League of Legends

I ship Annie and her bear, of course

OTP

Teemo/Mushroom

So wait, the new Galio lore has Demacia suddenly hating mages? Um...what. How. Why.

Runeterra is a world absolutely full of magic and magic users in all shapes and forms. Sure, there's some evil magic users, but there's just as many good- or neutral-aligned magic users. Like... Why does Demacia suddenly hate them all? Do they hate Ionia for being very magical in nature? Like...that seems ridiculous and arbitrary, especially in the context it's in.

I'm all for worldbuilding and stuff...but please make it worldbuilding that makes sense. Glad we're getting more development from Lux, but making everyone hate her guts just for being magic? Fridge Logic at its finest.

edited 31st Mar '17 3:30:08 PM by ILikeRobots

One of the most prevalent aspects of League's lore is a massive magical war that completely enfucked the world for a while. Even if that hasn't been confirmed post-reboot, we know for sure, from Ryze's lore, that there are massive, world-breaking spells out there. I feel like there's very good reason for Demacia—or anyone, really—to be against Magic.

It's like Magical Gun Control. Yeah, sure, you can use a gun to lead to an ultimately optimal solution, but you can also use it to do really terrible things, really easily. So it's not unreasonable to be pretty concerned about it.

It looks like that one thing about 'Lux was conscripted against her will' has gone bye bye too.

There's a difference between "concerned" and "all mages are Satan." Demacia is in the second camp. To the point that essentially harmful conversion therapy seems to be the norm. Like, making mages an oppressed minority in a manner similar to Fantastic Racism, and only in Demacia?

What about all the magic users that have done amazing, good things for the world? Ionia's peaceful elders, all the super cool Hextech technology? Would someone like Ezreal be tarred and feathered if he visited Demacia, despite being a well-meaning explorer with tons of knowledge to share, just because he happens to be a mage and has a magical artifact?

My biggest problem is that there's way too much Fridge Logic in this. So you're saying that Demacia literally has no population of mages that isn't in hiding and hideously oppressed? No battle mages? None at all? All their dudes are sword and board? Not only is that stagnant, but that's poor army composition, especially when they're fighting people with magical power.

And sure, Rune Wars were a thing...but that was eons ago, and the rest of the world is getting on fine with the large amounts of magic that exists. Like...that's like hanging every single person who works with TNT and explosives, even for harmless and beneficial purposes, because nukes exist.

edited 31st Mar '17 4:34:51 PM by ILikeRobots

Nah, not really. They've been expanding and modifying the various regions' lore for a while now. Demacia now being magic-hating isn't a bigger change than the ones Zaun and Piltover went through, for example. I haven't had time to read all the new lore yet, but there's a dev video in which they talk about the new direction for Demacia and I believe it includes some talk about the new attitude towards magic and its rarity in Runeterra.

Reminder: Graham McNeill is Riot's senior narrative writer. This is a man well-known for his Black Library novels.

Demacia being a fascistic state that has Fantastic Racism against magic? Sounds like the Imperium of Man

Oh, I have no problems with changing and modifying lore...as long as the changes actually made sense. I have no issues with Zaun and Piltover being changed, because those are at least make sense. If they'd changed it to "Hextech is suddenly illegal and everyone who uses it is executed" then I'd have a problem, because that just plain doesn't make sense with how prevalent it is in the world.

Magic in Runeterra being rare? I don't remember that at all. Can you link me or point me to exactly when it's said? Because I remember Runeterra being a world absolutely steeped in magic, to the point that a lot of Piltover and Zaun as well as Ionia straight-up operates on the use of magic and the fusion of it with other technology.

edited 31st Mar '17 5:25:38 PM by ILikeRobots

I think they might be trying to emphasize Demacia being insular with the magic-hating, actually. Would all mages be, at least, unwelcome in Demacia? Probably. They just haven't had an outside character state that yet to truly prove it. The writers likely find it a logical flaw for Demacia while it seems to be throwing off their authoritarian edge by some of the Demacian champions' backgrounds emphasizing the actual citizens seem to be united as a product of their culture rather than stamping out dissent - then, of course they're united if they think it's them against the world.

