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Project Wartales : League of Legends Lore Revamped

Katìa··13 votes·1,628 views

He yo there NA boards! First thing I gotta say is that I absolutely adore these boards, so much activity, so many regulars, so many people invested into this game and its characters (shout out to the role playing section you guys ROCK) , truly an amazing community!

Anyways I recently came across something incredible and my first thought was "I wish I had people to discuss this with" and by people I meant people who actually like lore and look past only the initial layers of champions and who like to actually explore everything regarding the story behind this game. So then I got a lightbulb above my head and remembered, there is a ton of people on NA boards who share a similar passion. As to what I am actually talking about, I will first have to take you guys on a trip down memory lane ~

time shift to 3 years ago

It might sound kind of silly, but when I was just starting out with this game, a very long time ago, I always chose to play champions I could somehow connect to. Not connect visually though, as in, oh look such a cool skin or wow this outfit, or this badass look, nah, not even close. What made me lean towards a champion was who they were, what their mindset was like, their attitude, view of the world, their history, present, and future. Their experiences and relationships. Ok, maybe the cool outfits too, but only a bit.

When I tried to explain this to a very old friend once, they told me that i was being incredibly naive. Why would I choose to learn champions who just simply weren't "the meta" "the strongest" , who the heck cares about such a thing as lore or a champion's background? Well, I do care, I always did. I always liked to think about this incredible world Riot gave us, the characters in it, the stories in it, both tragic and happy, violent and gentle, scary and funny.

What we usually get in lore, are just some small snippets, chunks of stories that carry great potential. I always wished someone were bold enough to actually dive into them and explore them a bit more. Just prolong them, get more out of them. There are, of course, a bunch of sites, places, where people try to bring these characters to life, illustrate them in their own way, but it always felt to me at least, like something is always missing, either the characters are not on point, or the story is not in depth enough, or the plot is simply too linear. I am a very demanding reader, not many authors manage to fulfill my desires when it comes to reading.

timeshift to present day

But then, imagine my surprise when I actually managed to come across one. An author who actually got an idea to tie the whole league lore that we know of. From the beginning, to the very end, in the most amazing descritptive detail. The story has only just begun with the first part of it completed, and I can tell you guys, as someone who actually loves lore, loves reading, and loves league, I never imagined I would fall in love with someone else's interpretation of all the events that transpired in Runeterra.

You think you knew your main? All the ins and outs, what goes through their mind, what they went through? Not like this, I can guarantee it. I for one got a completely different view on some characters I hated, and fell more in love with the characters I already loved. And the best part of it all, is that they are all true to their lore, to how they were originally made. If you are a true fan of league lore, and you were always searching for a place where you could actually read about your favourite characters without cringing at how out of character they are, I suggest you get your reading equipment ready. Get comfy, get blankets, your cats and dogs, fish, hamsters, poros, tea and snacks, get cozy,because once you get started you won't be moving for a while. Speaking from experience here!

I just wanted to share this amazing thing I came across with the rest of you fellow boards dwellers, because I am certain there are more lore fans out there beside me ^^ And even if not lore fans, I am sure you will find it very interesting to have some more realistic insight into your favourite champions. There is a lot to experience, joy, humor, tragedy, heart wrenching moments, drama, feels left and right. I hope you guys enjoy it once you decide to check it out.

Welcome! https://loltales.blog/the-wings-of-justice/

https://image.ibb.co/mF44V6/Dawn_of_a_Reign_2.jpg

Oh and also, if you wish to join the discussion, hang out with fellow readers, laugh and cry together as the story twists and turns be sure to drop by to the official Wartales discord!

https://discord.gg/FQAGsYU

42 Comments

XIC Ironheart4 votes

Wartales really is an amazing story, I've enjoyed reading all 25 chapters. Previously, there were certain champs that I really disliked or even hated, but the story has allowed me to get to know them better. That is exactly what Wartales does, it gives you a way better idea of who they are and what they really stand for. I've sent this fanlore to several friends and they all liked reading it haha, great job :D

Katìa2 votes

Hey I am glad you and your friends enjoyed it :D I personally read through it insanely quickly as well xD I just binged it like I do with most shows or books >.>

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO4 votes

I’m not sure if this is the right board for this.

