This is a republished guide from reddit, about the Ravnica, Guildpact, and Dissension storylines!
Ranvica: City of Guilds' novel synopsis:
Major Players:
Ravnica:
Agrus Kos- A wojek veteran. He’s a good cop, but over 100 years old, and the decimillenial is coming.
He’s trying to fight the tide. He’s also an alcoholic.
Feather- A Boros angel, who is serving her punishment with the legion as a wojek officer with her wings bound. She is Kos’ sometime partner.
Fonn Zunich- A new Selesnya recruit wolf-rider. She’s protecting the Saint Bayul of the conclave.
Jarad vod Savo- The Elvish Huntsmaster of Golgari, brother of Savra, the Matka (priestess) of Golgari.
Savra: Matka priestess leader of the necromantic casting elves of Golgari.
Sisters of Stone Death- The current leaders of Golgari, leading it to decay and decadence.
Szadek- Parun of Dimir, who’s whole guild is supposed to be fake, he’s enlisted Savra to retake Golgari.
Svogthir- The original parun of Golgari, released by Savra to help retake Golgari from the Sisters.
Mycil Zunich- Kos’ old dead partner. Now a ghost. Leads him places. Father of Fonn.
Borca- Kos’ new parter. Not a very good cop.
Basic plot:
Ravnica: 23rd of Zuun, 9999.
Argus Kos and partner/deputy investigate some crimes, and show off the world. Murder, for instance, is not illegal, unless it’s a guild member. He’s investigating various cases, and has been promoted to a semi-desk job. Fonn, meanwhile, is protecting Saint Bayul entering the main part of the city (known as the City of Ravnica) for the Decimillenial. Savra meets her brother Jarad and gives him a mission, then speaks with Szadek to find Svogthir and overthrow the Gorgon sisters of Golgari, by killing 2 of the 3 [Sisters of Stone Death]( http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83746). Kos sees the ghost of Mycil Zunich, who leads him to witnesses a bombing attack on Saint Bayul and Fonn at a restaurant, and Kos and Borca are caught in the blast. Borca and Saint Bayul are killed, and Kos wakes up in a hospital, and is informed of Fonn’s disappearance.
Three days later Fonn wakes up with her captor, Jarad, who tells her he was hired to save her from the blast. Jarad and Fonn, while talking, are attacked by harpies, and the last one tells him Savra sent them to kill them both. Meanwhile, Kos sees Borca’s ghost, who tells him he had a avenger contract in case of his death, that Kos must avenge Borca’s death. Feather comes back to help Kos, and they set out to a Orzhov friend of Kos’, Pivlic. Kos and Feather find Fonn and Jarad at Pivlic’s arena restaurant, and they form an alliance when Selesnya quietmen attack the arena. Kos receives a falcon that the Saint is actually not dead, and they need him/Fonn there. The Golgari attack the Boros legion’s headquarters, and it’s war. Fonn hears Saint Bayul’s last words, and learns that Savra was trying to join the Selesnya conclave and to do so, she needed the gem in Bayul’s forehead. The Dimir Lupul worms attack (similar to a Dimir Doppleganger/Mindleech Mass), and quietmen (Selesnya) fight Wojeks (Boros).
Savra had been invited with the Devkarin elves to return to Selesnya, since the City tree had become corrupted (Savra was behind the corruption, and so actually controls the quietmen) and is about to join the conclave (and still control Golgari, and eventually all the guilds). Szadek appears, and tells her it’s time to join the conclave. She places Bayul’s stone on her forehead, and when she’s part of the conclave, Szadek snaps her neck. Szadek announces the end of the guildpact, while Jarad gains control of the Lupul with Savra’s staff, and Fonn saves her mount by putting Bayul’s stone in her mount’s forehead. The battle ends with Kos arresting Szadek for crimes against the guildpact.
End of Ravnica's book 1.
Guildpact
Major players (carried over from Ravnica):
Agrus Kos- A wojek veteran. He’s a good cop, but over 100 years old, and the decimillenial is coming.
He’s trying to fight the tide. He’s also an alcoholic.
Feather- A Boros angel, who is serving her punishment with the legion as a wojek officer with her wings bound. She is Kos’ sometime partner.
