Post by Wyerden on Jun 8, 2014 6:00:54 GMT -5
Hello People of Maelstrom,
In the past, we've had a policy of simply allowing our members to sift through the vast amounts of information available in the Champion Lore, Champion Judgements, and Journal of Justice to come to your own conclusions about how the pieces fit together into a coherent world. It's come to my attention, however, that people would prefer to know more about the history of the world so that they can fill in the gaps. To that end, I intend to start placing vast amounts of league related lore and current events in this section to serve as Maelstrom official reservoir of canon ideas.
Keep in mind that we are by no means inflexible with the story that we're telling. Tweaking things in one direction or another to help accommodate your plot is not only possible, but often serves to further enrich our world. The content below, while serving as the definitive lore for the site as you develop ideas, is open to further discussion within reason (the more time I spend clarifying things here, the less I can do with the forum itself). In addition, I ask that you keep in mind that the vast majority of this information should be treated as lost to history, as far as your characters are concerned.
Without further ado, I present
Prehistory >5000 years ago.
Relatively little exists in the way of civilization on Valoran. Small nomadic tribes and minor villages are scattered across the land.
Watchers arrive ~5000 Years Ago
The Watchers are a group of relatively enigmatic beings, closely associated with the Void. Though manifested on the plane to a degree, they’re unable to directly interact with it. They are the Watchers: tasked with finding new worlds susceptible to invasion. They can, however, influence the world, to push it toward calamity.
Iceborn Empire ~4500 Years Ago
The Watchers found the northern people awed by the impregnability of ice, and so offered them power and knowledge to manipulate it in turn. The magic they offered was warped and twisted, claiming some part of the caster and drawing the world closer to the Void with each use. Eventually, it became known as Rune Magic, so named for the inscriptions that unleashed its strength. This power used to create a number of powerful weapons and artifacts, used by the Iceborn to carve a vast empire into the north, the ruins of which can be found throughout the Freljord.
The Watchers are defeated ~4000 Years Ago
Coupled to the Watcher’s power was an upheaval of the natural order of magic, triggering a great ice age that consumed the land as far south as the Great Barrier. Even after Avarosa and her kin threw off the Watcher’s rule, the land remained largely inhospitable, forcing many humans to migrate south into Shurima or face starvation. While most of the Watcher’s gifts were left behind, these migrants brought with them their knowledge of powerful Rune Magic to the rest of the world.
Interlude
For a long period of time, relatively little occurs on the world scale. In the north, the splintered tribes of the Freljord are forced to adopt a nomadic lifestyle to survive, unable to maintain themselves in one location before its resources are depleted. As a result, once-great cities fall to ruins, and the knowledge and history of the Freljordian people becomes lost to myth and legend. In the south, cities began to form, fueled by the expanding power of Rune Magic. The earth shook as occasional disputes were settled via obscene force as knowledge of the corrupt Rune Magic grows to new heights.
The Shadow Isles Rise ~3500 Years Ago
Driven by lack of food on the mainland, some of these tribes established small fishing villages on the coasts. While not equipped for long-term travel, storms pushed the occasional vessel deep into the Conqueror’s Sea. Eventually, landfall was met on the pristine shores of a faraway island, closely tied enigmatic spirits of life. Over the years, the small island nation blossomed into a peaceful kingdom, too small to harbor warring nations. Even in the face of peace, humans clung to the power of rune magic, and eventually it claimed its gruesome toll on the island nation, piercing the veil between life and death and shrouding the lands in shadow.
First coming of the Void ~2500 Years Ago
In time, the damage to Runeterra becomes great enough that the Void’s interest becomes piqued once more. Due to the devastating effects that Rune Magic has generated, the first of these shadowy beasts are able to break through completely into this plane, manifesting in the ancient city of Icathia. In typical void fashion, their hunger is immense, and their power grew as they began to consume the inhabitants of this fresh new land. The obvious response of mages in the time was to unleash the devastating fiery magics they had learned to destroy the rising beasts. While effective in slaying the outrunners, this power ripped the fabric of Runeterra asunder, unleashing beasts of even greater power.
