My main issue with Ionia

LordStegosaurus·Mar 29, 2019·33 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 CadenceMar 29, 201927 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.

Chembaron YamadaMar 29, 20197 votes

There are alot of cool places to explore, but the same goes for every single other region in the game. And if we are fair, then we can't really say that Ionia is neglected when it comes to content, imo it is actually the most favored region in that regard.....

We got told that they will update the lore more frequently this year, so hopefully they will cover a broad variety of topics so everyone can be happy.

4 Step CadenceMar 29, 20194 votes

Ionia isn't getting shit this year as far as I know, so there's that for everyone to be happy about. Well, the people that are done with Ionia, at least.

Chembaron YamadaMar 29, 20195 votes

Ionia isn't getting shit this year as far as I know

The only statement I recall you could be referring to was that we got told that there isn't any new Ionian champion nor a VGU for an Ionian champion coming this year.

Considering that they started to give us new lore unrelated to newly added content now, that could still mean we get some stories and other stuff about Ionia.

4 Step CadenceMar 29, 20194 votes

Well there is that Zed comic, but that will most likely showcase the ongoing hunt for Jhin instead of anything interesting about Ionia itself.

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to it, but I just want more mythology about Ionia and other places in general. Give me that sweet, sweet world lore.

YDy2ZkRq02Mar 30, 20192 votes

Didn't Odin say somewhere that Zed comic will show Ionia to us in the same way that Ashe comic has shown Freljord?

And if we assume all comics will follow the pattern used in Ashe comic to some extent, we will probably get more content about Ionia anyway, even uf it's focused on the comic characters.

4 Step CadenceMar 30, 20191 votes

Don't know.

But assuming that Zed is hunting Jhin, it probably won't be set in Ionia for the most part, as he's not in Ionia. Last we saw, he's in Piltover/Zaun.

DyromicMar 29, 20191 votes

Those are some areas I would be more than willing to explore in an adventure/roleplaying game. The setting is given with those spectacular shots, fulling it with content shouldn't be a problem either.

Even if Riot'll never release an MMO game I hope they won't let their established world go to rot and create a game in another genre, even singleplayer.

SpideraxeMar 29, 201916 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

EleshakaiMar 29, 20198 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.

AbiwonKenabiMar 30, 20194 votes

This is what I was going to say.

Things like the Cold War happened as a direct result of the events of WWII. Or Berlin Wall anyone? That came down in what, 1991? And we're STILL talking about Hitler to this day (albeit in a much different way, but he's basically a name everyone on the planet over a certain age recognizes).

And if the war was as fresh as around 10 years ago? If you weren't directly affected by the war in some way (displaced, lost a loved one, fought in it, etc), your parents probably were, especially if you were the land that was invaded.

While it would be nice to see more of "pre-Invasion Ionia", I don't think its unreasonable that many Ionians were affected by this war. It changed the country forever and they are still feeling the repercussions of that change. There are many different ideas on HOW to never let it happen again. And of course some people are resistant to change, but a catalyst like war produces many people who think they NEED to change. War can do that to a people.

FalreinMar 29, 20196 votes

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

LibidoMar 29, 20195 votes

item 3070 Shen Kennen

4 Step CadenceMar 29, 20197 votes

Poor Ash and his Pikachu. Wait, wrong universe.

Blue Moon WolfMar 30, 20193 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.

YDy2ZkRq02Mar 30, 20192 votes

Actually...

When war came to Ionia, Kong was engrossed by the sounds and colors of the battles below – they awoke something true and undeniable in him, a calling. Kong left his tribe to prepare for what he knew to be his destiny.

This is said on Wukong bio. But yeah Xayah and Rakan are unrelated to the war(I think the first human Ahri ate was a noxian, not sure if that counts).

Blue Moon WolfMar 30, 20193 votes

Ah, then I guess I should say "mostly" unaffected. True that the conflict is the driving force behind his love for combat. Still, not many characters have the war as such a minor role to their story. Even with his short bio it just says wishes to stop Ionia from falling into ruin (which I assume is talking about how Ionia is slowly destroying itself from the inside).

Jerry SeinfeIdMar 30, 20192 votes

[{quoted}](name=Blue Moon Wolf,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=O5ypEUe5,comment-id=000800000000,timestamp=2019-03-30T11:10:43.699+0000)

Ah, then I guess I should say "mostly" unaffected. True that the conflict is the driving force behind his love for combat. Still, not many characters have the war as such a minor role to their story. Even with his short bio it just says wishes to stop Ionia from falling into ruin (which I assume is talking about how Ionia is slowly destroying itself from the inside).

i feel like the war is actually quite important for wu as a character but not to wu himself. considering his relation to yi and wuju.

tamayaMar 29, 20192 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 .）

ApathyAndGriefMar 29, 20192 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.

aatroxSupertopMar 30, 20192 votes

{quoted}

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.

Noxus Bad Ionia Good

Weiner the PoohMar 30, 20192 votes

And then you get

Demacia Bad Noxus Good

Such consistency

AbiwonKenabiMar 30, 20191 votes

Its almost like it depends on your point of view, and that nations can do good things and bad things throughout their history.

I'm not gonna argue about Demacia though. They've done Demacia wrong. There's not enough "good" side of Demacia.

Weiner the PoohMar 31, 20191 votes

I wasn't intending to debate how you perceive morality, just that for like a year and a half and everything with Sylas they really wanted Demacia to look like the bad guys.

Warlord DienekesMar 30, 20191 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.

Whyte LyonMar 30, 20191 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.

GreenLoreMar 30, 20191 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.

mrmeddymanMar 30, 20191 votes

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

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

YDy2ZkRq02Mar 30, 20191 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.

KempthePimpMar 30, 20191 votes

but kennen did get a lore update

thefatlazycatMar 30, 20191 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

ApollyonBainerMar 30, 20191 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