The Hollow Lands (aka Voodoo Lands)

Shadowkirby14·5/9/2016, 1:58:54 AM·7 votes·3,948 views

After creating a rework concept on Fiddlesticks, I've decided I'll flesh out and create the landscape that is the Hollow Lands. It was formerly named Voodoo Lands, but considering how the name is based on real-world religion, I changed it to something more appropriate; I've made this discussion long ago. This concept is bound to have some mistakes because it was just made last night. Expect some changes here and there.

Please post some CnC and let me know if you like or not. I highly appreciate some constructive criticism, but don't post anything nasty.

The images I use in this thread are NOT mine! They are used as an example to help visualize the Hollow Lands.

P.S. Before you ask, yes, I did post a similar thread here, but after people telling me that it belongs in the Story, Art & Sounds subsection since it's more lore-driven, I deleted it and post it there. HOWEVER, Riot deleted that thread and suggested that it must be posted here. SOOOOO I'm back to where I came from. Nice job, Rito. :/

So, let's get started.

The Hollow Lands

http://i.imgur.com/jgTJzZ2.jpg

The Hollow Lands is cursed, petrified wasteland in the Southeast of Shurima. Unlike Shurima, where it&rsquo;s mostly sand and rocks, the Hollow Lands is mostly stone with a mysterious magic that has plagued this area. There&rsquo;s little to no sand there and those who have ventured there lasted roughly a week due to very little vegetation. Its origins is still a mystery to this day, nobody knew how the Hollow Lands came to be. It was there before the fall of the mighty Shuriman Empire and perhaps long before Shurima was even born. Many early Shuriman explorers has gone to the Hollow Lands only to wind up dead without explanation. They can&rsquo;t blame the sun because the weather of this wasteland is always engulfed in disconsolate clouds. Searching for water there is nearly impossible compare to Shurima, sometimes the water travelers found are tainted by the enigmatic blight of this land.
No one ever dared to thrive within this forbidden landscape until the Grey Order, a group of defected Noxians, both political and social, led by Gregori Hastur the Grey Warlock, and his wife, Amoline the Shadow Witch, came and made it their home. They abandoned Noxus peacefully due to the new law of forbidding the use of dark arcane knowledge by the Noxian High Command, unleashing a serious crackdown on those who refuse to accept the new form of government. Living within the Hollow Lands was, at first, difficult, but somehow they have prospered and expanded their society throughout much of the wasteland. With their newfound freedom in pursuing the dark arts, they have become a strong, but secluded nation within Valoran. As many have thought this land would consume the Grey Order, instead the land welcomed them, empowering spell-users with its ever-ambiguous curse.

Location

After their successful exodus, they have turned a magically-blighted desert into a formidable society of powerful sorcery. While Gregori and Amoline remain the true leaders of the Hollow Lands, the Grey Order came with great politicians and sorcerers alike that are willing to keep their domain safe from invading marauders of Shurima and possibly other nations. Those within Hastur&rsquo;s Grey Order are Rylai the Diamond Mage, Orville Whately, Lavinia Dunwich, Yig the Scaled One, Keziah the Enchantress, and the Twin Wizards, Nug and Yeb Shubburath.

There are currently 12 locations within the Hollow Lands so far.

Haïta The main capital and heart of the Grey Order society, home of the Hastur family and some of its greatest mages within the Hollow Lands. It’s also the main political, cultural, religious, military, economic and educational center of the country. Although it bears some similar designs from Noxus, the architecture are more dark and gothic, but cleaner and sophisticated. The Hastur Keep is a castle half the size of Noxus’s capital as its city around it is almost labyrinth-like. Because of the mages constant use of dark sorcery, the capital of Haïta is surrounded by dark, thunderous clouds. The capital has become so large, it has also built a massive hole around the castle for more room for its denizens. Large, twisted, obsidian walls surround the capital to protect itself from the nightmares that are spawned within the Hollow Lands, like the ferocious Shadow Bear. The Azathon Academy is where gifted mages, warlocks, witches, and sorcerers are sent to strengthen their interest in the dark arts; perfecting on summoning familiars and sinister creatures from interdimensional planes in existence, strengthening their control on dangerous spells, and anything that Noxus has forbade. Although they don’t require the techmaturgical inventions as much as Noxus and Demacia, they rely heavily on their magic to enchant and create weapons of dark arcane prowess. http://www.cgpin.com/application/assets/pins/165/1381410908_.jpeg

