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Lore. Please give us lore.

Zhugan·3/23/2014, 9:43:02 PM·18 votes·1,073 views

There is a very passionate thread on general discussion in which people are asking for Riot to return lore. There has been some response, but I am aware that Riot prefers to discuss things here, so I am venturing into the belly of the beast in the hopes that this message will be seen.

I understand that the idea given by Tom Abernathy is that characters are much more memorable than story, and I understand that. I don't completely agree with it, but I understand it. However, I do have a serious issue with the idea that plot is overrated or significantly less important than characters. There is literally no awesome character without an at least decent story that allows that character to be awesome. Awesome characters left in a vacuum without any sort of story to accompany them are just as easy to forget about as any mediocre story.

I understand that the Journal of Justice was left behind because Riot was looking for better ways to showcase their world and lore, its just that as a person in the community the amount of story seen since the cancelling of the JoJ has been inconsistent, and sometimes very upsetting. Little things like the Jinx Video, the SGU comic, and the Shadow Isles site were all welcome, but they aren't what we're looking for. We're looking for stories that show these awesome champions grow. We're looking for stories that allow us to get a better understanding of the world. We knew that Jinx was destructive. We knew that Udyr is as much a creature of the world as he is a human being. And very little that was shown about the Shadow Isles was new information, although the stuff that was new was appreciated.

I'm not saying go back to the JoJ, but I am saying that something similar to it in many ways would be appreciated. Something that let's us know what's going on with the champions that we've invested our time into. Something that let's us know what's going on between Noxus, Ionia, Demacia, Freljord, Bandle City, Zaun, Piltover, and Bilgewater. Something that answers whether or not Jarvan IV is Leblanc, or what happened with Reginald Ashram.

I don't think its too much to ask, for Riot to keep telling the stories that they started. I would love to know what, if anything, is being done to possible give something that would allow for lore to be delivered once a month or once every other month, or if something(s?) big are in the works that will expand on the lore. I'm tired of hearing that something is being done, without any detail. And even a vague detail of a vague possibility that may or may not happen would be better than what feels like a whole lot of nothing.

TL;DR: Please read it, but if you really don't want to... I am asking Riot to do something with the lore that they started. That they keep telling the stories that they started. I understand that Riot wants to focus on characters, but characters can't grow without a story that galvanizes that growth. And that Riot finds a way to create this lore in ways that are more meaningful than a one off comic/video. Something that can be more consistently delivered than a whole site like the Shadow Isles thing, but something more in terms of content than the video/comic.

P.S.-I really respect the original lore that Riot built and was developing, and seeing it stagnate through apparent lack of visibility makes me really, really sad.

23 Comments

Noam Braumsky3/24/2014, 2:31:16 PM6 votes

I'd love to see another Lore installment that allows players to control the outcome, much like the Ionia vs. Noxus rematch.

Flannel Mannel3/23/2014, 10:58:57 PM3 votes

I wholeheartedly agree. I'd even volunteer to help write something like the JoJ (or whatever hopefully replaces it)

Romewarr3/24/2014, 8:16:18 PM2 votes

I have a Theory for Lore that if Riot actually includes as Canon, I would love for it to happen, ill try to post all of it as accurately as I can, but be aware these are mostly speculation and can contain loopholes in which I may or may not have a response for.

My theory is based around the disappearance of Katarina's Father, that webs out to explain many different things. Again, these are not anywhere near perfect, but it's what I can gather about the specific subject.

So, in Lore, Leblanc always had an active roll in Politics in Noxus, even before the City-State became one of Militaristic values. So if she remained active after the evolution of Noxus' Politics, then possibly she targeted Katarina's Father. Why? Well, I think its because Kat's father was a "Prominent Noxian General" so Leblanc married him or became his Mistress with the intention of eventually killing him to further the Black Rose's own agenda. Leblanc kills him and then hides the body, seemingly perfectly seeing as Talon and Katarina combined has had no clue to his disappearance since the day he vanished. I feel as though that the Black Rose never truly fell, and always had the intention of rising to power. That's where Swain comes in. Swain and Leblanc have a very obvious, possibly sexual, relationship, as seen in Swain's Judgment for entering the League of legends. And seeing that in the wikia, Swain may have some idea as to the whereabouts of Katarina's Dad, She and Swain were working together on it, albeit reluctantly for Swain. My theory is that Swain and Leblanc had a child at some point and were going to choose different names on the Gender, Beatrice is the name of Swain's bird, so I feel as though that that was going to be it's name if it were a female. When Leblanc had the child, something happened to cause the Child to die. Swain was devastated, so much so that he no longer communicated with Leblanc and started to work for the Noxian Military, rapidly rising in the ranks. When Swain had finally defeated Kieran Darkblade for the position of Grandmaster General, Leblanc started to communicate with him again.

