An Idea for Kai'Sa

So, the new Champion, Kai'Sa, has recently been revealed. A Champion that quite a few of us have been anticipating for literally years, especially us Void fanatics. The idea of a Void-corrupted version of 's daughter has been floating around for a long time. The first (and really only) time - at least if I remember correctly - that "Kai'Sa" was mentioned was all the way back when the Journal of Justice was still a thing. Volume 1, Issue 14 to be exact: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/The_Journal_of_Justice:_Volume_1,_Issue_14 Ever since then, people have been expecting Kassadin's daughter to return. Indeed, it was an awesome premise: a man who detests the Void now has his precious daughter consumed by it, an innocent girl trapped in a nightmare realm all by herself, and the resurgence of a Voidborn-Human hybrid. There was so much potential in lore, visuals, and gameplay with that premise. Something to sate both us monster and lore fans.

But instead, we got a Kill la Kill knock off.

Yes, I'm disappointed with Kai'Sa's reveal. Severely disappointed from an artistic and lore standpoint. I won't go too much into her game kit. It looks fine from what I see - nothing really grabs me about it as special, but nothing really offends me either. There are several problems with Kai'Sa's visuals and premise that have already been discussed. She's a generically hot woman in a skintight suit when she could've been a badass alien-human hybrid. She doesn't reflect being a survivor of a horrific realm (although I'll still save judgement until her full bio and color story come out). She lessens the threat and influence of the Void, which has always been the sort of "bigger bad" in League-lore.

However, instead of making this a wholly-ranting post, I want to imagine something that could've made Kai'Sa more compelling. I think most of us have already listened to her VO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgaby2hWKhs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsCmTq-Hr7Q

Oh how Kai'Sa continues to let me down. Firstly, her monotone voice isn't the thing that bothers me. She's been disconnected from human society and surrounded by ravenous weapons for years - I don't expect her to emote much, or at least not in the way a normal person would. However, it's the fact that her lines, like her beauty, are so generic. Nothing really stands out. She sounds like a typical gun-wielding character with occasional references to the Void ("Hurr durr, see, lore matters!") and peaches ("Hurr durr, humor!"). It's incredibly underwhelming and doesn't reflect, at all, a person who's been stuck in a literal hellscape and probably had to do completely inhuman things just to survive. More importantly, it doesn't even really have anything profound to her personal character - the fact that she has a living suit of Voidborn flesh as her second skin.

I don't expect anything to change now (not until the Kai'Sa VGU years later), but what if we actually played up more on that "symbiotic suit" thing. Although infringing on Darkin territory, what if "Kai'Sa" wasn't the woman, but the skin surrounding her.

Sticking with the premise and visuals already presented, I would like to imagine that Kai'Sa is the actual Voidborn rather than the Human. What if, when Kassadin's daughter was lost to the Void, she in fact was immediately killed and devoured. The monster responsible was Venom a parasitic, amorphous Voidborn that, instead of eating conventionally, devours its prey by absorbing its body into its own and obtaining its meal's traits, like some sort of ravenous amoeba. Kai'Sa, for one reason or another, found this human body to be beneficial, and now uses it as its new form. The woman is no more, and instead the face and eyes and limbs we see are merely a flesh puppet for the skin it wears. This has a lot more intrigue, and appeases to us Void fanatics while keeping to the current design.

It also has so much potential. Imagine the story: Kassadin stands before a portal, steeling himself for the horrors that will come through. He raises his blade as he hears something from the other side. Through the magenta light, a figure comes forth. But instead of the blade-limbed terror he was expecting, this form is familiar. Lithe and small, it is a human figure. From the Void portal a woman - a human woman - steps through. Kassadin looks at her in disbelief. As she comes forward, Kassadin starts to recognize certain traits. Her eyes, the shape of her chin, the color of her hair. Although matured, he still can see them from where they came. He deactivates his blade and says "Daughter..." Her head tilts in response. At long last, he's found her. Against everything, she's alive and here! Kassadin reaches out, but stops when he notices something's off. Her skin below the neck is like oil on water, constantly shifting and glistening. There's an erratic twitch with every step she takes, small but constant. And then her face - his face - is emotionless. It has no signs of turmoil or relief or confusion. The eyes are vacant. Glassy. Unblinking. Her head tilts more, and Kassadin steps back as she continues to rotate her head until it looks like she's broken her own neck. "Daughter..." Kassadin says, even as he realizes the truth. Her head snaps back up. "Daughter..." she mirrors. She says the word as if she's just learned the sound but doesn't know its meaning. Her voice, though human, is distorted and mangled. Kassadin falls to his knees. He's failed. Even after everything he's done, he couldn't save her. This creature is only his beloved skin deep. Her head rears back and an inhuman screech escapes her lips while bladed, wing-like appendages extend from her back. His daughter is dead. She probably has been for a long, long time. This...thing...as if to mock him for his failure has violated and is now using her body. Kassadin cannot muster the strength to stand even as her face - the face he loved, remembered every single day, the one he fought hell itself for - lunges for him with all the fury and hunger of a Voidborn.

There's also potential for a truly intriguing VO. Instead of the monotonous voice we have, what if, as a player is using Kai'Sa, they start to question whether they're actually playing a human being. It could start fairly simple at first. Some things are said that sound pretty normal for what she is and what she's doing. However, as the game goes on, the player starts to hear strange things. Kai'Sa starts saying and phrasing things normal people wouldn't usually do. Her voice might occasionally crack and, especially in battle, she makes strange chittering noises. Late in the game, her voice will become more and more distorted, and then full on monster roars and screeches would take affect before, after, or even in the middle of her sentences. Maybe add in some creepy background sounds similar to the instrumentals beneath 's lines, like an erratic hearbeat or fleshy squishes or general body horror sounds/Void ambiance. By the end of the game, the player who thought he was playing a badass hottie in a Void suit may actually ask himself "Wait, what the fuck did I just play as?" Something to really make people think about just who and what they actually were. Something that truly plays up the horror of the Void.

So, this was a long-winded post. TL;DR - As a Void-fanatic, wouldn't it be cool if Kai'Sa was the suit and not the woman? This opens up many more possibilities and is more intriguing than her current conception while still keeping to what we have.

Thanks for reading if you did. What do you all think about this concept of Kai'Sa?