Lines in the Sand - Sand Hotter than Blood

Previous update: Opener
== Sand Hotter Than Blood ==
by CupcakeTrap
A lore snippet from the June 6–7 Featured Matches.
The risen Sun Disc scorches the sands of Shurima with the savage 
force of the sun above. Ribbons of distortion scintillate over this 
wasteland—the old dry bones of dead Shurima, ground to jagged grains, 
bleached in the sun, burning hotter than blood. Zaunite merchants do a 
brisk trade in pyrikhos cooling collars and refreshing techmaturgically 
chilled beverages, with the latest ThaumaKola product, ThaumaKooler, 
selling quite well among the common soldiery. Cassiopeia, appointed by 
the High Command as its legate here, basks in the sun as she whispers 
with her advisors. As her Summoners argue over old tomes, she casts the 
occasional glance at the soldiers drilling nearby. This truce will not 
last forever, and they must be ready when it evaporates away.
The upstart “Emperor” Azir has repelled the assault of a veteran 
Noxian legion with his Shuriman sorcery and the fanatic devotion of his 
nomadic followers. Darius had arrived within the hour, intent on leading
 a fiercer attack in person. Cassiopeia overruled him, instructing her 
League delegates to refrain from delaying the issuance of a League 
truce. While Darius believes Shurima will only grow stronger, Cassiopeia
 senses a deep weakness in Azir’s temporary alliance of bickering 
tribes. It is an alliance forged in the fanaticism that boiled over as 
the Sun Disc rose above the sands for the first time in two thousand 
years, and as it cools, it will begin to crack. The presumptuous fool 
believes they yearn to worship him; Cassiopeia knows that in truth they 
hunger more for gold than for gods. Let him wait with no enemies to 
fight, with nothing to give his gold-hungry followers, while she sends 
her agents to speak with those tribes who are most indebted to House 
DuCouteau, while her Summoners dissect his spellcraft and draw their 
counter-curses. Let him wait. For the serpent asks two things of its 
prey: exposed flesh to bite, and time for the venom to do its work.
And for all his pretensions of divinity, Cassiopeia intends to search
 Azir until she finds a soft place to strike. She will not waste the 
High Command’s hard-earned strength, and she has no desire to see 
another Ionian debacle. The time will come to unleash the ferocity of 
the Noxian legions, but for now, she will probe for a weakness. Her 
scouts assess his fortifications, her agents treat with the rough 
tribesmen of Shurima, and her Champions and Summoners array themselves 
on the Fields of Justice—in the League of Legends, whose foundations 
were only laid at the sufferance of mighty Noxus, and in whose courts 
Azir’s “empire” still begs for the dignity of a name. Where the enemies 
of Noxus expected aggressive motions aimed at the laws of war, and 
specifically at those “environmental” regulations that might prevent the
 deployment of Zaunite bioweapons here, Cassiopeia has instead put forth
 subtler petitions that twist the fundamental doctrines governing the 
Shuriman protectorate under League law. House DuCouteau has not held its
 grand stature for so long without learning to outmaneuver a naive 
fanatic, or to carve a great writhing mob into quivering little morsels.
Swain sent her a terse dispatch with his own seal, demanding to know 
how many more soldiers she wanted, how many battle-mages, how many 
Zaunite gas-bombs and how many mind-rending mutants from that wretched 
smoggy place. She answered in flowing emerald ink traced over thick 
parchment—not soldiers, but Summoners. Soldiers who cannot fight differ 
from common ruffians primarily in their greater level of armament; she 
has no desire to fill her camps even fuller. Give her Summoners of 
smooth manner and delicate learning, tacticians bred for a battlefield 
alien to Azir and his kind. Let his “empire” crumble in that arena, 
before a jeering crowd, surrounded by little yordles selling cupcakes 
and commemorative baubles. The soldiers’ part will come later.
Next Update: Everyone Has Their Price
Category:Lines in the Sand
Category:LitS