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RE-WRITING THE LORE! (#1) ANNIE!

Rykagnar··2 votes·1,007 views

HELLO SUMMONERS!

Welcome to my first installment of "Re-writing the Lore" in which I do essentially what it says -- REWRITE THE LORE! Now I won't/probably won't tackle the lore of Runeterra, I definitely will do as many champions as I see fit to get a LORE REWRITING! I also accept comments on who to do next, but for the first installments I'll hand pick them! Warning: I am NOT a proffesional writer, however I do believe I am pretty good at writing. Anyways, enough talk. Let's get on to the lore of... ANNIE!

So, to start off... I will list the previous lore, and then go on to recreate it myself! KEEP IT MIND THAT I'M CHANGING IT FOR FUN! Please don't hate if you don't agree with what I did, as all I'm trying to do is recreate what I would like it to be! That aside, here is Annie's current lore:

In the time shortly before the League, there were those within the sinister city-state of Noxus who did not agree with the evils perpetrated by the Noxian High Command. The High Command had just put down a coup attempt from the self-proclaimed Crown Prince Raschallion, and a crack down on any form of dissent against the new government was underway. These political and social outcasts, known as the Gray Order, sought to leave their neighbors in peace as they pursued dark arcane knowledge. The leaders of this outcast society were a married couple: Gregori Hastur, the Gray Warlock, and his wife Amoline, the Shadow Witch. Together they led an exodus of magicians and other intelligentsia from Noxus, resettling their followers beyond the Great Barrier to the northern reaches of the unforgiving Voodoo Lands. Though survival was a challenge at times, the Gray Order's colony managed to thrive in a land where so many others would have failed.

Years after the exodus, Gregori and Amoline had a child: Annie. Early on, Annie's parents knew there was something special about their daughter. At the age of two, Annie miraculously ensorcelled a shadow bear - a ferocious denizen of the petrified forests outside the colony - turning it into her pet. To this day she keeps her bear ''Tibbers'' by her side, often keeping him spellbound as a stuffed doll to be carried like a child's toy. The combination of Annie's lineage and the dark magic of her birthplace have given this little girl tremendous arcane power. It is this same girl who now finds herself as one of the most sought-after champions within the League of Legends - even by the city-state that would have exiled her parents had they not fled beforehand.

''Annie may be one of the most powerful champions ever to have fought in a Field of Justice. I shudder to think of her capabilities when she becomes an adult.


Now, that is a good lore, but WHAT IF I CHANGED IT? ;) Let's gooooo!

In the beginning years of the League, there was an outbreak of disease in the city-state of Noxus. This disease was devastating towards all people. Many people rumored that a mage from Demacia had cast the spell to weaken their political stance. However, it seemed as even the highest mages from Noxus could not cure the people. They had tried healing spells, anit-dark arts, anything that they had in their book, yet they had failed. The high-mages of Noxus did not often practice spells that would help anyone. This was until a man named R'arzhonbak Gruelii stepped up.

Gruelii was a long experienced archmage. He knew every spell from dark-arts to resurrection. He proposed to the King of Noxus to heal the civilians, and in exchange, become the next heir to the throne. The King, however, rejected his idea, as he already had a son next in line for the throne.

R'arzhonbak, however, did not take this lightly. He gathered a group of Noxian assassins, one of which who was very skillful in their work. The following midnight, Gruelii and his assassins murdered the King and his son. This threw Noxus into more disorder then it already had been in. Gruelii was determined to stop the plague. He began to cast his spell, but the military general of Noxus interuppted. They fought, and Gruelii was eventually decapitated. This lead to the failing of the spell. The plague continued, killing more and more civilians, leaving Noxus with a small population. The rest who survived the plague fled, not wanting to be executed. They were known as the Grey Order.

However, the military general of Noxus was extremely harsh. He ordered his soldiers to slaughter half of Noxus' remaining population, men, women, and children, but excluding the noble families and military families. The execution squad eventually came to the Hasturi residence, which held Gregori, Amoline, famous warlock and witch, and their daughter, Annie. When the squad knocked on their door, they opened, and were immediately impaled. Annie looked at this and wept, quickly falling to the floor crying. Surprisingly, however, the military general accompanied them. They then turned their attention towards Annie. The general ordered a soldier forward, and he approached Annie with his spear armed. Annie stopped crying, however, and something inside of her snapped. She was enraged, and her eyes burned like fire. With a single flick of her wrist, she incinerated the soldier. The general looked at her, and he simply smirked. He ordered the remaining soldiers to attack. Knowing that she could not defeat them, she burned down a wall, and ran out.

She wandered by herself for days, looking for any signs of the Grey Order. Eventually, she found her fellow wanderers, and she began to travel with them. However, she was quickly sent off, as she had grown curious and experimented with fire, leaving two men with third degree burns.

