Inside Shurima’s story with the writers

Riot·May 31, 2016·4 votes·17,373 views

Welcome to the latest League Podcast, a series in which we take you behind-the-scenes with the people who help make League possible. Expect new guests and new stories every couple of weeks or so, and make sure to hit us with those comments and ratings so we can keep striving toward a Challenger-tier podcast.

This week, Foundations Lead Anthony “Ant in Oz” Reynolds Lenné, Senior Writer Graham “Dinopawz” McNeil, and Writer Rayla “Jellbug” Heide share their behind-the-scenes perspective on crafting the Shurima story event.

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80 Comments

MattieTKDMay 31, 20166 votes

Azir Rammus Skarner Taliyah Cassiopeia Renekton Nasus Xerath shurima woo*[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]*

World EnderMay 31, 20168 votes

You forgot Amumu...was that intentional? Amumu item 3070

Tivk7May 31, 20162 votes

Poor Amumu Amumu [zombie-nunu-tears]

MattieTKDJun 3, 20161 votes

omg i didnt mean to forget little Amumu he my bros main [zombie-nunu-tears] item 3070 that was not intentional i was talking about amumu to my bro so subconsciously my brain told me i put him in when i didnt

VTK1May 31, 20162 votes

You forgot Sivir and Yasuo

Dancing DraugrMay 31, 201610 votes

Yasuo isn't from Shurima....[zombie-brand-facepalm]

II Titanic IIMay 31, 20161 votes

He tout Taliyah to control her powers

Anita GankMay 31, 20164 votes

doesn't make him part of Shurima

MattieTKDJun 3, 20162 votes

yeah yasuo is from ionia

ÅtlasJun 1, 20163 votes

You forgot Bard , he is the best Shuriman. He is really an Ascended Being, and his face is a item 3069 . No one understands. TT_TT ~Sharqweeqwee

Benren11Jun 2, 20162 votes

Bard is not ascended, he is a celestial being.

GIntoreseJun 2, 20161 votes

I actually think Bard is just a MAGICAL being because from my understanding, an ascended being was first a human but then became god-like, and a celestial being is like a being from outerspace or something like that BUT in his lore it does say Bard he goes from dimension to dimension which kind of makes him related to space or whatever. I think Bard is more a celestial being than an ascended being because he was born the way he was and didn't become ascended into a higher being.

LordGeovanniJun 3, 20161 votes

His point is that you dont know he was born the way he was. but mine is that outer space and traveling through space time through parrellel universes isnt the same thing

Ganfolf The GreyJun 1, 20162 votes

You Forgot + Kassadin Malzahar Ezreal RekSai and........ Aatrox Amumu YES NOW ITS COMPLETE

EvilUnicornLordJun 2, 20162 votes

Ezreal and Aatrox aren't Shuriman, Ez is from Piltover and explores everywhere and Aatrox is a nigh extinct race called Darkin who simply causes chaos and bloodshed everywhere. Also, Malzahar and Kassadin are more connected to Icathia. Whereas Rek'Sai may patrol Shurima's deserts, it is a void beast and not native to Shurima. Amumu is the only Shuriman there.

LordGeovanniJun 3, 20161 votes

you live there long enough people can identify your hunting grounds its pretty safe to say you have as vested an intrest in the place to some one who grew up there and ran away to pratice controlling their powers

HellioningJun 1, 20164 votes

Is Xerath supposed to be a villain or not? You said that this wasn't supposed to be a black and white, Azir-good Xerath-evil story, but then you claimed that Xerath won in the fight with Nasus 'because the good guys can't win at the beginning'.

LightStorm2Jun 1, 20163 votes

Considering Xerath destroyed Shurima just killed off an entire city (or most of it)twisted renekton's mind and is trying to kill off sivir. I think we can call xerath evil.

HellioningJun 1, 20164 votes

As annoying as that would be, that'd be fine. But Riot seems to insist on trying to paint this as a grey conflict, and it's clearly not.

CaptainAsia999Jun 1, 20163 votes

I think Riot believes that giving him the sad backstory of being a slave who just wanted his freedom is supposed to add the grey factor in. But, it's safe to assume that they included enough of his atrocities into the stories to see that he is truly not a good guy (he murdered any mage who was his equal, smote the queen and the king, set a deliberate trap for Renekton and Nasus just so he could steal the ascension, etc., he is not nice)

Jackal424Jun 2, 20161 votes

Sounds like I need to learn to play as Xerath.

CaptainAsia999Jun 5, 20161 votes

He is really fun xD

LordGeovanniJun 3, 20161 votes

the trap for Renekton and Nasus could be overlooked as he was trying to get retribution for what he believed to be betrayal . i dont remeber murdering equal mages but he killed the king and queens children to help azir those parts were grey but him now asscended just killing innocents not much grey in there

CaptainAsia999Jun 5, 20161 votes

I mean, it was done with the intention of, "I am unable to kill them, so send them away" and it was in his story, when he was learning how to be a mage, he had a lot of people killed to keep his secrets safe and make sure no one knew how strong he was (I do believe.) I do have to agree that there isn't much grey in his ascension. I wish they had described his emotions more. It was literally: Azir frees him and embraces him as a brother - Xerath is to angry to care and kills Azir, stealing his power.......... they could have at least made him hesitate and show his anguish, which was the real reason his ascension was so wrong (you know, because you have to be worthy of ascension, and his guilt and pain threw it off and made it volatile, IDK.) It could have been done better.

