Summoners of the League of Legends! Hear ye and be warned that the Council has decreed that a contest of arms upon that Field of Justice known as the Howling Abyss shall conclusively resolve the disputes hereafter described.
♦ 14 MARCH, 25 CLE. BILGEWATER accuses BANDLE CITY of spying upon it using the so-called Lunar Monitoring and Analytic Operations system, and dispatching Reconnaissance Operations Front-Line copters to intercept a privateer fleet on the Guardian’s Sea.
♦ 15 MARCH, 25 CLE. THE FRELJORD demands that THE SHADOW ISLES return the souls of Winter’s Claw warriors diverted into the custody of the Isles by alteration of the leylines of the Conqueror’s Sea.
Let the word of the League be as law, lest all the powers of Runeterra arrange themselves against ye. There may be no appeal.
This weekend, we’ll have special Intermission Featured Matches between Bilgewater and Bandle City (Saturday, March 14) and between the Freljord and the Shadow Isles (Sunday, March 15). As these are Intermission matches, anyone is free to put their name in the hat for either or both factions on each day. We’ll be using the Intermission Champion rosters. (These rosters tend to be much more lenient and broad than one would find during an arc.) For a change of pace, we’ll be holding these matches on the Howling Abyss.
Anyone, regardless of skill level, may sign up. The sign-up forms are below, after the descriptions of each dispute. Teams will be randomly selected. We use ranked tiers to roughly balance the teams for the sake of fairness.
What are they fighting for? Bilgewater is suing Bandle City for alleged acts of espionage via lunar surveillance, while the Freljord and the Shadow Isles are contesting the interpretation of one of the League’s oldest treaties, a compact concerning nexus alignment that will decide the fate of countless souls of slain Winter’s Claw warriors.
Sign-up links are posted below for each set of matches. We will be rank-balancing the teams as usual. Once we decide on which tiers to use for each match, we will randomly select Summoners to fill those spots. I’ve set up a discussion thread on GD, as well.
Matches will begin at 12:30 p.m. Pacific (1:30 Mountain, 2:30 Central, 3:30 Eastern) on each day, and there will be three matches per day. These matches will be held on the NA server.
Matches will be streamed at twitch.tv/LeagueFactions.
Matches will be conducted using Intermission Champion lists.
Saturday, 14 March, 25 CLE—Bilgewater v. Bandle City
Bilgewater accuses Bandle City of using its lunar base for espionage. It wants an end to Bandle City’s unilateral use of its Lunar Monitoring and Analysis Operations system (which, to answer a strangely common question, can indeed directly interface with the guidance systems on Reconnaissance Operations Front-Line copters). It demands observer access to the apparatus, and relaying privileges so that its own vessels can use it for navigational purposes. Bandle City, in turn, aims to use this dispute to clear up the legality of lunar surveillance once and for all.
Graves stretched, working the creaks out of his old bones as he took a look around the chamber. Those lawyers had been going on long enough.
“The Council recognizes Malcolm Graves, Champion of the League, and Bilgewater’s ad hoc emissary in this dispute.”
“Yeah, yeah, hold yer horses.” He patted at his pockets until he found a fireflint and his last cigar.
Kolminye looked over at her marshal, who spoke up. “Begging your pardon, sir, but in accordance with the new policy against the combustion of herbal preparations within the Institute, we must ask you to refrain while in chambers.”
With the unlit cigar between his teeth, Graves answered with a cock-eyed glance and a grunt. He took his time returning the cigar to his pocket, and spoke as he did so.
“Y’see, the thing about this is I’ve been told some mighty troubling news.” He thought about how much he wanted to inhale the robust aroma of that fine cigar.
He smiled as his eyes searched the Councilors’ bench like a poker table. Not that he was much for card games these days. “These Summoners here,” he jerked his thumb back at the robed figures sitting behind him, “they tell me…”
He slapped the table and thrust a finger at the little fuzzballs sitting not ten feet from him. “THAT THESE VARMINTS ARE SPYING ON US!”
Several of the yordles shrieked. One actually hid behind another. He had to work hard not to crack up, which would have ruined the effect entirely. He didn’t much care about this spying business, but Sarah Fortune had asked him to put on a show, and he was happy to oblige. He’d laugh his head off once he got back to his chambers. Where he planned to smoke his damn cigar in peace.
He forced himself to come back from that rather pleasant thought. Now was the time to play up the rough and tumble Bilgewater routine.
“They got themselves some kinda fancy rig up on the moon, and they’ve been watching Bilgewater like a buncha peepin’ toms for months.”
The chief delegate from Bandle City got up. He yapped back. “There is no law against lunar surveillance! And let the Council take note of what we found when our Lunar Monitoring and Analysis Operations system dispatched Reconnaissance Operations Front-Line copters to the scene: a privateer fleet flying Bilgewater flags and absolutely stinking with Noxian magic sailing for a Piltovian merchant convoy on an intercept course!”
Graves let the outraged fluffball huff and pant. “Bilgewater ships go where they wanna go.”
“If we hadn’t sent warning, that would have been the third convoy to go ‘missing’ since the Void War! The High Command is using Bilgewater privateers to prey on helpless merchants, and rebuilding its war machine with its ill-gotten gains!”
