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So Kayn's story made me realize that Noxus's military recruitment might be a little messed up.

Ralanr·7/3/2017, 8:58:12 PM·22 votes·5,293 views

Namely in that they would use child soldiers of their own native territory as suicide soldiers. I feel there's a lot wrong with this.

First: Why use your own people? Can you not use slaves from other territories you've conquered?

Second: Why use your own people? Using your own street urchins as cannon fodder would be terrible for moral. Especially since you aren't even bothering to train them properly. I mean if I was a noxian soldier that wanted to climb the ranks and noticed that street urchins of my own proud city state have been made into suicide soldiers against their will, I'd question a lot of Noxus's tactics.

Finally, This royally screws over Noxus's modus operandi of how the strong thrive. Now I know what you're thinking;

Ralanr, clearly the strong kids would rise through the ranks if they survived.

And my response is this, "What fucking ranks are suicide soldiers even in?" They are not actual members of the army from my understanding, they are slaves that are expected to die and probably don't even get much care from the medic. If little Timmy got a deep wound during one of his raids but ended up surviving somehow, I doubt some captain is going to waste medical supplies on him.

"Well you were expected to die anyway and I don't feel like filling out paperwork." Cuts Timmy's fucking head in two.

And furthermore, would you want someone who was sold as a suicide soldier as a legit officer or captain? I don't, I think that person would have a big grudge against Noxus for that and use their position to screw Noxus over.

The greatest strength in Noxus that I believe much of the community perceived was the power of choice Noxians had over other areas like Demacia. But apparently that's not the case or it's a very recent thing under Swain. Which further pisses me off because points out that only is a true living Noxian and I don't think using children to do your dirty work is something that Noxus would respect, certainly not and I hope not .

Final Note: Kayn's story seems to just paint Noxus as incompetently evil right now. Yes I know child soldiers are a common tactic, but at the very least you train and brainwash them so they don't abandon you the first chance they get.

67 Comments

RiotRiotJaredan7/4/2017, 7:09:53 PM17 votes

I wouldn't take the horror of Kayn's experience as typical of Noxus's approach or attitude to recruitment. The Ionia conflict saw some very strange things happen within the Noxian military and beyond. I can't talk about them yet. But that day will come.

This horrendous tease has been brought to you by the celebration of Independence Day. Happy 4th to those who celebrate it.

[slayer-jinx-catface]

GreenLore7/3/2017, 9:22:28 PM10 votes

It says that only a few commanders did something like this.So this simply means that the high ranking generals have a lot of freedom and can pretty much use their soldiers how they see fit. And some decide to just use the children as cannon fodder.

The big difference here is that in demacia,you are either born as a commander or as a pawn. In Noxus,anyone can become a commander regardless of where you were bron. But that doesn't mean that you can't be commanded to do something stupid if you are in a lower position.

Also going by the old lore,you have to keep in mind that the ionian invasion(and Rivens exile) happened under Borams rule,so Boram definetly betrayed the "original noxian way" already. However Riven didn't return to Noxus after Swain took over,because Swain is likely not much better(though probably smarter) So either Boram changed at one point(maybe after Sions death?)or Boram simply wasn't the one to define the noxians ideals.

Robertsmash7/3/2017, 9:53:44 PM7 votes

Probably just some of the more pathetic Noxian leaders. There are Noxian ideals, and then there are the lazy, arrogant pigs who inherited their positions of power. Darius did go around eliminating the weak leaders for a reason, and he probably teamed up with Swain to overthrow the leaders who did this exact kind of behavior.

It's probably honorable and accepted practice in Noxus to train a child as a soldier from an early age, but of course Kayn's situation is very different (sending in untrained children as a suicide unit).

Wrathof3007/3/2017, 9:19:28 PM6 votes

Going by the knowledge I learnt from observing the last Noxus post on this board: Noxus takes in their prisoners, thus, even if you're a slave/ refugee from a territory they conquered if you sign up for the military they treat you as a Noxian soldier, and not a Noxian soldier that used to be from a previoulsy conquered land, just, a Noxian soldier. I think this might be the case with Kayn, likely was born in Noxus to one of these refugees hence he is Noxian, yet still exploitable without the risk of public moral backlash, (granted the Noxian public probably doesn't even know they use child soldiers), Noxian yet, not truly Noxian.

(Hopefully we get Sharjo to confirm the specifics of Kayn's lineage, I doubt he was cut from the same stone as Katarina or even Karthus, though Talon in the future may end up sharing a similar backstory with Kayn, in terms of being a child soldier)

SolarisCorvus7/3/2017, 11:55:23 PM6 votes

I just saw it as military freedom in Noxus. I read somewhere that Noxians dont even have a uniform for all soldiers and their weapons and armor change from army to army. So Kayn's commander was just the type of guy to use kids as shields.

DeathBurst7/5/2017, 8:40:38 AM2 votes

The keyword here is "unreliable narrator". We get the story from Kayn and/or Zed PoV (it's not very clear). Doesn't mean it's the truth, doesn't mean it's a typical case.

GenoXx7/4/2017, 12:11:17 AM2 votes

Was Taliyah's recruitment not a clue?

Arakadia7/4/2017, 5:10:00 PM2 votes

I agree with your whole post. Another thing that confused me in his color story though:

It seemed a little weird how small and/or easy to take down the escort for Rhaast was. I do understand that Kayn's color story is supposed to portray him in the coolest/darkest manner possible, within reason, however Noxus knows that there are people like Kayn out there.

I just don't understand why they wouldn't send someone who would be able to protect something as valuable as a Darkin Blade better. Whether a magic user, or a soldier, or someone rather than just Noxian pike-man who aren't very courageous.

Cardinal Sinveil7/4/2017, 12:06:17 PM1 votes

Yeah, it's almost like Noxus is the Runeterra version of North Korea