Thank you! This is quite helpful. (I've been holding off on my Factions "Harrowing" update in part because I've been busy, but also in part because I felt I had to speculate a lot about how the new Harrowing works, and I might end up having to scrap whatever I wrote later when new info came out.)
I do have a couple related questions. I'll understand if you can't answer them, but it would likewise be valuable information. (And interesting!)
(1) Is it safe to say that, even where the Black Mist doesn't reach, Valoran gets generally spookier during the Harrowing? More paranormal activity? Thinner boundaries between the realms of the living and of the dead?
Here's what I put into a quickie preface to the more involved lore piece I'm writing (actually just a throwaway update to "frame" the Harrowing vid in the Factions universe), framed as a merchant drumming up business in the halls of the Institute:
The Harrowing approaches. Across Valoran, family and friends gather for feasts, riotous parties, games, and late night chats that go on until daybreak.
But you, learned Summoners, you know why this is so: why so many nations’ traditions insist that, whatever you do, the Harrowing is no time to be alone. The astrological charts and manaflow equations from your Tenth Level studies at the Institute made it plain enough: the sun is the source of all life on Runeterra, and fall the gentle old age of its seasonal cycle, which turns anxious as the deathly chill of winter creeps along the branches. At this convergence of cycle and cycle, the souls of the restless dead recall their own final fading, that moment when life’s warmth drained away for the last time.
All you Summoners and Champions who have killed, beware this gathering of spirits, for they have not forgotten you in death. All you who now pry into the ruined vaults of Nyroth, seeking the mysteries of their tortured dead, beware what you may find! Oh, you say that you have heard all this before. But is this not the first Harrowing since Discord forever tore the veil between the world of the dead and our own? Yes, you would do well to prepare yourself for what may come, whether in the sanctified halls of Demacia, or the mighty fortresses of Noxus, or within the resplendent walls of the Institute, or amidst the savage wilderness of Nyroth.
We also observe that for but a handful of inedible coppers you can treat yourself to one of these delicious cookies, including some shaped in a most whimsical caricature of High Councilor Kolminye herself! They’re baked fresh here at the Institute by authentic Bandle City confectioneers from the Happy Friends Bakery.
(Source.)
Obviously, you're not with me on the Summoners part, but does that combination of festivity and spookiness seem in keeping with the new Harrowing lore?
Other things I'm planning:
- Zaunites with hextech "proton packs" running around trying to catch ghosts in Zaun
- The old battlefields of Ionia filling with the spirits of slain Noxians and Ionians
I understand if you're hesitant to get Word of God here, but does that sound vaguely plausible?
(2) Why hasn't anyone come to help Bilgewater?
If spooky monsters descend on Bilgewater every year, why hasn't someone sent help? Bilgewater's probably got a lot of cachet through its mercantile activities (Zaun? Pilt?), and its privateering (Noxus?), and Demacia can usually be counted on to come to the rescue when dark forces approach.
I can think of lots of reasons why they might not have, or why they might have failed when they've tried, but I'd be curious to get your thoughts, whether "Word of God" or speculative.
(3) How bad is it?
A final question: I'm wondering to what extent Champions (Bilgewater and otherwise) would be focused on the Mist. If you talked to MF right now, would she be in crisis mode, or just on edge? What about (say) Lux? Or Karma? In Piltover, is this front-page news, or a sidenote?
