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Malicious Metal28 votes

Swain's lore is bloody perfect.

Not only does it nail down his personality and overall theme but also provides us with so much information regarding his rise to power, the regime before him, and of course...The Black Rose.

It gives off a very "Game of Thrones" vibe, with the game Jericho is always playing against Evaine and I'm anxious to see what Riot has in store in terms of future stories!

Them not going into detail of how Swain even managed to subdue the demon is a nice touch since it still keeps up the shroud of mystery regarding Swain.

I cannot stress enough how relatable, human, and frankly, awesome, Jericho is portrayed, he's really shaping up to be one of my favorite characters in the Lore.

10/10 Only this, and nothing more...or less for that matter!

EDIT: HOLY FUCK Leblanc was in Morde's inner circle during his reign and she aided the humans bring him down. She cut him off from the well of death that sustained him and probably stole his skull as well!

MORDEKAISER WAS BROUGHT DOWN BY ONE OF HIS OWN ADVISORS

Ralanr11 votes

See, this is why fear doesn’t work.

Poolparty Sauron4 votes

Fiddlesticks

Velzard of Koz2 votes

Leblanc got a major buff I see

Blood Mefist2 votes

Another thing to note is that LeBlanc is having Elise bring back relics from the Shadow Isles to the Black Rose, possibly meaning that LeBlanc knows about Mordekaiser's latest resurrection and/or is trying to gather intel on him.

RiotBioluminescence17 votes

I hadn't noticed before (which is terrible of me, I know) the little cameo at 2:10 in the Surviving In Noxus video (bottom right of the concept art). This is where someone tells me that it's been known about for literally forever and I'm so far behind the times I am considered old news by dinosaurs.

Still - I thought it was neat.

LordHippoman1 votes

I'm pretty sure I've never seen anyone mention it on Boards, and it's new to me. So I mean, unless there's a vast conspiracy to keep the knowledge of the Taliyah cameo a secret...

Clearly the work of Leblanc .

Sharjo6 votes

Having seen that piece when I was still with Riot, I can confirm that Taliyah was in it for ages. Looks like Bio needs to get caught up!

LordHippoman2 votes

Sharjo confirmed for Black Rose member.

DeadUnborn3 votes

Great Job on expanding Noxus' lore. It is now my favorite faction along with Piltover.

I really hope in the future you will release more Noxian champs that are based on other aspects of the culture Riot has built. A support warmason that is interested in gadgets or a "recently asimilated" Noxian that is proud to be part of the Empire come to mind. You know, grow in- game the faction beyond just war and the black rose

GreenLore12 votes

Overall this feels kinda incomplete... I mean we only got lore updates for the bios of Swain Darius Katarina and Leblanc,a short story for Swain and one additional story...

That is less than what we've got during the piltover update,even though piltover has a much smaller champion pool.

RiotRiot Shantzilla10 votes

Hey GreenLore, we're actually going to have more time with Noxus throughout the year as we do more faction updates moving forward. While this update may have been a little smaller overall, we're aiming to increase the overall quantity of lore beats in 2018. Expect some similar focus (in this case, "how is Noxus run?" "what is the military like?" etc) but a wide range of champions as well.

GreenLore3 votes

Thanks for the clarification here. And to be honest I think that makes overall more sense. Last year we got some nice big faction updates at the beginning,but afterwards the lore releases lost their momentum.

Ralanr9 votes

After reading Swain’s story and the Noxus story

I. Love. Noxus.

Johnny El Rojo8 votes

Jeez. I wonder who that unknown leader next to Darius and Swain in the trifecta of leadership could be. That represents guile Leblanc nonetheless. I really don't Leblanc know who could that be?

Any Leblanc clue, guys?

Fasmodey5 votes

I Leblanc don't Leblanc knowLeblanc either. What Leblanc a Leblanc mystery.

KuroCaliber3 votes

I know it's probably Leblanc , but I really really want it to be Morgana

Pale Mask8 votes

There's still several champions whose lore has not been updated: Vladimir, Draven, Talon and Riven. Are they getting any new lore or short stories?

Also, where's that new Noxus icon that showed up on PBE?

Jeddy0175 votes

Don't forget Cass and I guess Sion as well.

