Szadek

**Szadek** is an important character in the plane of Ravnica. He is known as the **Lord of Secrets** or **Lord of Whispers**, and was the original parun of House Dimir, one of the ten guilds that govern the city-plane of Ravnica.

## Description

Szadek was the last of an ancient race of psychic vampires, an ancient and powerful being known for his psychic manipulation and shadow control abilities. He was the hidden leader of the House Dimir guild for millennia and played a crucial role in the events of Ravnica's past. During his leadership, House Dimir was known as nothing more than a folktale or conspiracy theory little credited by serious people, when in fact it operated in the shadows secretly gathering information and manipulating events for its own ends. After his death, the true nature of House Dimir was revealed to the world and it had to operate in a more transparent manner. However, even after Szadek's death, his influence and legacy continued to affect the Dimir and their new guildmaster, Lazav, who claimed to listen to commands and act upon the parun's own designs.

## Powers

In addition to his unique psychic powers, Szadek was able to fly by turning partially (and perhaps fully) into mist. He was able to exert control over the lupul, a species of shapeshifting larvae that obeyed only him. As a ghost, Szadek was able to exert considerable control over other spirits.

## History

### Signing of the Guildpact

Szadek is a very ancient being, having lived since before the signing of the Guildpact. It is said that he was a unique figure during the event of the signing of the original Guildpact, appearing in the middle of the Clash of Two Champions to stop the duel between Razia and Cisarzim and cueing Azor to propose the initiative of the agreement. When the document was finally signed, Szadek was one of its signatories, representing the Dimir guild. Like all other paruns, Szadek would have a role to play in the deal. Interestingly, he was indirectly tasked with breaking it one day. The reason for this was to make the Guildpact's own magic more powerful, because once there was a guild that opposed the agreement, the rest could unite to fight it, and thus the need for the Guildpact would perpetuate. This created a paradox in the structure of the Guildpact that would eventually allow it to be so powerful that not even the parun could undo it on a mere whim. Furthermore, one of the clauses of the Guildpact guaranteed that none of the parun could reveal the existence of Szadek and his guild, thus guaranteeing their secrecy.

### The Perfect Lie

Thus, House Dimir never officially existed. The populace generally believed that only nine guilds existed and that, if there ever was a tenth, it had dissolved thousands of years ago. The name Dimir remained unknown to most people and those who knew it believed it to be a myth, a children's story or a paranoid conspiracy theory. For a long time, the historic "Lord of Whisperers" was believed to have been a particularly long-lived necromancer who raised a skeletal army in the early days of the Guildpact's peace in a failed bid for power. The first guildmasters, the paruns, destroyed him for trying to lead an army against the city, the only statute of the Guildpact that all guilds were bound to abide by equally. This, however, later turned out to be just one of many lies, perpetrated by Szadek himself and his House Dimir in order to divert the attention of the masses from their activities.

### The Decamillennial Plan

Szadek had a plan to try to control Ravnica and, to carry it out, at one point he intended to break the Guildpact (thus exercising his prerogative in the agreement). For millennia he arranged everything to culminate in a grand victory that would take place during the festival of the Decamillennial. Through an alliance with the elf Savra, who wished to free Svogthir (the parun of the Golgari guild) to take revenge on the Sisters of Stone Death and return command of the Golgari Swarm to the devkarin, Szadek ensured that his ruse worked. Once he promised to help her by confiding the way to bring the ancient parun back from its petrified form (courtesy of the gorgons), Savra became the vampire's minion. The next step was to manipulate the interior of the Boros Legion, causing several leadership positions to be occupied by its trusted minions. Then he also forged an alliance with the Selesnya Conclave and appointed Savra herself to join the Chorus of the Conclave. It was a very cunning way to get into Vitu-Ghazi and approach Mat'Selesnya, the parun of the green and white guild.