In the face of growing calamity, the cities realized that their only chance at survival was to band together. Realizing their folly, scholars worked feverishly to find ways to release the destructive energy of Rune Magic to protect themselves without widening the gulf in the process. In the face of this danger, those with power derived from other sources became invaluable to the people’s protection: champions lead a counter-offensive against the void’s growing host. Inspired by Iceborn relics, mages found that they could enchant powerful relic weapons while confining the runic backlash to themselves, giving their champions the strength to buy them more time. While the warriors held back the Voidlings, rune mages undertook the construction of great projects across Valoran to strengthen its natural magics against the Void. At the cost of many a mage’s health and life, the Runic Bulwark was completed, sealing away the Void by imbuing the planet itself with powerful runic magic.
Establishment of the Rakkor ~2000 Years Ago
Among the most influential of the champions of this time was the so-called "Avatar of the Sun," who rallied many to his cause, using the Sun's power as both a sword to cleave his path through the voidlings, and a shield to defend his allies from their harm. Once the wars finally ended, he gathered the most valiant of warriors around him and retreated to the highest peak in the Great Barrier: Mount Targon. There, he established not only the Rakkor to train in the highest arts of war, but also the Solari Order that stood over them in humble homage to the Sun.
Shurima Empire ~2000 Years Ago
The realization of safety after centuries of fighting triggered a golden age in the south. In this time a civilization spanning the southern half of the continent was formed with unparalleled magic and technology. Despite the runic backlash of the mages fire downfall in Icathia plunging Shurima into desert, the society thrived for centuries, allowing the generation of the utopic city of Urtistan. This time also saw the beginning of constructions of great exploratory works, including the ambitious construction of a space-ready vessel in the Ruddynip Valley. This time period also began to see the recession of the great ice age north of the Great Barrier, opening up new and fertile land for development of new cultures. As a result, nomadic tribes of the north began to settle and establish their own cultures, seeding the city states of the north.
Founding of Ionia ~1900 Years Ago
The age of exploration initiated in this period wasn’t limited to the continent alone. Driven by curiosity, the people of Shurima took to the Guardian Sea. Not far from the main continent, the Blue Flame Islands were the first found. Unsuitable to sustain a population on their own, the Islands were left behind in search of more suitable lands. Driven by their fear of the growing rune magic, a sect splintered from the Shurima Empire to seek a land of their own. These people eventually founded Ionia, where they strove to learn the deeper secrets and meanings of life. It was soon found that the Rune Magic disturbed the balance of power in the world, and the attempts to keep it at bay became codified into the Kinkou Order. Time diluted this understanding until the runes became dissociated with the need for balance in all things. Spiritual study was refined into such arts as Wuju and the Shojin Healing techniques still practiced in Ionia.
The Fall of Shurima ~1600 Years Ago
This age of exploration was cut short by the actions of Xerath. In such a golden age of knowledge, Rune Magic was able to grow to greater and greater heights. In this time, it was strictly enforced on all practitioners that the costs of such power be taken upon the caster to protect the land that had cost their kind so much to defend. While initially, Xerath followed these ideals, his lust for knowledge drove him to a final project that would transcend his body completely. With nowhere else to go, the backlash from a lifetime of experiment was unleashed upon the unsuspecting world, fueled by Xerath’s bid to attain godhood. All of Shurima felt the devastation of his ritual, leading to the decline of the Shurima Empire.
