9.12: Lore Update
Hey everyone!
This week’s lore update takes us deep into the jungle as we uncover a new region: Ixtal! Along the way, we’ll have a chance to get to know the Empress of the Elements, Qiyana.
We also have a new Mordekaiser Color Story to round out his story for his update, so make sure to check it out.
As always, we love to hear your thoughts and theories, so make sure to share them in the comments!
Let’s dive in!
Bret "Ashekandi" Forbus
New Champion
Qiyana
Bio: Empress of the Elements
Some day, all this will be Ixaocan. A glorious empire, with an empress to fit.
Qiyana, Ixtal, Bio
New Region
Ixtal
Secluded deep in the jungle for thousands of years, the sophisticated arcology-city of Ixaocan remains mostly free of outside influence. Having witnessed from afar the ruination of the Blessed Isles and the Rune Wars that followed, the Ixtali view all the other factions of Runeterra as upstarts and pretenders, and use their powerful magic to keep any intruders at bay.
Ixtal, Qiyana, Neeko, Nidalee, Rengar, Zyra, Malphite, Runeterra, Region
Color Story
Mordekaiser
The Final Reign
- by Michael Yichao
A raised fist. A surge of necromantic power. Before him, the final spire of the final tower takes form, inky smoke coalescing into black iron.
Mordekaiser, Noxus
Comics
Lux
COMING SOON: League of Legends: Lux – Issue 2
- by John O’Bryan
Meet… Sylas of Dregbourne! Lux meets in secret with an enemy of the state… But who is Sylas and is he really as dangerous as the stories say…or something far worse? And—will Garen’s plan for Lux prove to be her salvation…or usher in Demacia’s undoing?
We’re fast approaching Lux – Issue 2, which is planned to release on June 12, 2019. If you haven’t read Issue 1, make sure to check it out before the release of the second issue so you can follow along as Lux encounters a darker side of Demacia!
Lux, Garen, Sylas, Demacia, Comic
Universe Updates
With the introduction of our newest region, Ixtal, we’ve added Ixtal to the Runeterra map, added the Ixtal region page, and associated a number of champions with Ixtal including Malphite, Neeko, Nidalee, and more.
- Added Ixtal and various points of interest to the Runeterra map.
- Added Ixtal region page.
- Added champion associations to Ixtal.
- Added images to Ixtal region page.
67 Comments
ForgottenLuck31 votesAbsolutely without hesitation, I can say that I loved both Qiyana's bio and the new Ixtal region, a bit sad to see the name Kumungu go though I am sure it still exists, I could not get my smile off my face while reading the new region and nice to see that Malphite finally has a place again in the jungle.
The idea of the jungle constantly being used in such a way to hide reminds me a bit of Wakanda, but with magic that I think it is magnificent and would love to explore more of this region and its champions.
I will say though it is missing a couple of small things, like many champions aligned with the new region are still under Shurima, in which region their from and the symbol should be changed that way it is not confused with just the Runeterra but if I am right and the next champions markings do look similar to these regions architecture, (which is grand, which it was a bit more inspired on Inca or Mayan though) the new champ is also from here.
Can't wait for the comic and still need to read the Mord story but the amazing job on the new region and champ really really enjoyed it.
Destroyer863226 votesWhat do you call it when Garen forgots where he's from? DEMENTIA!
Masticarno14 votesThis is why we can't have nice things
Lobezno0421 votesWhen I read Ixaocan i think of Oaxaca or Teotihuacán Mexico lol
Tallyesin3 votesI think that's the intention.
Lord Zeta 13137 votesOr Ixalan, Which might be a little too close for comfort
LT Divine1 votesOr the Ixali People
OkeOni17 votesSo Ixtal is Wakanda? Sounds pretty close.
FlailoftheLord3 votesconfirmed.
chostar1 votesWakanda/Atlantis/Ixtal
DanoRtn14 votesWait, Malphite
?
IBoscoI9 votesIs it just me or does Qiyana's champion bio make no sense? She was imprisoned but is still 10th in line yet still somehow future empress of her hometown even though she's 10th in line??? Also, those must be some pushover rulers if they can be convinced by some random Joe Shmoe to lift the penalty that they put on their own daughter.
