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New lore: Runeterra map concept

An Undead brat·10/10/2016, 2:05:45 PM·15 votes·2,858 views

So we are for almost two years without an actual Runeterra map. That might mean that Riot has a problem constructing it, or just doesn't give a damn. Whichever of these is the reason, I tried to collect all pieces in my mind from the new lore and I also thought about land-shaping processes that formed the continents on the Earth. This is the result:

http://i.imgur.com/PPES6c4h.jpg

Now I will describe my reasoning behind placement of each place. If any of my thoughts is wrong, please, let me know in the comments so we can shape Runeterra together and make it the most accurate we can!

FRELJORD: The typical northern land. Placed close to Noxus because of the Noxian invasion to Freljord, although I don't remember if this isn't a part of the old lore.

NOXUS: Close to mountains, where Vladimir's temple and Kled could be located. Path to Ionia is cut only by Zaun's territory, their ally that helped them with Ionian invasion. Also not-too-far from Shadow isles, where Mordekaiser's relics were put and also where Karthus traveled.

ZAUN: Neighbor of their ally, Noxus, but also their direct enemies, Piltover. Zaun lies on a river, as every city that relies on chemical industry needs to.

PILTOVER: Piltover just perfectly fits in.

DEMACIA: Lies next to their faithful ally, Piltover, but also close to Mount Targon, which is then reachable for Taric. It felt only right to put it on the opposite side of the Valoran from Noxus.

MOUNT TARGON: Close to Demacia so it was reachable for Taric and also lies next to Shurima desert, which (not sure there) was stated in Pantheon's new lore.

SHURIMA: The desert. Lies on the south and huge mountains protect it from the wet that would come from the sea winds (typical geographic phenomenon).

IONIA: The island state. Takes strategical position between Freljord and south so it's important for Noxus to conquer. Also is on the east, because it's League's Asia-like land archetype.

SHADOW ISLES: Takes position near Bilgewater for the Harrowing to be possible, the rest is explained in Noxian chapter.

BILGEWATER: A maritime city. We can see an island system, which is described in Illaoi's lore and where she comes from. Also pretty far from Freljord, that was said in The Shadow of Fortune (Harrowing story) when Olaf appeared.

BANDLE CITY: Merry utopia, hidden from other's sights. Also close to mystical forests where Lulu could've dissapeared.

KUMUNGU JUNGLE: Wet and overgrown jungle, similar to northern South America by position and landscape. Far away from civilization.

Thanks for attention, I hope I did not miss anything!

31 Comments

GreenLore10/10/2016, 3:40:33 PM2 votes

I feel like you missed the "first light after harrowing"-map that was released after the retcon(and thus is definetly canon) http://am-a.akamaihd.net/image?f=http://news.cdn.leagueoflegends.com/public/images/articles/2014/november_2014/eoh/maps/HarrowingMap05_Text.jpg&resize=1536:

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/special-event/first-light-after-harrowing

You can see that the shadow isles are south east of bilgewater and they appear to be south of ionia(there is an ionia symbol pointing to the north and an ionian fleet was consumed by the harrowing north of the shadow isles). Also it shows that bilgewater is indeed located on an island(or group of islands)

So I'd suggest to switch demacia and Noxus,put the bilgewater islands to the south west of ionia and the shadow isles further south of ionia.

Bandle city and the kumungu jungle also seem a bit misplaced. I mean if the jungle is so far away from civilization,then how did Nidalee end up there?

Last but not least we've got redposts who actually confirmed that Ionia is now a continent,not just an island,so I think it should be a bit bigger.

resumed10/10/2016, 3:26:00 PM1 votes

i think ionia needs to be closer to noxus

not only is it described as being north east of noxus, but how did noxus actually invade ionia using this map?

it's not like the noxian military is going to charge right through zaun and piltover, as well as being so close to demacia

they can't go through the shadow isles or bilgewater

also way too cold to lead an invasion north

Digielf10/10/2016, 4:26:42 PM1 votes

are you a girl btw? i ask because of the summoner name not for the content

Tesla Effect10/10/2016, 4:31:45 PM1 votes

You messed up Bilgewater, Shadow Isles, and Ionia...not to mention the other places. So what exactly compelled you to make a map with no actual info that would suggest the placements you made? Cause there is no info about the placement of numerous factions you placed on the map in the fashion you did. (also you forget that Ionia is a continent now, Valoran is a Afro-Eurasian continent instead of a Pangea like continent, and there are 12 seas on Runeterra)

Cant really blame you, there are a lot of small lore tid bits between champion Q&As and lores released, that somebody who didnt take time to dig through all of it, would make something inaccurate....but come on, Bilgewater updated map was released openly to all, there is no was its part of the mainland.

Tesla Effect10/10/2016, 5:13:09 PM1 votes

Further note to help

Piltover http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/a/a4/Piltover.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20140702013138 The city itself is located near a body of water, a sea and has a river (or river system) passing through it. http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/2/2e/Caitlyn_model_fig.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160909221640 Also with a release of a Caitlyn model, we got some neat new artwork done of Piltover. This is a odd departure of what we thought of Piltover (being this modern city and what not...most likely the city is modernised in certain sections, where as the lower class sections are in standards that you would see in Noxus or Demacia, heck even Zaun)

Also using dots to indicate any of the factions besides the city-states (such as Piltover and Zaun) is a very odd choice, seeing as Noxus is not just one city, nor is Demacia, Shurima, Mount Tarogon, or Ionia. The most accurate thing is to do as you did with Freljord overlay it across the whole region it controls (for instance the dot you used for Noxus would be the capital, Noxus Prime (as the name was indicated by Kled in his quotes). Bilgewater itself is an Island city, which is made out of smaller settlements around the larger Island system, the smaller ones are where Illaoi and such come from. The main Island is large enough to have a river flowing threw it, the Serpentine River (which is not not part of the main norther lands and now is part of the Blue Flames Islands location).

This wiki page will also help you figure out all the known locations all the lores have mentioned so far that have names or certain lore in some of the stories.

Krully10/10/2016, 5:18:27 PM1 votes

feeling inspired

https://gyazo.com/645b8cb524ce898a572de2f315d7bd55

GULAG 4 U10/10/2016, 6:23:27 PM1 votes

The portal to the void?

An Undead brat10/10/2016, 7:21:25 PM1 votes

Guys, this is the second version! Let the conversation continue there!

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/8qWgBuq9-new-lore-runeterra-map-concept-2

invisiblecat110/10/2016, 7:24:29 PM1 votes

Correct me if I am wrong, but the thought there was a portal to the void somewhere, I think in Shrumia, and even the in Rek'Sai video she is shown in a desert

deathgod510/10/2016, 3:22:55 PM1 votes

Looks good, but you missed the ruins of urtisan, birthplace of zilean and motivation for vel koz. You also miss Icathia, the spawncity of the void

Adalore10/10/2016, 11:05:53 PM1 votes

on the multi continent design for the map I at least figure Demacia and Noxius probably share the biggest land mass together along with frejord(relatively remote) and Shurima(probably within reasonable distance of noxius compared to demacia due to Noxian presence there.). I am hoping we get more regions CREATED in the future as there is still plenty of cultural archetype space that shouldn't just be shoved into the "Main" land and Ionia.(which should be far beyond "Large island" size)

Without ease of transportation to the majority of factions it is hell to move people around to wage war.