There should be a better way than just "throwing them all away", Rito.

Athenes Lulu·9/25/2014, 6:32:22 AM·20 votes·1,604 views

Specifically, the lore. The summoners and the Institute that had led the game and created the framework of the general lore of the story. There HAS to be a better way to work that around. And yet ya'll decide to "ragequit" and destroy the Institute altogether. At least find a way for SOMEONE to do so.

So I guess Nocturne now just appears into people's dreams from out of the blue? Not spooky at all.

Even the silliest idea of me and Veigar blowing the building up is a better excuse than "just throwing it away".

Thoughts? And we need a Bandle City related lore event... Yordles need story love too.

27 Comments

Captain Danger9/25/2014, 6:58:39 AM5 votes

So, there's three alternatives here in dealing with the Institute of War from a Lore perspective:

Continue the Institute as-is. For a whole host of reasons, this just isn't sustainable. It constricts the frame around which the lore team can tell an evolving, complex story.
Have a canon send-off of the IoW. The problem with this is now the lore team has to deal with all the ramifications of the League and the IoW disbanding. What's more, what do you do with all the champions whose concepts are tightly coupled to the IoW? What about Runeterra itself? The IoW was the solve for war on Runeterra. No IoW... does the world just destroy itself? While mass war sounds like a fantastic story, it's still a limited device. You're trading one set of story problems for a different set of story problems.
Completely remove the IoW. Decouple the concept from the lore entirely. This is what Rito chose to do, and it's the most pragmatic of the options available. This gives them time to naturally update the lore for individual champions and create a world that can continue to expand.

Watch99/25/2014, 12:17:32 PM5 votes

Yordles need story love, but they don't need love Teemo

CupcakeTrap9/25/2014, 7:31:51 PM5 votes

Destroying the League could be interesting as a plot turn, if Riot really wants to explore the Leagueless version of Valoran for a while. (We might do something like that in Factions, actually.) I'd point out, though, that physically destroying the Institute would not accomplish this goal. If the powers-that-be still want a League, they'll just rebuild it. The League is an idea, not a physical thing. The League's fall would have to be political.

It's pretty easy to have the League collapse. Imagine if the US, China, and Russia all withdrew from the WTO. There wouldn't be a WTO anymore. Imagine if France and Germany left the EU. The EU would probably fall apart. Similarly, all it would take would be Demacia or Noxus getting pissed off and leaving the League.

In a non-stupid conception of the League, it doesn't have authority to rule on international matters because it's just so powerful that it can control everyone — it has authority because the nations of Valoran realized they were headed for total destruction if the Rune Wars went on any longer, and from that simple starting point it became an institution for resolving all kinds of conflicts, from trade disputes to wars.

Now, destroying the League poses problems. For example, Azir and Shurima? It's a cool setup, but from a cold-hearted realist perspective, without a League to defend its rights to self-determination Shurima would be instantly steamrolled by Noxus or Demacia, or would have to make itself a client-state of one of these superpowers. And, you know, it does involve removing the League of Legends from League of Legends, which is pretty stupid. Still, you could handwave something about how the Fields are still open for combat practice: it's just that the League has lost its authority to oversee disputes.

SephithDarknesse9/25/2014, 9:30:42 AM1 votes

destroy the Institute altogether. At least find a way for SOMEONE to do so.

It makes a lot more sense for the IoW to have never existed in the first place, if its to not be included than destroyed.

acepil0t9/25/2014, 8:19:33 PM1 votes

When I saw the title I immediately thought you meant silences, not lore. :|

rtbf2091425559/26/2014, 4:27:46 AM1 votes

Honestly what if they just made it an arena where you can go to gain the favors of poweful summoners and gain fame/solve political problems but just make it more voluntary and you can leave when done.