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Challenge: Give an example of lore development that results from the removal of Summoners.

Pyro·10/4/2014, 11:12:44 PM·9 votes·3,839 views

protip: you can't

On a serious note, let's play this silly game. Every lore whiner like me is encouraged to put aside their criticism of the new directive in lore and focus on the subject of the challenge itself. If we don't get good answers, we have convincing (yet not final) proof that the new direction in lore wasn't needed (unless Riot pulls off a miracle and proves us wrong). If we get some ideas, we can hope that maybe there's something good coming out of this (and that's what we ultimately want).

#Challenge requirements:

  • Describe a lore development of any kind, may it be champion backstory, ongoing story, player-affected event or any piece of knowledge about Runeterra.
  • Optionally, describe the form in which it's provided (written, comic, animated short, CGI IMAX movie, anime series) - "written" is default.
  • The lore development has to contradict the existence of the League of Legends.
  • Rephrasing the condition above: The lore development should be impossible if Summoners and Institute of War exist.
  • The lore development does not have to take into account any in-game mechanics or content and can focus on factions or personalities alone.
  • The lore development can, however, reinvent the answer to the question of what are those random characters doing on Summoner's Rift.

The more general and versatile your example is, the better.

Easy mode: Just describe something that makes Institute of War an obstacle in writing. Normal mode: Provide an explanation on how that form of story/characterization is impossible within the old boundaries. Hard mode: Connect all aspects of LoL - the world, the characters and the gameplay. Dark Souls mode: Explain why this new form of lore is better than if Summoners were around.

Rioters are welcome to participate. No obligations - you can make up things on the spot, you can even throw in something you're actually planning to do and see the initial reactions. Whatever you make up, as long as it solves the question, it would be awesome.

Good luck!

72 Comments

DG Ashabel10/5/2014, 10:14:04 AM11 votes

You are being too kind. If you really want to drive the point of why the new lore is a terrible design decision home, you can do so in a much more effective fashion. Here I go...

Tell me a story only League of Legends can tell.

By that, I do not mean specifically through the game. I mean I want to be told a story that can only be obtained from League of Legends. It needs to be a story that doesn't make you go "Wow, that is exactly why I'm following fantasy/steampunk/whatever," it needs to be a story that makes you go "Wow, that is exactly why I'm following League of Legends".

Protip: The Shurima event fails disastrously in that regard. If you can tell a story through every other piece of fiction that features an ancient civilization just by swapping the principal cast's names around, it's not an inherently League of Legends story. For the sake of not making the entries that fall under this rule automatic failures, I'll add a second condition.

Provide a compelling reason why the audience should be compelled to seek this kind of story from League of Legends and not any other piece of fiction that tells it.

Ponder this challenge and you'll realize why most people consider the reworked lore to be garbage. It doesn't have a narrative hook. It's every single fantasy/steampunk mish-mash out there, which means people could just as easily get it from Legend of Korra or Final Fantasy or any other story that features this type of setting. There is nothing about this new lore that encourages loyalty to the narrative, therefore people struggle to care about it.

Cookiehime10/5/2014, 2:50:51 AM5 votes

(EDIT: This is more about lore development that can happen with IoW and Summoners, and is rather a counter argument)

It's implied that the Voidborn "imprisoned" by the Institute were biding their time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to break out. Summoners did not suspect their plans and thought they could use the power of the Void for their own benefit like having them on their team to win matches as they were quite powerful. Besides, if you listen to Cho, you'll find that he seems to enjoy taunting the Summoner directing him on the FoJ (e.g: "SUMMONER, YOUR DARKNESS BECKONS!", etc.). This is what Void creatures do. They corrupt Summoners and try to drive them insane so they can join them. The Void can influence the Summoners to summon more Voidborn to Runeterra. They were fooled into thinking that they had control over those creatures, when, in reality, it was the quite the opposite scenario. Malzahar convinced Summoners that the power of the Void can be of great use to them and they believed him. I think that in the JoJ, it was mentioned that Summoners were quite interested in the Void and wished to learn more about it, which is why they never suspected Malz and thought he'd be very useful in helping them know about the Void and acquire the powers which came with it. They had NO CLUE what Malzahar's true intentions were. They be like, "Hey, cool! More Voidborn to help us out on the FoJ!"