Katìa1 votes

Hmmm well I was actually thinking if it would be better to pick this one or the creative concept one, but then I figured people on this board mostly discuss lore related things, hence I figured it would be the right one. .-.

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO4 votes

It’s pretty cool, but it is fan fiction

That being said I’ll hsve to read it later

Katìa2 votes

Glad to hear you will be coming along for the ride :D Be sure to drop by the discord as well since a big community is forming ^^ You can also pick your favourite faction and join people with similar opinions there :)

Also side note, it is really far from fanfiction, once you start reading you will notice the enormous difference in quality between fanfiction and this kind of work ^^

Nylisa4 votes

i think this is something like Romance of the three kingdome cant exactly call it fanfiction, cant call it original either, it uses the actual form of story we have,the characters,events and creates its missing details using the writer's imagination and perception.

but ultimately it IS sort of a fan fiction considering many of the mentioned events in it didnt actually happen in original lore and is more like a hunch based on evidence we have, its a fiction made by a fan.

Beyond Legends2 votes

What? This is fanfic no matter how you look at it.

You can't write a fanfic about history.

Nylisa2 votes

well as i said so myself it sorta is but what im saying is there is one that the writer takes into account all the existing events , characters and their relationship and fill in the blank and the unknowns using fiction with the information they have. speculations of what happens in between.

and yes, we do have fanfiction in history but you cant call if "fan" fiction, its more a fiction, more likely that the fiction is created by enemies of the nations (take a look at all the stereotypes about certain countries) not fans! but on the other hand if you look at books like romance of the three kindgome you realize what i mean by this.

there is no way to know certain events , conversations , exchanges between historical characters in the past but yet we see/hear/read some of them without any actual recorded source. those are simply speculations its not "fanfiction"

imagine we have event A and B and C , A is the first event B is the result and C is the cause, while we know what A and B is we have no information on C , but based on what A was and what happend in B , we can speculate what C is or else the result wouldnt be B it would be something different. its not accurate or no way to prove it but its as close as we can get to the actual thing.

sorry i got carried away there.

Beyond Legends1 votes

History can't be considered fiction though, yes they maybe bias or even un truthful but their not their still not fiction. To be considered fan fiction the source you base of it has to be of a fictional work

The romance of the Three Kingdom is the romantize fiction of an era in china. It romantize and changes events sure, but that still base on real life events that happened.

Nylisa2 votes

exactly my point, even though lots of things has changed in the romance of the three kingdom lots of people still look up to it as a source because of its based on the reali life events. i called those things about history "fiction" because they are just made up and created by a writer. but in the end you are correct.

the writer here tried to do the same but about a fictional story. while still not real its based on what is officially known and confirmed by the original writers which is as close as it can gets.

NineTailedMystic2 votes

No, it's fanfic. It's not canon in any way.

Nylisa2 votes

im not sure where you got that but im not saying its canon either. if you check my previous posts there you recognize it :

but ultimately it IS sort of a fan fiction.

or

but in the end you are correct. (about being fiction)

or

well as i said so myself it sorta is ( a fanfiction)

i dont know about you but i recognized many of the events thats been written about in this fiction. hence why i said its BASED on them.

NineTailedMystic2 votes

Yes, which is why I don't understand how the OP is saying that "it might make you love your favorite champions more." Why would it? Those things never happened canonically. Their words were never actually said.

Nylisa4 votes

These are all just stories and fictions , the writers at Riot arent some sort of mystical beings they are just normal people and writers. im almost certain not every story or update we get for one character is written by the same writers.so if someone can be satisfied enough with an unknown writer's work as much as the offical ones then why not.

They created some characters with certain traits and personality and as someone who writes myself,with enough information i can pretty much come close to their behaviour,how they talk and what they do,that doesnt fall off from who they really are.