GreenLore3 votes

The icon is still on the pbe,so we won't be able to get it until Swains rework hits the live servers.

And I wonder about those missing champion lores. I mean sure almost every faction update leaves out a few champs. But it really feels odd that they only updated the bios of 4 champs(Swain,Darius,Kata and Leblanc),when Noxus has so many. Heck 3 of those 4 didn't even receive their short story.

So compared to previous udpates,this seems rather unfinished and it wouldn't surprise me if we'd saw more eventually.

RiotAnt in Oz5 votes

We're looking to come back and give Noxus some more love a little down the line - not have such big gaps as we have had before between these kind of updates.

Furor Nexis6 votes

Leblanc's new biography sheds some light on some things lime-line wise, which I thought was pretty cool.

It seems the time that Mordekaiser had his reign was roughly after the conclusion of the Darkin war. This is a pretty short time between the two as well. Following on from this, Leblanc's name disappeared around the time of the Rune Wars. This also almosts confirms how people forgot about the Darkin. If Leblanc disappeared, what else could have during that time?

Please correct me on this as I'm not as learned in the lore just yet, but it seems the following Runeterra timeline seems to run along this path:

Rise of the Targonian Ascendency Rise of the Shuriman Empire Enslavment of Aurelion Sol Fall of the Shuriman Empire Darkin War Morderkaiser's rise & fall The Ruination (This is just purely a guess, but working on time differences I'd assume that the events of the Ruination took place roughly between Mordekaiser's fall and the Rune War) Rune War Destruction of Ichatia and the first Void Breach Demacia & Noxus are founded. Noxus is based in the capital of Morderkaiser's old empire. Demacia within the petricite forests.

Tesla Effect2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Furor Nexis,realm=EUW,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=vJoMWjvO,comment-id=000f,timestamp=2018-02-05T19:40:48.780+0000)

Leblanc's new biography sheds some light on some things lime-line wise, which I thought was pretty cool.

It seems the time that Mordekaiser had his reign was roughly after the conclusion of the Darkin war. This is a pretty short time between the two as well. Following on from this, Leblanc's name disappeared around the time of the Rune Wars. This also almosts confirms how people forgot about the Darkin. If Leblanc disappeared, what else could have during that time?

Please correct me on this as I'm not as learned in the lore just yet, but it seems the following Runeterra timeline seems to run along this path:

Rise of the Targonian Ascendency Rise of the Shuriman Empire Enslavment of Aurelion Sol Fall of the Shuriman Empire Darkin War Morderkaiser's rise & fall The Ruination (This is just purely a guess, but working on time differences I'd assume that the events of the Ruination took place roughly between Mordekaiser's fall and the Rune War) Rune War Destruction of Ichatia and the first Void Breach Demacia & Noxus are founded. Noxus is based in the capital of Morderkaiser's old empire. Demacia within the petricite forests.

Noxus was formed before the Rune Wars, while Demacia after them. And Icathia was destroyed long befor this, like before Shurima fell.

RiotBioluminescence6 votes

[{quoted}](name=Tesla Effect,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=vJoMWjvO,comment-id=000f0000,timestamp=2018-02-05T20:08:00.196+0000)

Noxus was formed before the Rune Wars, while Demacia after them. And Icathia was destroyed long befor this, like before Shurima fell.

And Sol was enslaved before the Shuriman Empire was a thing.

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

Wait how do we know this again?

RiotBioluminescence2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Chromatic Eagle,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=vJoMWjvO,comment-id=000f000000000000,timestamp=2018-02-05T20:35:47.367+0000)

Wait how do we know this again?

From Aurelion Sol's color story, Twin Dawns: https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_US/story/aurelionsol-color-story/

In a vast stretch of desert, I feel the twinge of familiar magic emanating from the seat of the premiere civilization amongst these savages. Lo and behold, a massive Sun Disc is under construction.

And later in the same story:

The grasping energies of my magical bondage have dragged me from one paltry world to another for centuries. Now it has led me back to this familiar and unpleasant rock.

So we know at the very least, that Aurelion Sol was enslaved centuries before the building of the Sun Disc.

