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[LORE DISCUSSION] Runeterra Holidays

ModCaptainMårvelous·11/29/2014, 1:16:44 AM·4 votes·2,105 views

Lore Discussion Omni-Post

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Sorry again about being MIA last week but we're back this week with another lore discussion. So it's rather fitting that we'll be tackling Runeterra holidays right after Thanksgiving for Americans (And rapidly approaching the winter extravaganza that is Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/etc.). Now, with this topic, I'll go over the Holidays I'm semi-sure exist, with a section at the bottom to go over holidays that may-or-may-not-exist in comparison.

http://i.imgur.com/MTTwcSs.jpg #Snowdown: We wish you a merry....1v1 me on HA scrub. Real Holiday Equivalent: Winter Holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah, etc) Time Frame: Winter to Spring. Theme: Snowy Winter Wonderland of Joy and Friendship

So the holiday we're coming up on this month, as expected, is the Snowdown. This is the time of year when the temperatures all around Runeterra drop and the snow floods the areas. Demacia/Noxus/Piltover are generally the countries that get hit the hardest by the cold whether although Zaun and Ionia certainly feel a slight chill.

What would this holiday entail? First of all, tons of snow and merriment. Exchanging gifts, sharing hot beverages, playing in the snow, this holiday is the one where everyone talks about how nice it is and how wonderful it is to be around family and friends. As for real-life Christmas style gift-giving? I'm not sure. My guess is that the concept is more about just giving and sharing good feelings than the whole mythos behind the Christmas holiday. Along with that, I'm going to hazard a guess that poros come out en masse at this holiday. With the global temperature a little lower and snow falling everywhere, poros would find even the southmost regions a little more hospitable to their big fluffy coats and diggy paws.

Good luck asking mom or dad for a poro however. You remember what happened to the goldfish right?

http://i.imgur.com/hCYXODS.jpg?1 #The Harrowing: Too spooky for me. Real Holiday Equivalent: Halloween Time Frame: Mid-to-late Fall (October->Early November our time) Theme: SPOOKY

I went over this a little in the Shadow Isles post but I'll touch base again: The Shadow Isles release their spook smoke from the center and spread it around. Now, while we talked about how most of it is centered in Bilgewater and just off the coast but this is a holiday felt all throughout Runeterra. Graveyards are avoided, people lock their doors a little earlier and overall everyone is a little spooked about the concept of the Shadow Isles being at their doorstep or just generally NEAR them.

Compared to Halloween, there's not much shared. People don't seem to ask for candy nor do the youth dress up and go out. My guess is that this is probably due to there being a clear and present danger lurking around the world at this time but I could be wrong. Either way, the Harrowing is the perfect time to share spooky stories and scary tales.

The Time Riot didn't nerf Fizz always scares me.

http://i.imgur.com/hefZnDy.jpg #Lunar Revel: It's the new year...ish...sorta. Real Holiday Equivalent: Chinese New Year Time Frame: Early Spring Theme: Celebrating the start of a new time!

Lunar Revel, based on the chinese new year, has it's roots firmly placed in Ionian culture (Which is in-turn based on Asian countries such as Japan and China). During this holiday the Ionian people celebrate the coming of a new year and by putting emphasis on the creature of the zodiac that this year represents, although I'm unsure if Ionia has a zodiac or an equivalent to it.

While not as widely celebrated as the Snowdown, the Harrowing or other holidays, Lunar Revel is still a time were people don't traditional Ionian garb and launch fireworks to commemorate the passing of one time and moving into the next. While I doubt you'd see someone like Heimerdinger setting up turrets based on the new year, you can bet that some champions who are a little more interested in merrymaking will be dressing up in either traditional Ionian garb (Cassiopeia, Annie, Diana) or wearing Ionian armor to honor the spirits of those who have come before (Xin Zhao, Tryndamere, Jarvan IV).

While it's not the most celebrated, you can bet that people still get in the spirit...well, some more than others. Hecarim was hyped as hell for the year of the Horse and never touched the holiday again. Such a bias, eh?

#Possible Holidays? And here is the list of holidays which MAY exist or may just be times to release skins around the time!

  • The Heartseeking: The time where people adorn those they love/hoping to love with gifts, trinkets and other little tokens of affection, the Heartseeking never had large roots or notes outside of the occasional Heartseeking skin or a flowery ward or two. Still, if we have another holiday I'd say this would be the prime contender.