Annie looked for a place she could live. However, when she felt as if she would give up, she found a burning hut. She had seen these before, and they were known as witch huts. She freely entered the hut, choosing to burn anyone who was inside. When she opened the door, a witch was enchanting a book. The witch looked at Annie, and quickly became unsympathetic. She looked back at her book, and with one arm blew fire onto Annie. However, when the smoke cleared, Annie remained unscathed. The witch looked surprisingly at the girl. She could be used for one of her experiments, the witch though, or maybe be trained in pyromancy. None the less, the girl was lost. The witch asked her what she was doing in the Voodoo lands, and Annie explained. The witch agreed to take her in, at a price; Annie would have to enslave a pyromantic beast, and bound it in a teddy bear. Annie agreed, and the witch qucikly taught Annie a bounding spell. Annie memorized it, and then went out into the wastelands. She found the beast, and conquered it with her pyromancy. She felt proud of herself, and in this became prideful. She bound the beast in her bear, and brought it back to the witch. She allowed Annie to keep the bear as protection, and to play with. The witch was impressed. This child would surely be a great asset to her future plans, she thought to herself...

Shoutout to CupcakeTrap for the revision ideas!

ALRIGHT guys! That was my "re-writing" of Annie's lore. Hope you enjoyed. Comment below on what you thought of it, and suggestions of the next champion lore to rewrite! Thanks for reading!

6 Comments

CupcakeTrap1 votes

Interesting. I wouldn't have expected Noxus to have ever had a King, but then, that would arguably tie it more closely into the Roman analogy. (Though…this is rather recent. I figure Noxus would have deposed its King a long time ago.)

I'd also always pictured Annie's parents as still being alive, just in exile. It may be that my mental image of Annie is just a lot more sadistic and malevolent than the norm, but I had assumed she just didn't care what her parents did or thought. Nobody tells Annie when to go to bed. If she wants cookies for dinner, she gets cookies for dinner. She doesn't do her homework; she just "plays" all day, on the Fields, torching everyone with her pyro magic.

Rykagnar1 votes

{quoted}

Interesting. I wouldn't have expected Noxus to have ever had a King, but then, that would arguably tie it more closely into the Roman analogy. (Though…this is rather recent. I figure Noxus would have deposed its King a long time ago.)

I'd also always pictured Annie's parents as still being alive, just in exile. It may be that my mental image of Annie is just a lot more sadistic and malevolent than the norm, but I had assumed she just didn't care what her parents did or thought. Nobody tells Annie when to go to bed. If she wants cookies for dinner, she gets cookies for dinner. She doesn't do her homework; she just "plays" all day, on the Fields, torching everyone with her pyro magic.

Thanks for the comment! Yeah, I picture her still having her parents. However, I thought I could make the lore more interesting. Anyways, did you like it? :D

CupcakeTrap1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Razor Blade174,realm=NA,application-id=2XjzURgc,discussion-id=RHGAAimF,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2015-02-11T01:40:34.397+0000)

Thanks for the comment! Yeah, I picture her still having her parents. However, I thought I could make the lore more interesting. Anyways, did you like it? :D

I think it would benefit from revision, for sure, but I think there's some good material here. So yes, I would say I like it. I certainly think it was worthwhile for you to take the time to write it up.

Here are my off-the-cuff reactions. Please take them with a grain of salt.

Long before the League was created, there was an outbreak of disease in the city-state of Noxus. This disease was devastating towards all people, and eventually killed the King and his heir. This lead to a decision of who would become the next ruler. In the midst of this crisis, a man named R'arzhonbak Greulii stood up to take the place. However, he was quickly silenced by the nobles of Noxus. R'arzhonbak was rejected in his request to become king. Greullii was enraged, and in this, he assassinated the nobles.

I like the idea of a plague as an opener. That's pretty spicy, and somehow, it interacts interestingly with the Noxian obsession with strength. No matter how mighty or brave you are, a plague can kill you.

However, this part feels very rough. I think the reference to a King so recently is problematic from a continuity perspective. I think there's got to be a better way to introduce the plague. If having a vengeful Noxian is important to the story, this needs more specificity. Right now, it simply tells us that there was "a man" by this name, and that he was "silenced" by the nobles after trying to become King (not clear what his claim was), and that he failed to become King and was angry, so he killed the nobles. It's very "tell" rather than "show". It raises questions, and not in a good way. Who is this guy? How did he kill all or most of "the nobles"? (I feel like Noxian nobles are pretty hard people to kill.) What exactly is a "Noxian noble", given their aggressively meritocratic society? (That's less of an issue; we have Kat and company as examples of "noble" houses that presumably hold their position largely through continued strength rather than birthright.)