Rise of the Yordles ~1600-1500 Years Ago
The fallout of Xerath’s experiment was not felt by humanity alone. His ritual was designed to transfer his sentience to an eternal body, and the ripples of that primordial magic unleashed unintended consequences throughout Valoran, and even for the planet itself. This was felt most profoundly in the Plague Jungles, where the raw magics continue to resonate to this day, giving rise to champions such as Rammus, Rengar, and Wukong. As a consequence, Zyra and her plant kin were awakened, and began to ravage the less aware creatures of the jungle, rapidly overtaking Kumungu, driving away any and all human colonies in the area. In addition, the already-societal Yordle population was shocked into a new stage of sentience while retaining their very strong ties to the natural energy of Runeterra. At first nomadic, the Yordle people happen upon the ruins of the Mothership, settling in the Ruddynip Valley to found Bandle City.
The Ancient Rune Wars ~1500 Years Ago
After the destruction of Shurima, the people had lost the unity that once brought them together. While many attempted to rebuild their homes, others were unable to accept how some cities such as Urtistan had avoided harm. This resentment built until the world began to shake with the fury of Rune Magic once more. Casualties include the sacking of Urtistan, and the blasting of the Voodoo Lands. Among the first to fall was a city in the Odyn Valley. It was here that Runeterra began to awaken, seeking out its own protection by the awakening of the Brackern. While initially designed only to strengthen the world against the Void, Xerath’s ritual corrupted the power of the Bulwark, granting it a semblance of sentience. By the end of this set of Rune Wars, the lands south of the Great Barrier are rendered nearly uninhabitable, save for a few of the more isolated regions. The limited survivors have no homes to return to, scraping out a living in the ruins of once-great cities.
Stirrings of the World ~1200-900 Years Ago
Runeterra did not return to complete quiescence after its awakening of the Brackern. Regions far away began to feel its influence. In Ionia, a great pit of evil bubbled forth from the ground, consuming all those which it touched. The anger emanating from it enough to draw the spiritual leaders’ concern. While they could contain it, this vile substance forever picked at the minds of those who ventured too near, requiring the constant vigilance of honorable guards to keep the power in check. Likewise, in the ocean, darkness began to stir. The deeps became a place of untold horrors, slowly building up its power, with only the Marai standing between it and the main continent.
Secrets of the Shadow Techniques ~600 Years Ago
While rune magic was long despised in the growing provinces of Ionia, traces of the destructive arts remained even in this enlightened world. Acting in secret, a splinter sect of the ninja orders sought to improve the destructive capabilities of their bodies with the long-forbidden magics. With the proper techniques, they learned how to strike out with the shadows of the world to slay those who stood against them. Sensing the costs of the runes they employed to themselves and those around them, the sect deemed the knowledge too dangerous for even the ninja to use, sealing it away for only the most dire of times.
The Rune Wars ~500 Years Ago
These are the wars that stand out in the minds of those currently living in Runeterra. Waged primarily between Demacia and Noxus, applications of rune magic remained relatively minor compared to those of the prior Ancient Rune Wars. Starting with the third rune war, however, both factions were becoming more desperate, employing greater and greater runic power against their enemies. In response, the world began to rebel once more, striking out at the warring factions directly. Magically infused storms threatened to destroy minor cities and villages wholesale, while violent earthquakes followed the movements of troops. Among the best known losses to the Rune Wars of the north are the warped treelines east of Zaun (A casualty of both the destruction of rune magic and chemical runoff of the city generating a forest of terror that few dare venture into) and the Howling Marshes (where the shifting land and sinking sands can swallow entire armies without a trace).
Rune War I—461 BLE (127 years)
Peace—334 BLE (43 years)
Rune War II—291 BLE (91 years)
Peace—200 BLE (24 years)
Rune War III—186 BLE (67 years)
Peace—119 BLE (29 years)
Rune War IV—90 BLE (43 years)
Peace—47 BLE (21 years)
Rune War V—26 BLE (26 years)
League Founding: 0 CLE
Keep your eyes peeled for recent history as I continue pulling things together!
Feel free to use this thread to raise concerns, make suggestion, and otherwise discuss the content.