  • Pool Party: In the summer when things get their hottest do people throw away heavy armor and tough robes, ignore their differences and enjoy a nice day at the beach. Might be less of a "holiday" and more of a "season", you can bet even the most stalwart warrior will be sitting in a cold pool and enjoying the summer heat....or trying to escape it, if you're a furry yordle.

  • Urf Remembrance Day: Coinciding with April Fools, I'm 100% sure this is a holiday and I refuse to believe Riot won't acknowledge it as such.

  • Various National Holidays: Demacia Independence Day, Noxus Founding Day, Bandle City Mothership Day, I'm almost positive every country has at least one day a year set aside for honoring the day their nation came to be or when a day is to be remembered, such as the day Ionia finally became free of the shackles of Noxus.

Any holidays I miss? Think there's something more to a holiday? Disagree with how one holiday may be? Discuss away and be sure to vote on what you think will be the next discussion post of the week!

6 Comments

Ebonmaw Dragon11/29/2014, 4:48:07 AM4 votes

There is a yordle holiday called: "The Great Hunt"

http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Great_Hunt

Sharjo11/29/2014, 1:58:46 AM3 votes

A great read and its good to have you back with these posts, always a pleasure and I hope everything's alright on your end.

I was thinking about Snowdown recently and I wondered if it could hold some particular significance for Freljord's denizens. I made up this scenario where the time when Snowdown happens there is a literally snow down, but an incredibly devestating one, which causes temperatures to drop to point where people just outright die being outside too long. The Snowdown is an intense and brief period of intense cold that drives animals and Freljordians south. This also sends Poro's down south! With the Poro's now populating the civilisations of southern Freljord en mass, and the fact that they're so cute and cuddly that they warm everyone's heart and remind them that everyone just wants to survive that the people of Freljord just say screw it and stop fighting until the Snowdown passes, after which they all agree to go back to the way things are, and fight over their issues with honor and diginity; there's no honor in just dying alone in the cold.

In this example I imagine Ashe enacting a full blown armistice where she basically invites everyone to come south and wait out the Snowdown in Avarosan lands. The area is cramped but its important because this also acts as a time for Ashe to get in to some serious political discussion with tribes that she'd otherwise be unable to reach. I dunno how Sejuani would react, she may say screw you Ashe we live by our own merits and literally braves the perilous Snowdown with her strongest. Perhaps its something she uses to measure the worth of those who follow her; if you can brave the Snowdown and live to tell the tale, you're worthy of being the Claw's of Winter. Lissandra I'd imagine comes south in order to maintain her positive relationship with Ashe, even though she and her Frostguard likely don't need it.

I'd imagine the Trolls and Yeti's would head south but the Ursine, considering they're all or at least most of them are aligned with the Winter's Claw, would stay up north and brave the Snowdown. It helps they have fur.

In my eyes, this is the kinda holiday that for the rest of Valoran is pretty alright and they can still function, but for Freljord they need to survive it, and it's the time where they remember what they've lost, how easy it is to die, and what they're fighting for. It's the kind of thing that brings Freljord together briefly, only for them to return to fighting with renewed vigor once the Snowdown passes.

That's all made up btw. None of that's real, I just like to imagine that's how Freljord deals with Snowdown.

CupcakeTrap11/29/2014, 5:52:10 AM2 votes

Here's a snippet of Factions lore about the Harrowing. I see it as a combination of Halloween, O-Bon, and just a little bit of Thanksgiving.

Link: The Harrowing Approaches

My aim was to try to combine the scary aspects with the festive aspects. In short, I think that the main point of intersection is that late-night parties and family gatherings sound really nice when you're afraid of being haunted. Go to sleep late, so that you're not unconscious and vulnerable to visitations during the "witching hour", and be around family, in part to draw the protection of ancestral spirits.

It's not in that update, but one idea that might work is to have the Harrowing conclude with a "Harrows' End" holiday, basically an enormous "we made it" feast that closely tracks Thanksgiving and other harvest festivals.

Placentas11/29/2014, 4:08:17 AM1 votes

OOh, I enjoy the idea of the "Heart Seeking" holiday. I wish there were more Heart Seeking skins, I only have Ashe's because I'm not very good at Vayne but I would love to see a Heart Seeking Quinn skin <3

Is the Harrowing technically a holiday? I see how it was the Halloween equivalent before the latest Bilgewater/Harrowing thing, but I'm not sure if the citizens of Valorian would consider it a holiday now...idk?

Good post though.