I really think that it might be better to just open with the plague. Tell us where it came from, what it was like, how it spread, what they'd tried before. If you want Greulii to be in the story, why not have him as some Noxian "surgeon-general" or archmage or something, empowered to stop the plague by any means necessary? Maybe he was willing to use his mandate to end the plague to slaughter political rivals or dissidents, like the Grey Order?

One other continuity note: I think the League has to be in existence at this point. It's currently 24 CLE. Annie might be as old as 10 or 11, but unless there's some weird magic going on (and there might be) that messes with her aging, she's definitely not 24.

The city-state was devasted by the loss of their nobles. They had no control over who was king anymore. R'arzhonbak then ordered Noxian soldiers to go to the house of the ill and slaughter them so the disease would not spread.

Slaughtering the sick verges on "BWAHAHAHA EVIL", but I think Noxus is allowed to go there sometimes.

In this, they found the house of Gregori and Amoline. They were highly skilled Noxian mages. However, they were both ill. When a soldier arrived at their house, they both were ill. They cast a spell on the soldier, hoping they could save their daughter, Annie. The next day, a platoon of soldiers arrived at Gregori and Amoline's house. They accused them of witchcraft and deception, and they were killed on the spot. They had tried to kill Annie, but Gregori had cast a final spell to break the wall so Annie could escape. Annie quickly grabbed her teddy-bear and ran.

Accusing them of witchcraft seems kind of weird. What is "witchcraft"? Noxus seems pretty okay with very dark magic. And how did this little girl escape from a Noxian kill-squad?

What if instead this attack was what triggered her empowerment as a Champion? I don't think she had Tibbers yet, but maybe her powers suddenly awakened and she incinerated the soldiers? Suddenly, the Grey Order had a Champion. Having a Champion is a big deal, and not just because they're super-powerful. A Champion can get you a face in the League. Suddenly, she'd become a very spoiled little girl if she wasn't already, which might help explain her mean streak.

Annie had wandered for days, looking for civilization. However, Demacia nor Ionia would take her in an orphanage, for she was ill.

I think the refugee angle is strong. Actually, Noxian refugees were the catalyst for Shon-Xan.

Annie eventually stumbled across the Voodoo lands. She wandered around looking for a house.

This feels weird. Is she not with the others anymore? Rather than stumbling across the Voodoo Lands, I'd assume that the Grey Order fled there. But maybe she wandered off while in that area.

She eventually came upon a burning witch's hut. She entered the hut unscathed, and to her surprise, a witch was inside. The witch looked at the child in curiosity until Annie explained. The witch then felt sorry, and decided to raise her. She cured her illness, and began teaching her the ways of pyromancy.

This feels a bit too sympathetic, somehow. This might be a difference of opinion, but my vision of Annie is that she's kind of a little psycho, and not very nice. The kind of kid who burns ants with magnifying glasses and smashes bugs underfoot to hear them crunch.

Still, I do like the idea of some rogue mage (like a "witch") who practices magic forbidden by the High Command. But maybe the witch's motives were a bit less pure, and a bit more about using this newly empowered Champion to further her own agenda.

A few years later, the witch became extremely sick. She was at her death bed, but before she died, she enchanted Annie's bear so that it could protect her on her journey.

I prefer the idea of her capturing Tibbers and making him into her teddy bear. I think it's both hilarious and awesome that this little pyro girl just casually took one of the most terrifying monsters in the Voodoo Lands and literally made him her toy. It's a great badass moment for her.

Also, hey, why kill off the witch? That closes off a story avenue, and doesn't really get you anything in return. I guess it might make Annie sad, and provide some material there, but…it certainly isn't necessary to get her to leave. What if the witch becomes like her "cool aunt" whom she goes and visits with from time to time, and is so much less boring than her stupid parents?

After she died, Annie looked for a way to practice her skills and use her bear. She came upon the League of Legend's, and entered it hastily.

I see Annie as going to the League less to "practice her skills" and more because she has fun blowing people up with fireballs, and because of the glory and fame it gives her. She's a little girl. She wants money, so she can buy candy, and toys, and whatever else she wants, and she wants to be in the League because that way her parents and everyone else have to do what she says, because they need her.

Rykagnar2 votes

{quoted}

I think it would benefit from revision, for sure, but I think there's some good material here. So yes, I would say I like it. I certainly think it was worthwhile for you to take the time to write it up.

Here are my off-the-cuff reactions. Please take them with a grain of salt.

I like the idea of a plague as an opener. That's pretty spicy, and somehow, it interacts interestingly with the Noxian obsession with strength. No matter how mighty or brave you are, a plague can kill you.

