#Brackern Rights

[kenyizsuartblog]

LoL fan design - Brackern headcanons #1

Ra-xul ("orphan born") are brackern born not to broodmothers, but to ordinary females who abandon them right after giving birth to them. In the cruel world of the Underwell, most ra-xul do not get to live to adolescence, let alone to adulthood. Those that do, are the toughest, most vicious brackern out there who often become the leader of one clan or another as a result. They know how to survive and how to find resources and they aren’t afraid to trample anyone standing in their way to those goals. While adult ra-xul are powerhouses on their own, they usually develop a close bond with whichever clan they become a member or a leader of, and will fight to the bitter end for said clan’s survival. Everything and everyone else outside of the clan is beneath their concern, so much so that leaders are hostile even towards other ra-xul younglings who would be seeking shelter among their ranks. Broodmothers try to adopt those bracklings in secret and integrate them into the clan before the leader could catch on and chase the intruder away.

Ra-tehn ("brood born") are the offsprings of broodmothers who grow up under the protection of their mother and of the clan. They are definitely not as tough and vicious as ra-xul, they are more accepting of outsider brackern, especially if one seeks to join their ranks. But they too are capable of fighting terribly for the survival of their clan and especially of their broodmother. While the ra-xul leader forges the path forward, the ra-tehn ensure all members (ideally) can follow said path.

Not all ra-tehn reach adulthood, of course. Armordillos and other predators, sicknesses, starvation and hostile clans are an ever-present threat in their lives. They also sometimes strike out into the Underwell on their own or in small groups after their second molt to seek a new home, especially if the clan as a whole has fallen on hard times. This almost instinctive migration ensures the creation of new clans, and the refreshing of gene pools. Wandering ra-tehn tend to seek out a new home as far away from the original as possible, to hopefully avoid future conflict with their former family… and Tremors forbid, to avoid harming their beloved mother.

Broodmothers are often strong and well-versed in the natural earth magic all brackern are born with. Despite their relatively lighter weight due to their hollowed-out shells, broodmothers rarely move much, opting to keep vigilance over their scuttling children. This slow life enables them to develop a kind of connection with the earth around them, using it to detect even small dangers such or sounds and movements hundreds of kilometers away. Unfortunately, armordillos have their own brand of earth magic which the more intelligent ones can use to mask their presence from the broodmother just long enough to snatch a brackling away.

---

And I'm off to the US, by the time this sketchdump goes up. This is going to be an interesting two weeks, for sure!

Either way, I have managed to squeeze in some more brackern headcanons, and I hope you guys enjoy them! Who knows, by the time I get back, I might have even more ideas!

... I might have to tackle the fearsome brackern clan wars eventually, once I get back and recover from the trip and the insane flight times.

(Also, not entirely sure about the non-broodmother female's head, I might change the design down the road.)

More League of Legends stuff (and brackern headcanons)

2024.06.22.

[tsibeyantiger]

LoL champs rated on how likely I think it is they will appear in Arcane Season 2!

Blitzcrank: 6/10. He'd totally fit into the lore but on the other side, he isn't particularly interesting as a person.

Carmille: 7/10. She is one of the most influential people in Piltover and has got a strong connection to hextech, right? It's really about time for her to be introduced. (Or did we already see her and I forgot? I really gotta rewatch season one!)

Darius: 4/10. In season 1, it was teasered that Noxus is interested in Piltover, so we might get to see more noxians. Darius is one of the guys they might send, but of course, he is not much of a diplomat.

Dr. Mundo: 4/10. He is a very interesting character who would add a THRILLING amount of elements to the story, but on the other hand, he might be too extreme to be integrated, because it isn't really his story after all.

Ezrael: 6/10. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.

Janna: 2/10. Since she is kinda a goddess, she might be mentioned, but I don't really think she'll appear as a character.

Jhin: 5/10. Oufff. Now we're talking about the really interesting shit. We know that Jhin was in Piltover at one point and I would really love to see him. It could shed a whole new light on his Backstory. On the other hand- maybe to early?

Leona: 1/10. I only mention her because of the "Mel is a solari" theory. But even if, I don't think Leona is needed.

Orianna: 9/10. I'm pretty sure we already met her in the shape of Rio the salamander.

Renata Glasc: 9/10. Someone has to fill the void Silco left when he died. It would make very much sense if it is Renata.

