League's Lore Debacle and The Story Going Forward
No one contests the fact that a cohesive unification and retooling of League's lore and the world of Runeterra is a massive undertaking. We have so many iterations, so many different impressions of characters, that changing anything is bound to upset someone. We have so many disjointed plot lines, that pulling them all together into a single, non-contradictory plot line must be done in a methodical and thoughtful way if we are to preserve the souls of the characters we have come to love.
That said, I am personally happy to see the level of compromise between new and old with the recent lore developments, ecstatic to see regular progress made towards a unified history and plot despite certain discomforts that come with change, and I commend and encourage the creativity and effort being poured into this element of League. I hope that Riot finds new and better ways to monetize good storytelling (movies and books, please take my money), while simply benefiting from the renewed excitement and interest that a definitive, comprehensive lore reconstruction will bring.
I see a framework for each nation being erected, fantastic and new like the gleaming bridges and causeways of Piltover shining in the sun. I understand that progress is essential. It brings commerce and attention, needed to fuel opportunities for new and better wonders. I also see the rusting, sickly miasma below, not forgotten, but ignored and decaying. That smog belongs to league too, and there are real gems there to rediscover and reincorporate into the shining city above. As always, I am eager to see what Riot does with their world. I also have a few suggestions.
Any good story follows a kind of pattern. I see a pattern emerging in the current lore being released and I want to comment on ways I think the future of league lore could become an epic tale. We have factions, which each demand a certain amount of attention and "main character" deference. No one wants the story of league to be a story of how Demacia conquers all of Runeterra. They don't want the story to lead to the extermination of all Yordles, or a magical cataclysm that ends all life. In this sense, if we are bound within a framework where any drastic upheaval of the current balance will disappoint the audience, our story's rise and fall must be more nuanced.
Our current tack suggests a few interesting things about each region.
Demacia - Powerful, yet stunted. Reliant on geography. A small power that may be overcome by the forces of time unless it relents its restrictive social rules and begins to adapt. Can a society so ingrained in anti-magic and isolationist sentiment survive in a world of increasing warfare and sorcery? Can a culture so convinced of its own righteousness awaken to the injustice prejudice it levels against all those attuned to magic? If the Prince's eyes have been opened to the possibility that good can come from arcane sources, would that be enough to spark some kind of reforms?
Piltover & Zaun, The Conjoined Twins - Small, yet economically, technologically, and culturally a superpower. A mercantile power, they face an upcoming dilemma. Retain the independence they crave with which to pursue their dreams of cultural and scientific advancement, or follow the more cutthroat instincts of Zaun and embrace the political and military revolution that is Noxus? With Noxus conquering and absorbing smaller towns and cities throughout the east, can Piltover defend itself or remain neutral while the surrounding lands are swallowed up until the twin cities have only one trade partner?
Noxus - How big is too big? An expanding empire is historically doomed to one day collapse. What course will the future of Noxus take? I see the story of invasion and expansion, of amassing power and territory, and I see a great potential for plot events. Will the current regime be able to retain power and unity of Noxus? Is it possible to have splinter groups? Civil war between Generals with differing vision and ideology? Will the return of Lord Mordekaiser become an usurpation of the Noxian throne and a tipping point towards a totalitarian empire ruled by fear? Mordekaiser's arrival might be a good story moment to scale back the Noxian invasion, or push it into overdrive.
The Shadow Isles - We have a generational grudge between Demacia & Noxus, A caustic symbiosis in Piltover & Zaun, but both of those conflicts are represented as rivalries that cannot be painted in purely black & white terms of good and evil. Then we have evil, personified in all of its phantasmagorical glory, as avatars of cruelty and malice like Thresh, and merciless warfare in Hecarim, along with a deadly magical mist that sucks the life from the living and gives it to the dead. Here, we can summon stories of horror and carnage. Here, we can create a faction and a host of characters that have the potential to earn the audience's condemnation and unify the disparate nations of the living.
Bilgewater - Can it hold back the tide? Can a burning wreckage of infighting and thievery push back the undead storm year after year? Will the pirate King reign once more? Will fortune favor the bounty hunter? Will the terrifying beasts of the sea migrate towards land to escape the black death, or will they be absorbed into it, and arrive near the shores of Runeterra as harbingers of undeath?
Freljord - Where will Lissandra's story lead? Which powers will she co-opt in her grab for power, and which will rally against her? Will the contemptuous relations between Demacia and Freljordian raiders ever change? Will Noxus find allies in the far north, or continue a campaign of barbarian cleansing?
I can see major events unfolding, and I can see an opportunity for each faction and character to be involved in some meaningful way. What I'm trying to say is... let me in on this lore accumulation project I've heard about! We need a bestiary of all League's original magic creatures to accompany the Universe page! There are lore elements even from before the first Journal of Justice that could inspire future stories!
Does the lore team have a suggestion box?