My point is even though those words were never said we will never see Riot going full story mode like this writer here did, some people will find it satisfying and plausible enough to see thats how their fav character would behave.therefor connect to them even further.

Even if its its not canon its a nice addition to have considering some writers try their best to keep the characters as close as they can to the real thing without including how they want that character to be.

Take Jarvan and his father in this story or how Lilia Crownguard is, that is exactly how i pictured them myself.

Difference is you only accept the offical story, others might feel differently which if you double check what you quote from the OP, you will notice : " it might " they never said it will.

NineTailedMystic3 votes

Because Riot's writing is what matters. It doesn't matter if it was one writer, or multiple ones but as long as they're all released form Riot officially it doesn't matter.

If I had my own characters and universe and all that, and someone made a fanfic out of it, I'd be like "Cool! But it never happened." Not to say that writing fanfics is bad or anything, but you can't really use them as examples of a champions personality. And don't even get me started on ship fics.

And sure, fics can be good stories, but I don't think they're worth anything more than that. Not for champion personalities, interactions, universe history, or anything else related to the original content. I know I'm wouldn't read a fic just for my favorite champions. Hell, I'd stray away from them.

Nylisa1 votes

fair point if just being accepted to Riot as an employe is all that matters then i cant argue that because you are talking about this like,what the original writer writes is some sort of real life event that actually happend.(even if its not the same writer who brings the next chapter of a story). and what another writer brings is false and wrong. but still no reason to discourage it and say "its not worth reading" thats completely a personal opinion.

Mačka3 votes

Hi, I am the author of Wartales and I would like to thank you for your comments here on boards. I am genuinely surprised and amazed that you have such a great understanding of what I am trying to do, and in that regard I would like to add some details since it doesn't seem very clear to everyone.

I don't think it's accurate to compare League lore to history, since it has been altered so much in the past few years by Rioters themselves. Riot never came up with a fully detailed story when it comes to Runeterra and its inhabitants. While that is mostly a wise choice, since it keeps many options open especially to add more champions, you can never assume that something happened or didn't happen. The person who first wrote the bios for the first champions is not necessarily the person who keeps up with the updates or the new champions, and even when you have the same team on an update there are narrative directions to follow, which is why when you read the old "League judgements", or the first published bio of a champion, it is sometimes miles away from what the champion is currently supposed to be. So basically, you have an official lore that is constantly changing, and 'canon' should be used very loosely in my opinion then.

{quoted} My point is even though those words were never said we will never see Riot going full story mode like this writer here did, some people will find it satisfying and plausible enough to see thats how their fav character would behave.therefor connect to them even further.

I'll quote you on that, because I personally never found it satisfying to not have a fixed story for my favorite champions (and I have many of those, so I really feel meh about not being able to know who they really are and what they really did). I'll take Katarina as an example, she's the first champion I ever played since I skipped the tutorial, and I always thought her lore to be a mess. In the first version, she sounds like a brutal killer who has no other interest than killing things and who was raised by a murderous father who saw potential in her after she had a violent fight with her sister. Then whenever her lore got updated, especially post JoJ, she sounds like this fully loyal woman who is a symbol of patriotism and cooperated with Demacia and looks for her beloved father ("more than meet the eye" kind of person). I didn't know how to exactly feel about that, or about the quotes other champions have for her, and most of her personality is left to one's imagination.

Imagination being the word that brings me to my next point. Of course, a lot of the events I wrote in my story are products of my imagination, but that doesn't mean I haven't done a ridiculous amount of research and asked myself over and over Does this make sense? Could this have happened? If yes, why? If no, why? Reading between the lines of the currently official lore and used-to-be official lore is important, as well as trying to tie them together to at least try to understand what a character is supposed to be. But that isn't it, I also try my best to find the Rioters' comments and insights that are related to a champion or an event, because my interpretation could be wrong. But at the same time, their words could be an interpretation as well, and not a statement, unless they can guarantee it.