Seraphine: 2/10. I like her, but I really don't know how she could be integrated in the story.

Skarner: 5/10. With his old lore, Skarner would have appeared 100% at some point cuz the crystalls come from the brackern, giant scorpions who use crystal magic, but his new lore associates him more with Ixcal, so that's a 50/50 to me.

Twitch: 7/10 cuz I believe he's the rat they tested the shimmer on.

Urgot: 4/10. Maybe later...

Warwick: 10/10, this is basically confirmed.

Zac: 5/10, pretty similar to Blitzcrank.

Zeri: 5/10, might be somehow associated with Ekko.

Ziggs: 8/10, he was Heimer's apprentice and since he wasn't around in season one, it is about time for him to show up!

[ridragon]

Sorta kinda spoiler-ee for Arcane but only in speculative ways since I'm just guessing which characters from league may be included from my own prior lore nerdiness. There are references to things that MAY occur in Arcane that may be spoilers if they're not changed around for Arcane.

Characters I know will appear 100%

Warwick (You Know Why)

Zeri (Part of Ekkos gang iirc)

Characters I'm pretty sure will appear:

Camille (extremely important character and villain in universe in Piltover, knows of our current MCs in og league lore and is hinted at to have murdered or hired the murder of Cait's parents)

Renata Glasc (similair reason as Camille but in Zaun)

Blitzcrank (Viktor's son)

Ziggs (Knows Heim and Jinx personally in og lore)

Characters that would make sense to appear but I'm not sure about:

Ryze(?) (Jayce encountered him though still a theory it's widely accepted)

Twitch (The rat they tested shimmer on)

Dr. Mundo (pretty relevant and extreme example of a victim of shimmer)

Janna (or just a reference to her being Zaun's patron Goddess)

Seraphine (because riot loves Sera.)

Orianna (A stretch but she is relevant as an example of what the crystals can do)

Swain (Noxus being Noxus and doing Noxus things.)

Characters I really want to appear but are extremely unlikely at best

Ezreal (I love him. He's such a fucker. I want to hear him being a smartass again, but he kinda has his own story going on and it would bungle up the main story a bit.)

Samira (I just really like Samira. And hey Noxus is visiting right??)

Jhin (If Camille is added then it'd make more sense.)

Skarner (who am I kidding they're probably completely erasing him and the Brackern from this entire plotline Riot hates these guys.)

[shimmerbeasts]

The fire had been humanity's greatest invention. It was its heat, which had kept them warm in the dark and cooked their food. It was its bright light, which allowed them to chase mountain lions out of caves. It had been its shining promises, which made humans gather together all across Runeterra for the first time.

Fire was the bedrock of civilisation. And humans, those clever, little people, kept repeating their discovery of fire but they dressed it up in different clothes and names. One such name was the discovery one of his shrouds had made during its travel through the young port city Piltover. There, a group of scientists and inventors had discovered that Brackern crystals, when refined into blue gemstones, could be used to channel magic, even though you had no natural inclination for it yourself.

Fire.

Piltover had just discovered fire all over again!

The Arcane was not something easily controlled. Even though Nasus had filled his library with books and scrolls from decades long past about it and its wonders, he still felt like he had barely lapped at its surface. Thus the fact that those foolish mortals thought that by putting magic into blue balls, they could control and master it, was an insult and an intrigue all at once. Every new invention, which mankind had made, had let it advance further. Nasus would be a fool to not inspect this development himself.

Hence why, on this fine summer morning, a man of considerably tanned skin stepped out of a dark purple, square portal onto Piltover's busy streets. He had a slightly elongated face with thick eyebrows, governing a pair of watchful, dark, driven eyes and a moustache, which rivalled the trimness and cleanness of his short, black hair.

His puffy, teal trouser was half concealed by his tightly cut, auburn jacket. The wide sleeve ends and the billowing cloak's edge were decorated with a thick, golden line. Thinner gold lines framed the edges of his triangular collar. His golden and teal decorated sickle stuck in his pale blue belt. Golden bracelets of varying sizes jingled upon his wrists, rubbing against his bandages.

It was hard to say what caused more head turns: Nasus' elaborately decorative appearance or the two jackals wandering by his side. The Ascended was strutting calmly through Piltover's street and just through the air of confidence, he exuded, people left him alone. One of the jackals - the Shroud, which had made the discovery in the first place - sprinted ahead to locate the nearest library. For surely, these mortals had documented such a marvellous find somehow.

