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My main issue with Ionia

LordStegosaurus·3/29/2019, 7:21:21 PM·33 votes·17,442 views

Hey everyone !

I've been thinking a lot about Ionia recently, I really like every region of Runeterra, but I always found that something was a bit off about Ionia for me. And I have finally found what was my issue with it :

##Ionia's lore focus way too much on Noxus and not enough on Ionia itself.

10 champions out of 17 (I don't include Kennen because he needs a lore update) have the invasion as a main element and/or still suffer from the invasion. That's almost 59% of the roster.

> Was a child soldier from Noxus > Left the Kinkou Order to hunt down Noxians and anyone who is a danger to Ionia > She led the battle of the Placidium > Was freed after Ionia went to shit because of the Invasion > His master was killed by a former Noxian > Darha and Karma decided to attack the invaders > Fought for Ionia alongside Udyr > His whole village was destroyed during the invasion > Was "resurrected" because of the invasion > Fought against Noxus in an attempt to defend Ionia.

I understand that the invasion was a huge deal for Ionia, but I really feel that we barely know anything about Ionia. And considering that [Awaken] might become canon in the future, it seems like we are still going to have a lot of stories about Ionia and Noxus.

Even characters that are only here because of Ionia (Hi there Ivern) decided to bail the fuck out of Ionia.

There are characters that can evolve without Noxus (I'm looking at you ~~Falrein~~ Syndra), but I would love to see more stories focused on Ionia itself. Maybe some stories about Master Kusho or about the Wuju swordsmen, anything that would make me feel that Ionia is a true region and not just a plot device for Noxus.

What's your opinion about Ionia? What kind of stories would you like to see about this region?

32 Comments

4 Step Cadence3/29/2019, 7:35:37 PM27 votes

I want to learn more about Ionia in general, specifically the mythology behind it. Like, look at all this shit.

https://i.imgur.com/C4kWwfj.jpg[] The remnants of ancient wars.

https://i.imgur.com/1JrNx8k.jpg[] This place and those creatures.

https://i.imgur.com/hG1HOPi.jpg[] Big stone people.

https://i.imgur.com/4bjS2u5.jpg[] Fucking dragons. Lots and lots of fucking dragons. And according to Irelia, I believe, Ionia has over 300 species of talking dragons.

There are so many things you could explore, but you're just going to throw another invasion at Ionia? Boring.

Spideraxe3/29/2019, 7:59:16 PM16 votes

The Noxian invasion was a huge paradigm shift for Ionia, so there can really only be pre and post invasion Ionia. I'd personally love to see more pre invasion Ionia and what life was like when life was chill. I don't think its possible to tell a story in Ionia, present day, without some influence from the Noxian invasion even tho it was like maybe a decade ago(?), not sure on exact timing, because the invasion had very serious repercussions, kudos to Riot for showing the weight of the invasion. I agree there are some characters that can evolve without much Noxian influence but they'd probably have to pretty secluded from the rest of the continent

Eleshakai3/29/2019, 11:41:44 PM8 votes

If you have a long-running war that has cost many lives, you'll have a hard time finding many people whose stories don't involve the war in some way or another. That's just the reality of the way large-scale wars impact life.

Imagine coming to the US in 1944... and trying to find someone whose entire life had been completely unaffected by WW2.

Falrein3/29/2019, 8:02:59 PM6 votes

Is that a me mention I spot? Oh gosh I'm so famous [sg-syndra]

Libido3/29/2019, 9:46:16 PM5 votes

item 3070 Shen Kennen

Blue Moon Wolf3/30/2019, 12:09:14 AM3 votes

Well, I know one Ionian character that wasn't even there for the Noxian Invasion was MonkeyKing and I believe the rest of the Ionian Vastaya as well. Might be off on Rakan and Xayah , don't know if they were their for the Noxian invasion or if you would count Zed 's meddling with Vastaya as a result of the Noxian invasion, but I know for a fact Wukong was either too young to know what happened or wasn't even born yet. He could be a great character to follow just to explore the region without all the Noxian stuff. He even could give us insight in a lot of the Vastayan tribes on top of that as even well hidden tribes like his he would likely be able to access. Honestly the Vastaya in general seem to be the best tour guides you could ask for if you wanted to REALLY explore Ionia without bringing up Noxus.

tamaya3/29/2019, 10:11:56 PM2 votes

I agree with your opinion. I also want to see more of Ionian culture. Personally, I hope that the culture of Ionia, which has a large land area, is not uniform. （Of course there should be some common ideas and concepts, though .）

ApathyAndGrief3/29/2019, 10:45:27 PM2 votes

Most Ionian characters are always "REEE NOXUS BAD GUYS" because Riot is too inconsistent whether they want Noxus to be evil or not evil. No cater to weebs or to not cater to weebs. That is the question.

