The Diversity of Species of Runeterra (Lore stuff just for fun)

As far as I know League of Legends is one of the few games that puts a lot of effort into lore and story line where it has very little to know impact on the game (ignoring the Gangplank incident). This one of the major reasons League has kept my attention for the past 4 years despite my inadequacy in ranked gameplay. The world of Runeterra in turn has great diversity in the sentient beings that inhabit the world. This has been increasing about the time Riot released Vel'koz, when the stated they wanted to put a bit more focus on non-humanoid characters.** This post is mostly for fun to look at diversity of the awesome world Riot has created and also a bit of speculation on more ambiguous champs at the end of the post**

LET US BEGIN __

Darkin: An ancient race of legendary warriors that now have only 5 remaining members

• Aatrox

** Magically Altered Humanoids:** Sentient beings that have achieved human form through magic or other means

• Ahri
• Rammus (Not humanoid but you get the picture)
• Twitch
• Warwick
• Zyra

** Minotaurs:** MInotaurs are native to region around the Great Barrier and have many tribes and villages in the region

• Alistar

** Elementals** (for lack of a better word): Entities born of a primal force or idea with a form that mirrors there origin

• Anivia (Ice)
• Brand (Fire)
• Evelynn? (Pain)
• Fiddlesticks (Crows/Doom)
• Malphite (Rock/Earth)
• Maokai (Nature)
• Nocturne (Fear)

Ascended: Demigod like beings who were once human but gave up their mortal form and acquired near immortal bodies and affinity for magic

• Azir
• Nasus
• ** Renekton**
• Xerath

Celestials/Demons/Gods: Entities that can be described as divine or supernatural in nature

• Bard
• Nagakaboros (Not directly playable but deserved a spot)
• KIndred
• Tahm Kench
• Soraka

Golems and Automatons: Creatures made by human hands and given life through magic or hextech

• Blitzcrank
• Galio
• Orianna
• Wukong (He was a slab of rock transformed into a monkey from all the rampant magic during the Rune Wars)
• Z. A. C.

Iceborn: Humans that gained immortality and magic an exchange for obedience from mysterious beings known as the Frozen Watchers

• Braum?
• Lissandra

Voidborn: Horrible monstrosities from the darkness the Void. Sent to Runeterra all with the purpose to consume, albeit in different ways

• Cho'gath
• Kha'zix
• Kog'Maw
• Rek'sai
• Vel'koz

Water-Dwellers: Fish people

• Fizz
• Nami (Her species are known as the Marai)

Yordles: Pint sized race of people who live in Bandle City. Culture is closed tied to social interaction and have innate magical abilites.

• Gnar
• Heimerdinger
• Kennen
• Lulu
• Poppy
• Rumble
• Teemo
• Tristana
• Veigar
• Ziggs

Angels: Powerful beings from another world who came to Runeterra to seek aid from the Institute of War (These guys need a lore update)

• Kayle
• Morgana

Fae: Faerie like creatures who live in the Glade, a fantastical world where aspects like color, shape, size, and time behave differently.

• Pix

Yeti: Uncommon creatures of the Freljord with mystical qualities and raw physical strength.

• Willump (The creature Nunu rides)

Bracken: Ancient creatures deeply tied to earth magic and the crystals of Kalamanda.

• Skarner

Trolls: Fearsome yet not to bright beasts of the Freljord. They once lived scattered across the Freljord in ragged tribes but now unite under their King.

• Trundle

Ursine: A fierce and warlike race that has endured the barren tundra for thousands of years.

• Volibear

Undead: Natives to the Shadow Isles that were transformed into twisted shades of their former selves when the Ruined King attempted to pervert the balance of life and death or those that had passed and where brought back through magic or technology.

• Amumu
• Hecarim
• Kalista
• Karthus
• Mordekaiser
• Sion
• Thresh
• Urgot
• Yorick

All other champions not listed besides the three I want to discuss next are human in some way or another

__

DISCUSSION

Out of all the Champions in League of Legends there are 3 whose origins are extremely ambiguous. Five if you count Fiddlesticks and Evelynn but I put them in the list so we're going to ignore them for now.

Jax: First up is the Grandmaster of Arms. The only champion ever admitted to the League of Legends who had to have special rules put in place due to how efficient he was with any form of weaponry. With the disappearance of Reginald Ashram, the prior leader of the league and the only person with knowledge on Jax's origins, Jax has now become an anomaly. Speculation: Most people speculate that Jax is one of the 5 remaining Darkin due to his proficiency with weaponry, his sudden appearance into the League with such vigor, and the strange shadow that is found in one of his original splash arts. Due to lack of any other evidence, this sounds pretty good to me.

Shaco: As with Riot's earlier concept's lore wasn't the most important aspect of champion design and Shaco is proof of that. Here is a bit form Shaco's official lore. "He is Valoran's first fully functioning homicidal comic; he jests until someone dies, and then he laughs. The figure that has come to be known as the Demon Jester is an enigma. No one fully agrees from whence he came, and Shaco never offers any details on his own. A popular belief is that Shaco is not of Runeterra - that he is a thing summoned from a dark and twisted world. Still others believe that he is the demonic manifestation of humanity's dark urges and therefore cannot be reasoned with. The most plausible belief is that Shaco is an assassin for hire, left to his own lunatic devices until his services are needed." Pretty much we don't know what he is or where he came from, but he kills people. Speculation: Personally I like the idea that he is similar to Tahm Kench or Kindred. He is a demon that's whole purpose is to find enjoyment in death caused by the greed and selfishness of the people who summon/hire him.

Now the champions whose origins are never explained and is probably the most unique character in terms of so far in League of Legends. (maybe)

Rengar: Like the ursine Rengar is an anthropomorphic animal that has the capacity to rationalize. In his lore it states that he never knew his parents and was raised by a human that had a thing for hunting. That's it. We don't really know exactly where he is from or even where his adopted father lived. It is presumed to be near the Kumungu Jungles due to his rivalry with Nidalee but that's all we have to go buy. Other than the ursine and Rengar, there have been no accounts of any more intelligent humanoid animals and Rengar's species doesn't even seem to have a proper name like "ursine." He's just Rengar. He is the Tigger or League of Legends. The only one of his kind and he has no clue where he came from. That's why I think Rengar is a uniquely ambiguous champion. Unlike Shaco and Jax, creatures like Rengar and Volibear seem to be naturally occurring but in terms of Rengar he is the only one of his kind or any other form of anthropomorphic animals other than the ursine we know about. And although I'm not 100% sure, I couldn't even find any references in the Journal of justice. As far as we know, he's the only one. __

Well there you have it, a fun little time waste for anyone that really like the lore of League of Legends. Hope you enjoyed it and have a good one. Feel free to point out any discrepancies or mention any opinions you have on my categorizing, I'm happy to discuss my reasoning or be proven different.

TL:DR: Categorizing of Champs based on species and discussion of ambiguous champs (a.ka Shaco, Jax, and Rengar)