where you went wrong,” he said ruefully. “You should have known they were stingy about paying anything, lip service included.”
She ignored the crack. “It didn’t help when they learned Jace was no longer the Living Guildpact. It made my cold reception all the chillier. No open defiance, mind you. And an honor
guard was sent here along with me. But you’ll notice no other nobles from my guild came to Beleren’s little party.”
“So basically Orzhov’s out?”
“Largely. But a giant named Bilagru approached me and seemed more inclined to listen than the old-guard Orzhov. So I made the point that the guild’s debts would be difficult to collect if
the dragon’s Eternals murdered every debtor on Ravnica along with every debtor’s offspring—not to mention every member of the Syndicate. He nodded down at me and grumbled that ghosts
and spirits have run things inside the Orzhova for so long, everyone forgets that most of the collecting’s done by the living. Then he promised to take his enforcers out into the streets to
protect Orzhov investments.”
“I can’t believe appealing to his rationality worked.”
“It probably helped that when the pontiffs began to object, I threatened to forgive every single Obzedat debt in one fell swoop. In the Cathedral Opulent, rationality only goes so far, but
greed can cover the final distance.”
—
The Simic Combine.
There was Vorel, stating he’d been authorized by Prime Speaker Vannifar to represent the Simic. Ral nodded and expressed his appreciation, not admitting that he hadn’t even known
Vannifar was prime speaker.
When the hell was Zegana ousted?
Ral had heard of Vannifar. She was an elf—or if the rumors were true, a former elf now mutated by Simic biomancers—but he knew precious little else about her. He’d certainly never met
her.
Vorel, perhaps noticing Ral’s discomfort, reassured the Izzet guildmaster that Vannifar was a fighter, one who had been preparing for war since long before the dragon was known to be a
threat. “Under our current circumstances,” Vorel stated conclusively, “Vannifar is a much better choice for prime speaker than Zegana.”
Ral allowed himself to be reassured and made the conscious decision not to ask the obvious question: Who exactly was Vannifar preparing to war with before Bolas?
—
The Boros Legion.
That old reliable angel of order and combat, Guildmaster Aurelia of the Boros, was of course one of the first to arrive. She gazed angrily from Isperia to Ral, as if blaming the storm mage
for the sphinx’s death. Which was fine, since he pretty much blamed himself.
Well, myself and Vraska, anyway.
But Aurelia was nothing if not pragmatic. And she was the strongest ally they had among the guilds.
—
House Dimir.
Ral also took it for granted that Dimir’s shapeshifting Guildmaster Lazav was present in one form or another. As head of the spy guild, Lazav loved to play his little games. But so far he
had been surprisingly cooperative. Not trustworthy, but cooperative.
And like Aurelia, Lazav was a pragmatist. Bolas was bad for business.
Who’ll hire an assassin if everyone on your world is already dead?
—
The Cult of Rakdos. The Golgari Swarm. The Gruul Clans.
After the death of his emissary Hekara, the demon Rakdos and his Cult declined to send a representative. And with Vraska gone and Domri dead, the Golgari and the Gruul had both been
left in complete disarray with no guildmasters at all.
The Selesnya Conclave.
—