Runeterra, The Void, and Icathia
Another year nears its end as the daylight hours become scant and a cold wind strips branches of their leaves, life recedes. Between day and night, there is twilight, following summer and preceding winter, there is autumn, and between life and death, there is fear. Mortality is a concept that haunts all living things, because all things must die, and perhaps that is why the subject of death is something of a morbid curiosity for many people, and what better time is there to indulge this fascination than Halloween, or as the poor souls of Runeterra call it, the Harrowing?
However, as tales of horror and fright delight the masses, I find my mind drifting to another form of horror, one that is not defined by a time of year because it timeless, a horror that taps into a primal dread that has existed since the first working mind knew there were some things it didn't; the unknown, the incomprehensible.
The Void.
#To See What Cannot Be Understood
http://i.imgur.com/3c03Tsu.jpg
Artist unknown.
At this moment, The Void is perhaps League's most mysterious location. All we know of it comes from observing, and in some cases listening, to those that call The Void home. However, even what is explicitly spoken does not reflect what actually is. For example, what does a creature perceive as light if it is capable of producing lasers with its eye; does Vel'Koz interpret darkness as we do? What is irrefutable about The Void is its undeniable propensity to induce madness or death for those foolish enough to achieve contact. Suffice to say, The Void is beyond mortal comprehension.
The Void is. It cannot be quantified, let alone described. It defies all conceptions of reality, subject to the whims of its own existence that could never align with our own. The Void exists, of that little more can be said, so how might we, fans of League, might learn more, if the primary characteristic of a location is impossibility?
#A Scar Where Two Halves Meet
We may never see, let alone understand, The Void, but that does not mean it will remain a complete mystery. Like searching for black holes in the cosmos, our briefest glance of The Void will be through seeing the effects of its presence, not The Void itself. Being composed of natural laws completely incompatible with Runeterra's, interaction between the two realities is dangerous at best, absolutely catastrophic at worst. As evidenced by Baron Nashor's entry into Summoner's Rift, the merest presence of The Void is enough to tear the ground into gaping fissures, presenting a very explosive outcome when the two planes meet.
What's more, The Void alters more than terrain alone, as lifeforms native to Runeterra accumulate traits typically associated with the Voidborn when exposed to their plane of origin, such as Kassadin or the Scuttle Crab. Through these "mutations" we glean a small understanding of The Void, but these are relatively minor cases. To truly witness the effects of Runeterra and The Void crossing paths we must explore the point of entry for all Voidborn, the one location in Valoran that has been lost to time.
The Forgotten City, Icathia
http://pre09.deviantart.net/d213/th/pre/i/2006/312/c/6/r__yleh_by_marcsimonetti.jpg
Art by marcsimonetti
Before Noxus and Demacia began their glorious rivalry, before the Watchers were lost to the Howling Abyss, before Shurima fell, before an iron tyrant conquered the world, there was a city among the desert sands. Whom founded the city is unknown, what its people were like has been lost to the ages, and its purpose can only be faintly heard as wind swirls about titanic idols of alien gods. No documents exist that provide some shred of insight to its history, but all that can be certain is that Icathia, like The Void, simply is.
There are no records that suggest it traded with neighboring nations or even interacted with anyone outside its walls, and for some inexplicable reason, the inhabitants ceased to be at some point, as though they never existed. All that remains of this magnificent city are decrepit ruins baking in the desert sun... and its terrifying guests.
What many suspect is that Icathia is the area where most, if not all, Voidborn known today manifested. The city is now home to eldritch horrors and alien geometries, a warped place that has become a world all its own, a place where Runeterra and The Void meet. Thus, the Forgotten City is our greatest opportunity to explore The Void without entirely destroying our minds.
We may not understand The Void and likely never will, because to understand is to be mad as Malzahar is, to surrender our certainties and accept the impossible as Kassidin has done, but the message it gives is clear: The Void is not going away. In fact, The Void is coming in all its wondrous, horrifying glory. It cannot be avoided, it cannot be escaped, you cannot hide from The Void because it is already here, and perhaps the only way to survive it is to meet it before manifesting in full; we must explore Icathia.
Whatever horrors lurk in the Forgotten City are only whispers of a promise to what truly waits within The Void.
http://i.imgur.com/YHk68X5.png
tl;dr - It is time for a Void event.