Thanks, and happy writing!
~The Admin Team
In the past, we've had a policy of simply allowing our members to sift through the vast amounts of information available in the Champion Lore, Champion Judgements, and Journal of Justice to come to your own conclusions about how the pieces fit together into a coherent world. It's come to my attention, however, that people would prefer to know more about the history of the world so that they can fill in the gaps. To that end, I intend to start placing vast amounts of league related lore and current events in this section to serve as Maelstrom official reservoir of canon ideas.
Keep in mind that we are by no means inflexible with the story that we're telling. Tweaking things in one direction or another to help accommodate your plot is not only possible, but often serves to further enrich our world. The content below, while serving as the definitive lore for the site as you develop ideas, is open to further discussion within reason (the more time I spend clarifying things here, the less I can do with the forum itself). In addition, I ask that you keep in mind that the vast majority of this information should be treated as lost to history, as far as your characters are concerned.
Without further ado, I present
Maelstrom's Ancient History
Prehistory >5000 years ago.
Relatively little exists in the way of civilization on Valoran. Small nomadic tribes and minor villages are scattered across the land.
Watchers arrive ~5000 Years Ago
The Watchers are a group of relatively enigmatic beings, closely associated with the Void. Though manifested on the plane to a degree, they’re unable to directly interact with it. They are the Watchers: tasked with finding new worlds susceptible to invasion. They can, however, influence the world, to push it toward calamity.
Iceborn Empire ~4500 Years Ago
The Watchers found the northern people awed by the impregnability of ice, and so offered them power and knowledge to manipulate it in turn. The magic they offered was warped and twisted, claiming some part of the caster and drawing the world closer to the Void with each use. Eventually, it became known as Rune Magic, so named for the inscriptions that unleashed its strength. This power used to create a number of powerful weapons and artifacts, used by the Iceborn to carve a vast empire into the north, the ruins of which can be found throughout the Freljord.
The Watchers are defeated ~4000 Years Ago
Coupled to the Watcher’s power was an upheaval of the natural order of magic, triggering a great ice age that consumed the land as far south as the Great Barrier. Even after Avarosa and her kin threw off the Watcher’s rule, the land remained largely inhospitable, forcing many humans to migrate south into Shurima or face starvation. While most of the Watcher’s gifts were left behind, these migrants brought with them their knowledge of powerful Rune Magic to the rest of the world.
Interlude
For a long period of time, relatively little occurs on the world scale. In the north, the splintered tribes of the Freljord are forced to adopt a nomadic lifestyle to survive, unable to maintain themselves in one location before its resources are depleted. As a result, once-great cities fall to ruins, and the knowledge and history of the Freljordian people becomes lost to myth and legend. In the south, cities began to form, fueled by the expanding power of Rune Magic. The earth shook as occasional disputes were settled via obscene force as knowledge of the corrupt Rune Magic grows to new heights.
The Shadow Isles Rise ~3500 Years Ago
Driven by lack of food on the mainland, some of these tribes established small fishing villages on the coasts. While not equipped for long-term travel, storms pushed the occasional vessel deep into the Conqueror’s Sea. Eventually, landfall was met on the pristine shores of a faraway island, closely tied enigmatic spirits of life. Over the years, the small island nation blossomed into a peaceful kingdom, too small to harbor warring nations. Even in the face of peace, humans clung to the power of rune magic, and eventually it claimed its gruesome toll on the island nation, piercing the veil between life and death and shrouding the lands in shadow.
First coming of the Void ~2500 Years Ago
In time, the damage to Runeterra becomes great enough that the Void’s interest becomes piqued once more. Due to the devastating effects that Rune Magic has generated, the first of these shadowy beasts are able to break through completely into this plane, manifesting in the ancient city of Icathia. In typical void fashion, their hunger is immense, and their power grew as they began to consume the inhabitants of this fresh new land. The obvious response of mages in the time was to unleash the devastating fiery magics they had learned to destroy the rising beasts. While effective in slaying the outrunners, this power ripped the fabric of Runeterra asunder, unleashing beasts of even greater power.