More convincing perhaps is the line from his bio: https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_US/story/champion/aurelionsol/

For millennia, he fought Targon’s wars, crushed any threats to its dominance, and helped it forge a star-spanning empire.

RiotAnt in Oz2 votes

RE: The close proximity of the Darkin War and Morde's rise. A big war could easily lead to a bit of a power vacuum, which can lead to opportunities for aspiring warlords...

Note that Noxus was formed on Mordekaiser's fall. Noxus is quite old.

Trifarix4 votes

Riot give us a noxus Profile icon or we RIOT [sg-shisa]

RiotAnt in Oz5 votes

I NEED a Noxus profile icon.

Nice name, BTW. ;)

Snaketits3 votes

So when is Cassiopeia finally going to get a proper biography? She's still stuck with 4-5 lines of text from season 4 and one color-story whereas every single other champion who experienced an update received a properly written origin-story. Even Rammus has more lore going on than Cass. She didn't receive anything during the last Shurima event and we're already approaching the Noxus one.

SodiumAzide3 votes

Anyone notice that Darius didn't directly support swain against Darkwill? Its actually Draven who was Swain's backup during the coup.

Craft Zeppelin3 votes

A cripple and a drunk. At first glance it might have been the most dissapointing coup the world has ever seen. Until swain showed his demon hand, and Draven started spinning his axes.

PokladnicaZla2 votes

Hope Cassiopeia will get a bit of the lore love as well. She needs some interaction with other champions,especially Katarina

Mordepool2 votes

My question/Suspicion. Was Mordekaiser a participant in the Darkin War? Did he Found his Citadel to defend his people from the Darkin? Was the presence of the Darkin open knowledge at the time or was it an unknown threat?

HalfTangible2 votes

I love what you did with LeBlanc. She's more of a rumor given form than a person, and with this kind of character that's EXACTLY what you want.

Ebonmaw Dragon1 votes

I just want to know why they decided to make Noxus an "inclusive society" when in the old lore it was the contrary... Its not a bad change, but a change that is not reflected in the Noxian cast if we compare it with other factions.

As far as i can remember, almost all the champions from Noxus are(or were) humans and the only one who is not (Kled) is not recognized as such... that is not the example of an "inclusive society" when we compare it with Freljord, Ionia, Demacia who had different creatures from different races like dragons, trolls, vastaya, etc.

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO5 votes

Inclusive for a world primarily populated by humans I imagine.

Ebonmaw Dragon1 votes

{quoted}

Inclusive for a world primarily populated by humans I imagine.

Yeah, sure 90% of them are humans... But in the new lore, Alistar would be a Noxian warrior instead of a Victim for example.

Just look at the crazy creatures that they shown us in the page, we havent seen that in game yet.

The old noxus was specifically stated as a xenophobic place where only Humans lived, but the new one doesnt sound like that.

GreenLore3 votes

Alistar would be a noxian warrior....if he decided to bend the knee to Noxus.

If the Minotaurs denied joining noxus,then that would explain why Noxus eliminated them instead of recruiting them.

Ebonmaw Dragon2 votes

{quoted}

Alistar would be a noxian warrior....if he decided to bend the knee to Noxus.

If the Minotaurs denied joining noxus,then that would explain why Noxus eliminated them instead of recruiting them.

Actually it seems that in the new lore, Minotaurs were not eliminated (i think that Bioluminicense said so when a map showing a minotaur was released). So, we can expect a change in the lore of Alistar.

Considering that, its clear that the way that the old noxus and the new noxus interact with not-humans will be very different... Its a change that i like, but i dont get why the drastic change.

Ralanr3 votes

Noxus has always been about the strongest on top. At least from my memory so I think it’s rather fitting.

Ebonmaw Dragon1 votes

{quoted}

Noxus has always been about the strongest on top. At least from my memory so I think it’s rather fitting.

They were also known for being xenophobic, that what the reason of why all of their champions were humans

Ralanr2 votes

Do you see any non humans praised in Noxus so far?

Kled is more of a fairy tale despite how real he is.

Ebonmaw Dragon2 votes

{quoted}

Do you see any non humans praised in Noxus so far?

Kled is more of a fairy tale despite how real he is.