LordGeovanniJun 17, 20161 votes

it seemed more like he was forcibly absorbing the power as a normal ascension that goes wrong simply kills the unworthy. Or so it would seem from when Renekton was believe to be dead when he carried Nasus to ascension and no one not even the sun priests that were preforming the ritual seemed to be concerned for their own safety. I believe Xerath stealing the Ascension was still grey area as he was wronged for so long and his plans were already in motion but his mass meaningless killing of innocents sons and daughters or Shurima while in the ascension may have been unavoidable was completely avoidable in the city where he fought Nasus looking for the descendant

Superxp90Jun 1, 20164 votes

need to make a new 5v5 map i mean for real lol make a sand map a void map freaking up your game league 3 maps are not going to do it and when you do it give them diffrent buffs and make them change in the middle of the map make a maze map lol come on. and if i see any of thses maps its cuz i told you too or you already started making them tell the truth.

thomasblodJun 2, 20161 votes

if if riot wants to be lazy they could just retexture

LordGeovanniJun 3, 20161 votes

I think riot doesnt have the enough constant players to fill another map hence why they cut dominion. and apparently designs cost external money as if they dont have systems that they can use to make another slightly different summoners rift. but my main point being im sure the game is slowly loseing regular players

posionmaster1243Jun 1, 20164 votes

doesnt reksai live in shurima RekSai

Eldraz1May 31, 20163 votes

Hey, wondering that now Shurima is such a big thing, if we're going to see a permanent Shurima map?? Just think it would be cool. (It would also be cool for a Freljord map) It would also be nice for these to be something maybe rift sized or similar. [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

The PherickMay 31, 20164 votes

There is a Freljord map actually. Howling abyss is in the Freljord. If you listen to the dialog of the shopkeepers, you can actually hear the story behind it.

getting a drinkMay 31, 20162 votes

Ayyyyy lmao

BigGayKyleMay 31, 20162 votes

id love to see more artwork of Shurima. Taliyah

CHAD IVERNMay 31, 20162 votes

I've been dying waiting for the Shurima lore podcast! summoner 4 !

LightStorm2May 31, 20162 votes

Is it just me or does it feel like Nasus was made weaker for the sake of making Xereth stronger or something? Idk it just feels that way to me

SiachiJun 1, 20164 votes

It makes perfect sense within the story: In the past, Nasus couldn't completely defeat Xerath even with Renekton's help, the two of them only managing to seal him away with Renekton's sacrifice.

Now Nasus is fighting Xerath ALONE after centuries (maybe millennia) of wallowing in self-pity, presumably not getting any training done. So if he couldn't beat Xerath in the past with help, when he was at his best, he wouldn't have a chance now that he's on his own.

EDIT: Not to mention, Xerath had JUST ascended when Nasus first fought him: He's had plenty of time since then to get used to his Ascended body, and become more comfortable using the sheer amount of magic he possesses now. It'd be safe to say he'd be even STRONGER than when they first fought.

LightStorm2Jun 1, 20161 votes

The problem with that lies in the dominion of their powers. Nasus as stated controls death and time while Xerath is simply a being of pure energy. While that would make him powerful it still shouldn't be able to take him down. Also the problem was (at least how I read it) was they didn't know how to kill him as opposed to beating him. Though I suppose the whole state of mind would be a pretty good reason (Nasus seemed really out of it). I was always a big fan of lore (Shiruma in particular) and among most groups Nasus was always considered the most powerful champion (well aside from AurelionSol for obvious reasons now).

Benren11Jun 2, 20161 votes

Actually new possibilities of more powerful being just popped out with the destroyer Thresh skin. Soo far that entity rivals the power of AurelionSol . In the skin teaser Thresh talks about horrors beyond imagination, which if read correctly signifies beings that make the current beings we see look like babies.

LightStorm2Jun 2, 20161 votes

Skins don't really count because their stories are technically canon. Even then a AurelionSol has stated he fought many creatures in space so dark star thresh may be a possible candidate for that

Benren11Jun 2, 20161 votes

That the thing tho. Xerath is a being with infinite power. Well the lore story kept saying his power kept growing. It was mainly due to his body absorbing energy from the sun disc. I think that as long as Azir is around Xerath 's power will constantly grow. Plus in his prison the story never mentioned Xerath was growing in power. Only when the sun disc was still in the sky did his power grow.

LightStorm2Jun 2, 20162 votes

I disagree with the infinite power thing especially since his power comes from the sun (that's basically how the ritual works0 (to say xerath is infinite would mean to say AurelionSol is infinite since he is the progenitor of xerath's powers). Also that is incorrect, Xerath's powers were growing inside the tomb this was stated in the bloodline story. It might be possible for him to steal power from other people ( Nasus warned Taliyah to stay away from him before he rips her magic from her.

Matt StormarrowJun 1, 20162 votes

"writers"

lmao

ChhinDavannJun 2, 20162 votes

[slayer-jinx-catface]

YouAreLostLOLJun 1, 20161 votes

isn't cassiopeia the sister of the sinister blade, katarina ??

ZoumbakoalaJun 1, 20161 votes

She is, but in a way, she is also bound to Shurima because it was her, not Sivir, who opened the tomb where Xerath and Renekton were sealed away by Nasus. This is also why she's half serpend and wears a crown on her head; to hide her gorgon-like serpent hair. She was cursed by the spells protecting the tomb or something like that. I think.

Benren11Jun 2, 20161 votes

Dude Cassiopeia did not open the tomb, Sivir 's blood did. She cursed when she walked into the tomb of the emperors.

ZoumbakoalaJun 2, 20161 votes

Oh right, that's my bad; I kinda suck at everything, reading included

LordGeovanniJun 3, 20161 votes

If i remeber correctly Cassiopia did open the Tomb with Sivir's cross blade but Sivir's blood resurected The long dead Azir

EvilUnicornLordJun 2, 20161 votes

So because Shurima worships the sun (as does Targon's Solari, but that's an unrelated topic) but AurelionSol made the sun, does that mean that the sun isn't a sentient deity or is it because it still provides power for ascension?