The Vastaya, Xayah, and Rakan

Saturnica·4/10/2017, 8:14:41 PM·8 votes·38,248 views

With the release of Xayah and Rakan coming up, and the new lore adding the Vastaya to the mix, I've been gathering together a list of all the champions that are either speculated or confirmed to be Vastayan. Through watching the interactions of Xayah and Rakan, I've found a few more that weren't confirmed via the new lore, so I thought I'd just make a list for anyone who was curious! If I missed any or you find any more, please feel free to add it and how you know it's true / how you think it is true :) As well as this, I'm also going to add in some speculation about the new champions' lore as well. EDIT: Keeping in mind what WAAARGHbobo commented below, there's a difference between being a Vastaya and having Vastaya heritage, so although I originally figured they were all Vastaya, that isn't entirely true, but I have noted the following as somehow being connected to the Vastaya in one way or another.

Confirmed to have some sort of connection to the Vastaya: -Xayah and Rakan, obviously. -Rengar: When taunted by Xayah, she states: "I don't wanna spill Vastaya blood, Rengar." And Rakan also says "I know you're vastaya, but" when taunting him. Also, on the "A New Discovery" splash art background, there's a lion that has an uncanny resemblance to Rengar, despite not being Rengar himself. -Nami: In an interactions spotlight for Xayah, Nami is the opposing champion for all of her special interactions upon killing a Vastaya. -Ahri: Ahri, or another Vastaya with a very uncanny resemblance to Ahri, is very clearly pictured within the Vastaya Field Journal.

Speculated: -Wu Kong: In Xayah's special interactions, she tells Wu Kong "We were not made to fight each other." Which is similar to much of her dialogue and interactions towards other Vastaya. -Swain: I'm not sure of Swain's lore nor have I played him, but Rakan has a few special interactions with him, one where he states "You were given Vastayan blood, but chose to be blind." -Udyr: Rakan states in interactions with Udyr: "It is from our blood your gifts came."

Misc:

-There is a Vastayan tribe known as Sodjoko as named in Xayah's short story, though nothing about them is also named. -There is another tribe mentioned in their stories and backgrounds as the Lhotlan. This is the tribe of which Xayah and Rakan belong to. They live in the deep woods of Ionia.

-From their short stories, the vastaya they save are from the Sodjoko tribe, but their kind are specifically named "juloahs", which are like that of Xayah and Rakan, however they are hairy where Xayah and Rakan have colored feathers.

Onto the lore:

The pair refer to each other as Mieli and Miella, which are presumably Vastayan for something like "my love" or something. After reading their short stories and lore I am also concluding that Xayah and Rakan are literally great and cute as shit. Literally. Their dynamic is great and no one can tell me otherwise.

-Xayah met Rakan in the remote mountain town of Vlonqo, which is most likely located in Ionia although not stated directly.

-Clearly, Xayah and Rakan are not on good terms with Ionia, as Rakan has many interactions specifically towards Ionians when he kills them, one stating that they "Put us in cages" and that "We don't want your harmony! We want our freedom!" So it looks like Ionians might have captured the Vastaya for research or entertainment of some sort, in which the Vastaya were treated poorly and held against their will. Xayah also shows hatred for Ionia in her Garen interaction, where she says "When I'm done with Ionia, I'll come for Demacia." So it seems like their lore or other updated Vastaya lore in the future may explain what happened between the Vastaya and Ionians. Whatever it was, Xayah and Rakan are pretty pissed about it. It also seems that there was/is a war between the two, as Rakan states "Your kind started this war!" upon killing an Ionian enemy. UPDATE: The pair and their tribe lived in Ionia as revealed via lore, and apparently the human Ionians broke a pact they had together according to Xayah, however, another vastaya in Xayah's story points out that this pact was not broken by all humans and rather just the order of the shadow. This is the cause of their genuine hatred towards Ionians.

-Xayah also seems to dislike yordles, for she has a lot of special interactions with yordles, saying things like "Yordles are the reason no one takes us Vastaya seriously." (Although she does state to Kled she'd like to travel the world with him, so it seems her annoyance with Yordles which isn't shared with Rakan is not like the grudge they hold against Ionia and is probably just a personal thing.)

-While both are Vastaya, they are not a part of whatever tribe Rengar is from, seeing Rakan states "I know your Vastaya, but your tribe lacks style!" to Rengar.

-Rakan also seems to have beef with Zed, as he says upon killing Zed: "You came to visit us! Did you think we would forget?!" and "Messed with my girl, what did you think I was gonna do!?" UPDATE: In Xayah's short story, Xayah's met with the Order of the Shadow and is freeing some Vastaya from them, and specifically it is mentioned that Zed and his order have broken whatever pact it was that the humans had with Vastaya.

EDIT: Keep in mind the previous things I mentioned about the upcoming champions are all strictly from the perspectives of Rakan and Xayah respectively and are merely from the interaction clips I have seen online that are possibly subject to change, and they are merely limited perspectives and may not be entirely true in a factual aspect, but rather possibly true in their eyes/are merely their views or opinions.

I'm excited for their release and to find out more about the whole Vastaya thing, and I might be totally wrong here, so don't take anything I said too seriously! Anyways, that's all I've got for now, but if you have anything else feel free to add it below and whatnot, and I'll see you on the rift! :)

36 Comments

RiotWAAARGHbobo4/10/2017, 9:45:31 PM15 votes

To clarify:

Having Vastayan heritage is not the same as being a Vastayan. A true vastayan can live in our world-- but not for very long without access to magic, also a true vastayan can live in the spirit realm-- but not for very long without a material form to contain them. (The ancient ones were born in the borders between realms. Long ago those borders were less distinct and more common)

Furthermore, many creatures gain power from the spirits' realms in other ways.
Vastayan --and creatures with the Vastayan heritage-- have a common ancient ancestor born from between "our" world and the spirit world. This means they are born with a natural magical connection to that, well... natural magic. Others creatures and magic users have stolen this magic or taken it from the spirit world-- but they are not vastayan and do not even have that heritage.

Finally, with all things you hear from a League Character be aware you are hearing that character's POV.
I.e. What Rakan and Xayah say is not "the truth" it is their perception of the truth. Shen or Azir would see this magic in a very different way--- though their perception is also limited.

(Feel free to bring this up during the AMA when I have more time to answer questions.)

Tesla Effect4/11/2017, 12:30:57 AM3 votes

Does Soraka share some common roots with the Vastaya? Seeing as she lived in an enchanted grove that had access to the mortal world. Is she one of the Ancient ones?