In the face of growing calamity, the cities realized that their only chance at survival was to band together. Realizing their folly, scholars worked feverishly to find ways to release the destructive energy of Rune Magic to protect themselves without widening the gulf in the process. In the face of this danger, those with power derived from other sources became invaluable to the people’s protection: champions lead a counter-offensive against the void’s growing host. Inspired by Iceborn relics, mages found that they could enchant powerful relic weapons while confining the runic backlash to themselves, giving their champions the strength to buy them more time. While the warriors held back the Voidlings, rune mages undertook the construction of great projects across Valoran to strengthen its natural magics against the Void. At the cost of many a mage’s health and life, the Runic Bulwark was completed, sealing away the Void by imbuing the planet itself with powerful runic magic.
Establishment of the Rakkor ~2000 Years Ago
Among the most influential of the champions of this time was the so-called "Avatar of the Sun," who rallied many to his cause, using the Sun's power as both a sword to cleave his path through the voidlings, and a shield to defend his allies from their harm. Once the wars finally ended, he gathered the most valiant of warriors around him and retreated to the highest peak in the Great Barrier: Mount Targon. There, he established not only the Rakkor to train in the highest arts of war, but also the Solari Order that stood over them in humble homage to the Sun.
Shurima Empire ~2000 Years Ago
The realization of safety after centuries of fighting triggered a golden age in the south. In this time a civilization spanning the southern half of the continent was formed with unparalleled magic and technology. Despite the runic backlash of the mages fire downfall in Icathia plunging Shurima into desert, the society thrived for centuries, allowing the generation of the utopic city of Urtistan. This time also saw the beginning of constructions of great exploratory works, including the ambitious construction of a space-ready vessel in the Ruddynip Valley. This time period also began to see the recession of the great ice age north of the Great Barrier, opening up new and fertile land for development of new cultures. As a result, nomadic tribes of the north began to settle and establish their own cultures, seeding the city states of the north.
Founding of Ionia ~1900 Years Ago
The age of exploration initiated in this period wasn’t limited to the continent alone. Driven by curiosity, the people of Shurima took to the Guardian Sea. Not far from the main continent, the Blue Flame Islands were the first found. Unsuitable to sustain a population on their own, the Islands were left behind in search of more suitable lands. Driven by their fear of the growing rune magic, a sect splintered from the Shurima Empire to seek a land of their own. These people eventually founded Ionia, where they strove to learn the deeper secrets and meanings of life. It was soon found that the Rune Magic disturbed the balance of power in the world, and the attempts to keep it at bay became codified into the Kinkou Order. Time diluted this understanding until the runes became dissociated with the need for balance in all things. Spiritual study was refined into such arts as Wuju and the Shojin Healing techniques still practiced in Ionia.
The Fall of Shurima ~1600 Years Ago
This age of exploration was cut short by the actions of Xerath. In such a golden age of knowledge, Rune Magic was able to grow to greater and greater heights. In this time, it was strictly enforced on all practitioners that the costs of such power be taken upon the caster to protect the land that had cost their kind so much to defend. While initially, Xerath followed these ideals, his lust for knowledge drove him to a final project that would transcend his body completely. With nowhere else to go, the backlash from a lifetime of experiment was unleashed upon the unsuspecting world, fueled by Xerath’s bid to attain godhood. All of Shurima felt the devastation of his ritual, leading to the decline of the Shurima Empire.