So yes, there are stretches I purposely made in my story, but none of those were deprived of a heavy dose of brainstorming and questioning; you could ask anyone among the people I work with in the discord we created, and they'd tell you how annoying I can be with all the hours I spend theory-crafting and reading posts Rioters themselves forgot they wrote.

I don't think stretches are bad, considering the lack of material you sometimes find yourself with, and I don't think it necessarily turns someone's work into "just a fanfic" (as if fanfictions were bad to begin with). It helps you make sense of event A and how it can be related to event C, and most importantly, it gives a champion character development, and humanity. (And that sick suspense.)

That being said, Nylisa I do encourage you to publish your own work, because with all the blanks there are in the lore, I feel that lore can use some help from the community. :) And it keeps us hyped about League, which is not a bad thing.

Nylisa2 votes

Hello, thank you for taking the time to explain all of this,and congratulations on publishing one of the most detailed stories about League's universe. i understand how it all is because im a simple writer ,not as good as you but im doing my homework before making any sudden moves.

for me its safe to say that your story is the only one with the least implausible turn of events, there were few things that i still had to ponder about and struggle to make the connections but still it was a satisfying read for me. it was also straight forward,not leaving room for interpertation cause its stating and explaining things outright which was good. but hey those are just my opinion.

by the way i'm a huge fan of Sona, everytime i read her name somewhere my heart falls out of my chest (i have a crush on her ok? don't judge me) so thank you for the adernaline rush!

Mačka2 votes

Feel free to join the discord if you ever want to talk about those things that left you wondering. :) We have a special channel for that!

I love Sona as well! Actually, I was pretty frustrated not to be able to expand her lore or really explore it, since I followed the JoJ timeline, but I found a way to better delve into it and will do so through Wartales II, which will begin soon enough.

Thanks again for everything! You really made me happy!

Nylisa1 votes

i'll be sure to do that, and your welcome :)

NineTailedMystic1 votes

Mm, perhaps it was wrong of me to say "not worth reading" entirely. Let me put it like this. Fanfics are just someone adding an artificial branch to a tree. Sure, they can make the tree look prettier if well made and some people may appreciate the tree as a whole more, but they're still artificial. They don't do anything for the tree. They won't bear fruit like the tree will.

Like why would you go to a fake branch to learn more about the tree?

I'm not trying to say fanfics are inherently bad, who doesn't love a good story? It's just that I often see people go to fanfics for the wrong reason, like for characters.

Nylisa1 votes

now it makes much more sense thank you for clearing it up.

think of this more like untold stories from a different writers point of view. in their vision and prespective thats how things happend and they imagined it, does that makes more sense?

even though its not a real branch from the tree you mentioned its just a fun read you know, sometimes it helps me get a different conclusion from the canon events, sometimes bring out new ideas and theories.

take Ahri for example which i know you are a fan of her,you can imagine her only by the things you read in the canon story but when you start asking yourself questions about her that its clear Riot will never give us any actual answer to ,you might wonder what other fans and people think about those questions. sometimes a writer extends on this and write how things are from their point of view.its a nice creative way to share your vision of the story.

BUT the problem with most fanfictions are they are overly romantisized and full of romantic relationships that makes no sense just because they look cute together or just go completely erotic! this is why i recognized the quality of this work instantly.it revolves around the actual story and try to fill in the blanks as best as they can.im honestly tired of seeing Ezreal X rest of the league champions fanfictions.

Mačka1 votes

I'm not trying to say fanfics are inherently bad, who doesn't love a good story? It's just that I often see people go to fanfics for the wrong reason, like for characters.

I feel you, don't get me wrong. I've always read plenty of fanfictions for a bunch of other games, series, books, animes, and whatnot, and let's be real, most of them are not only artificial but also very poorly written.

I don't want to sound like I'm flattering myself, but if what you were concerned about was the quality or accuracy of the story then as I stated before there weren't so many stretches I made that were 200% unrelated to any actual event. Some are based on speculations, that is true, but have their foundations rooted in either a well-crafted theory or statement. But well, in the end it's my own interpretation and no one is trying to force the story on you.

