First appearance: S2 Ep19, Battle for the Crown Round 2 - Team Grandmaster (Cosmonius & Locket) v Team Arbiter (Silky Slim & Baron Voltágè) · watch it on YouTube
The land of the corrupted is a dead forest in the Void where nothing lives and nothing grows. It served as the arena for the second round of the Battle for the Crown, the Arbiter’s attempt to topple the Grandmaster with an army of champions he had brought back from death. The Grandmaster calls it her garden, and she had a very specific idea of how to make it bloom again.
Description
The first thing anyone notices is the smell. When the portal opens, it breathes out the scent of somewhere damp and dark. Inside, the air is cool and wet, and it is empty of everything: there are no birds and no sound at all. Barren trees stretch up almost to the moon, and their cold roots claw down into the dirt.
The forest floor is a rock garden of boulders ten to fifteen feet tall, with plenty of handholds for anyone who wants to climb for a better view or a better angle of attack. Dense forest closes in around the edges. The ground itself is chilly enough to be on the verge of icing over, and it smells of death mixed with rot.
The rot is the point. The soil is so full of the decayed dead that eating it actually heals you. It is a grim little mercy in a place where nothing else grows.
History
The land of the corrupted made its debut in S2 Ep19, Battle for the Crown Round 2 - Team Grandmaster (Cosmonius & Locket) v Team Arbiter (Silky Slim & …. It was the second battleground in the war between the Grandmaster and the Arbiter. The Arbiter opened the portal, and the champions stepped through into the silent forest. Fighting for Team Grandmaster were Cosmonius and Locket. Team Arbiter included Silky Slim, one of the fallen champions the Arbiter had raised for his army.
The Grandmaster greeted them with a welcome that was half hospitality and half threat:
“Welcome, dear champions, to the land of the corrupted. Nothing grows well here… Perhaps spilling a little blood might bring back my garden.”
Before she flew up, she told Locket and Cosmonius in particular to fight well. Her own champions were defending her throne, and the stakes were higher than in an ordinary Deathmatch.
Notable Figures
- Grandmaster Elusia Skypiercer: hosted the round and calls the forest her garden.
- The Arbiter: opened the portal into the arena during his bid for the crown.
- Cosmonius: fought here for Team Grandmaster.
- Locket: fought here for Team Grandmaster.
- Silky Slim: fought here for Team Arbiter.