As Nasus strutted up the staircase to the local library, his Shrouds naturally shapeshifted themselves into sculptured dogs by the doorways, perfectly copying Piltover's style of marble, gold and copper. Even so, they could not completely hide their own stylisation - their faces looked more akin to what guarded Shurima's tombs.

Right as Nasus opened the library's doors to enter the place, he bodyslammed into somebody. Because the God warrior refused to budge, even upon this impact, someone else had to move. They did so by staggering backwards and almost dropping the book they were carrying. Only as said same book risked dropping, did Nasus extend one hand to catch the volume.

"Forgive me", he rumbled as he inspected the ruly looking, muscular girl with her stark green eyes, red jacket and magenta hair in front of him, handing her back the book, "I did not see you there."

@ferinehuntress

[tigerkirby215]

5e Seraphine, the Starry-Eyed Songstress build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Jennifer Wuestling. Made for Riot Games.)

I mean I’m going to have to build her eventually, right? Honestly Tasha’s Cauldron comes out tomorrow so I may as well take a bit of a cheat day and make a build for the new champ. I mean I still have to and pick out a bunch of spells so at least I’m doing that?

Samira build is going to come out sometime in the year 3587 lol.

GOALS

Lookin' for a song in everything I meet! - Seraphine is a stage performer, rallying the whole crowd into song to make it loud and proud!

You're all breathtaking! - Seraphine can unite everyone around her with shields and heals. COUGH SONA COUGH.

Sing it with me! - When the time comes Seraphine can bring the whole world closer together! Good thing she isn’t mute.

RACE

I would really love to do a funny joke and say that Seraphine is a Tiefling or an Orc or something but no: she’s a Human. I can’t even justify any of the Eberron races so we’ll just be going for good ol’ Variant Human.

As a human you can increase two ability scores of your choice: pump up your Charisma and Dexterity to keep fit and beautiful. You can also learn a skill of your choice and for hearing so strong you can hear the voices of a dying nation inside your special necklace take Perception proficiency. You can also take any language of your choice so I’d suggest one that fits with your group, or whichever one you think is Korean. Actually I think Seraphine sung in Chinese which also made people mad? Man Riot can’t stop making her controversial, huhn?

But of course the main appeal of Variant Human is the free feat at level 1. I think Alert is pretty good for mimicking super sensitive hearing. Along with a +5 bonus to initiative you can’t be surprised nor can you be snuck up on. Being able to hear everyone has its perks, huhn?

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - If you’re gonna get the crowd to adore you you’ve gotta look the part.

14; CONSTITUTION - I don’t care if Seraphine is a squishy midlane mage we simply don’t need anything else more. Feel free to swap this out with a different stat if you want better roleplay but worse health.

13; DEXTERITY - You need to be able to keep your balance on a moving platform as well as be able to dance along with the K/DA crew.

12; WISDOM - Seraphine’s big thing is being able to hear the emotions of everyone. Knowing what makes people tick is Insight, which is a Wisdom skill.

10; INTELLIGENCE - Seraphine is just your average, everyday girl. Ditzy and a little clueless.

8; STRENGTH - Seraphine can best be described as “petite.” Muscles in the chest hurt your nice soprano.

BACKGROUND

Now you may not know this but Seraphine is a singer, which is a type of Entertainer. As an Entertainer you get proficiency in Performance (obviously) and Acrobatics as well as a music instrument of your choice (Indie Seraphine plays guitar so grab a Lute) and a Disguise Kit, so maybe you can disguise the fact that you’re a copy of So...

Being the premier superstar of Piltover means that you get to tour around a lot By Popular Demand. You can perform in exchange for a place to stay, and doing so will get people to notice you! "Music helps you keep your head up."

(Artist unknown. Blame LoL Wiki. Artwork made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - BARD 1

YOU MAY BE SURPRISED TO HEAR THAT SERAPHINE IS A BARD. As a Bard you get proficiency in three skills as well as three instruments! Choose whatever instruments you want (you mostly sing, and the majority of magical instruments are Lutes anyways which you’re already proficient in) (my secret advice? Pan Flutes and Horns have a few magic instruments) but for your skills take Insight to hear the crowd, Persuasion to rally the crowd, and Arcana to learn why your magic crystal is screaming.

