Runeterra VU breakdown

I love maps. Ever since I got more serious on fictional writing over a decade ago, I started to gain a liking for maps of fictional worlds. I have a lot of them, from World A to Terca Lumereis. Given that virtually every aspect of League has changed over time, it makes sense that the shape of Runeterra itself would also change, for many reasons.

The most obvious one on the list is Valoran. For those just tuning in, Valoran (the linked image) was originally a singular, oval-shaped continent on the larger world of Runeterra that all of the game's factions existed on except for Bilgewater, Ionia, the Shadow Isles, and of course, Olaf.

Before the removal of the tournament narrative, Kayle, Morgana, Malphite, Taric, Nasus and Renekton were all outsiders from other worlds who were magically kidnapped and thrown in Jax's creepy white van. Before Kayle told him to fucking quit it. Olaf was from a different continent entirely (how he got to Valoran in a dinghy is a mystery) and refused to explain himself (he was probably some tryhard from the Frejlord who didn't know how to read maps). There is no more Institute of War, and there never has been.

With the Runeterra VU, the landscape that is Valoran has been expanded to be the entirety of Runeterra (or so I think). Valoran proper is now the central/southern portion of the northern continent where Demacia and Noxus (though the Frejlord technically still counts as Valoran) glare at each other across a large (VERY large) valley, though they are less at each other's throats, these days.

The Ironspike Mountains that originally separated Piltover and Zaun territories still sits on the southeast of the Freljord, though it doesn't seem to isolate much of anything from the rest of the continent. The Great Barrier, which is where Mount Gargantuan (now Mount Targon) once sat and used to divide the entire continent into two sections, is still the main divide between Valoran and Shurima, at least on land, and it also ends up separating Zaun and Piltover from the rest of Valoran. The Sablestone Mountains seem to be gone entirely.

On that note, Zaun and Piltover, once rival city-states like Demacia and Noxus, are now opposite sides of the same coin in some kind of parasymbiotic relationship. Their icon is fused together to signify this.

Yordle Land (seriously, 2009 Riot?) no longer exists, and Bandle City has been moved from the eastern side of Shurima to the western side of Demacia.

The Shadow Isles (once named Blessed Isles in recent lore) have been moved to the opposite side of the map, from Northwest to Southeast, and now sits threateningly close to Bilgewater. Bilgewater is now either an archipelago of islands or an island-continent, or somewhere in between, now known as the Serpent Isles, with Bilgewater Bay being something of its capital (as much as a bunch of loosely-cobbled together settlements of local tribals, renegades and criminals can have a proper capital).

Shurima the continent (Azir needs therapy. He named the entire continent, his territory proper, his three wives, his many children, and his pet bird all SHURIMA. All gold, all caps.) is still a massive desert, though the outline of the continent still has a bit of greenery, with most of it on the northeastern side close to Zaun. Mount Targon has been separated from the Great Barrier and plopped on the southwestern tip of Shurima. The other mountains in this area are so ashamed of not being Mount Targon that they don't deserve a name.

Icathia once sat directly to the east of Shurima. Now it's further south on a miserable, barren peninsula, and it's where the Void is busy puking out monsters, little girls infected with the Venom Symbiote, and Evil Vic Mignognas.

Urtistan, Kumungu, the Plague Jungles, the Fyrone Flats, Mogron Pass, the Voodoo Lands, the Bubbling Bog, the Serpentine River, Kaladoun, the Marshes of Kaladoun, the Howling Marsh, and the Tempest Flats all seem to have joined the Institute of War in Retconia. Do NOT go looking for them.

Ionia is now a much larger island-continent with over half a dozen smaller islands that surround it. All the furries in the game that aren't Ascended, Yordles, the Freljord God-Siblings, or Rammus are now super-categorized as "Vastayan" and originate from Ionia. This includes Rengar, Wukong, possibly Alistar, and possibly Udyr.

It's worth mentioning that while Shurima is the largest territory, Noxus holds the most expansive territory, possessing territories in Valoran, Shurima, the Freljord and Ionia. Demacia's territory is comparatively tiny, with only Targon, Bilgewater and the Shadow Isles being smaller.

It was a lot of fun pouring over the map. Now I have many more questions and thoughts about old champions that have yet to be reworked.