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In the New Demican Lore, I Hope it Shows the Good Side of the City and Not Just What it Hates.

Draclen·1/8/2019, 8:11:08 PM·24 votes·12,458 views

Given how the new champion seems very anti-Demacian, I hope that the new lore update makes some effort to make the place seem somewhat likeable, since that's been a small irk I've had with past updates.

Take its rival nation, Noxus. Noxus believes in not just having strength, but also becoming stronger off one's own will. This manifests itself into a somewhat harsh and "ends justify the means" view by the society, but also gives people instentive to strive and be better by their own hand. It's also interesting how different people in the nation have different view points on what upholding those ideals mean, as can be seen in the tension between Darius and his fellow countrymen, and also how Riven goes against her own nation. It's come away from just being the "bad place" in Runeterra.

Compare that with Demacia. We understand that they stand for broad ideas like order, juctice, and tradition, but their goals are much more vague than that of other regions (IMO at least), and the way they're presented often, if not always, feel like an attempt to keep their own people down. While I get the idea of wanting to highlight the strictness of Demcian society and how characters like Lux might change that, at the current level Demaica seems more defined by what it's against then what it's for. It makes it feel like Demacia is a sucky place to live in, especially given how multiple characters aren't fully on board with it own biggest value of "no-magic", thus making it feel even more like a restriction: Lux, Poppy, Shyvana, Garen (uneasy about his sister, but doesn't sell her out), Jarven IV (lets Shyvana live in the kingdom even though she's half-dragon).

I think that when Riot relooked at the Noxus-Demacia conflict, they wanted to steer away from just making "one side good, other bad", but I'm afriad that in an effort to make Noxus look better, they'll just make Demacia an authoritarian ruled nation with little redeeming qualities.

39 Comments

mrmeddyman1/8/2019, 9:59:48 PM14 votes

They need to embellish a bit more on Demacian positive aspects. The sense of unity between people that gets touched on in a couple stories often gets overlooked by the community and we brand Demacia as the Runeterran equivalent of Salem. Nobody talks about how Demacians helped Garen back on his feet after his uncle died

All of Demacia seemed to rally around Garen after the death of his uncle. Strangers on the street, including commoners with little to call their own, expressed their condolences, gave him gifts of respect, and offered adages of support. He was surrounded by compassion and saw Demacia as a kingdom of unity where people took care of one another, healing wounds of others as if wounds to themselves. He saw an ideal Demacia, where no one was ever truly alone.

and conversely Garen taking care of his fellow Demacians when J4 was thought to have been killed

For days, Garen was inconsolable. He couldn’t stop blaming himself for the prince’s death, even as his family and fellow soldiers tried to convince him otherwise. He remembered how the kingdom rallied around him following his uncle’s demise, and wished he could do the same for the kin of his fallen soldiers. He took up residence in the barracks with his fellow soldiers in training, and all that he earned went toward supporting the families of the fallen.

Poppy finding her place in the world after feeling alienated because of how different she was when compared to her fellow yordles

J4s journey of self-discovery and his acceptance of Shyvana

The nations adoption of outsiders like Xin Zhao and Sona

That's what Demacia is truly about, a place where everyone can belong and where everyone looks out for each other. Where higher principles like courage, communal service and duty still mean something. The wrinkle that makes Demacia interesting is that all that positive stuff is conditional, mages are persecuted, the nobility is privileged and certain aspects of their society are highly regimented like the military and law.

The key is to not lose sight of the positive stuff by over-embellishing it's flaws or painting them as villains which is what everyone gets caught up in. From a Worldbuilding point of view remember that Demacia is supposed to represent a bulwark of the past losing its' way in a modernizing world. There is a lot of value in the ideals Demacia will bring into this new world if it can survive the transition, but that's the challenge. Will Demacia flourish or flounder and champions like Lux who represent a more worldly view while still maintaining the core Demacian principles represent what it could be.

Vlada Cut1/9/2019, 3:02:02 PM3 votes

Yes but why explain how good Demacia is in a story of a dude who only hates it. I think we should know exactly HIS reasons as to why he hates Demacia so much, I mean we already one one reason already, and that's mages being unwelcomed there.

Wert the Wacky1/9/2019, 4:58:36 PM2 votes

Demacia doesn’t necessarily need redeeming qualities imo. Authoriatarian fascist countries rarely have good aspects to them.

Norksmeine1/10/2019, 6:28:44 AM1 votes

I was hoping they would remain him as a child. We haven't had any male champion at around age 10.

Darius Strada1/9/2019, 12:09:04 AM1 votes

Shyv is half-dragon but that doesn't mean dragons are magic. Dragons can be considered "normal" in runeterra, as we consider elephants normal.

Stars Shaper1/8/2019, 9:50:51 PM1 votes

I have few hopes, really few because not only Demacia is suffering from it but Piltover too and it's very well clear that the writers love the rebellious and "i make my rules" trope see how much focus they have in showing how good is Bilgewater, Noxus and how the Vs event of Garen Vs Darius was handled.

Camille Ferrøs1/8/2019, 8:26:12 PM1 votes

Is it even confirmed that we are getting new demacian lore other then his short story ¿