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Ponderings about Shurima (Realms of Runeterra spoiler warning).

Synthessence·2/27/2020, 3:59:48 PM·1 votes·6,430 views

Over the holidays, I was lucky enough to be gifted the 'League of Legends: Realms of Runterra' book as a gift, because I'm the League nerd in my circle of friends. I've just recently finished reading the thing from cover-to-cover, and I gotta say, if you're a fan of the lore, it's a great book.

Anyway, the thing is full (5-6 I think) of short stories, one pertaining to each well known area of Runeterra, such as Demacia, Ionia, ect. The last one I read was about Shurima. Mild Spoiler warning, but Azir is featured in the story, and at one point, he describes what happened during his Ascension. It goes like this:

Azir

"On the day of my Ascension, just as I planned to free Shurima's slaves, he betrayed me. He cast me into the killing fire as he took my place on the sun disc to steal my godhood. I was supposed to ascend that day, but instead Shurima fell and devastation swept ver the land. An empire that had ruled the known world for centuries was wiped out in the blink of an eye by a terrible cataclysm that laid waste to the earth and burned away the waters."

"Is that why Shurima's a desert?"

Azir Nodded.

Azir

So, the question is, what was Shurima like before it got blasted? It's pointed out here that Xerath is the one that made Shurima a desert...and all through out League's known history, it's been referred to as a desert-like place. All of their champions pull from that visual style and culture...but Azir shouldn't, right? Because he comes from a time that predates the sands and the deserts.

Just makes me wonder what the culture and region was like before that.

4 Comments

ModWulf Helhammer2/27/2020, 4:44:43 PM5 votes

Important to note that Shurima is both the name of the country/continent, and the capital city in which the Emperor lived and the Ascension ritual took place. We know that the city used to be like an oasis,basically like Egypt on the Nile Delta, so it's likely that's what was meant, not the country as a whole.

TacoBrain2/27/2020, 5:34:59 PM1 votes

Think of the Nile, then amp it up to 11 with the Mother of Life. Deserts still existed (e.g. Azir's current bio), not everything being close to the river, but the empire as a whole was far more verdant and fertile and people would have likely concentrated in riverside settlements. Also, even if Shurima wasn't wholly desert during the imperial times, they were still founded and influenced by states that did establish themselves in that original state/climate and, as far as Ancient Egypt parallels go, the empire retains recognizable traits such as sun and river worship.

Or from Nasus' bio:

The Shuriman empire collapsed. Its great central city sank into ruin, and the holy sun disc fell from the sky, drained of power by Xerath’s magic. Without it, the divine waters flowing from the city ran dry, bringing death and famine to Shurima.