Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

Noxian Burnout

NotaRobot1006·11/2/2019, 6:34:35 PM·6 votes·11,184 views

Warning: Broad generalizations ahead. Individual exceptions are likely to exist.

Noxus' social Darwinist "strength above all" mentality has led to a secondary attitude that the weak get what they deserve. In this case, "deserve" isn't meant in a divine or cosmic sense. There's no Spirit of Noxus personally cursing people. (There is Kled, but he doesn't limit himself to the weak and he only has one curse, Being Murdered By Kled.)

Rather, it's believed that certain forms of suffering or inconvenience are a natural consequence of weakness. As a result, no Noxian adhering to this mindset sees themself as weak.

Bad things happening to you, according to this mindset, aren't a consequence of weakness, because you're not weak, right? They're a challenge against which to prove your strength. Failure is just another challenge.

The mindset of constantly striving to prove one's value can lead to great accomplishment, but also puts a lot of pressure on people who make it their way of life, especially if they repeatedly don't "make it."

TL;DR: Noxians probably burn themselves out trying to prove their own value like, a lot.

9 Comments

Darrosh Jewfist11/3/2019, 4:02:59 AM5 votes

Personally, I'm kind of amazed Noxus doesn't devolve into a civil war or see constant rebellions. The Roman Empire suffered constant rebellions in the latter half of its reigns before the West fell and that was just having independent governors and legions. Add in the social-Darwinist "anyone-can-be-Grand-General-if-you're-strong-enough" mentality to a bunch of blowhards and independent command structures and you've got constant civil unrest waiting to happen.

Hell, killing your superiors is rewarded in Noxus.

See Darius' lore:

On the bloodsoaked fields of Dalamor Plain, he even beheaded a Noxian general after the coward ordered a retreat. Roaring in defiance and hefting his bloodied axe overhead, Darius rallied the scattered warbands and won a great and unexpected victory against a far more numerous foe.

You'd think this kind of story would inspire more soldiers to just keep killing off their commanders cause they think they know better.

I think Noxian ideology on Families is interesting though. Is Draven "weak" cause his brother had to protect him? What if a family produces an unworthy heir but is elevated thanks to family connections? Is family connections a valid 'strength' or is it a crutch for unworthy?

Jeanne fan club11/2/2019, 9:21:20 PM3 votes

Yup, this is kind of the philosophical argument of meritocracy. Since true meritocracies do not exist, but people constantly strive to create them, weird half-meritocracies are the real world implication, where many things are kept outside of ones control, yet they are expected to bear the brunt of responsibility for these circumstances. Like how poverty is seen as some sort of moral failing, despite how people who are born into poverty are extremely unlikely to leave it regardless of how hard they work. Or how rich people are celebrated, and their advice taken as gospel when really, it was a set of circumstances that allowed them to accumulate wealth, not necessarily years of hard work (IE, do rich people just work that much harder than a janitor for instance). I'd like to use the United states as an example because its easier to illustrate my point, but that would be breaking boards rules.

I like that Riot is adding philosophical theories to different factions, like how Demacia is isolationist and zaun is an oligarchy, adds a lot of flavor to the league universe.

IlyaK198611/3/2019, 1:56:20 AM2 votes

Proof that Noxus is the most evil human faction.

Is it the fact that they invaded and gassed a bunch of innocent people and villages? Nah. Is it the fact that they're every libertarian's wet dream of a nation-state-empire? Oh yes.

Johnny El Rojo11/3/2019, 4:14:55 PM2 votes

Not only that. Because they burn themselves so much trying to prove their worth, and don't want to think they are weak, what's the logical conclusion if they fail?

Someone is working against them.

It happened in a lot of highly meritocratic systems like Nazi Germany or Rome. In the end, because you want to succeed, and you are convinced the person working to achieve the same position as you is conspiring against you, you are going to cheat against them in return. It doesn't matter if your actions against this person damage the goals of your nation in the long term. You have achieved the position you deserved, and you have proved to be strong.

Noxians will constantly sabotage one another to prove thier own worth against the others. And that, just like happened with Nazi Germany and many competing military and intelligence sections inside the USA during the Cold War, is going to harm the empire on the long term, because you are sabotaging plans that would benefit the nation, just to benefit you.

WeAreDuo11/8/2019, 10:25:45 PM1 votes

A thing I noticed among the different regions is they all adapt pretty well to their environments and the ideologies of those regions. Take Freljord and Zaun for example. They adapted in such harsh living conditions and still find comforts and happiness (I actually had a recent realization that Ekko is probably gonna die by the time he's 25, and it's common in winter's claw to toss the young ones out in the snow with a stick and beat them up??). I think it goes to show that Runeterrans have very strong willpower so it's not too hard to suggest that the Noxian mentality doesn't burn out most people who live by it. The grind is their live... Noxus is basically high Silver. You wake up, grind, rise up the ranks, fall down lower than you started. Go to sleep, wake up and grind again... rip my life struggle