You also get Bardic Inspiration! Seraphine talks about being inspired so she can inspire others, and you can inspire your allies with a d6 to add to Attack Rolls, Saving Throws, and Skill Checks!

But of course Bards are spellcasters with Spellcasting too! You can learn two cantrips from the Bard list: Prestidigitation will let you get some special effects on stage and Vicious Mockery doesn’t have to be mockery... It would just be a lot cooler if it was.

You also learn four spells from the Bard list: Comprehend Languages will let you understand everyone’s song, and Faerie Fire will let you light up their life. On the more unnerving end Dissonant Whispers will let folk listen to your crystal, and Detect Magic will let you tell exactly what kind of magic you’re hearing. That’s weird: why is the Hextech crystal radiating Necromancy?

LEVEL 2 - BARD 2

Second level Bards are Jack of All Trades, being able to add half their proficiency bonus to any skill check. Because you see the rhythm in everything! Additionally you get Song of Rest, helping your friends take a break and recover more health during short rests.

But most importantly you get another spell! Another way to cheer someone up is to give them a good laugh, and Tasha’s Hideous Laughter will make them do just that! Maybe they’re laughing about the fact that Riot keeps insisting your not a copy of Sona? Oh don’t worry the jabs at Seraphine as a character are just gonna keep coming.

LEVEL 3 - BARD 3

Third level Bards get Expertise in two skills: choose Insight to hear the souls of both cities, and Performance because... yeah duh. You don’t become famous in a day.

But much more importantly you get your choice of Bard College, and for the rich and fabulous the College of Glamour will make sure everyone loves you! You can now officially captivate the whole audience (up to your Charisma modifier) with your Enthralling Performance, charming them and making them idolize you and defend you on Twitter. To both shield your allies and speed them up with Surround Sound Mantle of Inspiration takes a Bonus Action to give them Temporary Hitpoints and let them take a reaction to move out of danger. Yeah this was pretty much on a silver platter for me so I figured I’d take it.

You can also learn another spell and for an effective Beat Drop take Hold Person, rooting them in place for long enough that your ADC can do their magic.

LEVEL 4 - BARD 4

4th level comes with your first Ability Score Improvement. Charisma is pretty much everything for us now so pumping that up would be helpful!

You can also learn another spell and another cantrip! For your cantrip Dancing Lights will let you light up your stage and also pulls double duty by letting your dumb human eyes see in the dark. As for leveled spells Suggestion is a more direct form of emotional manipulation, suggesting actions for the other person to take. These actions can’t be directly harmful or against what the character would normally do, but “you should buy my $30 release skin” is a fairly ordinary request, right?

(Picture from Seraphine’s Twitter. Yup Seraphine is definitely real.)

LEVEL 5 - BARD 5

5th level Bards get Font of Inspiration, allowing their Bardic Inspiration to come back on a Short rest instead of a Long rest. This is great because your Bardic Inspiration die also increases to a d8, increasing your Mantle of Inspiration Temp HP too!

You can also learn third level spells but the keyword here is can because I’m actually going to stick at second to take spells like Calm Emotions. Man you’ll never guess what this spell does.

While Calm Emotions is a nice spell feel free to deviate from my builds as you see fit. Like seriously a temporary ceasefire is nice but so is a huge Fear cone.

LEVEL 6 - BARD 6

6th level Glamour Bards can make people dance like they have a magical instrument from Ionia. Mantle of Majesty lets you Concentrate on a not-spell once per Long Rest and get the ability to cast the Command actual-spell as a Bonus Action for one minute. Command lets you make one word commands at your enemy as long as they can understand you and you aren’t asking them to do something harmful to themselves. So commands like “Dance!” “Sing!” and “Cheer!” are all viable (though perhaps not effective in a teamfight.)

You can also add another spell to your spell list but again the third level Bard spells aren’t too enticing to me, so take Enthrall to make sure they concentrate on you and you alone.

Oh and you get Countercharm, letting you use an action to give allies against Frightening and Charming effects. Or they could buy some Tenacity. Or you could get a Paladin.

LEVEL 7 - BARD 7

7th level Bards get 4th level spells and Confusion will get the crowd mixed up in the noise, resulting in a cacophony that would sound like unbearable noise to most. Because it is unbearable noise. But at least your friends can fight them in the madness.