Chamber of Shepherds A sacred hall of sorcery where members of the Grey Order store all of their most powerful and dangerous spells. A massive library of infinite and forbidden knowledge of dark and arcane magic locked away from public, to ensure no one will come across it. The Chamber of Shepherds is guarded by many familiars that will tear any intruder into bloody pieces. Its location is well-kept hidden somewhere deep in the castle, only the Grey Order knows its whereabouts and swore an oath that they must keep quiet. Any mention of its location will sentence its member to immediate death. This is the place where famous items such as Rabadon’s Deathcap, Rod of Ages, The Dark Seal, and Mejai's Soulstealer are stored.

R’lyeh Ruled by the Diamond Mage, Rylai, the city of R’lyeh resides on an island off the shores of the Hollow Lands. Due to unknown circumstances, the island city sank to the depths of the ocean, but Rylai created a barrier that has prevented the city from certain doom, however this has over-exhausted her of power and died a hero. Rylai was given a monumental memorial for her sacrifice in saving the entire city from drowning within the depths of the sea. Her famous crystal scepter is displayed within R'lyeh's museum to remember her honorable deed. Many thieves have tried to steal it, but thanks to R'lyehan warlocks, it's secured and protected by otherworldly familiars. With the use of newfound magic, the sorcerers of R’lyeh has manipulated beasts from the depth to become underwater transportation, allowing them to travel from the sunken city to the shores of the Hollow Lands. R’lyeh is the main source of trade and business, the only place to find some of Valoran’s best fishes for cuisine and alchemy. http://img11.deviantart.net/d734/i/2014/008/8/8/island_city_by_will2link-d71gvy3.jpg (The City of R'lyeh before its descension.)

Soghlu Ruled by the Scaled One, Yig, the city of Soghlu is known as the “Village of Serpents” for its reptilian design as part of its architecture and an incident that has transformed half of its citizens into reptilian humanoids. Nobody knows how it happened, but many have blamed it on Yig for this episode. Unfortunately, there was no evidence that Yig has afflicted this curse on half on his own citizens. Investigations are still going on to this day. https://lovecraftianscience.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/43573_1276488000_paul_carrick.jpg

Lothep A town infamously known for its biggest tragedy in history. An inexperienced warlock opened a rift to the Void and accidentally summon a monstrous Voidborn, causing massive destruction within Lothep. A memorial was built in the center of town to remember the lives lost that day and as a constant reminder on why it's a grave idea in summoning the Void.

Forest of Stone A massive, petrified forest landscape and the home of the infamous Shadow Bears. The very place where captured one of them and formed Tibbers. http://orig01.deviantart.net/4e06/f/2012/171/5/8/petrified_forest_by_ollisiponkoski-d5487me.jpg

The Mound A large hill of dirt covered in ominous structures of twisted stone. This place is layered with rumors; some claimed to be a very early settlement of those who use to live in the Hollow Lands, while some stated that it’s an ancient burial ground or a tomb leading down to a terrifying secret. None wish to do any sort of archaeological work on the Mound because they believe they might disturb something buried there and they don’t wish to find out anytime soon. However, once every five years, a strange high-pitch sound can be heard as the stones themselves levitate into the air. Some claimed that a few people left the city towards the Mound and never came back, as if they were told to go there. https://jeffccarter.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/mound.jpg

Kuttner’s Farm Formerly a settlement of Henry and Salina Kuttner that has spawned the urban myth of the infamous sentient scarecrow, Fiddlesticks. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WuEZR1-Ur9w/UKk7jdqxsQI/AAAAAAAAPZA/shtcLcJVh7k/s1600/DSC_7788.jpg