Apparently, Lux is in the only (secret) order of mages in Demacia - nothing else is said about it, but logically it must be quite small to maintain being, apparently, quite secret.

Their military scrubery also probably only works because of being insular. By keeping to themselves, they can avoid conflict in multiple places and having to split up their forces, and so their soldiers can rely entirely on Galio keeping them safe from magic. Additionally (also not stated), if Galio was made of enough petricite to protect an entire army, perhaps a smaller quantity can provide at least some magical protection (after all, they're now saying Garen's armour is magic-resistant) for their troops' standard-issue?

I don't remember magic being rare on Runeterra either, but since the Institute of War's not canon anymore, there's not really much to get in the way of them stating what's the case now - that was the main opponent in the old lore.

edited 31st Mar '17 5:51:29 PM by VutherA

I can see what they're going for with Demacia, but if anything, this makes all of Demacia look Too Dumb to Live. Why intentionally hinder yourself, refusing to take advantage of an extremely powerful force (which can be used for the benefit of all as well as nefarious things)? Why persecute the very people that could give you an edge against your hated foes, or magic that can improve your war machine and way of life? Take it from Piltover! I thought they were close allies, but with Demacia's hate boner for magic, I honestly can't see that happening anymore. The same with Ionia.

I just... I just can't believe it. It's just too ridiculous, in a world like Runeterra. It's like people hating all water or something. It's everywhere and lots of people need it/use it even to live, but it's evil just because, sure, some people have drowned in it. I mean, at this point, Noxus is looking like the far more intelligent and even fairer force (sure, they're social Darwinists, but they're not gonna turn you away from high positions just because you're a mage, and if you've got magical talents they don't try to forcibly stamp it out of you). Maybe that's why they're an empire, and Demacia's still stuck in its own borders as a city-state.

I know Light Is Not Good is a huge, running theme with them, but they did it wonderfully in the old lore (Lux being conscripted against her will and being a Stepford Smiler about the whole thing). We didn't need this non-logic in order to hit us over the head with "Demacia's actually not the good guy in all of this! There's shades of gray!"

I just...eugh. It's like the Shurima changes all over again.

edited 1st Apr '17 12:20:50 PM by ILikeRobots

I'm pretty sure Galio's bio states that magic is becoming increasingly rarer. He hardly wake up from stasis at all nowadays.

As for Demacia hating magic, the original settlers that gave birth to the city-state were on the run from wizards when they were more plentiful. The only time they felt safe was when they took refuge in an anti-magic forest, otherwise they were slaughtered by it all the time.

Fast forward a bunch of years and now their society is so devoid of magic that they mostly encounter it is during warfare, which is when magic is at it's most monstrous.

I think it's fair for people to think that magic sucks when it's been used against them so often and in such a way.

Sure, they try to explain it through the backstory of Demacia, but it still makes them look like shortsighted idiots. It's like my water comparison. Even communities that have been devastated by the likes of tsunamis or hurricanes or something don't automatically hate all water or people that work with water on the grounds of "well water destroyed our homes and drowned a bunch of us, and even though plenty of people exist alongside and work with water - and even use it for good things - it's still all automatically evil."

Unless you're arguing that making Demacia look like morons is intentional (and I can't understand why they'd want to do that). And if they wanted to make Demacia look extremist, they still could have done this without taking steps into pure stupid territory. See below.

My problem with this is that's about a gulf's worth of difference between "we're wary about magic because of [reasons]" and "all magic users must be forcibly converted and are evil just by virtue of daring to exist with magic." Like, if this was more logically written, I could see heavy, heavy magic regulations in Demacia. Mages might need to get a license or something identifying them as mages and describing their powers.

Young mages might have to go to a special school or camp in order to train and develop their powers, to make sure they're using them responsibly.

Mages might need to wear power limiters when in Demacia, or something similar, to prevent mages from overusing their powers. There might be a lot of street prejudice from the citizenry, with mages being side-eyed as potential dangers, with the story of the evil wizards preying on people being whispered about and used as bogeyman stories for children.