LEVEL 8 - BARD 8

8th level Bards get another Ability Score Improvement. Do you know what’s helpful for a class based entirely on Charisma? Maxed out Charisma!

You know what else is helpful? Charm Monster, so you can talk to any crystal scorpions that might be looking for their family. I mean, assuming the Brackern speak human.

(Picture from Seraphine’s Twitter. Yup Seraphine is definitely real.)

LEVEL 9 - BARD 9

9th level sees your Song of Rest increase to a d8. Does this ability scale really poorly? Yeah kinda.

At least you get 5th level spells now. If you want some high notes that’ll dance around you Animate Objects will let you make a bunch of tiny objects to hit your foes! Honestly at this point all the Enchantment spells become uhhh... evil? So we have to go for a different school if we want “good” spells.

LEVEL 10 - BARD 10

10th level Bards get Expertise in two more skills: Persuasion will help you shift the hearts of a nation. Take whatever skill you want as your secondary one since it honestly doesn’t matter too much. (I personally opted for Perception.)

But more importantly it’s Magical Secrets time! This will let you get any spell from any class’ spell list and add it to your own! Most of the time when you get this feature you want to grab some stuff at the max level you can cast but I’m actually going to go down to third level for some support and buffs! For a healing aura around you take Aura of Vitality from the Paladin spell list. To quickly charm a crowd Incite Greed will force everyone to be charmed by you as they want to see your 50 dollar Brackern Corpse... I mean Hextech crystal.

Along with your two Magical Secrets you also get another cantrip. Message is always good to keep plans in team chat.

LEVEL 11 - BARD 11

11th level Bards get 6th level spells like Otto's Irresistible Dance, which forces everyone to get into the rhythm! It’s much harder to fight when you’re dancing: it’s like being stunned! Good thing only you can force a stunning dance on enemies.

LEVEL 12 - BARD 12

12th level Bards get an Ability Score Improvement but now that your Charisma is maxed you can grab Inspiring Leader to rally everyone together for an awesome performance!

(Artist unknown. Blame LoL Wiki. Artwork made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 13 - BARD 13

13th level Bards see their Song of Rest increase to a d10, and this is the point where I make a joke about Song of Rest scaling poorly.

You at least get 7th level spells, and because none of these really fit Seraphine I’m going to suggest Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion for a K/DA stage. But again I need to remind people that I’m picking options for RP and you’re welcome to build the character however you want. Take what you think will be useful and make your own song!

LEVEL 14 - BARD 14

14th level Eloquence Bards have Unbreakable Majesty! As a Bonus Action you can put on your Ultimate Skin to force enemies to make Charisma saves if they try to attack you. If they fail, they’ll target someone else! This is a great way to keep the damage off you since you don’t exactly have great HP or AC. Do remember that it only lasts for a minute though, but you can get it back at the end of a Short or Long rest.

Additionally you get two more Magical Secrets! If you want to sing to enemies far and long (but maybe not Wide) Gravity Fissure is a Dunamancy spell that forces everyone in a line to take a massive amount of damage and be pulled to the center of the spell.

Now that you got your ultimate the world is honestly your oyster. My recommendation to get a crowd to put their hands up would be Chain Lightning, but that’s more because the spell is good than because it fits Sera.

LEVEL 15 - BARD 15

15th levels get their maximum Bardic Inspiration die of a d12! This also means that your Mantle of Inspiration will now give everyone 15 temporary hitpoints! "Harmonize!"

LoL Wiki doesn’t let me link to voice lines anymore and that’s a true crime.

And hey; 8th level spells! If you want to make some Gamers™ mad about your “cash grab” Twitter account just inflict them with Feeblemind so they can spam pictures of Skarner like the marketing department gets to choose what the champion designers make. Because remember: even if Seraphine isn’t real the people pretending to be her are, so don’t be an ass please!

LEVEL 16 - BARD 16

Who likes ASIs? We haven’t used our hyper-sensitive hearing enough so take the Observant feat for a +1 to Wisdom and a +5 to passive Perception and Investigation. And the ability to pick up on lyrics by reading people’s lips!

Are there more useful feats? Yeah, but we build for character here. If you want a powerbuild check out Reddit.

