We of the Simic Combine dedicate the formation and use of the Helical Stair to the citizens of Ravnica. Just as your roots reached down to us in the oceans, we now reach up to you. Let it stand as a permanent bridge between our worlds, distinct but distant no longer. (DO NOT FEED THE SHAMBLESHARKS)

-Dedication plaque (and warning sign) located at the public entrance of Zonot Five

Of all of Ravnica’s guilds, the original Simic Combine were perhaps the most devastated by the Guildpact‘s dissolution and subsequent Dissension Crisis. Scattered and sundered after their original guildhall was destroyed and their guildmaster killed, the Combine were all but destroyed, only a minor vestige of what was once Ravnica’s primary provider of healing and biomancy. Then appeared the zonots, massive sinkholes in remote regions of the city leading to the forgotten oceans of the plane, and the mysterious merfolk made themselves known to Ravnica’s surface, eventually taking charge of the floundering remains of the Simic. Since then, the Combine has grown and flourished, once more raised to the level of its fellow guilds.

At its core, Simic ideals have not changed much: their original charge was maintaining nature, and since nature has waned to almost nothing on the urban plane, the Combine’s ideas likewise shifted – nature is something that needs to be adapted to survive. And while the current Simic maintain the old guild’s work, they have turned away from the cold, scientifically-calculated vision of adaptation and focused more on conservation and growth. Unlike the Selesnya Conclave, the Simic remain detached and holistic in their work, thinking exclusively of what is best for a given ecosystem, always looking for ways to allow nature and civilization to coexist on a biological level. In the process, they have resumed some of their beneficial functions, creating new healing agents and medical advances that are used by the greater populace of Ravnica on a daily basis.

Despite the enigmatic nature of the merfolk running the Combine, many other races have joined the guild with renewed vigor, recalling how drastically different the guild has become since its near-extinction. Thus, the Simic operate with with fresh ideas and new horizons, ready to face the challenges that an ever-growing urban sprawl – and the other guilds – will inevitably throw at them.

Alignment: Neutral Good

Domains: Animal, Healing, Magic, Plant, Water

Guildmaster: Speaker Zegana

Guildhall: Zameck

Values: Conservation and research. The Simic see evolution as a tool with which they can adapt lifeforms to the harshness of the urban plane, and strive to utilize those principals to their advantage and gain footholds of wilderness across Ravnica.