Whyte Lyon3/30/2019, 12:21:11 AM1 votes

Yeah, this is my gripe with Ionia too.

When Runeterra has this vast history that we know of. From RuneWars, to destruction of the Blessed Isles, to invasion of the Void, to Mordekaiser's reign, etc. Mean while the placed titled "The First Lands" is uninvolved in any of it and we have no clue what they've been doing within their country for all of millennia.

I like the idea of exploring the Kinkou Order's past, although I'd still argue that expanding Master Kusho life would still count as 'modern history' and we know the writers can go further back than that.

GreenLore3/30/2019, 12:40:00 AM1 votes

Yeah I agree that the ionians focus a bit too much on the noxian invasion.

I mean I understand that it is an interesting thematic, but its been exhausted quite a bit by now.

mrmeddyman3/30/2019, 7:34:04 AM1 votes

Which is why I'm glad they introduced the Navori Brotherhood....

Less pleased that they've done fuck all with it, but hey.

YDy2ZkRq023/30/2019, 9:06:14 AM1 votes

I do agree, even though there a lot of things I want to get before Ionia, it feels like everything in Ionia must receive nearly no exploration so the focus can be the war with Noxus.

There is a mention of Ionia ancient history being "longer than any living soul could claim to know" but we don't know anything about said ancient history. At maximum you could argue we know how Vastaya formed, Ivern and Varus but that's it. If you look at a region like Freljord or Shurima, Ionia ancient history seems like nothing.

I also have a trouble with how Ionia is said to be so varied culturally speaking, but we don't know anything about the different cultures. It's supposedly one of the reasons of Ionia civil war(cultures isolated for millennia clashing) but we can't really understand why or how sinxe we didn't get much on it.

And I have to say i'm really disappointed with the second invasion route, first because it doesn't make sense strategically, second because all the cool things mentioned above and on other parts of the thread are not going to be explored and thirdly because it feels repetitive.

So yeah, Ionian lore should have more focus on Ionia itself.

KempthePimp3/30/2019, 9:44:12 AM1 votes

but kennen did get a lore update

thefatlazycat3/30/2019, 4:28:43 PM1 votes

My main problem with Ionia is that to me it feels like it's just there to appeal to a that demographic, the characters often feel uninspired (some of the few exceptions being Jhin, Shen, Xayah, and Rakan), and so many characters like Irelia, Yasuo, and Akali are also a balance problem, resulting in people usually associating Ionia with overpowered champions

ApollyonBainer3/30/2019, 8:46:25 PM1 votes

I mean when I first was reading some Yi lore I figured they left the pre invasion pretty blank on purpose to create that kind of awe and curiosity of a time that has been forgotten. I kind of like it that way

Warlord Dienekes3/30/2019, 12:00:10 AM1 votes

The problem I have with Ionia is more that it is just Ionia. It’s a stand in for Asia which is just so boring. If you know anything about Asian history you’d know it is a fractured place full of infighting and intrigue and complexity. China, which was pretty much the dominant social force of Eastern Asia for awhile, alone united and broke apart a minimum of 5 times. Then Japan is off doing their own thing. India with its amazing natural barriers that create its own identity completely separate from China. Then there is the Steppe and the numerous peoples within. And the Middle East is it’s own flavor of fascinating.

For Ionia it all just gets squashed together into Ionia. So you can’t have Noxus invading Korea and a separate story about what’s happening over in Taiwan. They invade the entire continent at the same time. Which all reacts to this invasion.

Now territorial invasions are a huge deal. It makes sense that it would have a dramatic effect on the storyline of every character within the invaded territory. And since the state building of Ionia is so basic it means it effected literally every character.