Azorius Senate

Founded by Parun Azor I, a sphinx lawmage who authored a majority of the original Guildpact, the Azorius Senate functions as the government of Ravnica, creating and personally enforcing Ravnican laws.

The Senate are characterized as being aloof, bureaucratic, excessively formalistic, and fastidious, spending hours upon hours with legal documents and ensuring action, if any should occur, stringently adheres to protocol. For such reasons, the Azorius can be deeply disdained by other Ravnicans. Those who decry the Azorius often say that they prefer to act through inaction.

The Azorius Senate works alongside the Boros Legion, the Selesnya Conclave, Guildless factions such as the Hazda, and most of the other guilds to a much smaller extent, in order to see to the enforcement of the law. In addition to serving as the judges in Ravnica's judicial sector, they work alongside the Orzhov Syndicate to provide Advocates and Lawmages for accusers, claimants, complainants, plaintiffs and defendants.

Ultimately, the Azorius advocates for harmony, peace, and the status quo, doing so via their intrinsic and intrusive involvement in all affairs on Ravnica and with their legions of knights and paladins as well as mages adept in countermagic, magic to disable and hinder those who would break the law, and other forms of law magic. Believing that their legislation is the singular force that prevents Ravnica from descending into chaos, the Azorius Senate mediates and regulates the activities of all of the other guilds and the general populace despite their numerous decrees being ignored in areas that they have too little a foothold in.

The rigid hierarchy of the Azorius Senate is reflected in the guild's triangle-shaped crest; most Azorius functionaries report to one superior, and are reported to by two subordinates. The Senate is supported by three branches called Columns, each lead by an Arbiter. The Arbiters of the three Columns form the Triumvirate, which advises the Grand Arbiter, otherwise known as the Supreme Judge and Guildmaster. The current leader of the Triumvirate is Supreme Judge Isperia, an ancient and wise Sphinx.

• The Sova Column (the Judiciary)
  This Column acts as judges and the extensive legal apparatus surrounding them. It is tasked primarily with adjudicating and arbitrating the effects of the law. To do so, this column employs legal aides, pages, librarians, experts on precedent, advocates for the accused, public prosecutors, and judges. Becoming Arbiter of the Sova Column is considered to be one of the most powerful positions anyone in Ravnica can hold next to being a Guildmaster, in fact, there have been multiple Azorius Guildmasters, including the current one, that have come from this Column.
  Led by the Arbiter Leonos II, a wise and kind Human Judge and Lawmage who takes pains to consider all perspectives before issuing a judgment - even the perspectives of the spirits of the dead, with whom he can communicate. He is patient and utterly loyal to the guild.

• There are a great number of Sphinx that support the Senate in this column. The Azorius revere these wise beings as embodiments of the law and their place in the guild has been a cornerstone of the Sova Column since Parun Azor I founded the guild.

• The Jelenn Column (the Legislative)
  This Column acts as Scribes and Elocutor. The term Elocutor covers all communication functions, from simple messengers — who are often spirits — to conflict mediation. The Jelenn write and enact the laws of Ravnica, involving the efforts not just of the designated legislators but also a network of bureaucrats, aides, writers, researchers, lobbyists, clerks, and so on. These folks may be simple scribes or clerks, but their ability to speak and connect with people coupled with possessing a few tricks to survive outside of Azorius territory makes them ideal to be the face of the guild alongside the very pronounced Lyev Column.
  Led by a eccentric Vedalken Lawmage named Uzana. She is renowned for a nearly perfect memory, and has memorized every statute of Azorius law, down to the letter. Most of her speeches are littered with quotations from those statutes.

• The Lyev Column (the Enforcers)
  The most prominent face of the Senate present themselves in the ranks of the Lyev Column where the Azorius martial force resides. Present in this Column are a vast number of different ranks and specialties that make an Azorius task force a very real threat to criminals trying to edge into Senate territory or airspace.
  Led by the Human Hussar Commander Agmand Sarv who, despite never seeing combat, has earned himself a reputation as a brilliant military strategist, the Lyev work as Lawmages, Investigators and Enforcers in the many-leveled hierarchy of the Column.
  Lawmages and their various ranks make up close to half of the Azorius military force with the other half consisting of various forms of Arresters. Lawmages and Arresters both can be assigned the rank of Hussar, which means they are given a mount and are considered distinguished among the others. The Senate primarily uses Griffins as their Skyknight mounts and Horses as their ground based mounts.
  The Lyev Column is also venturing into the work of managing surveillance and precognition, creating another special form of Lawmage, the Precognitive Mage. With the growing surveillance and the addition of precognition to their arsenal, the Senate feels it more than makes up for its overall military size being much smaller than the Boros Legion's.

The senate also has general contractors, builders and architects on retainer and boast about them being among the best in the world. These Konstructors, as they were designated, are those who enhance and/or accelerate their building projects with magic.

