Who Needs A Map? We do.

We really need an updated Runeterra Map.

{So much so I've even tried my hand at making one }

I know there's a thread about this already, and I posted in it. But what I need to say addresses a somewhat different side to that argument. People commented in the other thread that Jaredan hadn't responded to it, and instead we got Bioluminescence, who is still an awesome person, don't get me wrong, but she doesn't work with Narrative, and hasn't had much to say about any map-making things since the work on the Shurima Map last year, and even then she couldn't say anything because the higher-ups shushed her.

This is more about this quote from Jaredan, 3 Months ago in Cupcake Trap's thread about lore.

{quoted}

We haven't fully fleshed out certain aspects of Valoran and we also haven't told enough stories to reduce the chance that a definitive map would be restrictive. We would be having place define story rather than the other way round. We were very close to releasing a world map that looked so detailed it would have locked us into a definition of the world before we had started properly exploring it.

Before the "well, a good writer would know how to work with restrictions," argument, this isn't just about the writing, it's about a number of teams, various designs and other things that will have a dramatic impact on the final overall look of Valoran and beyond. Those things aren't ready yet, and putting out a world map that we might have to change rather soon would be problematic.

We will be releasing the map over time through various artifacts, as seen in the Shurima and Harrowing examples, but we're creating a world built from story and character, we didn't want that defined in a way that could quickly feel arbitrary.

What we can gleam from this post is that Riot literally had, or has, an almost fully-developed world map set up and ready to rock and roll, and then decided not to share it with the community at large because "it would have been too restrictive to our storytelling and we might have to change it."

I can understand the argument about having to change something so incredibly soon due to whatever events they have planned, but what can we gleam from what we DO have? What do we get from the Shuriman Tablet Map? That it's old and worn? That it's symbolic and doesn't give much geographical knowledge other than the location of Targon, the City of Shurima, and the surrounding mountain ranges? It gives us nothing of significant meaning other than adding an artifact of the world that we can't decipher because we lack any and all real clues as to what the heck those landmarks are, because we don't have a map.

Last year's Harrowing Map was an interesting start, but even that doesn't give us that much information. There's nothing concrete other than the Shadow Isles and the Blue Flame Islands. There's no sign of any coast of the main continent anywhere to get a bearing on where they're located, and the only thing it seems to suggest is that Runeterra isn't flat, is indeed round, and that you can easily sail to the Shadow Isles from Bilgewater or Ionia (supposedly) due to them all being islands near each other. So at least that much is confirmed. Small victories. But where is the mainland? What's the travel time like? We don't know, because we don't have a map.

Burning Tides only offered up more confusion, geographically, anyway. The Serpentine River, which used to be in the northwest corner of Valoran, as per the old and outdated map (which still has Targon listed as Gargantuan, and showed the river flowing backward because how do rivers work?), apparently now touches Bilgewater, or exits the mainland near Bilgewater, and is also near Bandle City due to Tahm Kench's knowledge and relationship with all of the yordles. And yet Quinn's journal of her chasing down an assassin, which technically took place post retcon, even though it was never outwardly stated it was, clearly shows a map of Demacia and the Serpentine River and her dealing with "Golden Crossing." ( And Valoran now apparently has Twelve Seas. That's great! We know where 2 of them are, maybe. Where are the other Ten? )

So does the Serpentine River literally cut the upper half of Valoran in half somehow? Is Noxus actually surrounded by a river delta or swamp or marsh like the ONLY legitimate image we have of it to date seems to suggest (it was daft to build a castle in a swamp, but they did it anyway)? And what about the dozens of other locations that are mentioned only once in lore and never elaborated upon in any meaningful way (Kaladoun, Howling Marsh, Voodoo Lands, Tempest Flats, etc etc etc)?

Those are clearly representations of "story defining place" and yet they were never elaborated upon outside of a single champion's biography. You have stated canonically in Gangplank's new lore that there are TWELVE SEAS. Why? Because it sounded cool? That was something that you apparently were trying to get away from. Now you have to design a map with twelve separate Seas on it when you used to have two (Guardian's Sea and Conqueror's Sea - obviously tied to Demacia/Noxus respectively). If you never lock it down you will never have a map and nothing will ever be definitive or concrete, ever, and no one will know where anything is. But as it stands now, nothing is certain on our side of the fence, and we don't know where anything is, again, because we don't have a map.

Runeterra has evolved greatly since the release of that old map, clearly. Names and lore and the places themselves have changed. Even if you look at it as an old world nonsense map that was just meant to show basic locations, it's still completely out of date and gives no real sense of scale or scope, especially in this new environment where the Narrative/Foundations Team are growing a very big Intellectual Property for future storytelling. But it DID give everyone a sense of belonging, which it is now sorely lacking thanks to recent developments over the last few years.

Even if Burning Tides was amazing, and don't get me wrong, it was, and I loved it for everything it DID do, we still have no more idea exactly WHERE Bilgewater really is in the world than we did years ago, and thanks to the updated lore, we have even less of an idea where it sits in relationship to any other part of Valoran outside of Ionia and the Shadow Isles than we did years ago, because, once more, we don't have a map.

You have a sizable community of people who world build, who like to craft stories, but without a map to use for such things, all of their work and their world is just as ambiguous and meaningless as the one you're trying so much to grow and develop. They're trying to tell bigger, grander stories without a map, no guideline to the world, and that is almost impossibly hard. Even new players and creative minds, who want to know these things, have to rely on something that is completely outdated because you have offered them absolutely nothing new to inform them. They don't know where anything is, or where anything or anyone is in relation to one another. They don't have a map.

But, as far as you've told us, you're all completely satisfied giving us tiny breadcrumbs when we need and want at least a slice of the _loaf _ you all get to keep to yourselves. And it's a loaf you've told us you have, and aren't willing to share with us who are starving for anything more substantial than what you've been tossing our way. At least let us have a bigger peek into the fog of war on the Rift, rather than keeping all of us in a perpetual Nocturne ult because you guys haven't finished the textures on the Howling Abyss.

You don't have to show us your entire hand, but at least let us see one of your cards, rather than a sidelong glance at a corner of a card through a cloudy glass.