Hey folks,
Check em out! Trying out a stickied thread so there's an easy central place for discussion that the Narrative and Foundations folks can hopefully also jump into. What's your take on the new story goodness?
Why did you let Nasus write these?
Remember when we used to whine about lack of content, and "Riot lore team" was a joke?
Glad to say it's all in the past now :)
The only complaint I could have here is that while these bios portray the Shurimian characters in great detail, we're still lacking one element the Institute of War provided: canvas for interaction between characters from different locations.
Keep up the good work!
Hey folks,
Check em out! Trying out a stickied thread so there's an easy central place for discussion that the Narrative and Foundations folks can hopefully also jump into. What's your take on the new story goodness?
Crossposting from a friend's blog.
I’d like to register my disappointment that Azir supposedly had children with slaves.
Slaves cannot consent. What Azir did was rape those slaves. If he actually believes that people should not be slaves, then neither should he be raping them.
Calling it ‘liaisons’ makes it sound less terrible than it is. It wasn’t a case of liaisons. It was the case of a man who knew slaves were people and deserves names, somehow thinking that it was acceptable to force himself on them anyway.
If this was a character like Jhin or Jinx or even Zed, where they are clearly the villain, I wouldn’t care so much. I’d still be disappointed that you had to explicitly make a character a rapist but I’d at least accept it’s part of narrative that makes them a villain. Azir, on the other hand, is presented as a hero. The readers are supposed to feel sorry for him and believe he had good intentions.
Good guys aren’t rapists. Promoting the idea that you can be a good guy and still be a rapist is dangerous, especially when the community is already known for making rape and death threats towards female gamers.
I would like to request you remove the part about Azir having 'ill-advised liaisons’ with slaves. It would take hardly any effort at all to remove two words and change to just make it only be harem girls and wives but it would change Azir’s lore so very much. He would still be flawed, just not a rapist.
I don’t want to cheer for a rapist. I don’t want to be told that a rapist is a good guy, just misguided. Please change it.
I really loved the stories!
My favorite element is Nasus being accompanied by the ghostly memory of his brother as a child. Very powerful! The juxtaposition between the demi-god Nasus has become and the child his brother once was is very striking and appropriate.
I also loved how well Renekton was portrayed as a maddened, confused, crying beast. It really added depth to him and solidified his character.
A tasteful amount of world-building sprinkled in, kuddos! Also great hints at thematic connections to the in-game characters. (Namely Nasus' Wither.)
I'm also noticing leadership, autonomy, servitude and slavery are really prevalent themes in Shuriman stories. For example, I can't help to notice how the Ascended are powerful and esteemed, but in a way they are also slaves, sacrificing their humanity bit by bit and serving Shurima for millennia, while perhaps not even noticing it themselves.
Xerath's and Azir's stories showing that both being the most powerful or being the most oppressed can casually create terrible people or people that do terrible things is also mirrored somewhat in Nasus' and Renekton's stories. Even the great and benevolent mind of Nasus is used by the culture of Shurima for conquest and warfare, while Nasus doesn't even necessarily see any inherent problem, "big picture", with this being his new role.
All in all, a wonderful read!
"Emperor Xerath"
Great, more Civil Wars incoming.
It was just so overwhelmingly beautiful, yet tragic, I actually shed a couple of tears while reading them.
Nasus' hesitation when entombing his brother, the shadow that followed him, the guilt inside of him. Renekton is no longer a brutal beast with no sense at all, but rather suffering and ill-advised, chasing Nasus, who he once selflessly saved from death.
It might sound weird, but I see a lot of similarities between these two and me and my brother. I was the older one, who always watched out for him. I was the one who loved to study, he loved to get his hands dirty. Even when my brother passed away 5 years ago, I felt guilty as I couldn't be there for him when he needed me the most.. It's like reading a fanfictioned version of my life.
I think Nasus has been elevated into my list of favorite champions. I enjoyed his old lore for what it was, Super Intelligent Space-Dog From Mars Who Knows Things About Death, but his new lore is fantastic.
I especially love how one of the few times Ren & Nas almost get into a physical fight is over books! I love Nasus' dedication to books and libraries, it's fantastic! I dunno, I think I actually want to start playing Nasus now.
Renekton's story is also 100% better than him running around sewers.
A question: Xerath's lore says that the Ascended could read people's mind and slaves weren't even allowed to think about freedom.
So Nasus was enforcing slavery? So Taliyah is being friendly to Nasus and agressive to Azir when Azir was the one who went out of his way to abolish slavery while Nasus was a slave officer?
I'm so glad that they kept the librarian part of Nasus intact! <3
I thought that it would be discarded as it supposedly wouldn't make sense on a guard of an emperor.
Loved these stories, but man does Nasus' lore kind of fellate him.
Anyways, Broken Nomad Nasus skin when?
I'm dying for a timeline with all this "a long time ago" lore! Especially now that Amumu has joined the hella hella old crowd along with Aurelion, Mordekaiser and the mythic types. We've got so many things in the nebulous far past now, it would mean a lot to me to know how they relate - Aurelion's enslavement, Mordekaiser's original reign, the founding of Demacia (and other countries, but this one we specifically heard about with Poppy), the cursing of the Blessed Isles, the original Freljord sisters, Amumu's life, Gnar's original time, the Rune Wars if those are still a thing, Nasus and Renekton's ascension, Azir's ascension/Shurima's fall, ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Maybe Zilean could tell us when he gets his lore updated, ay? Hint hint nudge nudge.