Fonn- A new Selesnya recruit wolf-rider. She’s protecting the Saint Bayul of the conclave.
Jarad- The Elvish Huntsmaster of Golgari, brother of Savra, the Matka (priestess) of Golgari.
Sisters of Stone Death- The current leaders of Golgari, leading it to decay and decadence.
Szadek- Parun of Dimir, who’s whole guild is supposed to be fake, he’s enlisted Savra to retake Golgari.
Svogthir- The original parun of Golgari, released by Savra to help retake Golgari from the Sisters.
Mycil- Kos’ old dead partner. Now a ghost. Leads him places. Father of Fonn.
Borca- Kos’ new parter. Not a very good cop.
New Characters to Guildpact:
Teysa- A Orzhov lawyer, she’s inherting Utvara.
Crix- An Izzet goblin, she gets captured by the Gruul and is a courier.
Zomaj Hauc - A master mage in Izzet
Guildpact
15 MOKOSH 9965 Z.C. (35 years before the end of Ravnica book 1) The Izzet use a mana bomb to wipe out the Utvara area. It was a Kuga plague area, and the mana bomb didn’t quite work, so Selesnyans have cured some of it with a tree. But a Schism was created, and something happened to all of Ravnica.
14 PAUJAL 10012 Z.C. (12 years after the end of Ravnica book 1) Teysa Karlov inherits the Utvara district, and will become baroness once her uncle passes away and joins the Ghost Council. They travel to Utvara and Uncle reveals that he had Hauc drop the mana bomb to destroy all the beings infected by the Kuga in Utvara, thus being allowed to reclaim the valley sooner. Something went wrong though and the explosion created the Schism, a tear in the fabric of existence, and caused the plague to mutate. On the Lokopede train, they are attacked by Gruul, and her uncle dies. The come to the bar where Argus Kos now works with Pilvic under Orzov. Her contract states that she has to clean up Utvara to habitable conditions before a deadline, or it’ll go back to the Selesnyans. Problem is, that there’s a Yore-Tiller Nephilim there from before the Guildpact (10000 years ago). Kos, meanwhile, is still hoping to find the Angels who never showed up 12 years ago. Teysa meets with the Simic doctor Nebun, and finds out that he can cure the Kuga plague and hires him to do so.
Meanwhile, the Ghost Council and someone in Izzet have a deal about Utvara, something with the mana bomb created a Schism in the sky, which both guilds are very interested in.
Kos and Pivlic meanwhile go looking for Crix as they need her courier spell to fix the valley. They get into a fight with Gruul, and get ambushed by a different Nephilim. They escape and run to rejoin the waiting Izzet guild members. Crix’s master, Zomaj Hauc’s plan is to destroy the Guildpact, with the Ghost Council by overthrowing Niv Mizzet, with the three dragon eggs in the cauldron area of Utvara he’s trying to hatch for his master, Niv Mizzet. They are dragon eggs from before the guildpact, as there are no true dragons in Ravnica proper left anymore.
Teysa quickly hires an army of mixed guild members, and heads to the cauldron to stop them from doing whatever it is they’re doing. They attack, and in the chaos, the eggs are hatching. One dragon is killed and Hauc controls the second with his draconic spell. Teysa and crew get the spell from Hauc when Crix quits his services and steals it, and so Teysa gains control of the third dragon. She orders it to attack Hauc and his dragon, and in the fight, both dragons and Hauc die. In the final battle, Argus Kos is killed, and he sees Feather (the angel) just at his death. We learn that ghosts are stuck in Ravnica when people die, because of the Schism in the sky. Feather has returned to speak at Kos’ funeral.
End of Guildpact, Ravnica: City of Guilds Book 2.
Dissension
A few new characters are introduced in this novel, mostly guild leaders; this book rushes through everything...
29 CIZARM 10012 Z.C.
A thief steals some of the cerebral fluid of the dead dragons in the Cauldron. Nephilim are feasting on their corpses. Crix (now Crixizix) is watching the Nephilim grow, she alerts Niv Mizzet. Teysa is requested by Feather, now an inmate under Azorius to be her lawyer. She is charged with abandoning Ravnica, Boros, and guild-matricide. Fonn is investigating a murder and has to pick up her son, Myc from Jarad, the Devkarin Guildmaster of Golgari, who is teaching his son to hunt. Niv Mizzet flies to Utvara, and with dragonfire kills two (Witch-maw and Dune Brood). He is injured, but claims to be leaving to let mortals deal with the remaining three, and retreats. Crixizix is disappointed in her guildleader. Fonn and Myc are attacked by Rakdos cultists, and Myc and her companions are taken. Jarad mistrusts Simic’s cytoplast enhancements, and refuses their offer.
