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You're Vastaya! And you're Vastaya! EVERYONE IS VASTAYA

AbiwonKenabi·4/9/2017, 2:26:20 PM·9 votes·5,961 views

Seriously, why is this brand new blanket term being applied to any champion that has some kind of animal power and/or physical feature?

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ohvOC0q7Ucs/WOKN7p1WmxI/AAAAAAAAhKs/4tEXfKPf33QroaglOcqrskhwcjPt-CMkwCLcB/s1600/image%2B%252811%2529.png

I was listening to the Xayah interactions and she has quite a few with the other Vastaya. For those who aren't aware, Vastaya are this order or class (not necessarily a species according to this in-universe journal entry, but instead a more general taxonomic classification) that are combinations of human and one or more animals, very chimeric in nature. The new champions' lore is implied to be very reliant on their heritage as Vastaya, particularly Xayah who is a rebel for their cause (whatever that will entail, lore details to follow). Both Rakan and Xayah interact with the Vastaya, giving us a good indication of who else falls under this term.

Literally, every Champion that has qualities of an animal or turns into an animal that isn't already classified as a Yordle: Vastaya. Every single one of them.

With some Champions (particularly Rengar ) whose origins are unexplained, this makes sense. And while with Ahri Ahri in particular I thought her origin story already sufficiently explained, Xayah and Rakan were obviously designed to look a lot like Ahri and are even from the same region, Ionia. My problem comes with the fact that it feels like it sort of waters down a lot of Champion's backstories. It was a detail that either didn't need explaining or isn't a satisfying explanation.

Just to give you an idea, I'll list the Champs in question and briefly talk about why I think this is a silly blanket term that--while fine on Rakan and Xayah who were written with this term in mind--doesn't contribute to other Champions' lore in a meaningful way:

Ahri Ahri - explained above Nami Nami - Her species already had a name: the Marai. What does it add by knowing the Marai are Vastaya as well? I didn't think we needed explained why there was a race of mermaids living in the ocean: we just figured they existed and that was enough. Adds nothing to Nami's narrative. Nidalee Nidalee - her place on this list implies a retcon, either that or she became a Vastaya, formerly human. Either way, again, I think this is a case of "this was never a question we were asking". Nidalee can turn into a cougar because she was raised in the dangerous, magical jungle. We didn't need a taxonomic classification to explain that. Rengar Rengar - Probably the only one that makes sense, given (if I remember correctly) he was found and raised by a regular human guy and doesn't really know his own origins. That said, Rengar's story works surprisingly well without knowing what he is. He's the best hunter, the lion visuals are just fun champion design. Swain Swain - Another one that needed the origin of his powers explained but uh...if it turns out it's just in his blood I'm going to be a little disappointed. Swain is a tactical genius, I figure he tricked some hag into transferring her powers or something, or befriended his raven Beatrice with his intellect. I don't know, something befitting of the Master Tactician. Udyr Udyr - I don't know why he's even on this list, considering I felt his powers were already sufficiently explained. I always thought Udyr was about connecting with nature and animals on a spiritual level, mastering his powers by meditation and study. Being Vastaya or having Vastaya blood or whatever sort of ruins that. MonkeyKing Wukong - Again, another one where this is fine, but didn't need an explanation. They just wanted to be thorough, I guess and include every animal possible.

Notable exceptions here are Anivia, Elise and...I think I'm missing one. But look at that list! That's almost every champion with a somewhat human appearance and other animal characteristics. The reason I don't like the Vastaya term is that it makes these champs feel a little same-y. Like, before, Nami and Nidalee were very distinct characters that you would never confuse. But now oh look, they belong to the same species. And yeah, the journal entry explains that it's more like a larger classification like an order or class, but who else other than the lore nuts (like me) is going to read that? Who is going to care?

I will leave with the statement that we don't know all the facts, Xayah and Rakan's lores have not been released in full yet and something may change my mind. But for the time being, I am a little baffled.

67 Comments

Sharjo4/9/2017, 2:42:28 PM16 votes

So a few things:

  1. Not everyone's vastaya, far from it. It'll be clear soon who are the vastaya in the roster, but to give a bit of a hint the amount is in the single digits.
  2. Those champions who're considered shapeshifters aren't true vastaya.
  3. The vastaya aren't a species. They're a large, diverse collection of species with a shared origin that traces back a long time ago. The journal explains this.
  4. Vastayan tribes have names of their own, so in the case of Nami, nothing changes there.