Did he really just say “ill-gotten gains”?
Graves snarled. “What’re you playin’ at? League’s got no jurisdiction on the high seas.”
The yordle squeaked back. “No jurisdiction? Who do you think you are, Swain?!”
Graves frowned. For the first time, he took this a little bit personal. That had been an ugly business, and it didn’t help that by the end of it Swain had played Nami for a sucker. Using Bilgewater’s money to buy the lives of a bunch of damn fool Demacians, and giving Swain the cash to put two new legions back on active duty. Sarah Fortune wouldn’t have let that happen.
Kolminye spoke before Graves could. “Bandle City’s accusations are being investigated by the Maritime Affairs Committee. The honorable representative from Bandle City will restrict his remarks to the issue at hand.”
“I have nothing further to say to this miscreant!”
Graves arched an eyebrow. “Hoo, boy. Miss-cree-ant.” He glanced back at the Summoners. “One’a you fellas, find out what that means and lemme know. Jus’ don’t ask me to spell it.” They laughed together, and he didn’t even have to look over to know that the yordle was boiling over with rage. It was the damnedest thing: some yordles just could not abide being laughed at, despite being the most objectively ridiculous creatures on Valoran that had ever gained the power of speech. And that’s counting Zaunites, the old joke went.
“Now I was in a downright foul temper there, but this little varmint seems to have restored me to my,” he skewed his accent toward the urbane, “customarily cheerful disposition.” He looked back at Kolminye. “With your approval, ma’am, I reckon we oughta take this to the Rift.”
Kolminye nodded, and was about to speak when the yordle representative piped up again.
“Bandle City asks that the Council issue a summary ruling on sub-motion four.”
Kolminye thumbed through the rather tall stack of rather petite papers filed by Bandle City. She seemed surprised when her eye caught the page. “…the Abyss? Really? For an arranged dispute?”
“Yes, High Councilor.”
Graves shrugged. “Fine by me. Your boys can die wherever they like.” His hand had already started to go for his pocket when he remembered. Damn. Woulda been a downright dramatic moment to light up a cigar.
Kolminye raised her gavel. “The selection of the adjudicative panel shall be determined by contest of arms upon that Field of Justice known as the Howling Abyss.” She struck. “It is so ordered.” She looked over at him. “Dress warmly, Mr. Graves. This hearing is adjourned.”
- Sign Up Here—All skill levels are welcome.
The stakes for this match will be Espionage points.
Sunday, 15 March, 25 CLE—the Freljord v. the Shadow Isles
Sejuani has discovered that fluctuations in nexus alignment have been channeling the funerary barges of Winter’s Claw warriors across the Conqueror’s Sea to the cursed shores of the Shadow Isles. She demands that this be set right, and that the Winter’s Claw be allowed to retrieve the barges (and the souls of those they bear) before the Isles’ necromancers can work their foul magic upon them.
It was the custom of the Winter’s Claw to send their honored dead from their shores on funerary barges with polished armor and sharpened weapons, ready to join the spirits of their ancestors on that timeless celestial battlefield whence came the immortal courage of the Claw’s warriors. In the middle of the night, Sejuani was awoken by one of the very few would who dare such presumption: the High Kin-Priest of the Winter’s Claw. He told her that those slain in battle on Krocylea still had yet to answer their name-prayers, which had been offered daily for a full fortnight. “We must consult the Frostguard,” he informed her, and hearing his grave tone she set aside her habitually ingrained distrust for Lissandra’s wily sages.
Within days, a council of all the tribes had gathered. They discovered that something was diverting the spirits of the slain from their deserved places at the sides of their ancestors in glorious battle among the stars. Their Summoners laid out a mage’s map and described a terrible possibility: that the Shadow Isles had used the Harrowing to twist Runeterra’s ethereal conduits to draw the death-barges into the Isles’ waiting bone-fingers. With the ocean-ways thus distorted, their final acts of loyalty to their slain friends had become betrayals of the worst kind.
The gravity of the offense momentarily united the three tribes. Queen Ashe sent word to Demacia on Sejuani’s behalf. The royal chancellor confirmed their fears. They had consulted Ceruleana, mistress of the depths, and she spoke of a changing of the tides that had much perturbed her. Yet she would not herself act, for its cause lay with the barriers between dimensions, and after the catastrophe in Shurima she refused to tamper again with such magics.
The Freljord’s representatives filed suit with the Council under one of the League’s oldest treaties: an agreement on the manipulation of nexus alignment and leyline convergence. It was a carryover from a centuries-old international compact from the Rune Wars. Though dutifully transcribed into the first volumes of the Council’s lawbooks, it had become all but obsolete since the League’s foundation.
It was decreed that these two factions would meet upon the Howling Abyss, to decide by contest of arms whether the Isles should be commanded to return the barges to the Freljord, and to revert the alterations made to the leyline-currents of the Conqueror’s Sea.
- Sign Up Here—All skill levels are welcome.
The stakes for this match will be Military. Mordekaiser is most desirous to add these powerful warrior-souls to his undead army, while their return would strengthen the ancestral spirits of the Winter’s Claw.
—CupcakeTrap
Caitlyn, you monster.
FACTIONS 
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