Food, Drink, and Drugs of Valoran

Dreamspitter··6 votes·3,803 views

Curious if we can detail all the things consumed in lore.

How about a drink first?

Tea Caitlyn enjoys tea which Vi makes fun of her for. IRL the vast majority of tea is grown in Asia. The climate of piltover is said to be balmy. They could grow tea themselves, but it could also be a major expor from Ionia as well . The Zaun story "Iron and Glass" mentions 'Herbal Tisane' so perhaps it is consumed in Zaun as well.

Ale & Wine Gragas is an expert on these. Ornn mentions that beer and dark beer are some of the few things humans have done right. These seem to be widely consumed everywhere. You can make wine from tons of things other than grapes. Beet wine is mentioned at least once in Evelynn story. Graves isn't impressed by Demacian wine. "Pisswater, but beggars cant be choosers." Warwick in his lore mentions "shimmerwine".

??? DrMundo lore mentions a man selling "shimmer drops "

He spotted his first patient hawking shimmerdrops just outside Ranker’s Limb Maintenance. The man limped around in a circle, shouting at everyone within arm’s length about how shimmerdrops would make their eyes roll into the backs of their heads and how if they didn’t buy some right now, right this second, then they were damn idiots and did you just give him a condescending look? Because he’ll kill you and your family and your family’s family.

It stands to reason the two are related. Perhaps common WIne + Shimmerdrops =Shimmerwine? The official artwork conception for Zaun depicts a breather station with fresh air, and entrance to a "shimmer bar" below.

https://universe-meeps.leagueoflegends.com/v1/assets/images/factions/image-gallery/zaun-breatherstation.jpg

"Iron and Glass" also mentions

Wyn clambered to his brother, his legs rubbery as a shimmerfiend’s after an all-night bender.

It may possibly be illegal, based on Urgot story.

The city itself seemed to carry us forward as we slid down into its depths, farther and farther from the sump-scrapper we’d just robbed and left bleeding in the gutter. His cogs still jangled in our pockets. More than enough for a bit of fun. We were on our way to the Black Lanes, the market at the heart of Zaun.

“Think they’ll sell us any shimmerwine?” Zori asked. “Bleedin’ that sumper made me a mite parched.”

Blenk scoffed. “They’d sell shimmer to a child in the Lanes. And then they’d sell the child.”

We don't actually know just what kind of intoxicant it is. But it's probably artificial. I swear there's something in Shadowrun with a similar name.

Kouaxi is said to be a Shuriman drink of fermented goat milk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefir

Champagne is alluded to but not named in Jinx color story, fizzy and golded served in flute glasses.

14 Comments

RiotBioluminescence6 votes

One of the old-lore rums was mentioned in the more recent Shadow and Fortune story:

“Every one’s been dipped in Myron’s Dark,” she said, loud enough for every one of her thirty-strong company to hear. “If the dead want a fight, we’ll meet them with spirits of our own.”

Then there's Shuriman sunbread mentioned in Progress Day:

The smell of roasting fish and fresh-baked Shuriman sunbread from an open dining hall makes her mouth water. Instead, she stops a woman pushing a wheeled barrel encircled by hissing pipes and purchases a hot tisane, together with one of the sugared pastries she has come to love a little too much.

(I love fictional food and drink.).

Variks the Loyal2 votes

I don't know if you guys have ever thought of it, but Runeterran foods would make awesome consumables to have in the game.

Ask Talon3 votes

I made a list some time ago, all from the Medarda Heirloom

Weapons

Smuggled weapons and armor in Palclyff Krexorian blades

** Food and delicacies**

Kumungu Berries (Kumungu jungle) Ironwater beet wine Trannit dried Bolbo fish and boiled Bolbo-head soup. Mudtown Nirpooti fruit delicacy Aurma roe Stonewall dunpor milk and curds Holdrum fish sauce Rokrund Naaps Drakengate: mudpacks, as well as popular (illegal) adulterants such as: peach slugs, nacre powder, Nirpooti skins, Freljordian grain milk, Honeyfruit seeds, and Ionian silver pomace.

**Trade goods **

Fallgren flexible tubes Sea muckley liver oil. (Bilgewater) Basilich cobweb paintings Aurma leather Mudtown red-shale bricks. Kalamanda gold Kalamanda Sing-stones Nashramae silk Holdrum pearls Urzeris salt Tereshni Azirite (blood glass) and glass craftsmanship. Bhel'zun Hwatis wool Kilgrovian cloudcedar Rough grades from the Bloodcliffs

Other

Kumangra Song Market district. Urzeris desert cattle Vindorian desert horses

Shimmer is a drug in Zaun. I know its somewhere, but I haven't been able to find the source. Most likely something related to Jinx.

RiotBioluminescence3 votes

Excellent work scribing all of this!

