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A theory on how Cassiopeia's rework could've been handled.

DG Ashabel·10/6/2014, 2:20:31 PM·18 votes·2,611 views

This is mostly a random thought that popped up in my head yesterday. I admit that I'm not super-attached to Cassiopeia, though I am super-attached to Talon and that makes the du Couteau siblings somewhat important to me. And reading up on people's complaints for Cassiopeia's new lore got me to think.

The big complaints for Cass's new lore are thus:

  1. Cassiopeia never shows any abilities that made her strong by Noxian standards, namely her seductiveness and charisma. She's simply a stone-cold backstabber.

  2. The snake trap is, to put it nicely, stupid. It fails to actually protect anything and it magically transforms whoever activates it into a super-powered animal-person, which is described as a curse but isn't really because Shurima people consider becoming animal-people to be an ascendance to godhood.

With those two things in mind, there actually was an easy way to tie Cassiopeia in with Xerath's release without the trap while highlighting her skills. Here is how:

Make her a failed Ascended.

What if there was no trap? Cassiopeia opens the door and out come a super-powerful mage and his buddy, a giant hungry crocodile. Cass quickly realizes that she's about to become Renekton's first breakfast in some ten thousand years and resorts to what she's supposed to do best. She tries to seduce Xerath into believing she's on his side, and succeeds with all the sweet talk and promises of help.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, the crux of Xerath's character isn't power; it's truth. He became Ascended to understand magic and now that he's a ball of raging arcane power, he has all this knowledge at his fingertips. And now that Cass tells him all these sweet words, the first person who said something nice to him in many centuries, he decides to reward her by sharing some of the truth with her. So being a cocky bastard that he is, he decides to use all his infinite power to grant her Ascension.

His magic naturally fails. While Cassiopeia is transformed by the magic, she stops short of becoming an Ascended (her body is more a mish-mash of human and beast than going in either direction). She also doesn't catch a glimpse of knowledge that Xerath possesses. However, she is a Noxian first and strength is in her blood. She becomes so drunk on the power surging through her body that her excitement convinces Xerath that he did succeed and she understands the glory of his condition, thus bringing forth the friendship between her, Xerath and Renekton that is listed on her champion page.

This explanation falls in line with Shurima culture and how animal-people are handled in it, makes use of Cassiopeia's skills as a seductress (as well as better establishing that her condition as a reward; she acted like a snake and she became one) and gives Xerath some sorely needed screentime.

What do you think, everyone? Is this idea a good one or have I gone too far? Would you prefer it over the snake trap or not?

15 Comments

IMTOOJUICY10/6/2014, 7:03:01 PM14 votes

The trap/guardian is not a bad idea in itself. However, the trap empowering Cass is kinda a wtf moment. After my first viewing of the video, I thought the snake trap only mauled her. I was seriously surprised when people pointed out that it actually transformed her.

Also not sure about Cass seducing Xerath, since old Xerath seemed to be above fleshly pleasures. Maybe new Xerath would be different, though; perhaps he is now the mystical manifestation of horniness?

After watching part 1, I honestly thought that the story was going to unfold this way:

  • Snake trap ganks Cass, leaves her dying on the ground
  • Xerath and Renekton pop out to find the dying Cass before them
  • Cass begs for their assistance, convinces Xerath that he really needs to gather allies ASAP, allies like her and Noxus, etc etc
  • Xerath agrees to ascend her
  • Renekton suggests that Xerath turn her into a croc babe
  • Cass nods with a stiff smile, but privately, she wants no part of Renekton because he hasn't brushed his teeth in over a thousand years and his breath is HORRIBLE
  • Xerath waves his magic ascension wand and Cass turns into snake lady
  • Much to Cass's chagrin, Renekton says "Close enough!" and asks for her phone number. She gives her number and slithers off as fast as she can.
  • Cass ends up having to block his phone number because he keeps sending her dick pics.
IS1c1d21220aa58ffe97d6510/6/2014, 4:21:13 PM7 votes

It really pains me to see that fan fiction has more ideation than what we get served here....

sp44110/6/2014, 4:48:33 PM7 votes

Problem is, you wrote too much, here, let me rewrite it the Riot way:

"Cassiopeia watches as Renekton and Xerath leave the tomb, Cassiopeia seduces Xerath, Xerath attempts to ascend Cassiopeia, Cassiopeia is turned into a Snake monster, Cassiopeia is happy, Xerath accepts this as success"

Ark Angel HFB10/6/2014, 3:05:18 PM7 votes

Sure better than the crap they gave us.

Hell here is something else

Have not all of Siv men get killed... Have Cass seduce siv's second in command into turning on siv and stabbing her.

Then have the trap on the door be a real trap and kill the right hand man.

Then have the bit with xert and yeah... this works much better with the themes of the character.

Drukyul10/7/2014, 1:19:28 AM5 votes

I dunno, it seems like a curse when you look at the actual gameplay rework.

ZING

Luninareph10/6/2014, 6:40:33 PM4 votes

I'd take it over the snake statue in a heartbeat. I feel like the "he fails but she's happy so he thinks he succeeded" part is a bit off, but I'd definitely accept the rest of it as being much better than the current version.

