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Alright so please correct me if I'm wrong...

ModAcademy Kayn·6/1/2015, 11:45:36 PM·3 votes·1,010 views

But the Institute of War's job was to prevent another war the rocked the continent like the Rune War. They were also in charge of settling a dispute between nations, by each side Championing 5 heros and having their fight deciede.

But what else did the IoW do? "Oh we stopped another war, great!" "Hey we settled this war, how fun." "Constrained a monster, another day another buck."

The Institute of War may have been a convenient idea for the League of Legends, but what they could actually do with it is really constrained. The best thing they did was the Journals of Justice, which mainly put more spotlight on the champions of League, more than the Institute of War. The IoW really didn't have as much to expand to than the champions of the League do.

This has been kinda bothering me for a while, and while everyone loves talking about the good ol' days of League's lore, it was just really limited.

And yes I know, people are less upset about the IoW itself and more about the champions, each becoming a bubble within their own story, separated from each other, unless said bubbles were already connected.

5 Comments

Xulsigae6/2/2015, 12:00:25 AM3 votes

The IoW acted as many things. It was a place of learning, communication, storage of lore and items, place of neutrality and such. It funded expeditions to find historical artifacts. Factions within the IoW hatched schemes. Doran forged many wonders. Champions and summoners mingled. The League often gave assistance to champions in the form of protection, knowledge, training, advertisement (Ah the refreshing taste of Graggy Ice...mmm) or just a place to crash. To see it as just a place of stopping conflicts is to ignore a lot of lore. Also it ignores that the League didn't involve itself in every conflict. The Ionian War lasted for years before Ionia joined the League and petitioned to have a match with Noxus. There's a wealth of knowledge about the IoW itself in the JoJ.

Darrosh Jewfist6/2/2015, 2:17:36 AM3 votes

I think there's a common misconception regarding a lot of views on the IoW. My personal view, at the very least, is that I can see where narrative is saying when they discuss how the IoW is limited - but at the very least it gave them an engine to have a story. You had champion interactions who normally wouldn't give each other the time of day. You therefore could easily write smutty fanfictions between Ahri and Leona getting all foxy and hot in the rift.

The problem is they took this binding agent, this Institute of War, away and didn't replace it.

We wouldn't be in this mess if they came out with a story to replace it. Instead we've been given nine months of lacklustre lore that doesn't directly contradict the League in any case (hence it ruins the whole it was limiting argument) and it certainly didn't free them to pursue any storylines that could have been constrained (see the lores of Noct, Lee, Cho, Fiddle... etc, etc - all un-updated).

So when people criticize the current Narrative and bring up the IoW, I feel they're harkening back to an era where, while it wasn't the greatest - at least entertaining, interesting and new content was pushed forward. Champions, both new and old, had a place in the JoJ and were given some recognition.

Nowadays?

It's like a happy fun one-time event then bam! Nothing. Nada. No more mentions of it. Freljord, Shurima, Shadow Isles... all of these hyped up events with great art then suddenly nothing else to follow-up on it.

So, I don't feel people want the IoW back - they just want to read or see stories again on a consistent basis. Whether that's in a 4-koma weekly manga or sanctioned short story lore updates or a revived JoJ... Narrative needs to push something forward.

Or else, you know, they look more incompetent than they already are.

Sneak Dog6/1/2015, 11:48:48 PM2 votes

What does Demacia do? It prides itself on being righteous and brings righteousness to the world. I always considered the Institute as yet another faction of the world, just not a city-state.

I don't think the old days were that great, merely good (well, safe for the utterly amazing judgements). That's still a whole way better than these days though. Back then you worried your favorite character wouldn't get any new lore, for you wanted to hear about them. Now you worry your favorite character will get removed, you might prefer not to hear about them...