Ceruleana Opener

Previous storyline: Mirrorwater
== Ceruleana ==
by CupcakeTrap
Garen scowled. “I can’t believe they measure this in numbers.”
He shoved the parchment down the table, away from himself.
Lux, sitting on the other side of the table, picked it up and blinked her eyes wide. “I can’t believe the number is negative sixteen!”
The Council at last determined the victor of the Mirrorwater competition: the combined might of the Freljord had overthrown the mightiest nations of Runeterra on the Fields of Justice.
Per the agreement, a third of the mirrorwater went to each of the 
three recognized subfactions of the Freljord: a third to Avarosa, a 
third to the Winter’s Claw, and a third to the troll tribes unified 
under Trundle.
The Avarosans shaped the mirrorwater into a sorcerous castle of 
living ice to defend their realm. The ice was hard as steel, gleaming 
silver-blue, and where it was broken it would mend itself in minutes. 
The arctic winds racing through its jagged parapets shrieked strange 
star-songs into the night sky whence the mirrorwater came.
The warriors of the Winter’s Claw forged the mirrorwater into armor 
and weapons of great power. They armed themselves for battle and stood 
poised to strike out again in conquest.
As for the troll tribes, it’s said that Trundle had the mirrorwater 
decanted into frost elixirs that, shared among the troll tribes, mingled
 with the tribes’ bloodlines to strengthen the entire troll race. 
Trundle, of course, upheld his part of his bargain with Lissandra, and 
delivered a measure of the mirrorwater to her, in secret.
A few scholars here and there quietly protested that no one seemed 
interested anymore in determining just what this “mirrorwater” was, or 
what it might be doing to Runeterra, a world that had once already been 
brought to the brink of destruction by magic.
Another major dispute soon came to the League of Legends for resolution.
For weeks, mages across Valoran had reported haunting visions of something rising up from the cold sea.
Soon after, seafarers reported the discovery of a new island off the 
northwestern coast of Valoran. The soil glittered blue with significant 
quantities of some gemlike mineral, and it rested atop a foundation of 
silver-blue ice.
Unsure what to call it, but suddenly needing to discuss it, scholars 
and cartographers settled on a painfully obvious name for a newly 
discovered island in the middle of the ocean: Ceruleana.
League surveyors were quickly dispatched to Ceruleana to investigate.
 Several of the more magically sensitive among them, including the 
Summoners, reported bizarre dreams and eerily lucid hallucinations while
 on the island. The sensation was above all one of overwhelming power, 
but it was also clear that there was something dark, something evil, 
something dangerous about the magics that had thrust this island up from
 the ocean.
The major states — Demacia, Ionia, the Freljord tribes, Noxus, and Piltover — swiftly laid claim to Ceruleana.
Demacia seeks to exorcise the isle of its dark magics and turn its power toward good.
Ionia perceives its emergence as a disturbance in 
the natural balance, and the wild magical energies as a sign of that 
disturbance. It seeks to channel and balance this energy and restore 
Runeterra to equilibrium, before more damage is done.
The tribes of the Freljord each desire to conquer Ceruleana … and they also want to find out what connection it has to the mirrorwater and the Freljord.
Noxus seeks to take control of Ceruleana and harness its power, “dark” or otherwise.
Piltover is concerned that anyone else getting hold 
of it would disturb the geopolitical balance, and wants to cordon it off for research.
Although Ceruleana remains a mystery, one striking discovery stands 
out: it rests along a leyline that cuts through the Freljord, and indeed
 through the very heart of the Avarosan castle.
And on the other end of the leyline, out beyond the cold sea …
The Council’s 
emissaries and surveyors investigating Ceruleana soon encountered 
another delegation: a legion of the dead riding from the Shadow Isles to
 lay their claim, with Hecarim at their fore.
And so the Council has recognized the powers and principalities of the Shadow Isles in the dispute over Ceruleana.
Next Update: Voices Wake Us and We Drown