Vol. VII, Iss. 3—Published at the Institute of War on 11 November, 27 CLE
- Previous: Vol. VII, Iss. 2
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This issue contains resolutions to the Week 3 and Week 4 Featured Matches from the Kin-Fire arc.
Shadow Isles Claim Demacian Crew Lost With Kin-Fire
by Serena Volaren
Demacia and Noxus have intervened in the Kin-Fire dispute, through their respective Champions Quinn and Sion.
It was a Demacian vessel, the Bright Revelation, that took the Kin-Fire from the Ornnhjaln during the Black Winter. It is not clear what its mission was, but it is known that it was carrying several Summoners. When the Black Winter turned its fury toward the Ornnhjaln, these Summoners disembarked and made haste to defend it. They held back the blizzard, and the undead advancing through it, long enough to bear the Kin-Fire and other Ornnhjaln artifacts back to the vessel, which bolted from the shore before the blizzard struck. The Revelation vanished into the Black Mist, and was not seen again. Not, that is, until Quinn scouted the Shadow Isles with her avian companion, Valor. She found the crew alive, but possessed by spirits of the Isles. She managed to capture the ship’s first officer, Dame Tovonne Laurent, as well as the Bright Revelation’s logbook, and bring them both back across the sea. But Demacia’s clerics could not exorcise the possessing spirit, nor pierce the obscuration spell placed over the logbook by the Summoners of the Shadow Isles.
A clear Shadow Isles victory on the Fields of Justice led to the release of the possessed Dame Tovonne back to the Isles, logbook in hand. She was joined by a Noxian, Xanno Trepse, who was being held by the Demacian Inquisition in connection with the ship’s disappearance and other events of the Black Winter.
(1 November, 27 CLE)
League Rules Freljord Must Leave Door Open for Harrowing
by Summoner Tolam “MCLiveMouse” Spiritmight
Ornn’s celebrated entry into the League of Legends soon turned to tragedy, when he and his allies in the Freljord failed to stop Thresh from reaping the souls of the Hearthblood from the Kin-Fire. Mourning his past, still he held fast to his determination to use his fabled powers of forgecraft to better the present state of the Freljord and its people. Fellow Champion Braum soon provided Ornn with an avenue for doing so: using his shield as a template for enchanted doors that would hold back the malevolent spirits of the Harrowing from Freljordian homes.
Soon after they began their project, however, Evelynn and Braum were seen conversing privately over tea at the Institute. It seems that she expressed concerns that the widespread use of such enchantments would distort the natural flow of the Harrowing, perhaps even leading to another Black Winter-level event. It was agreed that the matter should come before the League. Trials upon the Fields proved necessary, and were held.
Both sides contended fiercely, but in the end, the Shadow Isles secured victory by a narrow margin. It was soon decreed that the project could continue, but on a small scale, with League oversight that would incorporate significant input from some of the League’s foremost experts on necromantic phenomena: most of whom are also aligned with the Isles.
Soon after the disposition of the contest was proclaimed, I chanced to overhear Evelynn addressing High Councilor Vessaria Kolminye. “That was a lovely speech the other day, about how the League is doing so much to alleviate suffering in Runeterra. But I just want you to know, dear, that you shouldn’t worry about me on that count. The truth is, I’ve been doing just fine.”
“This Evelynn, I do not like her,” Braum commented in response to this quotation. “But she won, I lost, in fight that was fair. It is no good to complain. Now is time for good hard work.”
(3 November, 27 CLE)
League Resolves Series of Minor Disputes
by Summoner Lillian “HeadshotDiva” Goldborough
While the Freljord and the Shadow Isles scrap over the Kin-Fire, smaller disputes have been stacking up. This past weekend, the League cleaned house by slating six of these for rapid resolution on the Fields. While the Freljord and the Shadow Isles took a breather, or whatever it is Shadow Isles types take in their downtime (aren’t they mostly on their “dug-back-up-time”, though?), these other nations hired up a bevy of Summoners and made their claims. This was surely a relief to announcers, who can only point out that the Freljord has a lot of freezing-slowing magic in its lineup so many times.
