Create In Game Almanac
So just finished watching "The League Universe in Season 2019" video and loved a lot of the discussion. One thing really excited me though, the discussion around the timeline feeling "frozen" until new champs are released. Great point; I also think it runs slightly deeper in that not only does the timeline stagnate until a champion brings a unique story to shakeup the lore, the timeline itself slightly changes to incorporate these new additions. There are plenty of champion relationships/interactions that older players of league may remember, that have over time changed in the evolving landscape.
One of the more recent, compelling examples: I wonder how many players would know that Kennen, Shen, and Akali were all part of the same ninja order dedicated to maintaining balance. In Akali's recent VGU there is mention of her going off on her own to do her own thing, and therein is a great chance for plot development explaining the formation and subsequent disbanding of the order of twilight. New players may never know this part of Akali's past existed (keep in mind I am just using Akali as an example, there are plenty of other story lines that had intended drastic changes to a character's identity- they killed Gangplank and disabled him. What an awesome concept!) So I had an idea- what if league had a tab in-client that was an almanac of the different histories both of champions and different regions of Runeterra? Instead of relying on third-party or external primary sources for interested players to read and glean the stories of their favorite champions, all the juicy tea would be contained "in-house" so to speak. Yes I know the LoL website has the universe tab where you can explore regions e.t.c. but I am talking about detailed entries chronicling each champions unique path to season 2019. The triumphs and adversities they faced in the Runeterra universe that led to shaping them into the champions they are today. That immersive backstory that can help someone really relate to the champions they are summoning on the rift.
From there the tie-ins are endless. Imagine a unique series of icons or maybe even skins for players that went all-in and watched and caught up on specific champions' lore pages. It wouldn't have to be anything monumental that could possibly take away from the fantastic effort and thought that goes into developing skins available in the shop, but even having lesser tier skins available only after a time-related investment in the lore tab would be a token of pride champ mains would surely revel. I think it would be a really cool way to both promote people becoming more involved with the universe and also reward people for their buy-in to a new facet of league. It would be so cool to see VS events tie into this lore and dictate outcomes of champions lore for seasons to come. It would be a way for players of all skill-levels to have a lasting impact on the game we know and love to be shared with future generations who discover a new passion for this game. I don't have the time to write up an exhaustive list of all the things you could tie into this, but hopefully these examples have been intriguing!
If you stuck with me through the essay thank you very much and tell me what you think! For those of us short on time TL;DR: League should house an almanac "Lore" tab in client that fleshes out each champion's story more than the parcel that exists in champ descriptions. This would be a great way to pay homage to each story's progression over the years and provide more content related to the universe.
