The Medarda Heirloom and Secrets Still Remaining
Recently I was doing research on the Medarda Heirloom for a personal project and I realized that Piltover had 4 castles, each with its own colour accents (Red, Blue, Orange and Green). Then, I noticed that across the whole map, you could see virtually every place marked down with castles that also were tainted with colours, all matching one of the 4 in Piltover.
I did some further research and found in "Progress Day" multiple references about Medarda's clan colour officially being crimson red, and in "The Weakest Heart" references confirming the obvious relation between Ferros and the colour blue with the expression "that Ferros blue". This left open 2 houses to choose from to complete the "Big 4" of Piltover that controlled most of the routes around Valoran and Northern Shurima, so I further analyzed the Heirloom to find clues that could lead us in the right path
BLUE
- Noxus
- The Drakengate
- Hallgren
- Stonewall
- Kilgrove (Very Faded)
- Mudtown (Faded)
RED
- Palclyff
- Krexor
- Bloodcliffs
- Nashmarae (Very Faded)
GREEN
- Kalamanda (faded)
- Bel'zhun
- Bilgewater
- Trannit
- Vindor (faded)
ORANGE
- Kumangra
- Holdrum
- Tereshni
- Urzeris
- Glorf (faded)
- Rokrund (faded)
- Aurma
- Ironwater
- Basilich
Aftermath BLUE 6 with 2 faded (4 active) RED 4 with 1 faded each (3 active) GREEN 5 with 2 faded (3 active) ORANGE 9 with 1 faded (8 active)
ORANGE
The candidate for orange seemed obvious to me. In all of Piltover's lore, there's only one clan besides Medarda and Ferros referenced heavily: Arvino. Arvino was described as a very important piece of Piltover in Severed Tied (Camille's comic) and further referenced in The Weakest Heart, where we learned about Adalbert Arvino, the Clan's Intelligencer. We then also learned the Arvino's artificers aren't at the level of Ferros'. This further points us to them being our orange Clan, one focused mainly on commerce that holds a vast network of influence over Runeterra as opposed to one focused on scientific advancements. After all, why would Camille be so careful with a Clan who isn't powerful and doesn't have strong artificers? Sure our Gray Lady is meticulous, but something tells me this isn't a coincidence. If anything else, we also know Lady Sophia Arvino has orange hair, which should be a family trait and as such give us more "obvious" clues as to their clan's colour. Riot seems to be quite tacky with these references, making Jago dressed in all red vests, and Ferros obviously with the whole blue Hextech motif.
GREEN
Green is more of an eyeball really. I looked at their influence and my eye jumped to one thing: Kalamanda. We know Jayce was in the possession of a singstone, and we know he's affiliated with that clan. Also, since Giopara appears to be heavily geared towards academic endeavours from Jayce's bio, it's also possible that the isolation from Bel'zhun wool makes strategic sense. Ultimately, It is possible for any other clan to be Green, but I would still bet Giopara over any of the others: Cadwalder, Holloran, Kozari, Morichi and Torek.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Considering the Medarda Heirloom is something that gets passed by from generation to generation, a secret and important document not many have access to, I was left to debate about the meaning of these coloured castles. Initially, I thought it was just about controlling routes, but then I began analyzing it further. Piltover has 4 castles, each painted with a colour. Then, different places seem to have a different number of castles, and Noxus specifically has 3 of them. This last piece of information to me is telling that these colours might not be "just" about routes, they might be speculation from Medarda about where the Big 4 from Piltover have infiltrated their Intelligence departments in.
What's more interesting about this is how, if Jago is right, Ferros could actually have infiltrated Noxus deep enough to hold a chair within the Trifarix council as "The Faceless". Someone who I was discussing this said it best: "Camille would very likely be spying on Noxus before Noxus managed to pierce through Piltover's bureaucratic society". I wholeheartedly believe this to be true, and I am very excited to see if we get any further developments pointing that way. As a final note, I'd like to develop why I believe this is a plausible theory. Besides The Dark Rose, which we don't know how omniscient they really are, the people of Noxus are a huge mix of cultures, and people rise by showing prowess. A well trained Ferros could very easily become a top assassin for the Trifarix and if Noxian spies are good at accents, I wonder what a Ferros wouldn't do.
Also, we still have the whole Du Corteau disappearance foreshadowed by Swain's quote towards Katarina. Du Corteau was likely the "Intelligencer" for Swain at some point, yet the fact remains we have "The Faceless" now. Its death could very easily be tied to a possible Piltovian spy, and I honestly think this is would be a great intrigue to develop. Sadly we're gettig more Ionia x Noxus so I don't see it happening, but who knows, maybe we're lucky.