I hope you like my theory, I know this wasn't a "Create your own lore in this Thread" type of Thread, but if the off-chance that Riot actually sees this and enjoys it, I will be ecstatic, and I hope you guys post some opinions and questions for it as well.

Starlighte3/24/2014, 1:34:10 PM2 votes

Agreed and supported 100%... Would love to have Riot peel back the blinders and let us actually see what they're doing rather than hide behind NDA's for the rest of their lives.

CupcakeTrap3/24/2014, 7:28:43 AM2 votes

I join you in asking Riot for more lore, and in suggesting that we as a community step up to get things going. I think Factions has done a good job of getting the ball rolling with four interconnected storylines driven by player decisions and actual matches.

http://i.imgur.com/NUpSpQE.jpg

Factions is a community initiative that's working to help develop more lore. Specifically, it's lore built around and driven by a community-powered game mode that features conflicts along the lines of the original Noxus vs. Ionia tournament. Anyone can start or join a match anytime; match results are sent in to us for scoring, and influence the course of the storyline.

Site: LeagueFactions.net
The front page features a quick introduction to what Factions is and how it works.

Our fourth storyline, Shon-Xan, comes to a close tomorrow at midnight. We're holding a poll to decide which factions players want to see made playable in the next arc.
You're all invited to come vote.

We're also going to be launching more community lore initiatives associated with Factions in the next arc, including a JoJ-style in-universe newspaper called the Summoner's Herald.

AbiwonKenabi3/24/2014, 1:21:43 PM1 votes

I keep hoping all this silence from Riot is a sign that they have something really big in the works that they need to set up for properly in order to keep up regularly (like an animated short or a weekly short story or something of the sort). But it might turn out to be another event i.e. the Freljord event. I personally really enjoy the themed events, but I agree that something more regular needs to happen.

The unfortunate part is that the characters are difficult to change significantly; they can't change a champion completely, or kill of any characters because they have to fill their place in the game. It's difficult, but not impossible however.

The silence is definitely frustrating. I know the lore team also handles things like writing lore for new champions/VUs and writing their spoken lines, but I hope they are still brewing something good. (Not that those things are bad, they're just same ole, same ole)

Cerbearus3/25/2014, 1:50:19 AM1 votes

Riot doesn't do lore anymore. Just some music videos and a tiny bit of text, and even these are few and far between.

Reckless Lamb3/25/2014, 2:19:31 PM1 votes

Just thought I'd show you this since its relevant to your topic and possibly an answer to what you're looking for... **This is what I was working on for the lore: http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=3138613 **

I'm researching all the current lore they have now and when I'm done, I'm going to compile it into a series of books. Now, lore changes and new champions are added, but I'm an adaptable writer that knows how to include new pieces of story in pre-existing ones without contradicting the events. Once I'm done researching the Journals, Champ Lore and Judgements, I'm going to do a sample book/chapter centered around one of the city-states.

I initially chose Bilgewater since their lore/background is vague, but one of my critics suggested I focus on a city-states that's heavily rooted in lore so I could get my point across with the project. The "book" is a very do-able monthly release that would flesh out the background of all the events mentioned in the JoJ, Judgements, etc.

This is not "fanfiction" or "Fan Created Lore." **This is going to be the official lore, but done in a story telling form that will shed light on the details we crave. **

AGmukbooks3/25/2014, 6:21:41 PM1 votes

personally i'd like to see it ina different light i love the lore and for me it was a massive challenge i think that as you play the game you can get entries into a journal which you can read the lore of the league of legends world!