Argus Kos is now a spectral guard outside the senate, and he sees Feather go in. The Parhelion (floating Angel Sunhome of Boros) returns, and the Skyjeks notice it, and send word that it is on a collision course with Prahv (the Azorius Guildhall). The Rakdos buy the dragon cerebral fluid, and Lyzolda meets with Szadek, Savra, and Momir Vig. Fonn wakes and alerts Jarad that their son has been kidnapped. They give chase. Feather takes a stand and tells what happened on her 10 year search. She reveals that Ravnica was cut off from the rest of the multiverse, trapping ghosts on the plane. Planeswalkers were kept out. The Parhelion was investigating this, but was trapped in the schism created by Zomaj Hauc in Guildpact, creating Agyrem the Ghost Quarter, where all the ghosts live. She also reports that Razia was killed by the ghost of Szadek.
Kos is called to find and destroy Szadek, and as a ghost is put inside the body of Obez Murzeddi, an Azorius ectomancer. By arresting Szadek twelve years ago, he broke the guildpact, with a paradox (because he was arrested for crimes against the guildpact). Szadek purposefully let down his guard in order to break the guildpact, but because of this, Kos may be the only person able to harm Szadek. A messenger arrives to warn them that there is a plan to destroy the other guilds by Momir, Rakdos, and Svogthir (inhabiting Savra’s body).
Myc’s blood (as the son of a guildleader) and the cerebral fluid are used by Lyzolda to raise Rakdos the demon, who attacks Vitu-Ghazi and kills a Nephilim. The Parhelion crashes into Prahv. Jarad and Fonn fight their way into Rix Maadi, but Jarad is killed by Lyzolda.
Kos, searching for Svogthir in Simic, finds Momir, who is releasing the Kraj. In the fight, Kos’ temporary body is thrown out a window, so he transfers to Savra’s body, and overpowers Svogthir’s mind. The Kraj is activated to stop Rakdos, but Kos kills Momir before he can take control of the Kraj. The Kraj goes nuts, and kills Svogthir (again), and Kos transfers back to Obez’s body. Fonn and her now freed scouts kill a Nephilim. She is reunited with Kos, Pivlic, and her son, Myc who escaped. Feather comes to bring Kos to the Senate.
Kraj vs. Rakdos! Kraj wins by absorbing Rakdos into its body, and putting Rakdos into a coma. The Kraj stops moving, however. Lyzolda is in the middle of the cultist frenzy, and is eaten alive by her own cultists. When Kos and Feather return to the Senate, Augustin has taken martial law over all of Ravnica. Augustin reveals that he killed Szadek in prison, and wants to take full control over all of Ravnica. Kos, horrified, flees to the Parhelion. They mess with the controls for it to explode, and Kos saves Feather, and Teysa from Szadek by trapping him in a grounder. The Selesnyan conclave’s quietmen, tired of this treachery, attack the Senate, and the Parhelion explodes over the Senate as Kos and crew escape. Szadek’s grounder is thrown at Augustin, and when Szadek escapes, his ghost kills Augustin, then flees.
Epilogue Fonn brings Myc to Jarad, now self-reanimated to let him learn to become a Golgari hunter. Crixizix is still waiting for Niv Mizzet to return. Two years later, the new guild leaders have founded a new guild pact, one not based on balancing magic guilds against each other, but more on laws has been founded. Agyrem is now a full section of Ravnica, and Szadek has hidden himself there. Kos is assigned to hunt down Szadek. In the explosion, it is believed that the Schism has been closed, and so Ravnica returned to the multiverse.
Note: There are tons of plot holes, many things were glossed over, but this is the generic plot-line, for those interested in what happened in preparation for Return to Ravnica.
Thank you for reading, Soon there will be a full Return to Ravnica guide for the story compilation here shortly!