At the most critical moment of the Decamillennial celebration, Szadek would seize control of the Selesnya Conclave (the force officially opposing him) in order to prevent the song of Convocation from being performed by the Chorus of the Conclave. Then he would kill Mat'Selesnya, whose life was inextricably linked to the Guildpact, and destroy the pact once and for all. Meanwhile, the ambitious Savra has finally settled her score with the Golgari throne. As promised by Szadek, she found Svogthir's petrified body and restored him to life to help her overthrow the Sisters who imprisoned him. Savra then used ancient matka magic to slay Svogthir and take her spirit, imprisoning it in her scepter, then proclaiming herself the new Queen of the Golgari. Later on the night of the Decamillennial Savra infiltrated the Selesnya Conclave and tried to take it over as well, but Szadek betrayed and killed her.

However, Szadek was stopped by a Wojek lieutenant named Agrus Kos, who captured and imprisoned the vampire for crimes against the Guildpact. In the end, Mat'Selesnya, whose spirit resided in Vitu-Ghazi, was greatly weakened.

### Death and Reappearance

After being arrested, Szadek was sent to an Azorius prison. With the Pact's magic beginning to crumble, then-Grand Arbiter Augustin IV found Szadek in his cell and thwarted the vampire's plans by removing his soul from his body and enslaving his ghost. Augustin forced Szadek to reveal the identity and location of several high-ranking members of the Dimir guild, as well as secret bases and infiltrated spies in other guilds under the vampire's direct command. After this, Szadek was sent to Agyrem, where the souls of the dead were destined and where the Parhelion and all the Boros angels had gone. Augustin's goal was to use Szadek to kill the Boros angels and their guildmaster, Razia, and then take control of martial law on Ravnica and then control the entire city.

But once again, Szadek anticipated this move, and when his soul arrived in Agyrem, his final plan began. He amassed a great spectral army, rallying most of the strayed spirits under his banner, and prepared for an open charge against the remaining guilds.

However, after defeating the parun Boros in an open confrontation in the ghost district, Szadek was captured once more by Agrus Kos (now also a ghost), who trapped him with a grounder, a device made for capturing spirits. Knowing of Augustin's dictatorial plans, Kos took control of the Parhelion and left for Pravh, the Azorius guildhall where the senators were gathered to enact the legal act that gave absolute control of Ravnica to Augustin. The late lieutenant forced the angelic ship to crash into Prahv, causing hundreds of Azorius deaths. Augustin IV was still alive and trying to find an escape route, but Agrus Kos surprised him once again, hearing the advance of troops led by Teysa, who had joined the lieutenant to put an end to that dissension. As Augustin tried to argue, Kos threw the grounder towards him, in order to break it and free Szadek's captured spirit. Enraged and eager for revenge, the vampire destroyed the body and devoured the soul of the Grand Arbiter.

### Lord of Agyrem

After the dissolution of the Guildpact, the ghost of the parun Szadek found refuge in Agyrem, which had overlapped and merged with Ravnica, effectively becoming a district of the city. In 10,014 Z.C., the ghost of Agrus Kos was then tasked by guildmaster Feather with the task of establishing a Leaguehall in the newly created Ghost Quarter and fighting Szadek, whose power was growing. The Dimir guild was considered destroyed and omitted from the new non-magical pact created by Teysa. With the vampire's absence, House Dimir was close to disappearing. Some members defected to other alliances or simply returned to the common population of the megalopolis.

The Agyrem overlay remained on Ravnica until the year 10,018 ZC, when the Ravnican ghost world anomaly dissolved. Since then, the status of Szadek, Agrus Kos and his dominance in Agyrem is unknown.

Even after the Agyrem disappeared, Lazav, the new guildmaster of House Dimir, claims to have contacted Szadek's spirit and used that knowledge to re-establish the guild.

## Gallery

Szadek concept art by D. Alexander GregorySzadek Lord of Secrets by Kendal14 on DeviantArt
## References

1. ↑ # *Cory J. Herndon (2005). Ravnica Cycle, Book I: Ravnica , Wizards of the Coast.*
2. ↑ *Cory J. Herndon (2006). Ravnica Cycle, Book III: Dissension, Wizards of the Coast.*
3. ↑ *Cory J. Herndon (2005). Ravnica Cycle, Book I: Ravnica , Wizards of the Coast, Chapter 2.*
4. ↑ Fanmade created by Sorin Perrone