Outcomes are summarized below, with official point totals.
- Zaun v. Piltover. Victory for Zaun by 14 points. The League has ordered Piltovian researcher Dr. Gerald Lumos to license his vivatronic hextech for use in combating the Black Mist. This torpedoed the planned acquisition of Lumos’ research by Clan Ferros, which would have in turn made quite a profit vending it internationally.
- Bilgewater v. Demacia. Victory for Bilgewater by (also) 14 points. Demacia has conveyed to the Marai a 50% share of the cargo of its naval vessel Swift Obedience, which the Marai sea-watch saved when it began sinking off the coast of Nyroth. While some of this came in the form of gold equivalent to the value of said cargo, the Marai also secured several ingots of finest-quality Demacian silver-steel: something the Lunari Order has been unsuccessfully seeking out for some time.
- Ionia v. Shurima. Victory for Ionia by 10 points. A League inquiry has been conducted into the suspicious death of Ionian Summoner xSoupCat111x, which took place in Shurima’s capital city. The inquiry’s preliminary conclusion, announced today, is that what Shurima determined to have been a “mugging” was in fact a hit placed by associates of Qa’hharian magnate Baron Nihr’am Yal, on whom the Summoner had been spying before coming to the capital. This revelation is expected to increase tensions between modern, Zaun-aligned Qa’hhar and Imperial Shurima.
- Icathia v. Noxus. Victory for Icathia by 2 points. Most of those accused by Noxus of witchcraft have been released to Icathia. Only those whose convictions for specific offenses were found to satisfy League reviewers will face the Noxian arena.
- Bandle City v. Piltover. Victory for Bandle City by 9 points. Bandle City has successfully prevented Piltover from beginning work on its hexcast relay network. The yordles alleged that the network would interfere with the transmissions to Bandle City (and the Ionian yordle-village, Nuigu) from the Mothership, which has been on a trek through the stars since it blasted off from the Launch Pad built over the Guardian’s Sea Nexus about one year ago. This has strained tensions between these two nations, but the anticipated return of the Mothership would presumably end the need for the ban.
- Bilgewater v. Shurima. Victory for Bilgewater by 6 points. This victory secured for Bilgewater ownership of an enchanted chest which dated back to the time after the Second Rune War. That conflict had ended when Shurima, which had used elemental enchantments to keep both the Magelords and the Protectorate back, was tragically destroyed from within by Emperor Azir’s Ascension. The chest, found in Kalamanda beneath the former site of the Crystal Scar, bore the inscription, “to those who stood apart from the Rune Wars”, and was initially claimed by Shurima. Yet Bilgewater argued that, as it was insulated by the natural barrier of the oceans, it too “stood apart from the Rune Wars”; it explained the chest as a gift from the Protectorate, encouraging it to remain neutral rather than side with the Magelords. After Bilgewater’s victory on the Fields, this interpretation was accepted, and the chest was publicly opened by both Gangplank, Pirate-King of Bilgewater, and Miss Sarah Fortune, Bilgewater’s chief representative to the League.
The chest was found to contain a summoning rune aligned with life-magic: a most useful gift to receive in advance of the Black Mist. When invoked with League oversight, it called the mythical Carp of Creation from the deep sea: a rainbow-scaled fish of immense size, fabled as an envoy of the Goddess whose Tear is now invoked on the Fields of Justice. Its passage by the shore brought all of Bilgewater out to gaze in astonishment. (Most of Bilgewater, anyway; this being Bilgewater, a fair number stayed back to rifle through the suddenly emptied houses of the gazers.) Preliminary reports indicate that the passage of the Carp of Creation has somehow reinforced the leyline structure of Bilgewater, which is expected to partially ward off the Black Mist this year.
(6 November, 27 CLE)
Questions and Answers
Editor’s Note:
Readers of the Herald are invited to submit their questions regarding these articles, as well as general inquiries. We shall endeavor to reply as thoroughly as we can to as many as we can.
Yours Sincerely,
Yurstin “thestealthgerbil” Yudling, Acolyte Summoner
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