Selesnya Conclave

Overview

Like a thriving garden, carefully tended and abundantly fertile, the communities of the Selesnya Conclave are a harmonious union of nature and civilization. The members of the Conclave are a harmonious union of nature and civilization. The members of the Conclave dream of embracing all of Ravnica in their peaceful union. In the meantime, they are growing an army, preparing to resist the ambition and destructive impulses of the other guilds and fight to defend their way of life through this time of uncertainty.

Founded by Parun Mat'Selesnya, a primordial elemental who communicates through a group of dryads, the Selesnya Conclave is a decentralized collective variably described as a "selfless, nurturing, spiritual group" or a "brainwashing nature cult", depending on your point of view, and it strives to involve itself in the establishment and maintenance of peace, life, and unity in Ravnica. The territories held by the Selesnya are open and sunny, full of green spaces and gardens, with white stone buildings which are often open to the air. The towering world-tree of Vitu-Ghazi serves as the Guildhall.

Purpose

The original mission of the Conclave involved charity, conservation, and community. Over the years, the only thing that changes is the interpretation of these purposes.

Goals

Despite their appearance of being "good" and "peace-loving", the guild has had a sinister streak at certain points in the past. During times of silence from Mat'Selesnya, the guild is prone to losing its way and entering into a state of paranoia, even resorting to employing Quietmen, a mysterious form of elemental-spirit soldier, and other members to silence the civilians of Ravnica.

The defenders of the Selesnya are the Ledev Guardians. Equenauts ride pegasuses, combining the role of mounted warriors and scouts. Sagittars, are elven archers that defend key guild locations.

Organisation Structure

At the heart of Selesnya faith and philosophy is Parun Mat'Selesnya, who devotees refer to as the Worldsoul. They believe this primordial elemental to be the manifestation of nature itself. At the signing of the original Guildpact, Mat'Selesnya was embodied in an elemental form and acted as the guild's first Guildmaster. However, the Worldsoul has not manifested in his entirety since then and now prefers to communicate through the Chorus of the Conclave. The Chorus is a group of Dryads that are linked to a different aspect of Mat'Selesnya's consciousness. Trostani, a Dryad fusion of three of these aspects of the Worldsoul, speaks for the Chorus.

The Conclave is organized in enclaves called vernadi, which are communes built around central trees, like smaller versions of Vitu-Ghazi. A dryad, called a voda, is called forth to be the leader of the community, connecting the vernadi to the Worldsoul and the will of the entire Conclave. The vernadi are a harmonious union of nature and civilization. Their house are created by woodshapers and are like living gardens without doors, carefully tended and abundantly fertile. The Selesnya are proud of their wurms, which are used by shamans called wurmcallers to travel underground. The wisest clergy (including many Loxodons), are sometimes called hierarchs, although there is no official hierarchy in the religion. Spellcasters fill both military and religious roles, believing that their spells are a gift from the Worldsoul.

The Conclave is both a community of worshippers and a militia, and thus its leadership includes both military and religious figures.

Recruitment

New initiates come to the Conclave as children to be brought up by the guild's members, or as recruits drawn from the guildless or the membership of other guilds. Regardless of the path you took to get here, you start out in the role of initiate. As an initiate, you must subsume your desires to the needs of the guild while finding a way to make yourself useful to Mat'Selesnya under the guidance of your enclave's leader. This effort isn't so much a process of carrying out orders, but of gradually discerning the will of the Worldsoul and finding your place in it.

In your search for communion with the Worldsoul, you are part of a worldwide community, but you are also part of a smaller local community, your Vernadi, the neighborhood you serve and most likely also the one you live in. The first part of your career will most likely be spent in service of your Vernadi and its Voda, who you will get to know and who will help you discern the will of Mat'Selesnya and your place in relation to it.

The Conclave's Opinion of other Guilds

In the Selesnya vision of a perfect Ravnica, the guilds would be abolished and all people would live in harmony with nature and each other. Until such a vision comes to pass, the Conclave judges the other guilds against that standard of perfection.

Azorius: "All their laws are meant to create a semblance of the unity that binds us already. If they would only be still and listen to the voice of Mat'Selesnya."

Boros: "Sooner or later they will tire of their fighting, and when they do, the gentle embrace of the Conclave will be waiting for them."

Dimir: "Just as they hide from the light and cling to the shadows, they hide from life and cling to secrets. They see everything as a scheme, everyone as a tool, instead of recognizing the power of unity and mutual growth."

Golgari: "They wallow in filth and rot, too preoccupied with death to appreciate the bliss of life's connections. Their ranks swarm with dangerous and self serving individuals."

Gruul: "They are a desperate echo of what they should be, reaching blindly toward something greater. Such a waste, and a smelly, unreasonable, destructive one at that."

Izzet: "The path to unity doesn't lie in the oppressive control of a massive ego like the dragon's. The Izzet can tinker and meddle all they like, but they are doomed to failure."

Orzhov: "An endless stream of grasping hands, reaching for more and more, pursuing their individual ambitions at all costs - even from beyond the grave."

Rakdos: "They laugh at tragedy and wallow in pain. Eventually, they will submit to Mat'Selesnya. Until then, they must be contained and the damage they cause to society must be mitigated."

Simic: They chart a twisted course of warping and mangling life and nature. Yes, we must grow and adapt, but nature will take its own time in completing that task."