What if Swain wasn't the villain of Runeterra?

I wrote this up on a buried reddit thread last night in response to writing a new lore for a champion, but I thought this would also be of relevance here where there is a much greater interest in LoL lore. These were just some of my thoughts on what would make Swain an enemy of Runeterra, but at the same time try to make him less of an absolute villain that the recent Sion rework lore made him out to be. I personally think that Boram Darkwill should have been this great villain as (according to the old lore) he has lived for at least over 150 years since he was around before Jarvan the First took the throne.

Through Noxian conscription or some other military program (maybe some sort of scholarship to an academy), Swain gets into the Noxian military as an officer as his commanding skills are far better than his combat ability (because of his broken leg). His magical talent finally allows him to actually do something on the battlefield, but this went down into some form of psychological magic to break enemy lines or extract information from PoW. He then comes across the young Darius and gets in contact with him. A very loyal brute who follows the 'ideal Noxian way'. When he was some sort of high-ranking commander of some sorts (but not noticeable enough on the national scale), Beatrice (his raven) appears before him. Beatrice can then merge with Swain to massively amplify his magical abilities, but it taxes him greatly every time that he uses her. Swain then proceeds to climb the ranks fast, but tries to avoid suspicion that could mean assassination by the Du Couteau family under orders from Darkwill.

Later, Riven starts to make her debut as the Noxian poster boy and gains massive popularity from her sense of duty, something that Darius gets behind easily. For some reason, probably due to her being too influential, Noxian High Command decides to get rid of Riven during the Noxian invasion of Ionia. The sad news gets broadcasted and Darius goes into some form of depression, and Swain gets swept with the flow by the fact that a great Noxian hero has fallen in battle and that his friend and comrade is so stricken with grief. Using Beatrice's augmentation, Swain discovers a small part of Darkwill's plan to bring the old general Sion back from the grave. This disturbs him as any other man, as sometimes the dead should stay dead, especially considering Noxus' current economic circumstances after the Ionian invasion and all manner of other projects that could very well bring Noxus to its knees. Leblanc then gets in contact with him after knowing what sort of things he's discovered for himself, and asks to join him just because it sounds 'delightfully intriguing'. Knowing that LB would blackmail him otherwise, Swain accepts and has LB going around and making sure that he's in the clear for now.

The Kalamandan conflict wages on, and Swain is forced to join the fray in one of the final battles of the war. However, he had already built up some poor relationship with Jarvan the 4th. Beatrice blesses him with a vision saying that J4 should not be killed, as it would only deepen the hatred between the two nations of Noxus and Demacia, each with their fingers on their doomsday weapons and one step away from Mutually Assured Destruction that had been somehow cooled by the League (I'm just going to put this in because it just works out better in my mind). Knowing that J4 would not back down in a duel to the death with his mortal enemy, Swain sends LB to take J4's place while putting the actual J4 under high-tier sleep spell with added amnesia to make sure that J4 does not find out that he was impersonated. Swain and the disguised LB then duke it out and find no winner as each side begins to falter from sheer exhaustion and the threats from League involvement. However, Darkwill wants to continue the Noxian advance and proceeds to do so. In an instant, Zilean does some magic and freezes Kalamanda in time to prevent further conflict and the escalation ceases. No victor is crowned and each side proceeds to lick its wounds. In effect, Swain managed to prevent further Demacian escalation that would have easily caused the war to reignite and basically saved Runeterra by himself.

But it doesn't stop there. Riven shows up out of nowhere and proceeds to tell her story of what happened on that day to the League. Swain, being a champion, gets to be one of the first who hears her story and proceeds to tell Darius about it. Darius is then overjoyed with the fact that his hero has returned safe and sound, asking why he didn't hear this information before because it hadn't been put in the Noxian newspapers and media. Swain smells something fishy and proceeds to look into the incident and finds that it was a deliberate artillery strike on orders from the Noxian High Council to wipe out Riven and her company. But that is not the only thing he found. Evidence that the Noxian High Council is rife with corruption, with all manner of links to gangs and narcotics and even black market slavery. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to take this to the Noxian High Council and live, he decides against it. Instead, he does something that he knows he can do. Challenge Darkwill face to face and become the Grand General of Noxus. He works his way up the ranks with help from only Darius, Leblanc and Beatrice as his only true allies. In a final confrontation after years of planning, Swain manages to take out both Boram and his son, Keiran, and takes command as Grand General of Noxus. He has since proceeded to cure Noxus of its corruption and all elements that would threaten the purity of Noxus.

And that's pretty much it. If anyone wants me to do more of this, then I can probably do a bit on the Freljord (after the rework) and even a bit on the Institute of War itself since I feel as if it's very much key to the LoL universe, and the retcon won't really help the lore at all.

EDIT: It's Runeterra, not Runeterran. THANK YOU BASED RIOT FOR BEING ABLE TO CHANGE TITLES.