However, this part feels very rough. I think the reference to a King so recently is problematic from a continuity perspective. I think there's got to be a better way to introduce the plague. If having a vengeful Noxian is important to the story, this needs more specificity. Right now, it simply tells us that there was "a man" by this name, and that he was "silenced" by the nobles after trying to become King (not clear what his claim was), and that he failed to become King and was angry, so he killed the nobles. It's very "tell" rather than "show". It raises questions, and not in a good way. Who is this guy? How did he kill all or most of "the nobles"? (I feel like Noxian nobles are pretty hard people to kill.) What exactly is a "Noxian noble", given their aggressively meritocratic society? (That's less of an issue; we have Kat and company as examples of "noble" houses that presumably hold their position largely through continued strength rather than birthright.)

I really think that it might be better to just open with the plague. Tell us where it came from, what it was like, how it spread, what they'd tried before. If you want Greulii to be in the story, why not have him as some Noxian "surgeon-general" or archmage or something, empowered to stop the plague by any means necessary? Maybe he was willing to use his mandate to end the plague to slaughter political rivals or dissidents, like the Grey Order?

One other continuity note: I think the League has to be in existence at this point. It's currently 24 CLE. Annie might be as old as 10 or 11, but unless there's some weird magic going on (and there might be) that messes with her aging, she's definitely not 24.

Slaughtering the sick verges on "BWAHAHAHA EVIL", but I think Noxus is allowed to go there sometimes.

Accusing them of witchcraft seems kind of weird. What is "witchcraft"? Noxus seems pretty okay with very dark magic. And how did this little girl escape from a Noxian kill-squad?

What if instead this attack was what triggered her empowerment as a Champion? I don't think she had Tibbers yet, but maybe her powers suddenly awakened and she incinerated the soldiers? Suddenly, the Grey Order had a Champion. Having a Champion is a big deal, and not just because they're super-powerful. A Champion can get you a face in the League. Suddenly, she'd become a very spoiled little girl if she wasn't already, which might help explain her mean streak.

I think the refugee angle is strong. Actually, Noxian refugees were the catalyst for Shon-Xan.

This feels weird. Is she not with the others anymore? Rather than stumbling across the Voodoo Lands, I'd assume that the Grey Order fled there. But maybe she wandered off while in that area.

This feels a bit too sympathetic, somehow. This might be a difference of opinion, but my vision of Annie is that she's kind of a little psycho, and not very nice. The kind of kid who burns ants with magnifying glasses and smashes bugs underfoot to hear them crunch.

Still, I do like the idea of some rogue mage (like a "witch") who practices magic forbidden by the High Command. But maybe the witch's motives were a bit less pure, and a bit more about using this newly empowered Champion to further her own agenda.

I prefer the idea of her capturing Tibbers and making him into her teddy bear. I think it's both hilarious and awesome that this little pyro girl just casually took one of the most terrifying monsters in the Voodoo Lands and literally made him her toy. It's a great badass moment for her.

Also, hey, why kill off the witch? That closes off a story avenue, and doesn't really get you anything in return. I guess it might make Annie sad, and provide some material there, but…it certainly isn't necessary to get her to leave. What if the witch becomes like her "cool aunt" whom she goes and visits with from time to time, and is so much less boring than her stupid parents?

I see Annie as going to the League less to "practice her skills" and more because she has fun blowing people up with fireballs, and because of the glory and fame it gives her. She's a little girl. She wants money, so she can buy candy, and toys, and whatever else she wants, and she wants to be in the League because that way her parents and everyone else have to do what she says, because they need her.

First of all...holy crap. This is the most detailed constructive criticism I have EVER had. You didn't say "oh this was bad omg so bad fix ur writing so bad" you told me what you would've liked. I respect that. And since I do, I will change the lore and take your ideas in mind. Again, thank you SO much for the helpful advice. I really do appreciate it. =)

CupcakeTrap1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Razor Blade174,realm=NA,application-id=2XjzURgc,discussion-id=RHGAAimF,comment-id=0000000000000000,timestamp=2015-02-11T03:30:37.158+0000)

First of all...holy crap. This is the most detailed constructive criticism I have EVER had. You didn't say "oh this was bad omg so bad fix ur writing so bad" you told me what you would've liked. I respect that. And since I do, I will change the lore and take your ideas in mind. Again, thank you SO much for the helpful advice. I really do appreciate it. =)

You're very welcome. I love to see the lore community innovating. We're wasting too much time and energy lately yelling at Riot. Those resources would be better spent on threads like this one.

Besides, sooner or later Annie is going to have to show up in Factions, and the deeper the well of community ideas from which we can draw, the better.

Rykagnar1 votes

{quoted}

You're very welcome. I love to see the lore community innovating. We're wasting too much time and energy lately yelling at Riot. Those resources would be better spent on threads like this one.

Besides, sooner or later Annie is going to have to show up in Factions, and the deeper the well of community ideas from which we can draw, the better.

Yes, I do agree too many people are complaining. Anyways, I have revised it, and hopefully you could read over(?). What champion lore would you like to see re-written next?

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