(Picture from Seraphine’s Twitter. Yup Seraphine is definitely real.)

LEVEL 17 - BARD 17

17th level Bards get to pretend that Song of Rest is a good ability! It’s a d12 now so I’m sure it’s useful now that your party all have around 100 HP!

But you finally get access to your mythical 9th level spells! Honestly all the options are great for a girl who has everything, but I’m going to go for the fun Music Video option of True Polymorph. Turn Akali into a dragon! Turn Evelynn into a demon! Turn Skarner into a battery! The possibilities are endless! (Unlike the #BrackernRights memes.)

LEVEL 18 - BARD 18

18th level Bards get their last two Magical Secrets. This is also the last two spells you’ll be getting so better make them count! Of course the best way to make a spell count is to Wish for anything. With this you can finally unite Piltover and Zaun, as long as you believe enough! Or you can bring back Skarner’s family...

For something a little more in-character and a lot more immediately practical: Mass Heal is the perfect Catch-22 to negate any burst. A burst of 700 HP to everyone is never not useful for a bit of Redemption.

LEVEL 19 - BARD 19

19th level Bards get their last Ability Score Improvement: we have an uneven Wisdom score thanks to our last Feat so eh. May as well take Resilient Wisdom for better saving throws and even scores.

LEVEL 20 - BARD 20

20th level Bards have Superior Inspiration! When you roll initiative and have no uses of Bardic Inspiration left, you regain one use. That is literally how the ability is worded. I mean, okaaaaay? At least you can spam Mantle of Inspiration a little more?

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Whole world hears me now! - You’re a full caster with no multiclassing! 9th level spells: no strings attached! You’ve even got a nice spread between Concentration spells and Non-Concentration spells, as well as both utility and combat spells.

Everyone fights to be heard; I'll fight to listen - Being a Bard means you’re good at just about everything, and particularly good at a select few things. 29 Passive Perception? +17 to Persuasion?

We've only just met and I'm already inspired - Who would’ve guessed that a Support class built to support well would be a good support? You’ve got charms, heals, and CC a plenty along with Inspiring Leader to bolster everyone before a battle and Mantle of Inspiration to keep everyone moving with the music!

CONS

Stage fright? Never heard of it - A lot of your BADDEST™ toys are locked behind big spell slots. You’ve only got two 6th level slots, and just one 9th level slot despite having three different 9th level spells to choose from. Again feel free to build your spell list however you want as I just picked what fit in character.

Pretend it's a big rehearsal - Your DEX is meh, your CON is meh. 140 HP isn’t godawful but it isn’t great when you’ll likely have 14 AC at best with Studded Leather. You know what’s really hot right now? Tattoos. See if your DM’s a cool dude who’ll pass you a Rare Barrier Tattoo from Tasha’s to essentially get Medium Armor! Elven Chain is also nice and pretty.

Joy's too quiet without sorrow on the downbeat - I don’t want to make two points related to your stats but they’re the only thing that’s really hurting in this build. Your only good stat is Charisma: and everything else ranges from meh (+2 in DEX / WIS / CON) to bad (0 in INT, -1 in STR.) While you’ll still be able to roleplay with Jack of All Trades skills your Saving Throws hurt. Your concentration is bad and anything heavy will break your petite spine in two. Luckily INT saves aren’t common but anything Strength or Constitution based will quickly put an end to your performance.

Uniting the world in song isn’t easy, but if anyone can do it it’s you. Harmonize, move with the rhythm, and unite everyone through song. There’s nothing you can’t do, and no one can bring you down down down down down down. Well, except perhaps an angry crystal scorpion monster and his army of Twitter followers.

(Artist unknown. Blame LoL Wiki. Artwork made for Riot Games.)

[dragonshoard]

powder finding more crystals and making more for her family so they don't feel jelly of hers. mylo however has to say "I'm a loud mouth asshole." before his agrees to work because they're all in cahoots and are still protective of powder.

[kittyt-hexxed]

Book Two of Hexed - The Fury of Zaun (Vi/POC!Reader) - Ch. 8

Next Upload Date: August 11th

Act 1: Chapter Eight - Let’s Get Down to Business

Warnings: Chemical Mind Control

Summary: It’s time to get the ball rolling on getting prepared for this war.