Imagine when they gather a whole army of Void creatures. Would the Institute REALLY be able to hold them back?

That was the plan. And I thought it was brilliant.

(Kinda glad the JoJ made it pretty obscure. I had 2+ years to think about it and figure that out)

GenoXx10/5/2014, 4:12:53 AM4 votes

This feeble attempt for bait will not compel them to give us a piece of this secret lore treasure they have lol I would be astonished if any rioter consider dropping by

Cookiehime10/7/2014, 7:30:11 AM2 votes

I could take the time to read all the JoJ again, then try to express the exact same ideas represented in it in a different from of writing, narrative style instead of journalistic one, making them more readable, interesting and accessible to the community at large. This is a possibility, and that's what I'd been hoping for during all those years of waiting. But I was sorely disappointed at the announcement of the retcon.

Yes, there is also the problem that the original writers left, so we, the audience and the new lore team, have no way of knowing what they had in mind when they were writing. There are many stories that were started, but never finished and were discontinued, leaving mysteries that had yet to be solved. But along with the major events, there were clues sprinkled everywhere and tiny details that shaped the world. Those clues and details, once gathered, could be assembled to form the bigger picture. There may have been missing pieces, but crafting new ones could have completed the puzzle. When I recently learned that the writers left, learned about the retcon announcement, I was shocked. I thought, "Now I'm never gonna get the answers I needed about the Void." So, I took it upon myself to find what I knew about it and reorganized all the data. I got plenty of stuff wrong in the process, and I do not claim to know everything about it yet. But I used what still remained and attempted to craft new pieces to solve the puzzle (but imo, there were barely any missing pieces). And hey, I found out that Void lore actually made sense. Since no one would answer the questions I had, I went looking for them. Maybe I came up with answers that had not been thought of yet by the writers. But I'll never know if they were the truth...

I can do that for the rest of the JoJ, not just the Void, during my free time. And there's Factions that does stuff better. Tbh, I never knew about Factions until this year. I must have been living under a rock and I slept through all the retcons and was unaware of them. Yh, that was a pretty shocking reveal when I came back, a true slap to the face that awakened all my senses.

Seriously, if the lore team needs help, just ask the fans to lend a hand. I'm sure they'll gladly pool their efforts (heh) to stabilize the shaky foundation that LoL may have been built on. I think all the people at Factions would be able to achieve that together. The minds of hundreds of people, all having their part to play and collaborating towards a unified goal can achieve great things. There may be disagreements, but teamwork and collaboration are the most important things to keep in mind. That's what it means to be sportsmanlike. If that is encouraged in-game, I do not see why this cannot be applied to lore as well.

Dreamspitter10/5/2014, 1:31:51 AM2 votes

#Ragnarök & Roll -A Dreamspitter LoL Event

#Before:

Brand was a prisoner of the league -insisted he was not Evil but rather nature and that “Your League of Legends is not what you think it is and your summoners are not heroes. Beware.” in his interview in the Journal of Justice.

From the journal of justice

Brand: “What do you think I am?”

Ram: “A fire-mage who went too far? Some sort of possessing entity? A murderous madman who lit himself on fire? These have all been posed.”

Brand: “No! I am something far greater! I am the Burning Vengeance!”

Ram: “But what exactly is that?”

Brand: “A primal elemental spirit, fool. Can you understand that?”

He was just a puppet to be used, not involved in world events at all. Brand claims he is destined to renew the world by burning it, which is Surtr's role in Ragnarök.

Ram: “How did you come into being? I mean, we're born from parents and even the Cryophoenix has an origin. What's yours?”