I will say that the creature is a Mwatis, not a Hwatis (despite that pesky typeface looking the way it does), and the 'rough grades' actually referrs to the grain that is illustrated just to the right on the map - it's different grades of unspecified grain. Also, Noxus city itself sells different grades of chains - 16, 17 ,Livestock, 19, and War chain. The song markets are where you go to buy birds, and less delightfully, guano. Also, I'd recommend not eating the mudpacks - they're cosmetic use only. Gossamer cordage from Basilich too!

You reminded me though that Dunpor cream was used by Viktor to make a really tasty sounding hot drink called sweetmilk in his color story with the little boy, House on Emberflit Alley.

Viktor walked to his stovetop. He mixed a blend of dark powder and Dunpor cream into a saucepan, heating the liquid with his laser. “Would you like a glass of sweetmilk?” said Viktor. “A weakness of mine, but I have always enjoyed the anise flavor.”

(Funny story, when "Beet Wine" was first mentioned, it was written rather sloppily on the map and ran into itself and someone thought it was string made out of insects - "Bee Twine". Quite understandable when there is also gossamer cordage from Basilich.)

Ask Talon1 votes

{quoted}

Excellent work scribing all of this!

[slayer-jinx-catface]

Thanks for the clarifications. These worldbuilding details are really immersive, helps a lot when writing/rping.

I have a doubt, is the Nyzer poison from the Journal of Justice #23 still "canon"?

The use of Nyzer poison is unusual, although it creates more questions than it answers. Nyzer has a bitter, distinct taste, which makes it a poor choice to slip to an unsuspecting victim. It does, however, lead to a very peaceful death. For this reason, it’s most commonly used to euthanize animals, and is therefore accessible to a broad range of people. This begs the question: did the prisoner take it willingly?

RiotBioluminescence2 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Noxian Mercy,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=XlTl4kNN,comment-id=000200000000,timestamp=2017-10-18T18:48:09.184+0000)

[slayer-jinx-catface]

Thanks for the clarifications. These worldbuilding details are really immersive, helps a lot when writing/rping.

I have a doubt, is the Nyzer poison from the Journal of Justice #23 still "canon"?

Its best in these circumstances to rely on the rule of thumb "It's still canon unless it contradicts" - so unless a piece of story emerges that states that the Nyzer poison doesn't exist (this would be quite a strange story) then there's likely no reason why it shouldn't still exist.

That is unless it's like, a secretion from a boil on Singed's knee that he got after wrestling with space-Renekton on the top of Mount Gargantuan, or something. In which case, not so likely to be canon any more :)

ModThe Djinn1 votes

{quoted}That is unless it's like, a secretion from a boil on Singed's knee that he got after wrestling with space-Renekton on the top of Mount Gargantuan, or something. In which case, not so likely to be canon any more :)

...way to shoot down my favorite League story, Bioluminescence. Sad Djinn is sad.

Solideus1 votes

But that was my favorite paaaaaaart

Ask Talon1 votes

{quoted}

That is unless it's like, a secretion from a boil on Singed's knee that he got after wrestling with space-Renekton on the top of Mount Gargantuan, or something. In which case, not so likely to be canon any more :)

[sg-ahri-1]

At least we now have a legit poison. summoner 31

Warlord Scrap1 votes

Mentioning drugs quite a few champs mention chem barons. Some countries dont allow drugs in video games so they use the term chems. Chem barons are most likely drug lords.

Also mf and gp make grog for the bligewater competion i believe or that might be retconned lore.

Warlord Dienekes1 votes

Always thought that story was a bit silly. Grog is just rum that was watered down. It was used on ships (like pirate vessels) because it's cheaper than giving everyone actual rum or beer.

So reading about how dangerous and corrosive all these pirates made there watered down rum was unintentionally hilarious. Like the guy who wrote it just thought grog sounded sufficiently pirate-y and had no idea what he was actually talking about.

Warlord Scrap1 votes

actually thats still popular in the military to make "toxic" grog normally incorporating different types of alcohol dirt from countries the units deployed in stuff like that as a right of passage

Dreamspitter1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Warlord Dienekes,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=XlTl4kNN,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2017-10-17T14:20:57.011+0000)

Always thought that story was a bit silly. Grog is just rum that was watered down. It was used on ships (like pirate vessels) because it's cheaper than giving everyone actual rum or beer.

So reading about how dangerous and corrosive all these pirates made there watered down rum was unintentionally hilarious. Like the guy who wrote it just thought grog sounded sufficiently pirate-y and had no idea what he was actually talking about.

Actually GROG was drunk by Naval men. Not pirates. Naval men on long journeys used rum mixed with water -it was used to prevent water in containers from develoing algae. Pirates were on much shorter trips, and more likely to drink Bumbo.

Warlord Dienekes1 votes

Many pirates were naval men. Originally anyway, and a lot of their supplies were lifted directly off of attacked ships, this would usually include the alcohol. And I never said that it was the only alcoholic drink, just that it was drunk.

Also, Bumbo is just grog with a few added ingredients. It's often considered a type of grog.

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