Hollow Barrens The massive wasteland that takes up 70% of the land. Nothing but a dry desert of stone, dirt, and certain death for the uninitiated. No water is safe to drink, no food is available to satisfy the hungry. If that doesn’t kill them, then the enigmatic creatures of shadows might. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Atfhp89ywrs/UpLlyInGQJI/AAAAAAAACdU/Ou027-C6Q34/s1600/dry-desert-wasteland.jpg

Wildlife Shadow Bears Ferocious predators that has ruled the Forest of Stone. They all have the ability to hide in one’s shadow, waiting for the poor soul to lead it to a local camp. Once there, it’ll hop out and attack anyone it sees first. They resemble bears, but in a physical form made of darkness. When confronted or threatened, they engulf themselves in flames. One Shadow Bear is famously known to have terrorized the inhabitants of Haïta until one day Hastur’s child, Annie, manage to capture and seal it into a stuffed bear, naming it Tibbers.

Shadow People Genderless humanoids made of living darkness has thrived in the Hollow Lands for who knows how long. Like the Shadow Bears, they can hide in shadows of many things, especially travelers. Shadow people have no leaders and can be either friendly or hostile to residents of the Hollow Lands. They don’t always show themselves in public as they’re mostly reclusive from mortals. They live within anything that casts a shadow and when night comes, they dwell within the darkness. Their form can change from gas-like darkness, or a physical form that resembles gelatin than flesh. Their main origin is nothing short of a mystery.

Crows Crows are the dominant avian of the Hollow Lands, feasting upon unfortunate souls that have perished within the wastelands. They are considered a bad omen because of the urban myth of Fiddlesticks. People have speculated that Fiddlesticks has brought a swarm of familiars that strongly resembles crows, and because of this people have a hard time distinguishing which one's real. Some say that Fiddlesticks can see through the crow’s eyes, knowing where to strike if there’s enough lives found in one area.

Veva'Loka Tribe

An ancient tribe that has lived and survived within the Hollow Lands for many generations. Considered as the last of their kind, they strive to keep their culture going. They've manage to use the curse that has plagued the Hollow Lands for their own uses; creating haunting rituals, crafting cursed items, and even summoning demons from what they call "The Underneath." Their relationship with the Ha&iuml;tan are complicated, and wish to not be involved with anything they do.

Culture General The inhabitants of the Grey Order society have grown accustomed to the dark magic now that they’re no longer citizens of Noxus. This power of free will has enabled almost everyone to wield varieties of magic. They no longer live under the Noxian principle, “Only the Strong will Survive,” as the entire Grey Order society have survived long enough within an accursed wasteland. They are a strong and proud people, using dark arcane power to advance their skills and intellect that would trample others. They are also the only colony that allow interplanar summoning, opening up many opportunities in controlling new creatures from different realms of reality. They remain purely neutral from the world of Runeterra, wishing to stay recluse from any sort of political and social conflict with neighboring countries. Though not entirely xenophobic, unlike Noxus, they are also extremely cautious onto who they let in. Always anxious on who they invite into the capital walls, the Haïtan sentinels always do a thorough search on the traveling bystander. Among the many rules of summoning, the Grey Order have forbid the summoning of Voidborn from the Void. Few years ago, one warlock in the town of Lothep made a mistake in opening a small rift to the Void and a monstrous being emerged and brought forth collateral damage among the community. Roughly 250 lives have been lost and only 126 lives were injured. The Grey Order seized the mighty Voidborn and manage to capture it. The location of said Voidborn is uncertain, but it's under the watchful eye of the Grey Order and out of sight.

Government

General The Grey Order are the main political and military organization to rule the inhabited territories of the Hollow Lands. Each member of the Grey Order own a piece of land to rule and monitor, as Gregori and Amoline rule as the main leaders of the populated areas in the Hollow Lands. For every meeting, members of the Grey Order travel to the Hastur Keep and discuss on political topics of trade, business, and status on the cities they’re controlling.