Rise of the Yordles ~1600-1500 Years Ago
The fallout of Xerath’s experiment was not felt by humanity alone. His ritual was designed to transfer his sentience to an eternal body, and the ripples of that primordial magic unleashed unintended consequences throughout Valoran, and even for the planet itself. This was felt most profoundly in the Plague Jungles, where the raw magics continue to resonate to this day, giving rise to champions such as Rammus, Rengar, and Wukong. As a consequence, Zyra and her plant kin were awakened, and began to ravage the less aware creatures of the jungle, rapidly overtaking Kumungu, driving away any and all human colonies in the area. In addition, the already-societal Yordle population was shocked into a new stage of sentience while retaining their very strong ties to the natural energy of Runeterra. At first nomadic, the Yordle people happen upon the ruins of the Mothership, settling in the Ruddynip Valley to found Bandle City.
The Ancient Rune Wars ~1500 Years Ago
After the destruction of Shurima, the people had lost the unity that once brought them together. While many attempted to rebuild their homes, others were unable to accept how some cities such as Urtistan had avoided harm. This resentment built until the world began to shake with the fury of Rune Magic once more. Casualties include the sacking of Urtistan, and the blasting of the Voodoo Lands. Among the first to fall was a city in the Odyn Valley. It was here that Runeterra began to awaken, seeking out its own protection by the awakening of the Brackern. While initially designed only to strengthen the world against the Void, Xerath’s ritual corrupted the power of the Bulwark, granting it a semblance of sentience. By the end of this set of Rune Wars, the lands south of the Great Barrier are rendered nearly uninhabitable, save for a few of the more isolated regions. The limited survivors have no homes to return to, scraping out a living in the ruins of once-great cities.
Stirrings of the World ~1200-900 Years Ago
Runeterra did not return to complete quiescence after its awakening of the Brackern. Regions far away began to feel its influence. In Ionia, a great pit of evil bubbled forth from the ground, consuming all those which it touched. The anger emanating from it enough to draw the spiritual leaders’ concern. While they could contain it, this vile substance forever picked at the minds of those who ventured too near, requiring the constant vigilance of honorable guards to keep the power in check. Likewise, in the ocean, darkness began to stir. The deeps became a place of untold horrors, slowly building up its power, with only the Marai standing between it and the main continent.
Secrets of the Shadow Techniques ~600 Years Ago
While rune magic was long despised in the growing provinces of Ionia, traces of the destructive arts remained even in this enlightened world. Acting in secret, a splinter sect of the ninja orders sought to improve the destructive capabilities of their bodies with the long-forbidden magics. With the proper techniques, they learned how to strike out with the shadows of the world to slay those who stood against them. Sensing the costs of the runes they employed to themselves and those around them, the sect deemed the knowledge too dangerous for even the ninja to use, sealing it away for only the most dire of times.
The Rune Wars ~500 Years Ago
These are the wars that stand out in the minds of those currently living in Runeterra. Waged primarily between Demacia and Noxus, applications of rune magic remained relatively minor compared to those of the prior Ancient Rune Wars. Starting with the third rune war, however, both factions were becoming more desperate, employing greater and greater runic power against their enemies. In response, the world began to rebel once more, striking out at the warring factions directly. Magically infused storms threatened to destroy minor cities and villages wholesale, while violent earthquakes followed the movements of troops. Among the best known losses to the Rune Wars of the north are the warped treelines east of Zaun (A casualty of both the destruction of rune magic and chemical runoff of the city generating a forest of terror that few dare venture into) and the Howling Marshes (where the shifting land and sinking sands can swallow entire armies without a trace).
Rune War I—461 BLE (127 years)
Peace—334 BLE (43 years)
Rune War II—291 BLE (91 years)
Peace—200 BLE (24 years)
Rune War III—186 BLE (67 years)
Peace—119 BLE (29 years)
Rune War IV—90 BLE (43 years)
Peace—47 BLE (21 years)
Rune War V—26 BLE (26 years)
League Founding: 0 CLE
Keep your eyes peeled for recent history as I continue pulling things together!
Feel free to use this thread to raise concerns, make suggestion, and otherwise discuss the content.
Thanks, and happy writing!
~The Admin Team