Lastly, if stuff like that is going on around their kingdom, there have to be some people that want a more aggressive ruler and want to protect themselves, and the entire kingdom saw Qiyana's prowess in battle but they haven't made a peep about her becoming Empress now? Like wut is this story? It's like someone at Riot wanted to make a badass independent girl but still wanted the fairytale princess happy ending. Make her overthrow her parents wtf lol. [sg-lux-2]
Ponds3 votesyou just didn't read the detail, she is in no way supposed to be empress. She says she will be, she basically says she will kill all her sisters and parents if that is necessary. And she wasn't put in jail cause the higher ups (think of it like the british parliament to the queen is my guess) said they thought she would be necessary to protect the country, so they didn't. And they all saw her as powerful, that doesn't mean the necessarily want her to be empress. People who get leadership through power are usually tyrants. Reread it all it makes sense you just gotta look at it. And I don't think they are making her a sane champ. She obviously has a lust for power and fame. She is either crazy, evil, or both. Read all the words don't just scan it. If you scan and are confused look back over it cause you obviously didn't read all of it.
AzureArchangel1 votesagreed. the bio is truly a mess, she would be a disgraceful, tyrannical and inefficient ruler at best, if not blood hungry. All the power, and all the power mad corruption, but the writer wanted to tip toe around how evil she is. The thing is, she thinks it's justified to maim her own sister, but in this primitive society that's fine, because of ritual combat. hah, uncivilized creeps.
Kaotic256 votesso is Kumungu what outsiders call Ixtal? or are they just completely doing away with that name? And if they're associating other champions with this new region (which I am happy about, nice to see Malphite get some recognition after all this time), are they going to update all their bios/include them in a new color story? Can't wait to find out more during the next patch update when this new champ launches.
anyway, love these lore updates. The universe is probably my favorite part of the game :) Thanks for all your hard work guys!
Hetyra3 votesKumungu still exists, it's just a different region. If you zoom in on the map, you'll see that it's to the north of Ixtal, and just southeast of the dual cities.
Wordson1x6 votesThis new lore is cool and all but. Nothing about Kindred or Bard? Kindred is death and we know what Morde is all about and we don't even get a mention? And if Morde wants powerfully objects like Book why doesn't Bard do anything?
OGSzyslak4 votesSo with all these lore updates... League MMO when??
100YearClock4 votesThat is disgusting. No, we will not go the way of the warcraft!
MrFate2 votesHow about an RPG? you know single player with optional Co-Op 
MeilinII3 votesI can't find the new spot on the map. Anyone else?
Kaotic252 votesyeah they haven't updated it yet, same with Ixtal appearing on the universe/having its own icon. Should be soon. From context i'm assuming it'll be somewhere around the Kumungu jungle east of Shurima.
Alina DxD3 votesTALON'S STILL CHASING A DEAD MAN, RITO
Lord Zeta 13131 votesWho said he's Dead?
Alina DxD1 votesSwain.
HSS HysteriaMode3 votesThis concerns me greatly. If Rengar and Neeko are tied to this civilization, then does that mean all Vastaya are part of Ixtal? If thats the case, then this lore change invalidates Xayah's entire quest and reason for existence, since she fight for the freedom of Vastaya, who it seems are actually the Wakandans of Runterra. Please dont fuck over previous champions like this
Drakced2 votesIn Morde's story the Final Reign, "Toward the relic that ties Mitna Rachnun to the mortal realm. Toward the place that gives the secret heart of the Immortal Bastion its true purpose."
Are we supposed to know what the relic is? Do we know what "the secret heart" is?
RIP Impale2 votesCan anyone say Ixalan from MtG?
SirPigsalot2 votesWhen is the 9.12 coming out i want to play the mordekaiser rework!!![zombie-nunu-bummed]
jurgei2 votesAh yes another generic female champion
CaptainKalus2 votesDoes this mean 
getting a lore update and no longer be literal Poison Ivy?
CaptainKalus1 votesAlso holy sh!t actual lore for malphite soon
bigdaddyblumpkin2 votesSooooooo new region is Wakanda--got it.
Biggus v Chungus2 votesQiyana looks like a sassy 12 year old
VendettaFormal2 votesThere's a typo in Morde's colour story. "dessicated" is actually "desiccated". That is all.
RegrettableName12 votesI, with my unparalleled originality, would like to address that- this is Wakanda. Originality 100
GoldenCrispyPork2 votesIxtal is literally just Wakanda*[slayer-jinx-unamused]*
Stexe1 votesHow did they come up with using "q" and "x" to have sounds not similar to the rest of their usage? I know it is from Pinyin Chinese, but in a fictional world that doesn't exist which makes it super weird.