Gregori Hastur - Known famously as The Grey Warlock, he's the main founder of the Grey Order and one of the two rulers of Haïta. He's the one that has led the exodus out of Noxus into the unforgiving Hollow Lands for settlement.
Amoline Hastur - Known famously as The Shadow Witch, she's one of the co-founders of the Grey Order and one of the two rulers of Haïta. A powerful witch of sinister magic and ritual summoning who later bore a daughter named Annie Hastur, the Dark Child. She's able to summon terrible and dark beasts from different planes of existence and use them to mercilessly destroy her enemies.
Rylai the Diamond Mage - the former ruler of R'lyeh until her heroic death. Her famed crystal scepter is now displayed at the R'lyehan Museum. Before her death, she was a great sorceress who have succeeded in powerful enchanting. She has also crafted the crystal scepter to enhance her abilities before her defection from Noxus.
Yig the Scaled One - An elderly sorcerer with scales on parts of his body and ruler of Soghlu. He is a respected magic user who has studied and mastered the arts of Alchemy and Curses. Despite his accomplishments, he's also extremely secretive; never revealing his work to anyone even the Grey Order. Accused of transforming half of his own inhabitants into reptilian abominations, he continuously denied those accusations despite constant suspicion.
Keziah the Enchantress - A powerful, but extremely harsh professor of Azathon Academy. She's the only one that has figured out the secrets of traveling through different planes of existence and was the one that has introduced the Arts of Inter-Dimensional Summoning to Azathon Academy. Despite being a strong enchantress, she's also known to be abusive to her students; she allegedly let a savage familiar attack a struggling student and also singed another student who was sleeping during a lecture.
Yeb Shubburath - One of the famed Twin Wizards. One of the most esteemed professors of Azathon Academy later became Headmaster. Yeb, unlike Nug, is voracious for knowledge and is willing to become as great as Gregori Hastur. He was the one of the Grey Order that has successfully seized and stopped a rampaging Voidborn in Lothep. Yeb was also the one that has helped and taught some arcane knowledge during his stay at the academy.

Military The Grey Order’s military consists of powerful warlocks, summoners, and mages. Led by Ashen General Orville Whately, he commands these wizards and witches to protect the Hollow Lands from invading monsters and marauders with the abilities they’ve learned, twisting the elements around them to create walls and weapons by the darkest magic they can conceive; summoning beasts from planes of existences as tanks to destroy tougher enemies. Drafting is only mandatory when the countries in need of reinforcements, picking out some of their finest students to fight in the field of battle. Picking weak or ill-trained sorcerers will only put their community at even greater risk. They don’t desire conquest as the land they reside in was enough to sustain their population. They don’t wish to create enemies or choose sides with any other nations nearby as they want to remain neutral.

Orville Whately - Ashen General of the Haïtan Military & Army. Orville was once one of the many Noxian generals until he joined the Grey Order's exodus. In the Hollow Lands, he was hailed as a war hero for single-handedly taking down a massive raid of Shuriman bandits with the power of twisting the elements to his will. He was rough, but he valued his troops more than anything.
Avinia Dunwich - Ashen Admiral of the R'lyehan Navy and current leader of R'lyeh. After the death of Rylai, she seized control of the sunken city and helped its inhabitants in controlling the terrifying creatures of the depth to their disposal.
Nug Shubburath - One of the famed Twin Wizards and Ashen Marshal of the Haïtan Sky Fleet. Nug is known as a relentless wizard against invading marauders and hailed as a hero. Unlike his twin, Yeb, he wanted to put his magical skills to the battlefield, showing off how arcane knowledge can triumph over strength and steel.

Relations

Noxus Due to the new law that has forbade their hunger for dark knowledge, the Grey Order decided to defect themselves from the empire to establish a new civilization within the unforgiving Hollow Lands. They are no longer affiliated with anyone that represented Noxus and never will be. Due to the urban myth of Fiddlesticks, they have banned the use of scarecrows for they deemed a bad omen. They also use a practice called “Hay-manning” in which a convicted criminal is dressed as a scarecrow and crucified far from Noxus. Those who are hay-manned are sometimes found by Fiddlesticks himself and had their lives siphoned until death. Fiddlesticks is a bit annoyed by this practice as he's occupied in searching for his master, but he doesn’t mind as it only makes him stronger with each victim.