As far as the Azorius are concerned, every other guild in Ravnica is hastening along the road to anarchy. Even other guilds that are inclined toward order are ignoring or exploiting the law. Even guilds that are inclined toward order such as the Boros, Orzhov, and Selesnya can ignore or exploit the law when it suits them. Of course, whenever the members of another guild decide to operate within the law, they are potential allies for the Azorius. Even some members of the Cult of Rakdos can be pragmatic enough to stifle their impulses for a time in order to join forces against a common enemy.

Out in the field and away from their establishments, the public only sees a few select sides of the Senate, and being the multifaceted axis of Ravnican law creates a great deal of varying opinions about them. Most places that dislike the Azorius will dislike any member, but in neutral territory, there is more nuance to the situation.

Lyev: Though citizens who deeply resent the Senate will say this side of the guild perpetuates their corruption, the vast majority of Ravnica appreciates the work that the martial side of the Azorius do in keeping the city safe, as long as they aren't on the receiving end of a ticket. On the right side of the tracks, citizens will downright worship the ground you walk on. In seedier parts of the city, however, this opinion turns on its head. If you're in a rough enough neighborhood, criminals will openly attack these members of the Senate if they feel they can get away with it.

Jelenn: The general public are mixed when it comes to this side of the guild, and the reasons for this difference in opinion usually comes down to what laws are preferred to others and an individuals stance on the recent policies this side of the Senate has been churning out lately. Because they usually choose to represent the guild in a more mild fashion than Lyev Column members, those in this Column rarely have to fear physical persecution by the populace in rough neighborhoods.

Sova: More than likely, members of this Column you meet on the streets are just pages on their way to deliver court documents, but when the members of this Column are in the spotlight, it is usually due to the extremely negative sentiment towards prosecutors. Advocates soften the public view the Sova, but even they can face public retribution if they fail to properly defend their client. On top of this, the public eye is always directly on the judges of this Column, ready to rebuke them if they feel justice hasn't been properly carried out in the most recent case they have seen.

Because of its authoritarian, overreaching grasp, the Azorius Senate's relationships with other guilds are rarely entirely positive. Senate members tend to view members of other guilds as dangerous threats to order, while other guild members see the Azorius as rigid and tyrannical.

Boros: "Their vigilantism is tremendously dangerous without a hand to control it."

Dimir: "A perennial thorn in our side. Though they were once our greatest foes, not even the masters of espionage can hide from our watchful eyes."

Golgari: "Their underground structures break numerous building regulations, but at least they fulfill their duty as garbage collectors."

Gruul: "The Gruul are dangerous anarchists with no interest in furthering the development of civilization. They serve no useful purpose."

Izzet: "Eccentric and occasionally explosive, but generally harmless, for now. In their paranoia they have enlarged their weapon stockpiles, but they lack the clarity of vision to put them to use."

Orzhov: "Their brazen exploitation of our laws will be their downfall. They are an insidious threat that could tear society apart from the inside."

Rakdos: "An absolute blight on Ravnica. They are clowns who know nothing of culture and exist only to torment the functioning members of society."

Selesnya: "The Conclave plays by the rules and keeps to itself. Until its members become too numerous, they are of little threat to us."

Simic: "The Simic experiment with matters that disobey the laws of nature and the laws of Ravnica. We must not let them gain influence."

Where many people saw tragedy and doom in the Guildpact breaking 75 years ago during the Decamillennial, the Grand Arbiter at the time, Augustin IV, saw opportunity. In a bid to forcibly reshape Ravnica into a plane of pure order and law, he murdered and forcibly enslaved the ghost of House Dimir's Parun and current Guildmaster, the Vampire Szadek, who was sitting helpless in an Azorius prison, under magical nullifying effects, after being arrested by Agrus Kos, and set his ghost to work killing the Boros Legion's Guildmaster and chasing down leads on how to destroy the others. After biding his time for over a decade, another Guildmaster, Momir Vig of the Simic Combine, met their end after attempting to seize control of Ravnica. Capitalizing on the feeling of unease and fear creeping up through the people of Ravnica as guild after guild attempted to take advantage of the Guildpact, Augustine IV made his move and called for a vote to grant him emergency powers. The vote was a success due to the help of Augustin's powerful illusion magic, but his victory was cut short when the flying Boros garrison known as the Parhelion was flown into Prahv and detonated, but not before Szadek caught up to him and sucked his soul out, thanks to some unlikely help from Agrus Kos.

When all the dust settled, the Senate recognized the corruption of their former leader and sentenced him posthumously. The following year was fraught with uncertainty as the position of Guildmaster wasn't filled immediately. When they finally convinced the reluctant Isperia to step into to role, the wheels of the Senate began turning and New Prahv was erected. Since then the Azorius have done their best to repair the image of the guild, primarily through openly decrying Augustin's policies and duplicity while making it absolutely clear that no one else in the Senate knew what was going on. The results have been...mixed.

Information Source: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/ravnica-grandarchivist/a/azorius-senate-article