Like Xin Zhao being pronounced as "Shin Jao" doesn't really make much logical sense in a fantasy setting without some rational. Is there any rational for that?
MagicFlyingLlama6 votesThat should be blindingly obvious if you stop and think about it.
Ionia is influenced by south/east Asian culture, and using existing languages or phonetics makes it more understandable, as well as conveying a theme. Nearly all fantasy does this, unless it is completely alien in setting.
Stexe1 votesThat should be blindingly obvious if you stop and think about it.
Ionia is influenced by south/east Asian culture, and using existing languages or phonetics makes it more understandable, as well as conveying a theme. Nearly all fantasy does this, unless it is completely alien in setting.
Except if you actually study Pinyin and how they came up with those letters to mean the sounds they do convey you'd realize that it was fairly randomly chosen. Or possibly influenced from Cyrillic script. Since neither of those influences are in a fantasy world it doesn't make sense to spell things out non-phonetically to some degree.
Scars 2 Success4 votesLook, this is not Pinyin Chinese we are talking about. This is from Native Meso-American influence. When it comes to the native languages, they do have different sounds for the x and q. When it comes to names, the designs of Ixtal and surroundings very much remind me of the Meso American culture
Eye of Twilight3 votesIn reference to Ixtal it's not from any form of Chinese, but Native Meso-American languages.
As for the Xin Zhao and pronunciations in a fantasy setting you need to keep in mind the audience. All fiction needs to be written in a way we understand; which is to say, in an Earthen language. Names are a huge part of language. If fantasy names had no basis in an Earthen language they would all sound like gibberish.
The reasoning for using certain languages for certain names is to imply a cultural heritage. Ionia is clearly based on Eastern Asian cultures, so we have names like Akali and Xin Zhao. Noxus and Demacia are based off of Western European cultures so we get Annie and Lux.
Hope that helps :)
Stexe2 votes[{quoted}](name=Eye of Twilight,realm=NA,application-id=Ag8jgd8Q,discussion-id=x2nAyMa3,comment-id=00090001,timestamp=2019-06-10T22:39:18.886+0000)
In reference to Ixtal it's not from any form of Chinese, but Native Meso-American languages.
As for the Xin Zhao and pronunciations in a fantasy setting you need to keep in mind the audience. All fiction needs to be written in a way we understand; which is to say, in an Earthen language. Names are a huge part of language. If fantasy names had no basis in an Earthen language they would all sound like gibberish.
The reasoning for using certain languages for certain names is to imply a cultural heritage. Ionia is clearly based on Eastern Asian cultures, so we have names like Akali and Xin Zhao. Noxus and Demacia are based off of Western European cultures so we get Annie and Lux.
Hope that helps :)
The thing is that Meso-American languages don't use X or Q to sound drastically differently than how we use them, as far as I'm aware. Even if it is based on Eastern Asian culture Pinyin came around very differently and was possibly from Cyrillic inspirations -- thus there is no counterpart in Runeterra that I've heard of ... thus it doesn't make sense to do it the way they are doing it.
Innastorm3 voteshttp://www.mexico.sil.org/language_culture/aztec/nahuatl-nhm/alphabet-nahuatl-nhm
If it is based on Aztec language, the x is likely a ∫ sound, Ishtal. The Q is a hard k sound, kiyana not kwiyana
Saying Meso-American languages don't use x differently is silly, the name Mexico should be all the evidence required if you hear it spoken correctly.
Vali Odynson1 votesThe champs you moved to Ixtal don't properly portray that on their Champion pages, most say Shurima.
Earthworm Jimbo1 votesSo Qiyana is Erik Killmonger
Thunder Fire61 votes
AzureArchangel1 votesjust as everyone else says...Qiyana is black panther. this makes me sad, moreso because she's a creep, but also because the trope of 'hidden highly advanced city' has been done to death. Technically, we already have that in the form of Nami's atlantis...not that the writers remembered that part.
Really, I wouldn't beg for Lamb to kill Qiyana so much if she wasn't such a creep. I suppose every story needs a villain.
AzureArchangel1 votesit's even more fitting since she's petulant, young, and evil! She'll maim her own sister, just to...earn respect. I like that the writer really showcased how power mad she is, she'd be a horrible ruler. it'd be like Danny all over again (GoT readers know what I'm talking about)