While I'm here, can we solve the ambiguously Yordle Amumu business? I would much rather he not be a Yordle and know it vs making it a mystery with no stakes just to pay homage to his old lore. It's fine if people in-universe don't know. It's less fine for us not to.
I want to imagine 
and 
started talking like this once inside the Tomb of the Emperors:
**
"After a loooooooooooong time has passed, Renekton and Xerath have not stopped fighting (u know, being Ascended and stuff)"**
Hey, I'm starting to get bored of this fight.
To be honest, even though I'm still angry as hell for what you did, I'm getting bored too.
We both know that we will not be able to kill each other anytime soon. So, what about taking a break for now? We'll resume fighting later.
Sounds good.
"They are now seated on the floor with some distance away from each other"
_So, why are you here and not Nasus?
_
_I sacrificed myself to saved him.
_
_To me, it looks like he planned to lock you up.
_
_Get out of here.
_
_He knew you'll saved him like that time when you both Ascended.
_
_I'll eat your head if you keep talking.
_
Ok, let me explain to you my reasoning on why Nasus tricked you, and you don't agree with me, I'll let you eat the part of my sarcophagus that resembles my head. Deal?
I'll find a way to kill you regardless, so it's a deal.
"And the brainwashing begins..."
I like these new stories, but there are a couple of questions that I have, specifically in regards to Nasus:
While I'm sure Nasus knows about his brother escaping the tomb, does he wish to confront him, and if so, free him? His in-game taunts to Renekton hint a general anger at him and disassociates him as his brother, yet his bio showed some potential signs of hope for releasing him from madness. So is he looking for Renekton, and if so, why?
What exactly did Nasus do after the fall of Shurima? We know Renekton spent his wonderful time listening to the corrupted words of Xerath, but how about Nasus? He wandered, sure, but did he like, go and collect knowledge or help people out or something? Or did he literally just walk back and forth in the desert for several centuries? It felt a little like we were cut off there, and we sort of just jumped from "failed Ascension" to "Shurima's rise from the grave" (other than that, it was awesome, keep up the good work).
I like these two a lot more than the ones for Azir and Xerath. I feel those two covered too much of the same information, where as the lore for Nasus and Renekton were different enough to make reading them back to back enjoyable.
And for this sin, Xerath had been punished with a horrible, maddening promise: Freedom. Unobtainable. Forbidden. Should the thought even dart through a slave’s mind, it would be punished by death, as the Ascended could gaze past flesh and bone, deep into one’s very soul, to see its dim traitorous glow. And yet, there it was, spoken by the young princeling he dragged from the embrace of the mercurial mother-desert. Azir, the Golden Sun, vowed that he would free his savior and new friend.
How couldn't Nasus and Renekton understand the real purpose of Xerath then?
Nasus - "Renek bro, you'll kill yourself out on those streets! I can do you one better, go join the military, you can't brush up with death there now can you." Renek - "wait wha?"
I lost it when I heard that guy say "emperor xerath" like OH SHIT
Damn, so far renekton managed to be one of the best character development of the whole LoL lore! :O
From a dude that throwed himself to the turrets to a noble man chained and cracked to insanity... good job!
I just want to say that I love how Nasus is dying from a "withering" disease when he undergoes the ritual, basically directly giving his wither ability a point of origin I just really like that kind of awesome nerdy detail. :D!
@ADillionMostDirty Love them both. But I feel that Nasus' is missing one thing. It never mentions D CANE or how he even began using that weapon? Renektons weapon was slipped in their, and it stated that he took it from a general he killed and liked it so much hat he remade it. But nothing about the cane? Cmon guys
There isn't anything about these short stories that I don't like. Of particular note are the slightly disjointed narrative style of Renekton's story, Nasus' own struggles with sanity, and hints of a new Brand backstory to come. The thought and effort going into these is evident, and I think everybody reading appreciates it.
I'm just hoping for two things:
I kind of like how renekton isn't just a mad dog as much as he seemed before. It at least seems like he has some memory and sanity. That makes him less binary and flat = good.
Any chance Nasus can actually get through to him?
Wait. Xerath's story says Renekton and Nasus were there when Xerath just finished his ascension. They imprisoned him without any reaction and fought with Bound Xerath. But When I read the story of Renekton, it says when the shockwave shows up they were 1 day away from the Capital. Does it mean Xerath's Ascension was for 1 day? Dıd Xerath just dry up the Sun Disc's power?
This is still blowing my mind, 17 hours later.
I feel like Nasus's kit doesn't really fit his lore very much anymore. I guess he's been around awhile and his kit thematically has to do with life and death, but there's not much of a connection apart from that. I don't really feel like a scholar or general when I play him. I guess I do feel disconnected from civilization because I'm farming stacks, but that's about it.
Anyway, is there going to be any reconciliation of this? Obviously his Q and R are iconic, but I think the rest could have more to do with his lore.
I looooooooooved Renekton's lore so much!! Being he my main sisnce his released I could not be more happy with how his story is developing! Here are some questions:
New? Are you sure? Nothing new about these stories other than it's more words telling a story we already knew about before Azir was even thought of.
How about you buff Nasus' kit so that he can keep up with Ekko?
Hi guys awesome job with the development of league lore as of lately, enjoying it alot. Haven't read the new lores yet but I got a few general questions about the lore in general.
That's all I got for now, really been into the lore as of lately. Love the work, keep it up! :D
