Krocylea Resolution Summary

Naggarok and I have just finished rolling out all of the Krocylea dice. A more flavorful description of the outcome will be added eventually, but I wanted to at least briefly summarize what happened.

So Many Dice

This section doubles as (1) a bit of contextual explanation (2) what I consider to be a justifiable “give us a break” request.

First, though, I want to make a contextual note. Naggarok and I have spent at least 15 hours rolling dice, reviewing rules, arguing with each other over the application of these rules, revising rules, clarifying rules, and computing the strength value of Zombie Bears. You’re all welcome to review the GDoc and check for other small errors…but to be perfectly honest, both Naggarok and I have a lot of Factions work to do, not to mention (so we’re told) real lives that we’ve been neglecting the past few days to make sure that the Zombie Bears were accurately portrayed. So, please, try to limit the salt, and although I shall endeavor to be diplomatic (I can’t speak for Naggarok), if you start yelling at me about my horrific bias, favoritism, etc., I may think unkind thoughts about you.

Joking aside (because that was totally a joke, obviously, it’s not as though I’d resent you for raging at me after that ordeal), my point is simply that we really have tried to handle this as best as possible. We’re going to try to improve our procedures to be more efficient. But yes. At a certain point, perfection becomes an undesirable goal, because if both of us commit all of our energy to one island event, a lot of other areas are going to be neglected. Like that Harrowing update.

The Battle for Krocylea

Here’s what happened, from the beginning.

• The Shadow Isles and the Freljord went to an island called Krocylea, with two mirror-image kingdoms who have been at war for the past thousand years. Like that Star Trek episode.
• The Shadow Isles summoned Aatrox (which is a bit of a psycho option in the eyes of the League and other factions) and attacked the kingdom on the Freljord’s side.
• The Freljord mounted a defense.
• Both sides resorted to dangerous rune magic, causing massive damage to the island and provoking further ire from the Council. (More on that later.) The Shadow Isles broke the Freljordian defenses.
• The Freljord botched their spell particularly badly, and tore open a Void rift. (This was definitely not Lissandra attempting to call forth the Watchers.)
• The Freljord and the Shadow Isles were soon joined by forces from Bilgewater and Ionia, who had been observing from a safe distance, in a desperate attempt to prevent the island from being consumed by the Void.
• They destroyed the Void monsters and closed the portal in what has been rightly referred to as the most metal battle in Factions history.
• The Shadow Isles then turned on the Krocyleans, intent on slaughtering them all to raise them as undead soldiers.
• Ionia took a stand against the Isles. After much equivocation, Ashe decided to join them. Bilgewater was unwilling to commit troops, but did bombard the Shadow Isles.
• We held special Featured Matches to influence the outcome of the battle, as per usual for faction versus faction military engagements. Remarkably, Ionia and the Freljord went 3–0 versus the Isles, gaining a +50% bonus to its Strength for the battle.
• The battle was exceedingly close, even with this massive match modifier, and the fact that this was the Shadow Isles versus two other factions and a powerful NPC force.
• In the end, it came down to a matter of 5 points of Strength, but a remarkable roll from the Winter’s Claw Boar Riders brought the defeat of the Shadow Isles in the decisive third round.
• All sides have taken grievous losses. The Shadow Isles was forced to retreat. Aatrox and Soraka both fell in the battle, and will be MIA until December 11.
• Many Krocyleans also perished, but their civilizations remain intact.
• After the Shadow Isles were driven from the Isles, the other three factions were able to repair the nexus, stabilizing the island and presumably revealing an important lesson about friendship. (Will defer to Montesque on exactly what happens when the nexus is fixed.)
• The League is absolutely furious. It has imposed a temporary peace edict over all of Nyroth:

Hear ye, and be warned! This affront to the peace of Runeterra shall not abide.
The Council so declares on this sixth day of December, 24 CLE: that all member-states of the League of Legends are hereby ordered to refrain from the initiation of any hostilities against one another, or against the peoples of Nyroth, in order that the calamity witnessed on the island called Krocylea may be investigated, and Runeterra secured against further danger.
Let the word of the League be as Law, lest all the powers of Runeterra arrange themselves against ye. There may be no appeal.

• After the edict’s pronouncement, one Summoner made a whimsical remark before the Council to the effect of, “What if a crazy ocean spirit throws them into a table and tells them to attack some mines?” He was promptly suspended from competition and sent to a disciplinary hearing. No further jokes were made within earshot of Councilor Kolminye.
• The Council has chosen to issue the edict with very broad language, rather than delving into particulars; those versed in League politics have commented that this likely means they do not want to leave any loopholes. It would not be wise to test the letter of the law at this moment.

Resolution Details

You can read the resolution GDoc here.

FAQs

Here are some questions that I’ve seen asked or expect to be asked.

Whoa. Our whole army got blown up. What now?

Most factions will be able to replenish their Nyrothian armies with reinforcements from the mainland. We’ll put the numbers up when we can. For the time being, though, there’s no need to worry, as that peace edict mentioned above is in effect, and it’s clear that the Council isn’t messing around. If you’d like to see Demacia and Noxus cooperate on something, one easy way would be to try to start a fight on Nyroth right now. They will both be beating the tar out of you in two seconds flat, I guarantee it.

What did we gain or lose from this?

All four factions gained considerable rewards from this island, far in excess of what one would normally expect from an island exploration. We’re working on the details, and you’re free to propose specific ideas for cashing in those rewards. Of course, the four factions all also took serious losses. It’s too early to say, but here are my off-the-cuff comments for each faction.

• The Shadow Isles: You are in the dog house with the League, and some of the other factions may be pretty angry as well. Several of your Champions were taken out of action in this fighting. On the other hand, replenishing troops has never been a problem for the Isles. You reinforce units at double-speed, and you have a huge reserve back on Valoran that you can use to near-instantly replace your losses on Krocylea.
• The Freljord: You invoked Rune Wars-level magic and tore open a Void rift. It wasn’t a Shurima-scale rift, but it was pretty bad: this is exactly what the League was founded to prevent. On the other hand, you made a heroic stand with Ionia to stop the Isles in their tracks, and you helped to restore the island’s nexus, which probably went a long way toward rehabilitating your image with the League. You can expect stiff sanctions, like the Isles, but you can bounce back. Your military losses weren’t as bad as what the others suffered.
• Ionia: You took very heavy military losses, but you also gained a huge amount of respect from the Council for bringing this disastrous situation under control, and saved many lives.
• Bilgewater: The Shadow Isles may be annoyed with you, but you mostly kept to the sidelines after the clash with the Void. You came away with minimal losses. You also avoided being labeled as complicit in the Isles’ attempted massacre of tens of thousands of people, so that’s good.

Other Islands

The other island exploration results will go up ASAP.

What’s Next

Hey Naggarok, let’s roll some more dice! (Sob. Sob.)

More seriously: we’ll take care of reward allocation and such as soon as we can. The silver lining here is that we’ve now realized we need to seriously simplify a lot of World Systems components, which should not only save us time but also make for more clear and compelling choices for Summoners.

Please bear with us as inevitable delays occur. I’d like to ask that people focus on creating matches and welcoming those Summoners who have recently joined Factions to the community.

—CupcakeTrap

About CupcakeTrap

Caitlyn, you monster.