Demacia The denizens of the Grey Order wish to not ally with Noxus’s rival. They fear that even if they’re now exiles, the people of Demacia will still see them as Noxians no matter what and will strike if they ever acknowledge their existence.

Shurima Thieves and marauding tribes of Shurima have encountered the Grey Order society few times before and have struck their small towns and abducted some of their people. They also forbid themselves from entering the Hollow Lands because of its curse. Some parts of Shurima have banned the use of scarecrows because of the urban myth of Fiddlesticks.

Trivia

General

The name "Hollow Lands" fits more appropriately for the environment than its previous name, Voodoo Lands. It best describes the desolate and vacant desert. The word "voodoo" was deemed inappropriate because it's based on a real-world religion.
Architecture for the cities of The Grey Order are inspired by Victorian Gothic architecture of England and some artwork from H.P. Lovecraft to give the design more of a twisted look.
Most of the names given for the locations and people are based off of the names from Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos short stories. This inspiration came from the last name of Gregori Hastur, who is one of the Great Old Ones in the Cthulhu Mythos.
Orville Whately is based off of Wilbur Whately, who is a central character in the short story, The Dunwich Horror. It's also a poke on using the names of the Wright Brothers.
Lavinia Dunwich is based on the characters, Lavinia Whately and The Dunwich Horror, from the short story, The Dunwich Horror. Lavinia is the albino mother who was impregnated by the Old One, Yog-Sothoth, and gave birth to twins, Wilbur Whately, and the Dunwich Horror.
Yig the Scaled One is a reference to the Great Old One, Yig, who is known as the "Father of Serpents." The unexplained event that has turned half of Soghlu's inhabitants into reptilian humanoids is a reference to the "Curse of Yig", which turns anyone that has killed a snake into reptilian monsters.
Keziah the Enchantress is a reference to Keziah Mason, a witch and main antagonist in the short story, "The Dream in the Witch House," who studied the secrets to inter-dimensional travel.
The Twin Wizards, Nug and Yeb Shubburath, are based off of Nug and Yeb, the Twin Blasphemies, spawns of Shub-Niggurath and Yog-Sothoth.
Haïta derived from the title of one of Lovecraft's short stories, "Haïta the Shepherd." It's also the story of the Great Old One, Hastur.
Azathon is based on the Outer God, Azathoth, from the Cthulhu Mythos.
R'lyeh derived from the name of the lost city in the short story, "The Call of Cthulhu".
Soghlu is an anagram of S'glhuo, a fictional dimension that only exists as sound from the short story, "The Plain of Sound". In S'glhuo, its inhabitants are blue skinned, tall, boneless reptiloids.
Lothep is based on the name, Nyarlathotep, one of the Outer Gods from the Cthulhu Mythos.
The Mound is a direct reference to Lovecraft's short story, "The Mound".
The name Henry Kuttner is a direct reference to the real-life author who's a friend of Lovecraft and helped in creating the Cthulhu Mythos.

Affiliated Champions

- Birthplace: Daughter of Gregori and Amoline Hastur.
- "Birthplace": Sentient Scarecrow and "urban legend".
- True place of origin: one of Haïta's most revered assassins they have. She was once human until she left on an expedition to the Shadow Isles. Evelynn later returned changed with a new, ominous power she now possesses.

Other Related Champions

- Created "Hay-Manning," Suspected Fiddlesticks to be spying through Beatrice's eyes.
- Studied within Azathon Academy's library. He was the only outsider that has gained access to the Chamber of Shepherds. Ryze retrieved a World Rune from one of the academy's students who refused to give it up.

Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxt0GlL5r_A

The Hollow Lands (aka Voodoo Lands)

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