Also:

ut look at that list! That's almost every champion with a somewhat human appearance and other animal characteristics.

You missed a whole bunch of champions like Alistar, Volibear, Nasus, Renekton, Azir and Cassiopeia.

Glory ln Death4/9/2017, 6:21:07 PM4 votes

Giving many of the champions an actual background is a very good thing. When you read through lore and start seeing tons of "random monster thing", "another random monster thing", "3 more random monster things" that all seem like they have no relation to anything else, it makes the world seem random and not make any sense. Why are there so many random monster things that all seem like completely different species? How many different sentient beings are there in this world?

Now, we learn about the Vastaya. Ok, that clarifies things. These champions and many of these beings are all related. They appear different because they are descended from shapeshifters (and some are shapeshifters), so they changed to adapt to their different environments. They are sentient and intelligent because half of their ancestry is from humans. Nami is a mermaid person? Cool. She's also Vastaya? Awesome, now we know where her people came from and how they fit into the world at large.

As it was, there were way too many random, intelligent species. The concept of Vastaya reigns that in and helps us make sense of it.

Korios4/9/2017, 4:46:41 PM4 votes

I'm a Vastaya!

Jeddy0174/9/2017, 4:17:56 PM4 votes

Okay, so they're Vastaya......................................AND? Them being Vastaya doesn't automatically changes anything about them. Nami is still Nami & her story will likely stay relatively the same. I expect there to be minor changes here & there, but it's not like they're changing her into a pirate/navigator with a weather controlling staff just because she's Vastayan now.

I don't really see the problem here.

The Anagram King4/20/2017, 9:07:31 PM3 votes

Riot's lore is getting uncoordinated. It's like they tamper with the continuity just for the sake of tampering with it, They'll assure the naysayers that it's part of something bigger, then mess with the new continuity before the old one makes sense.

I know it's kind've obvious, seeing as it's taken them multiple years to even get to this point in the retcon, but I doubt there's a tangible long-term lore plan, here. It feels messy at the best of times.

Xano5014/9/2017, 4:35:09 PM3 votes

Udyr is Vastaya... http://i1.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/000/554/facepalm.jpg

Prophet of Urgod4/9/2017, 4:43:57 PM3 votes

[deleted]

Klatumatu4/9/2017, 4:02:32 PM2 votes

Elise became a spider because of the shadow isles if i remember correctly, she prays to the spider god there that we can see in twisted treeline to keep her beauty.

so i don't think she has to be releated to the vastaya.

I have no idea why they made Udyr and Nidalee releated to vastaya as they don't resemble them at all, nidalee dosn't have cute ears and i doubt Udyr has any.

I love how Alistar is just a cow tho like no one cares about his lore

RogueWill4/9/2017, 4:08:29 PM1 votes

Also Yordles are Vastaya, but since we have so many is as if they have a distiction

VoraciousX4/9/2017, 8:24:01 PM1 votes

Why are people considering Vastaya to be an "it's in your blood" thing. I dunno if you actually read the thing or not. When he asked the tribe if they were created through physical or magical activities(basically asking if they had sex or it was some sort of magic ritual), they kicked him out and were tight lipped about it. This means that both could be true. I don't think it takes away from any character or not, sure it brings some characters closer in terms of classification, but I don't think it takes anything away at all. But I really don't understand why I keep seeing things like "Vastayan blood" and whatnot, when it was clearly shown that it doesn't have to be some passed down trait from parent to child.

EpicDweeb4/20/2017, 1:56:26 PM1 votes

Keep in mind, this isn't something they're doing just for the sake of explanation. The realization that there is a new kind of creature in Runeterra doesn't just give reasoning for past stuff, it gives us new possibilities for the future of LoL lore and for champions/characters in general. To be fair I think they needed to add the Vastaya for Rakan and Xayah's Xayah release. I'm not really sure how their lore would have worked without it. I suppose they would have done some cheesy story about how they were once one great being who was torn apart, and different attributes were distributed among the two, now they can't fly without each other yada yada yada. But I think this makes more sense. The fact that they made two characters who are both the same kind of creature means that they can either give that weird explination, or they can reveal that vastaya exist and that there are more of them out there.