http://static.tumblr.com/aidcuae/7JXm48ntx/lileyx_chan_comission_by_gladosy-d472gtt2_copy.gif Art by Gladosy, from Lileyx's site.

Note on choice of board

It might seem odd that this is posted in Community Creations instead of Story & Art. The reason I chose Community Creations was that, as it concerns the League of Legends, which (to me quite puzzlingly) no longer exists in the "League of Legends" canon universe, this topic and all suggestions gathered herein are in the realm of community lore. I think an argument could be made that in truth this does concern the (former) canon League universe, or perhaps I could point to Tryndamere's somewhat cryptic remark that "we didn't retcon Summoners", but I decided to err on the side of safety. Maybe at some point I'll try this kind of thread over on Story & Art, and put that "You're still Summoners in the game" quote in bold letters at the top.

Summoner Judgments

An interesting idea came up in the Factions community: might not Summoners get judgments as well? Though not as important as Champion judgments, for obvious reasons, I imagine there'd be some kind of screening process. Maybe they want to get a sense for who this mage is who is now asking to be taught Summoning magic. The League has a hard enough time keeping the member-states happy as it is; the last thing they need is a rogue Summoner getting the League in the papers.

What's a Summoner?

This brings up a related question, only somewhat explored in the lore before the Great Retcon: what's a Summoner?

My own proposal is along these lines:

• A Summoner is a mage who has been accepted into the League of Legends.
• Being accepted into the League as a Summoner requires, at the very least, a "college-level" magical education, generally earned in one's home member-state. This provides the foundation for their Summoning studies. They probably also need some kind of political sponsorship from their home state, even if once they join the League they are (like Champions) generally free to fight for whomever they please, in exchange for gold and influence.
• Upon acceptance, Summoners undergo a 30-level course of study that builds upon their pre-League experience. The Institute's curriculum is a distillation of Rune Wars magic into safer form. Obviously, the focus is more on how to mend the damage of the Rune Wars than how to cast runespells, though (no matter how they control it) doing the former requires some knowledge of the latter, hence the scrutiny.
• Summoners assist Champions on and off the Fields, by linking with them and empowering them with their own magic.
• Summoners are also the principal agents of the League. Champions tend to be harder to order around, and there aren't as many of them, so I would expect that most League missions (e.g. to investigate an artifact, hunt down a rogue Summoner, close a magical rift, study an arcane phenomenon) are handled by Summoners.
• Summoners further serve as diplomats and advocates who can be hired by the various member-states when they want to use the League to accomplish some objective.
• Finally, Summoners are considered reliably skillful researchers and scholars. They're the Giles/Daniel Jackson types in the Runeterran setting.

I like to explain the oddities of Summoner names through an eccentric semi-sentient record-book of names. When you swear your oath to the League, it gives you a unique spellname, which unambiguously identifies you in spells, regardless of language. Good to know if the League needs to track you down or make you swear a binding magical oath. The record-book is becoming a bit erratic with time, and has (for example) developed a strange fascination with numerology, specifically with the number four hundred and twenty. It also sometimes spits out names so obscene that they have to be redone to avoid embarrassment to the League, a task often performed by the cabal of League insiders known as the Riotous Fists Clan.

Ideas?

There are a couple reasons I'm posting this thread.

• I'd like to get some thoughts from outside of Factions on both our developing notions of what Summoners are and on the specific topic of Summoner Judgments.
• I'd also like to encourage some general discussion among the lore community about Summoners and the League.
• Finally, I think it'd be cool to hear some ideas people have for who their Summoner is, or what their path to the League might have looked like.

To me, the silver lining of the Great Retcon is that now the definition of Summoners is in the hands of the community—i.e., the Summoners.