Summoner's Rift skin idea: Void Invasion of Shurima
So last week I posted an idea for a reskin of Summoners rift called the Undercity of Zaun. You can find it here:
As a summary of my reasons: Butchers Bay was awesome, it supported the lore, increased the connection of the champions to that lore, and I think it's something that could be applied to Summoners Rift if the community expressed interest in the idea and Riot wanted to invest in linking the game to it's lore in a more concrete way.
This is my second idea for a Summoners Rift reskin: The Void Invasion of Shurima. I went a little longer on the fanfic on this one, so bear with me.
Somewhere in the vast deserts of Shurima, atop a dune too immense to be natural, stands a figure clad in gold armor and purple robes. Beyond him, in the trackless, sun-blasted sands, the untutored observer will see nothing but dunes, shifting rapidly in the winds, and the shimmer of heat, teasing water but offering only death. The observer at the top of the dune knows better, however. Out there, hidden to all but the wise or the damned, lies Icathia. Just the name fills the stone-still observer with unease. A place of madness. A gateway for horrors.
Azir, mighty emperor of the sands, he who would restore the glory of Shurima, feels neither the wind nor the heat in the way that a mortal does. His Ascended form is more like an ambulatory statue than a living, breathing body. He sometimes misses the intensity of sensation that came with vulnerability. It was something he had never considered in his quest for Ascension, all those years ago. He looks out over the wastes, motionless, waiting.
When the Voidwalker arrives, even Azir’s senses can not discern it. He simply appears, as if he had always been by the emperor’s side. Azir had never encountered a being like Kassadin. Like the Ascended, Kassadin’s human origins were plain. Unlike Azir, and his fellow Ascended, Kassadin’s transformation was disturbing. Alien and grotesque. When he first approached Azir a year before, the emperor had taken him as an assassin, and had nearly had him killed by his sand soldiers. The voidwalker had shown no hostility, however, and Azir was not given to rash action. In fact, Kassadin had come to offer his support to Azir’s quest to rebuild Shurima, and to deliver a warning.
_“I still struggle to see Icathia, Kassadin. I know you speak true, it skulks at the edge of my vision; to seek it out sends it to the winds like a mirage.” Azir’s sonorous voice is low, yet easily audible over the winds nonetheless. _ _“Such is the way of the Void, Your Grace.” Kassadin replied. “The city is often sought but rarely found. Even then, the Crystal Guardian deters most of those who do stumble upon it’s gates.” _ “You are certain that the rift is opening soon?” Azir’s voice becomes weary. It is a strange sound from the God-like figure. Since his resurrection at the hands of his descendant Sivir, Azir had worked tirelessly to restore his long faded homeland. Using his enhanced magics to restore the capital was a simple matter, but a city without people is no better than a tomb. He traveled the deserts to the hidden oases, seeking out the remnants of the once-proud Shuriman folk. They were wary, and drawing them to his rebuilt capital was a slow, subtle process. He did not want subjects. He wanted citizens. He wanted living, breathing soldiers instead of the mindlessly obedient constructs of sand he created. Then came Kassadin and his dire predictions of the rift opening, the Void excreting it’s horrors onto Shurima through the cursed city Icathia, deep beneath the sands. Azir was not attuned to the Void as Kassadin was, but his Ascended senses could feel the upheaval in the fabric of reality easily enough.
“Certain,” Kassadin affirmed. “Here the cursed seer Malzahar was reborn. From here the beasts of the Void that we have observed emerged, scouts for the swarm that waits on the other side of the veil. Like a pustulent boil, it is ready to burst.” As Kassadin speaks, another massive figure slowly climbs the dune to stand with them. Like Azir his armor is golden and stylized in the ancient Shuriman fashion. Where Azir’s Ascended form mimicks the proud desert eagle, this newcomer’s’ visage takes on the fierce Jackal, jet black features composed, imperturbable.
“Nasus,” the emperor greets him. “How did your search fare? Did you find Sivir?”
“I did, your grace,” Nasus’ voice is grave, “She heard me out, but would not commit to a course of action. She is a stubborn soul. Still, I suspect she will come to our aid. She craves battle and glory, and this challenge appeals to her even as she chafes at her connection to you.”
Azir only nodded. “And your brother?”
_Nasus does not speak for a long moment. “Renekton’s madness is like a terrible storm. There are moments of lucidity, but they are quickly swept aside by the sands of fury. I tried to reach what is left of the man he was in one of these rare calms. I cannot say whether he will heed us. If he does come, he may be as dangerous to our cause as he would be to the Voidspawn.” _
Azir sighs. “He would do much to bolster my armies, even so.”
