The Void, Thoughts , and my EXCITEMENT for what is coming

A few days back I made a bit of a rant, going over voidly identity, Kai"sa, and the whole shebang. Now that the void expansion is in full swing, I just got so hyped I couldn't resist another brain-dump.

Now firstly, everything in my first rant I still stand by, if anything the new lore around Kai'Sa fits right in line with what I said, but that isnt what this thread is going to be about, oh no.

This is about the absolute HYPE that is contained within me for the lore.

That being said, I ain't here to praise RITO and their design team for everything they do, on the contrary. I have high expectations for whats to come, I have bias to what I thought the void was hinted to be, and I REALLY want this to be everything I hoped for. All those factors makes for one hell of a knee-jerk prone critic with a salt-streak a mile wide when it comes to lore, but GOD DAMN. I got shivers when the void came out and slaughtered the Shurimans in the short story (listed - here -)

let me repeat that

**I UN-IRONICALLY SHIVERED AT THE APPROACH OF THE VOID **

Kudos Mcneill, you have made a major contribution to lifting the worry I have had ,about the direction of the void, off of my conscious. You made me hopeful, and oh-so-eager to see what you gentlemen and women in the design team have up your sleeves for whats next. I do have my criticisms, but they pale in comparison to the focus of your creative piece.

The feel of dread as the Shuriman Army approached, only for it to be instantly overshadowed by TRUE HORROR. (YES!!!) The fall of the God Warriors to the might of seething chaos (ALL OF MY YES!) Then, the corruption spreading, the mention of its power, everything just goes so well! Up until the "God Warrior" seems to know way too much about it, that is. Now Its a minor complaint, but I feel that the void's power was already established mighty fine at that point, but its "unkown" factor was also in a really good place until that point. When the warrior mentions the cliche' "YOU DONT REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!" it was kind of a buzz-kill.

Him even recognizing the void was a bit of a let-down, but that might be just me. What really pushed it a bit far was him acting like he knew the extent of its power. That makes it feel like the high-tiers of Shurima know more than they should about the void, when Aurelion Clearly wasn't that knowledgeable about the "Watchers" (more on that later). That just seems.... off.

Next, the end of the story, involving The Fall of Icathia was a bit... I honestly cant put it into text here, for some reason it was off-putting, but not in a "good writing" way. I really am having a hard time forming why I disliked it, but it might just be because of my previous idea of how it might have went down. If I can better phrase why it left a bad taste in my mouth, I will Edit it to here, but for now It will remain the part of this piece that eludes me.

Now the reasons I that I LIKED the story are numerous, and they are easy list

1. The over-all tone of dread and confusion was ON-POINT
2. The feeling of the void was much more organic than I was lead to believe it was going to be
3. Cosmic-Horror was easily the best way to describe the creatures he glanced at (maybe Lovecraftian even)
4. It kept an aspect of mystery to the void.

That last one is pretty important, so lets start with that.

As I previously mentioned, I disliked the mention of the God Warriors knowing of the Void. That might come down to future lore design, but whatever, it aint my favorite. What I do like is the amount of questions this story answers and raises. The answers it gives on Icathia and the weird crevasse areas around it are great and thought provoking, just like the way the questions it poses are. Do the creatures around there never venture into the desert? (Oh wait, reksai. This hit me as I was writing this) Are voidlings drawn to this if they wander too far? What is the significance of the void tendrils? How powerful of a being can they warp? Are the God Warriors on Nasus level?the questions are boundless and great, and tonnes of fun to play with.

This also brings us into the "organic" feel of the void. With recent mentions of "flesh forges" and the likes, I had a worst-case Idea of the Void becoming like the battlecast skin- line, and this story settled that fear.

Speaking of fear, Void tendrils ripping through Shuriman Gods like butter? Hell yes. Void yes. I dont want to jump the gun on being happy that the void is nearly established as a cosmic-tier threat (as opposed to just worldy) but this just points to all the right directions for me. Hopefully it goes somewhere, and hopefully it doesnt just reduce all the other void entities we have now to fodder(looking at my main void monstrosity Cho ). That's my malefic vision.

Negative Tidings Aside, The story was a great relief to me, but it only makes my hopes higher for the future (which is a blessing and a curse). I hope the lore team can take this time to give themselves a pat on the back (and anyone who made it through this wall of text, for that matter) for a job well started. (TL-DR below) The void is shaping up to be a great addition to the lore, the story had a great feel to it despite its flaws, and I am extremely excited to finish up my readings of the lore and delve into the up-and-coming

Oh, did you think I was done? Part two of this discussion will inevitably be on the way, because there was just WAY too much to discuss in a realistic post. And thats a good thing.

[vlad-salute]