Brand: “I was born with the world. At first, I flowed through it. Then, I flowed into it and took a body. Then, my purpose became plain.”

Ram: “And that is...”

Brand: “To purify the world. To renew it. To burn it down again and again to make way for what is to come. That's what your League doesn't understand. I am not evil. I am nature. I am necessary.”

#After:

Brand can now carry out his mission as a nature spirit possessing a human raider of Lokfar (Kegan Rodhe), and burn down the creations of man (Especially Zaunite and Piltovian techmaturgical creations and magical sources pollution that made things like Twitch) before they can harm Runeterra and renew the planet. Maokai who is a nature spirit who took refuge in a tree might join him if he is willing to burn down the shadow isles and the undead which should not be (becoming Charred Maokai). Malphite too, also being elemental in nature might join his side (especially as* Obsidian Malphite*). Zyra might consent too if only sapient civilization were destroyed in order to preserve the balance of anture (as Wildfire Zyra). Their transformations into their firebranded forms/skins would be done through Brand's magic and be a sign of their pact/alliance.

Malphite-Top Maokai-Jungle Brand-Mid Zyra-Support Jinx-Marksman

Now the last one stands out from all the others, HOWEVER....she might be lured by the promise of destruction on a scale she could never achieve on her own. "Ready to set the world on fire?" (laugh) Brand might find this ironic seeing as she was once a member of Zaun. To go with the event she get's a new skin, "Wildfire Jinx". In truth, destroying all civilization would leave her with nothing to do. And Jinx is mercurial and unpredictable...

Obviously civilization wont like this.

Which opens up the option for Lissandra to offer her "Assistance" possibly with the returned/awakened Frozen Watchers and their mastery over True Ice which can seal Brand and his current human host. (Remember in the journal of Justice he said he COULD NOT be destroyed -if slain his spirit would live on and return). While Brand is immortal and immaterial flame in his true form, true ice was able to contain his fire spirit form. The Three Sisters fight together and not with each other. Braum Heart of The Freljord joins with them, hoping he can keep them together until the conflict is over ("Sometimes icy heart just needs warm smile...") Tryndamere thinks it's the wrong decision and wont help, but goes off on his own. Olaf however joins The Three Sisters alliance -perhaps it turns out Kegan Rodhe was his father, and he watched him become possessed when Brand broke out of his last True Ice prison (not unlike Gnar's true ice prison which was created by a tentacled Watcher).

Olaf-Top Sejuani-Jungle Lissandra-Mid Braum-Support Ashe-Marksman

Lissandra being ever the manipulator however intends to turn Brand's war to her advantage. By helping to defeat him, she will ensure the Ice Witch is engraved in history as a HERO and the world reveres the Watchers the Iceborn rebelled against.

Solideus10/5/2014, 10:05:05 AM1 votes

The institute existed to police Valorans conflicts. It stopped *any *major wars or battles from taking place, which is an obvious handicap for many interesting stories about inter- or intra-faction strife. Conflict was a major part of many champions identity, but their *only *outlet was a glorified sports arena. The stories will be better without a "deus ex machina", surely.

brusque10/5/2014, 5:07:50 PM1 votes

This is interesting, thank for you for sharing it with me because I missed it.

Personally I am trying my best not to be biased against what you're presenting. In fact, a part of me feels the same way that you do. I want to think critically about stories, about things like Shurima. Do I think Shurima was perfect? Absolutely not. Are there things about Shurima that need improvement? Absolutely. Shurima was the first thing we got in a long, long time that was designed to put lore right in our faces, and for the people in this poll it didn't deliver. As a lover of the visual arts myself, I was just enthralled and giddy because I love this stuff.

But let's take a look, too, at what came after Shurima. Riot obviously listened to the feedback about Shurima because Sion's rework was a drastic improvement of showing (not telling, as in Shurima) the story. The content that is being produced in the new paradigm isn't getting worse. Can we at least agree on that?