“And that’s why, Ms.Glasc, I believe you would benefit more from a contract with my company.” An old man with a beer gut sat in the chair across from Renata. You were lounging on the settee in her office as she does business. You showed up on one of her busy days, but you wanted this conversation to happen much sooner than planned. So, here you were all dolled up and laying underneath a blanket. Renata didn’t mind having you there as long as you didn’t interfere with any of her discussions.

The current one is bringing you great amusement. He spent the last hour speaking about his rival’s weaknesses as a company and gloating about his. He spoke nothing of how he could benefit Renata’s enterprise or why she could be a valuable asset to him. Not only that, but he seemed to be talking down to the woman. ‘Renata won’t take kindly to that. She doesn’t like being talked to like she doesn’t understand what’s being said.’

‘Renata reminds me of my mate. He was a very calculating Brackern that didn’t take kindly to humans speaking to him like he didn’t understand.’

‘What did he do to those humans?’ You tilt your head.

‘Killed them, of course, my child.’ Umbra scoffs.

‘I thought the Brackern were peaceful?’ Confusion forces you to pay more attention to her. ‘You and Iesura told me that your species is peaceful.’

‘Even peaceful creatures can resort to violence if necessary.’ You cover your mouth to stop a giggle from escaping. You enjoyed that your companions were constantly surprising you with new information. It made you happy that they decided to refrain from telling you everything.

“So, do we have a deal, Ms.Glasc?” The grubby voice of the man reaches your ears.

“Renata, you’re not seriously considering a deal with this man, are you?” You call from your position on the settee. The man whirls around so quickly that he almost falls out of his chair. Renata raises an eyebrow at you as her eyes settle on your form.

“How long have you been there, Miss?” The man sputters in surprise. You smile coyly and gracefully stand up from the couch. The blanket falls away to reveal your short dress and tall heels. You approach the desk, keeping a close eye on how the man stares at your legs as you walk.

“All day, Sir.” You chirp playfully and lean against the desk, “And I must say, you’re quite a horrid businessman.”

“I-I beg your pardon?” He spits.

“Respectfully, Sir. You wasted my associate’s time. She’s a very busy woman and doesn’t have time for meetings like this. You’ve been an excellent test subject though, so thank you for that.” You smile pleasantly.

“Please sign the deal and be on your way.” Renata’s voice sounds from behind you. The man picks up his pen and signs on the line before excusing himself and leaving the room. Your eyes flicker down to the document and you chuckle seeing that he signed for a 60-40 split of the profits.

“Hexxit.” Renata’s voice rumbles in warning. You turn to her with a sweet smile as she puts her pen down, “You interrupted.”

“You’re welcome.” You purr, “Now we can get to our business… What can you tell me about the Shimmer project?”

“My chemists have found the right distillation process to get rid of the side effects of the drug. Our test subjects show that it has lost its addictive nature but improved its healing factor. They had to reduce the impact it has on the receptors in the brain and stimulate other parts to counteract that.” Renata leans back in her chair, “The new variant of Shimmer is strictly a health potion and a stimulant like you requested.” You grin and give her a kiss on the cheek in thanks.

“I knew I could count on you.” You hum contentedly, “How soon can we distribute this to the people?”

“Give it one more week of testing and you can personally greenlight the distribution.” Renata motions for you to sit and you do, “Now, about you using my chemicals for your little group… You will owe me for this.” She says firmly.

“I thought I was going that by being a cute little guinea pig for you? This will be the first time it’s being used actively for chem-tech. Aren’t you curious as to how it’ll perform?” You lean closer to her to whisper, “Curious as to how deadly it can be?”

“I am aware of how deadly it can be.” Renata gives you a predatory smile, “I’ve tested it personally… but I am curious as to how it’ll work with your wing designs. Bring me extensive information on it, and consider it repaid… Although, I don’t need to warn you about the consequences should you fail?”

“My darling, Renata!” You gasp in fake surprise, “You would think to kill little ol’ me? How evil of you!” You cackle as Renata chuckles.

“Your attitude is a breath of fresh air from those stuffy nobles.” Renata says as she flips through her papers, “You will attend the Summer Gala with me.” She tells you. You hum and watch as her eyes roam the page in front of her.

“Prepare for the whispers and stares, then. My alternate identity in Piltover is not one to overlook.” You smirk. Renata looks up to you and it’s then you realize that she’s smirking.