_“I have come upon other allies, however.” Nasus gestures to three figures, who make their way up the dune at his beckoning. The first is a small, awkward figure. Azir can feel the dark, cursed magic embalmed within it, but he senses only sorrow in the creature’s gaze. A yordle, but embalmed in Shuriman fashion. It shuffles self-consciously before Azir’s majesty. The second is a hulking oddity, a heavy spiked shell forming a bulwark on it’s neckless torso. It gazes placidly back at the emperor, but Azir catches a glint of deep wisdom in it’s slight smile. The final figure is a terror to behold. Leonid, white fur nearly the same shade as the sand beneath their feet. Braided into its mane and hanging from his clothing are the skulls of myriad otherworldly creatures. _ “Welcome to Shurima, worthy allies,” Azir intones. “Nasus has told you of what is to come?”
The mummy nods with a muffled “Uh huh.” The armordillo merely grunts his affirmation. The leonid gives a great terrifying smile. “I have hunted one of these beasts for many months. Perhaps I will find him here. In any case I shall take trophies from many of his bretheren in your service.”
Azir nods, but before he can speak, the earth heaves beneath them. Azir’s great artificial dune saggs before he reclaims his grip on the sands. Below them the very air howls as the sands recede. The sky, once the cloudless electric blue of the midday desert, is suddenly dark with swollen, churning purple clouds. From the draining basin below, the tortured city Icathia emerges. Bizarre pillars patterned with impossible geometries thrust up from the outskirts. Arches forming circles of more than three hundred and sixty degrees lead to buildings that twitch and shiver like living things. Atop the tallest ziggurat in the city’s center, void magics crackle and screeches. The magic energy claws at Azir’s mind. There, before the opening rift, stands the heretical seer. Malzahar.
Kassadin holds his head, groaning. The burgeoning void magics threatening to overwhelm him. “It begins! The Void comes to Shurima!”
This summoner’s rift skin depicts the Void Invasion of Shurima (ViS). The map is a desert landscape, with the river being an oasis of blue and green palms amongst the golds, browns, and reds of the desert. The walls are made up of Shuriman and Icathian architecture where appropriate, otherwise sandstone and basalt with scrubby desert vegetation. The sand is pale gold, almost alabaster near the middle of the map and the oasis, darkening then fading to fitted stone tile near Azir’s base and arcane cobblestone patterns near Icathia.
The Southern Base (red): Azir’s Fortifications. The architecture resembles Azir’s summoned towers. Golden disks, floating pillars, stylized designs. These are the outskirts of Shurima proper.
Red minions: Azir’s Sand Soldiers. Minions are clad in armor and wielding weapons resembling those of Azir’s summoned minions. Azir is the announcer voice for this team.
South Jungle: Shurima ruins. Crumbling buildings of Shuriman suburbs. Azir has yet to rebuild this section of Shurima. Pale golds and faded silks set the color tone here. Red Buff nook is what used to be a marketplace.
West Jungle: Xerath’s Prison. Blue Buff nook is the ruins of Xerath’s prison and nearby is Azir’s tomb. Monumental architecture, shattered by incredible magics. Indigo runes on dark gold walls provide the color scheme.
North Jungle: Icathian outskirts. Bizarre organic architecture, twitching growths, skittering voidlings. Red Buff nook is the maw of some titanic void beast. Dark purples and reds, mimicking Cho’Gath and Rek’Sai’s coloring.
**East Jungle: ** Skarner’s Caverns. Exposed by the opening of Icathia, this area consists of magical crystal growths. The Blue Buff nook is where Skarner once resided before the invasion began. Pale pinks and blues color the crystals.
The Northern Base (blue): Icathian Gate. The rift through which the Void invades Shurima. Massive, brutal architecture following none of the laws of physics and geometry we are familiar with. Covered with organic growth. Towers are living void creatures perched on Icathian pillars.
Blue Minions: The Swarm from the Void. Minions resembling Malzahar’s voidlings. Malzahar provides the announcer voice for this team.
Dragon: Guardian of the Sands. The dragon done up to resemble the Guardian of the Sands skin group.
Baron: Unchanged. Baron fits with the Void theme quite well already.
Red Buff Guardians: Sand Drakes, glowing red with gold highlights.
Blue Buff Guardians: Massive crystal tortoise, iridescent blue and gold patterning on it’s shell.
Wolves: Desert Jackals.
Razorbeaks: Shuriman mummies, awakened and corrupted by the dark magics of the void.
Gromp: Massive anthropomorphic scarab.
**Krugs: ** Void-corrupted sand soldiers, large shields and spears.
Scuttlecrab: Scarabs, large but otherwise normal.