Of course, Riot can't do that because that would mean Xerath and Renekton would have to stick around for more than a few seconds in order to talk to Cassie, and apparently they just vanished into smoke so Azir could come out and save Sivir instead without their interference.

Sorry, bitter player is bitter. Here's one suggestion for smoothing over the failed transformation bit: he shares the truth with her, but because she's lying to them and isn't really willing to be their servant/partner, the transformation goes awry. Her heart isn't in it. Xerath becomes enraged, but she is equally enraged that she has been turned into a monster. Xerath realizes that he could still use her help and promises to figure out how to reverse the process if she will help him become acclimated to this new age he's in. With no other known option for becoming human again, Cassie is forced to agree.

Valaran Nara10/7/2014, 2:10:11 AM4 votes

Don't mind me. I'll be the idiot who awaits for the lore that they have backed up which they "promised us."

Too bad their current reasoning is that the actual website is having problems updating the lore page because of errors and bugs in the code. I mean, otherwise Azir would have shown up earlier in the champion page and would PROPERLY portray Cass's icon portrait on his rival's list instead of a blank square.

Doctor Ivellius10/8/2014, 12:02:19 AM2 votes

Posts like this make me wish Riot would just crowd-source their lore (with moderation and editing, of course). We could've had years of good stories instead of...Freljord and Shurima.

inplane10/6/2014, 9:11:01 PM2 votes

Would be better if Riot did this. But all we get are two sentences.

Serpens10/6/2014, 11:48:55 PM2 votes

I very much like this description. This is definitely much more interesting then just: "I got turned into a beast by a statue." And also makes her condition much more unique, and that only she would become a snake. Right now it feels like and Joe blow can get turned into a half snake the way riot told the story.

brusque10/7/2014, 7:17:09 PM1 votes

It's a good theory, but it's just a theory.

It was not clear in Shurima whether or not the Snake God Thing that bit her had just mutilated her or if it actually transformed her. That is a different story. Is it possible that the snake bit Cassiopeia not because she put Sivir's blade into the conveniently Sivir-Blade-Shaped Keyhole, but because Cassiopeia was actually a snake all along? And the Snake God Thing sensed this and attacked her? Could it be possible that the Snake God Thing attacked Cassiopeia because it was trying to protect Sivir from something much worse than Xerath and Renekton? Hm.

I mean, this is just my own theory as well. Philomelle, your theory is well constructed and it is definitely one way that the Cassiopeia lore in the Shurima event could have been handled. It just was not handled that way. I have said this before and I'll say it again: Shurima seemed a lot like a prologue. It left a lot to be desired.

RTX Warnoise10/7/2014, 5:26:55 AM1 votes

This is mostly a random thought that popped up in my head yesterday. I admit that I'm not super-attached to Cassiopeia, though I am super-attached to Talon and that makes the du Couteau siblings somewhat important to me. And reading up on people's complaints for Cassiopeia's new lore got me to think.

The big complaints for Cass's new lore are thus:

  1. Cassiopeia never shows any abilities that made her strong by Noxian standards, namely her seductiveness and charisma. She's simply a stone-cold backstabber.

  2. The snake trap is, to put it nicely, stupid. It fails to actually protect anything and it magically transforms whoever activates it into a super-powered animal-person, which is described as a curse but isn't really because Shurima people consider becoming animal-people to be an ascendance to godhood.

With those two things in mind, there actually was an easy way to tie Cassiopeia in with Xerath's release without the trap while highlighting her skills. Here is how:

Make her a failed Ascended.

What if there was no trap? Cassiopeia opens the door and out come a super-powerful mage and his buddy, a giant hungry crocodile. Cass quickly realizes that she's about to become Renekton's first breakfast in some ten thousand years and resorts to what she's supposed to do best. She tries to seduce Xerath into believing she's on his side, and succeeds with all the sweet talk and promises of help.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, the crux of Xerath's character isn't power; it's truth. He became Ascended to understand magic and now that he's a ball of raging arcane power, he has all this knowledge at his fingertips. And now that Cass tells him all these sweet words, the first person who said something nice to him in many centuries, he decides to reward her by sharing some of the truth with her. So being a cocky bastard that he is, he decides to use all his infinite power to grant her Ascension.

His magic naturally fails. While Cassiopeia is transformed by the magic, she stops short of becoming an Ascended (her body is more a mish-mash of human and beast than going in either direction). She also doesn't catch a glimpse of knowledge that Xerath possesses. However, she is a Noxian first and strength is in her blood. She becomes so drunk on the power surging through her body that her excitement convinces Xerath that he did succeed and she understands the glory of his condition, thus bringing forth the friendship between her, Xerath and Renekton that is listed on her champion page.

This explanation falls in line with Shurima culture and how animal-people are handled in it, makes use of Cassiopeia's skills as a seductress (as well as better establishing that her condition as a reward; she acted like a snake and she became one) and gives Xerath some sorely needed screentime.

What do you think, everyone? Is this idea a good one or have I gone too far? Would you prefer it over the snake trap or not? . Xerath cannot be seduced for he is in an enraged state and the same goes for Renekton.