Exactly, in a world where different races of sentient creatures live, I would expect to see creatures from different races living in an inclusive society. But right now, the Noxian cast lacks of it because it was originally created as a xenophobic City State.

Im not saying that its a bad change, since it opens the posibility of seeing more diverse noxian champions in the future... but right now its not the case.

Ralanr2 votes

Ok. But beyond the Vastaya, we actually haven’t seen many other societies or cities of other races. It could be because they don’t have many and humanity is such a dominant force that no other race can really create open settlements.

WestTiger1 votes

So there's a lot for me to both take in and comment on, and I say this from the perspective of someone who has basically waited for this moment for more or less 8 years.

This is becoming a lot less known today, but LoL's original write-ups for both Noxus and Demacia were actually pretty morally ambiguous in someways. And I know it surprises some people now, but they were both meant to be 'grey' in different ways. You'd have to use the WaybackMachine to find the old pages for the factions, but yeah, to me finally I start to see that meritocratic free community Noxus was supposed to be (although they were also described as xenophobic back then which made no sense even back then).

Anyway, so it did give this old-lore fart a kick to see a reference to the Fleshing. Ah, nice to see some barbaric traditions are still around in reworked Noxus, heh. Could we see an Alistar or XinZhao story update in future in relation to their experiences in the Fleshing?

Leblanc turning out to have orchestrated the actual creation of the Noxus empire after disposing of Mordekaiser ? Interesting so in a sense that would make the sort-of...Mother of Noxus in some sense. I didn't expect her to be that entrenched in Noxus' history, intriguing! Also makes me wonder if she had a hand in the creation of other nations.

Also now she could be the sugarmommy to Swain ? Naice. Though somehow I don't expect it to be as straightfoward as, she's literally a centuries old woman. Maybe women. Hms.

I kinda laughed at how she's all covered up (_LeBurqa _), but I can see the practicality of it - I mean, she definitely need a VGU eventually and now you don't have to ever come back to rewrite how she looks in the stories! Also in-story, she could use any kind of proxy and noone would know while she remotely controls and monitors everything from some basement (NeckBlanc!)

I think there's still parts of Swain's history that's not shown to us yet, such as the actual moment/encounter he has with the demon presumably down in the Halls of the Dead. Will that be in the form of additional stories, a comic, or being left as ambiguous for now?

There's also this disconnect I feel with regards to how the knowledge of his powers doesn't seem as well-known as you'd think? I mean, in the dev diary, when they spoke about how 'magic is another tool', we pan on a shot of Swain displaying his arm. But in the stories, we're actually shown that he makes a conscious effort to conceal it until the right time, or that it's very much not commonly known. Not all his generals knew for example, and in the Ironspike Mountains, they heard of his injuries from Ionia but not of his recovery or his newfound powers.

How exactly does Swain wield his powers on the battlefield in this case? It seemed the practical thing would be for him to go ahead and lead the battles, but apparently this is not the case. Rank-and-file soldiers would gossip and spread such tales as their Grand General being able to shoot red lightning, and having wings. But again, this doesn't seem to be the actual case. Could a Rioter shed some light on this?

Some friends I've discussed with are kinda disappointed at Talon 's complete absence from updates, is there anything planned for him to be part of the overarching story that seems to include other Noxians (even Urgot)?

Overall, great to see the updates, and even if its greedy, I hope there's more to come as well. Thanks!

SodiumAzide2 votes

I think the point of swain powers is that his ability to personally destroy you is actually secondary to his ability to gather information in terms of usefulness. Most of the soldiers don't even know that he might actually be more personally powerful than someone like Darius.

I imagine that swain spends more time listening to his ravens and making tactical decisions based on their reports than zapping people with force lightning,

Takua Nuva1 votes

but if zaun invade them won't the guns just destroy them ?

RiotAnt in Oz3 votes

Well, there are a LOT more Noxians than there are firearms in Piltover/Zaun...

Dan Squared3 votes

I think Piltover might need an overhaul soon, or at least on its older champs....it was supposed to be steampunk, but its tech seems to have greatly increased.

Look at Caitlyns rifle...then Camille and tell me those two levels of technology come from the same place/time

Then you have Noxus still trying to figure out how Black Powder works Those War-Masons need to hurry up and bring back that knowledge they have been gathering

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