The Wardens and Marauders

To whomever on the Riot Skins Team decided to make more Warden and Marauder skins, thank you. I really like the Warden and Marauder skins, so when I saw another set unveiled on the PBE in The Warden and Marauder skins are some of my favorite skins in the game, so when I saw another set unveiled on the PBE accompanying Kindred, I was really happy. It pleases me to see the continuation of this particular skin line, and I hope (however weak the chances are now) to see it continue further in the future! Preamble over; onto the meat of the discussion!

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The Wardens and Marauders, two factions poised in deadly conflict. To quote from their official release announcement, “One side razes everything just for fun. The other side obliterates entire nations to uphold the law.” If there’s anything to judge about them in-game, it’s that their cheap price tags belie their quality. Their models achieve a richly-realized aesthetic and some of them come with some whole new VFX (which’d normally push the skins’ price from 750 to 975 RP). That latter bit actually caused a bit of a stir in the community, if case you didn’t know.

I took an instant liking to these skins when they were first revealed because they presented a fantasy I felt was then unfulfilled in League: encasement (insert your Lenny Face here), that’s to say, full-armoredness. Now, plenty of skins are goofy, are fanservice, or follow a interesting thread. Rare are the skins though that are of “dark fantasy” or “gritty/realistic” flavor. Not to say that those are the best kinds of fantasies, but I like my stories with some seriousness or weight to them. Nothing should be pointless, especially armor, without good reason. When I see a heavily-armored character, my immediate thought is that they’re harder to kill (excepting agile characters, and bearing in mind weight and clunkiness). Nothing should be pointless, especially armor, without good reason. After all, if a character’s taken steps to making themselves harder to kill, shouldn’t they be? I’m looking at you, faceless legions whose steel is like cardboard. To wit, body armor shouldn’t be redundant. Full armor should show that person means business. http://i.imgur.com/YV0GGWn.png Following that logic then, the Wardens and Marauders play for keeps. Their unified aesthetic (their full-armoredness) entwines them and gives some identity to this series of theirs, and I think their respective flavors are well executed. The Marauders very much look the part of fearsome outlaws with their dark and jagged steel, sanguine cloth, and beige fur lining; the Wardens’ ornamented silver and gold impart a sense of haughty superiority while maintaining a formidable air.

These skins present a window into a quasi-universe with its own story. We all know skins often do this: present an alternate universe wherein that appearance is possible. Some skin lines present bigger stories than others. The newly-released PROJECT series stands as testament, and was even given a cinematic short set in its established universe, of high technology and human spirit intertwined. The Wardens and Marauders are no different, even if there’s less to work with to draw conclusions. I will attempt to do so, nonetheless. I like this series, and think there’s some interesting facets to it. Here goes nothing.

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The Wardens and Marauders are at war. This isn’t organized warfare, but of a peacekeeping organization and a newly-arisen threat. From that little blurb from their official announcement release announce, we know the Wardens and Marauders are at war. But this doesn’t strike me as two nations slugging it out; rather, a peacekeeping organization’s attempts at rooting out a newly-arisen threat. http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/4/48/Nautilus_WardenSkin.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150205232546 The Wardens don’t even know what they’re up against at first. Villages are disappearing; no words of any attacks, no survivors, nothing left but rubble. So an investigation comes together. Why investigation? When the Wardens were first unveiled on the PBE, they were actually named Inquisitors. They were later renamed “Wardens” for unknown reasons while they were still in testing, but I recall their original names. Its connotation is not lost on me: An inquisition is “an official investigation, especially one of a political or religious nature, characterized by lack of regard for individual rights, prejudice on the part of the examiners, and recklessly cruel punishments.” Aligns with the Wardens’ memo from the official release announcement, of destroying nations to uphold order. Doubtless, some of you are thinking of Dragon Age: Inquisition, and admittedly this word here may better match with Dragon Age’s usage rather than its historical usage (which was primarily religious and aimed at rooting out alleged heresy). So the Wardens are investigating the reasons behind these inexplicable attacks, which eventually leads them into conflict with the Marauders. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zIdJBB1BMMM/VfnDJyhiQvI/AAAAAAAAxgQ/lqv9ILit1hU/s1600/Olaf_Splash_5.jpg It’s very clear that the Marauders aren’t run-of-the-mill bandits. They’re too well-equipped, too efficient. They wear a cohesive uniform, tailored to their form yet uniform all the same. They ravage and pillage (assuming they’re marauders denotatively), and leave no survivors. Normal men and women make up their ranks, which are supplemented with the likes of Warwick and Alistar. Whoever they are, it’s clear that they don’t mess around. With their strategy and supplies, it’s very well possible that the Marauders aren’t bandits at all, but raiders from another country or even continent. I’m reading a book right now with a culture called the Wolf Raiders; black-armored raiders from across the sea, who worship a savage god known as the Ravager. The similarities are remarkable, but not my point. My point is, the Marauders could be like them, could be like Vikings, I guess (I blaming Olaf for making me think of them). They’re here to destroy and pillage, and the Wardens want to stop them. There’s some potential for a neat story in there; what do you think?

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Here's a segment I almost forgot.

With the reveal of the second wave, I'm starting to see a trend in the champions selected for this series. I will give that only two waves of content is hardly enough basis to attempt at nailing down a pattern, but I'm going to try anyway.

Each pair of Wardens and Marauders features one inversion and one befitting champion.

By inversion I mean, a character's canon morality is flipped for the purpose of the skin. In the first wave: Ashe, a peaceful leader, is a member of the Marauders; Sivir, a mercenary, is a member of the Wardens. In the second wave: Alistar, who escaped Noxian brutality, is a member of the Marauders; Jax, a being of dubious motives and background aside, is a member of the Wardens. The other four seem to fit where they've been placed: Warwick and Olaf as ferocious fighters, Nautilus and Karma fighting for justice and or the right thing.

**Only older champions with lackluster skins are given Wardens and Marauders skins. **

Not to offend your sense of taste, but all of the champions who've been given Warden and Marauder skins have been older champions, who either don't have that great of a base model (as is the case with most of them) or don't have that many rich and varied skins (which practically applies to all of them). Think about it: Ashe, Warwick, Nautilus, Sivir, Jax, Karma, Alistar, and Olaf. Between them all, you have no more than five skins that really change them up (Heartseeker Ashe, Astronautilus, Infernal Alistar, Order of Lotus Karma, and Brolaf). Correct me if I'm wrong.

In addition, as much as some of you would love to see Marauder Azir, you also have to consider which skins a champion already possesses. I remember reading that the reason Sivir wasn't made a Marauder is because the spiky armor strove too close to another of her skins. Ashe, on the other hand, didn't really have anything dark and menacing, so she had the green light. Think from Riot's perspective: You want to make skins distinct so that players feel like they've been cheated.