But since these people aren't meant to be stupid, they know that magic can be used for good things, mages are allowed to exist without forceful conversion therapy. Some are even in higher positions (though, of course, they're notably rarer than non-mages in those same positions), as scholars, inventors, and engineers, using their magic to better the Demacian war machine and way of life. There may even be mages employed in the armies (under careful watch, and segregated into their own units, of course), though perhaps they're only used in specific circumstances. They respect Ionia's distinct, peaceful way of life and their methods of self-improvement - despite it being magical in nature - and are intrigued by Piltover's innovative Hextech.

Basically, Demacia still doesn't like mages and it basically sucks being a mage in Demacia, but you're not sent straight to the guillotine even if you're a good mage simply for being one. Lux could still be a Stepford Smiler and forcibly conscripted with this story - she'd still be bullied and treated as a second-class citizen, but it would make so, so much more sense in the context.

But the entire state to tar and feather all magic for daring to exist? Uh, yeah, a little extreme and unbelievable there.

edited 1st Apr '17 3:35:00 PM by ILikeRobots

"What's your favorite vegetable?"

"Soraka mains."

Ouch, that joke hurt Q_Q

Hey, it could always be worse. You could be a Janna main.

Cough. Janna is an amazing support. I'll bet when that Hecarim, Talon, Rengar, or any other champion with a dash jumps on your adc ass, you'll be thanking your lucky stars that you've got a Janna by your side.

hashtagjannamainsrepresent

edited 2nd Apr '17 4:56:13 PM by ILikeRobots

Well I just saw some new lore business about "The Vastaya". It seems like a journal has recorded a certain fox woman we are familiar with and also talked a little bit about the Darkin. Also they just showed a teaser for the two new champs together. I just want one thing..... make Ahri single so I can continue with my shipping between her and Nautilus.

So that introduces possible canon explanations for

• Twitch
• Rengar
• Nidalee maybe
• Urf
• Alistar
• Rammus
• Wukong?

I guess maybe the Great Southern Jungle isn't canon anymore. Or maybe not such a mutating magical cesspool at least.

Wukong seems likely, but I'd say Twitch remaining a mutated Zaunite rat seems more fitting. Then again, he didn't get any new lore.

Anyway, new champs teased. Been a while since a dual release. According to the Reddit leak, which I dismissed but seems to have gotten this one right, the man ("phoenix") is a support and the woman ("harpy") is a marksman, which would fit the teaser line.

Don't forget Volibear. Likely that the Ursine are Vastaya that moved to the Freljord eons in the past. I would say Nidalee likely counts, since we have pig man shapeshifter that Santangelo thought was fully human at first...though it remains to be seen whether it's shapeshifting into a Funny Animal only, or if shapeshifting into a completely normal (or at least somewhat magical) animal like Nidalee is also a thing.

But yeah I think Twitch's mutant origins will stay the same, since his lore was already updated from his old one before the Vastaya reveal. I don't see them changing it again.

I think Kayle and Morgana will end up as winged Vastaya rather than angelic beings from another world, since the lore as a whole is moving away from alternate dimensions and dimensional travel (changes to Taric lore, changes to Renekton and Nasus lore).

On another note: Looks like we've got confirmation that the Darkin are the weapons, rather than the demonic winged beings... Someone on the League boards theorized that Varus' updated lore will make his bow a Darkin which aggravates his vengeful or aggressive tendencies about his Doomed Hometown (assuming they'll keep that the same at least).

edited 4th Apr '17 11:33:05 AM by ILikeRobots

So new champions revealed. Vastaya bird-people couple, with Rakan the Charmer, a flamboyant and airheaded dancer, being an extremely mobile support with CC, heals and shields, and Xayah the Rebel, a snarky and violent freedom fighter, being an equally playmaking ADC with conditional CC, untargetability and offensive abilities. They also have specific gameplay synergies with each other, with a couple abilities gaining special propertied if used together and a joined recall.

Welp I just found out Rengar is Vastayan.

It feels weird to have a male support with charm. And he does it while running, too.

Does that mean that every single champion in the game has a weak spot for sweaty running bird-men?

What a time to live in.

Well it's more like this "Oh I see a phoenix man! What the hell-He is running? Let's follow him!"

Really guys, it's obvious:

He's a bird man? They're charmed because they just saw a giant cock.

edited 4th Apr '17 3:50:33 PM by BlackSunNocturne