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The Battle for Bilgewater comes to Factions—How the League can enrich this story

CupcakeTrap·8/6/2015, 4:48:51 PM·10 votes·4,527 views
Bilgewater Event-Miss Fortune versus Gangplank

http://i.imgur.com/5J5jZ1q.jpg

As I've said, I really enjoyed Burning Tides. However, I'd like to point out that this is an example of a story that's not only compatible with League lore having (gasp, hide the children!) a League of Legends in it, but a story that gains depth with the presence of the League.

Whether or not you've ever participated in Factions before, you're welcome to come sign up for this weekend's tournament, and take part in the battle between Gangplank and Miss Fortune.

One of the things I liked most about Burning Tides is that it's so fully backwards-compatible, so to speak, with the lore from before the Great Retcon. This event is in large part our way of formally incorporating Burning Tides into the Factions timeline. As such, discussion of the canonical Burning Tides story and lore from both before and after the retcon is central. This is why I've decided to post this in Story & Art: because in addition to inviting people to come join our community, I'd like to ask for any comments you have about how well we've captured the essence of the Burning Tides and other Riot lore, and how we might improve upon what we have here.

24 Comments

CupcakeTrap8/6/2015, 4:58:35 PM14 votes

I imagine some might respond: "but Burning Tides could NEVER happen with the League. All violence is forbidden on Valoran, especially between Champions, or else ten million all-powerful Summoners will appear out of nowhere and give everyone time out. Seriously, one time, this kid in the far reaches of the Freljord didn't eat his vegetables, and a dozen Champions teleported in to make him." (That, or a milder version of the same "the League prevents all conflict" idea.) I agree that the pre-Retcon lore can be read to support such a notion. However, not being particularly masochistic, I choose to adopt a different, saner reading of prior lore: one that says that the League is not a band of all-powerful puppetmasters, but a tenuously established supranational entity struggling to curb the worst of Runeterra's violence and prevent another Rune War. The League has neither the power nor the mandate to bring world peace to Runeterra, and I imagine you'd get a good (if somewhat contemptuous) laugh out of High Councilor Kolminye if you asked her what she thought of the League breaking up brawls between Champions, of all people.

ShadowKnight12248/7/2015, 2:26:29 AM7 votes

One interesting tidbit about Burning Tides when you consider a Leagueless lore vs. Factions lore:

Miss Fortune's plan actually makes more sense in Factions lore.

Digest that for a second, I was rather surprised by it at first.

Let's reverse-engineer Miss Fortune's plan. She wants Gangplank out in the open, in the Slaughter Docks, out of his ship (because if she just bombed his ship, he'd probably just throw himself off the board and swim back to the shore), with as many of his men as possible, and ideally with a multitude of people watching him. So how does she go about achieving this? She knows only something super important would get GP out of his ship. So it has to be something dear to him, his status... or one of the treasures he's spent his lifetime gathering. If someone dared steal from him, he would go outside and make an example out of whoever it was, so that works in setting up the scenario MF wants.

But in order to get an important item stolen, she needs an extremely good thief. Naturally, she hires TF, but TF is too good of a thief, she needs to make sure he gets caught. So, naturally, she tips off Graves. Graves knows him well, would be the only person who could prevent him from escaping with his magic. He'd make sure, unwittingly, that they'd both get caught.

So far, so good, right? Here's where it gets interesting:

In a Leagueless universe, Miss Fortune would have to go to almost ridiculous extremes to find out all this about TF and Graves.

In Factions lore, most people (especially Champions and Summoners) know that TF crossed Graves (though they might not know exactly why), and they know Graves is out for a vengeance. MF, in Factions, knows this without any effort. It's part of Valoran's cultural osmosis. But in a Leagueless universe, MF would've had to have an unbelievable network of agents and informants to tell her all the details of TF and Graves' tempestuous relationship. It's still possible, mind you, it's just less verisimile.

I just thought it was interesting.

The Soulforged8/6/2015, 5:11:16 PM3 votes

I completely forgot about factions for the past week D:. With the new event I'm happy to say I might enjoy some factions matches :).

Valaran Nara8/6/2015, 5:42:18 PM3 votes

Oh crud. Cupcake's back. I thought you have forsaken us, choosing never to return again, and leaving Vi all alone without tea and crumpets.

joliesse8/11/2015, 6:13:00 AM2 votes

Um...I didn't catch the matches on Twitch because the stream kept lagging for me, so could anyone please tell me the results of this event? I really like the factions and everything going on in League right now! Thanks!