They don't do anything for the tree. They won't bear fruit like the tree will.

This is the only part I don't agree with, since "the tree" (Riot) will never bear fruit in the sense that I don't see them forge an entire story, written in a book fashion, for the simple reason that it would a) take a lot of time and resources (and I speak from experience) and b) make it kind of complicated to throw in new champions with a strict timeline of events. Imagine them writing an entire arc on Ionia, making it official, and then in three years, they realize that they could've added yet another Ionian champion in the middle of the Ionian invasion. Messy.

Beyond Legends1 votes

That's your opinion, but I quite frankly think your wrong, since league still have plenty room to grow even if riot continue to add more champion. I don't understand where this idea of riot ret conning the old lore just because they wanted more champion.

Quite frankly I think you're not giving enough credit to the new narrative team with regards to the lore. I think it's riot goal to eventually be able to release things such as novels, but they still in phase of fixing alot of their old champions

I'm personally not read this simply because it's following the old lore. I find the old lore trash and don't believe that you can salvage without massively changing major aspect of the old lore.

Dreamspitter1 votes

{quoted}

It’s pretty cool, but it is fan fiction

[cass-cry]

Beyond Legends1 votes

I don't see why people are getting so piss and defensive at people calling this fanfiction, because by definition this no doubt a fanfiction. It's like if your wrting a story about superman befor crisis on infinite earth, unless your dc or dc approved it's a fanfic

Kuilvoer4 votes

Wow amazing, +1

Katìa1 votes

Glad you like it! ^^

TheGreatRasputin3 votes

Just gonna comment so I can get to this later.

Katìa1 votes

Hope you enjoy when you do :D

Nylisa2 votes

Huh, this enourage me to finally publish what i've been writing for a long time now! thank you.

some of the missing links in the original lore were mentioned here and cleverly chained together , some of them exactly how i thought it as well, like Buvelles,Luxanna and illuminators.

(had to edit that last part to avoid spoilers sorry)

Katìa1 votes

Hey that's awesome! And indeed what I appreciated most about reading this was as you said, the clever way it was all tied together ^^ And np for the spoilers ahaha :D Be sure to drop by the discord as well we would love to get to know you :)

Nylisa2 votes

i will as soon as i can :D

NineTailedMystic2 votes

I don't think fan "lore" will ever be as good as what you're trying to sell it as.

Nylisa1 votes

way to encourage people into sharing their ideas and stories...!

NineTailedMystic2 votes

I'm just one dude, don't let me stop you. It's just fanfic versions of characters aren't the original's version of characters.

Katìa1 votes

There are 2 things to address here:

A. You are basing your assumption on what exactly? Previous experience, a hunch? If you said that after actually reading I would have acknowledged it as an opinion, but this way you have no basis to claim something like that u.u

B. I am sharing something I came across with a community that is connected to it, looking for people to talk to about it and to share it with? Tell me I am wrong but I thought forums and boards were places to do these things. I don't know how or why you assumed I am "selling" anything.

NineTailedMystic2 votes

Because it isn't "lore". It's just a story weaved by some random dude using a pre-established set of characters and universe. If it wasn't connected to League at all, it might be a good story. It's own characters, factions, and setting. But it's a fanfic, so why bother reading something that doesn't matter? If they wrote a character a certain wait and a reader didn't like it, they can just disregard it.

Nylisa2 votes

if it doesnt matter then why bother commenting? your critisizm must be heard but "it wont be good ever, its not worth reading" isnt exactly crtitisizm.

by your own statement here, these writers are all "random dudes" just some of them managed to sign up and work in a company (RIOT). that doesnt mean others who doesnt work there are any less good or talented.

I'm just one dude, don't let me stop you. It's just fanfic versions of characters aren't the original's version of characters.

if you are just one dude and you think your comment "wont stop me", then why bother anyway? :D

XIC Ironheart1 votes

Why bother reading something that doesnt matter...right. Who or what gives you the right to completely disregard written content? Have you even bothered to read the prologue or just one chapter before blabbing like a certified saucebox?

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