“I’m counting on it, pet.”

~

“Knock, knock, girls!” You announce as you skip into the Roost. Boxes of stuff stamped with Silco’s symbol were littered around the area. At the center of it all is your group of friends sorting through the mess.

“Hiya, Hexxit!” Jinx chirps as she tosses a smoke bomb into a box. ‘Doing things with reckless abandon as always.’ You zero in on the blue-haired firecracker and give her the widest grin as your excitement floods through you. You and Ekko worked all night to finish the weapon, so you were running off of no sleep whatsoever.

“Today you all start your training. I heard Jinx has finished your weapons, so it’s perfect timing. I’m sure you’re all excited to test out your new weapons.” You bounce on the balls of your feet, “You’ll be starting off with just hand-to-hand, and once you get it down, then we’ll move to fighting with weapons.”

“Damn right, we are!” Auvern grins at you, “We’ve all got new weapons!” You notice that the smile on Jinx’s face drops slightly, but it only makes you more excited. You hear Ekko’s footsteps as he approaches from behind you.

“That’s right.” Ekko smirks as he stops beside you, “You’ve all got new weapons.” He exaggerates and you exchange a glance. Jinx’s frown only gets deeper and she shuffles her feet in a way that shows she’s feeling insecure.

“Hey, Jinx.” Ekko calls to her. Jinx looks over and gives the bag in his hands a curious glance, “Catch!” Ekko shouts as he tosses the bag to her. Her eyes widen as she nabs the bag from the air and opens it. Everyone watches in silence as she pulls out the folded gun. More confused looks are given to you and your brother.

“There’s a latch. Unhook it.” You say to her. Jinx studies the item in her hand before finding and pulling on the latch. Gasps echo around the room as the sniper rifle unfolds in her grasp. A squeal leaves Jinx’s lips as she goes starry-eyed over the weapon. It was completely redone with your personal metal, giving it a bluish-grey hue, along with being decorated in a Jinx-approved way. Where the Kiramman crest used to be on the stock is Jinx’s monkey bomb.

“Like I said.” You and your brother lean against each other with cocky grins, “You’ve all got new weapons. Do you know how hard it was to make it completely silent?” You joke. Jinx practically leaps out of her seat and runs over to hug you. You let out a grunt as she jumps and throws her arms around you two, knocking your heads together.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Jinx squeals in excitement.

“What are you going to name this one?” Sevika asks as she stands up. Jinx looks down at it and shrugs.

“We’ll see what it wants to be called!” Comes Jinx’s eccentric reply.

~

You sit on the banister and watch the group below you. Early in the week, you asked Sevika if she’d train the other girls so they’re prepared for combat. You had heard about Sevika’s harsh way of training when you had been doing sensual massages at the brothel. You’d be the one teaching the girls about the flight wings, so you wanted to have someone else do the other half. With Sevika doing it, it gave them more of a chance to bond and it gave Sevika some stress relief.

The crystalline dummies sparkle in the sunlight and seem so out of place. You didn’t want something that would break easily. The whole point of this training is to make sure they’re strong enough. Everyone is dressed in their mission outfits, weapons hidden on their person, and spread out on the field. You knew this was going to be a rough month but you knew they’d make it through.

“Training begins today, does it not?” You snap your head to the side in alarm. Janna’s sky-blue eyes meet yours as you stare at her in shock. You didn’t even sense her like you usually do! You blink and shake your head to force your thoughts to clear.

“Yes. Yes, it does.” You clear your throat. ‘This is the first time I’ve been surprised by someone in a while. It’s a bit… jarring. Was I too deep in thought?’

“Excellent! I’m curious as to how humans train each other. I’ve seen a few things in passing, but never in full. Befriending you has brought a lot of interesting things to my life.” The wind spirit giggles happily as she peers down at the group. You watch as Sevika says something and Fue rushes toward her. They fight for a few seconds before you watch as the little fox gets tossed into the lake. You laugh as Fue pouts and shakes out her hair. The others take a step back.

“I’ve entrusted them to Sevika for this section. She’s a formidable fighter in hand-to-hand combat and with weapons. I want them to be comfortable getting up close and personal.” You grin. Janna nods her head and you watch as Auvern rushes forward this time. She manages to hold out a few seconds longer than Fue before she finds herself in the lake.

“Are you sure they can hold out?” Janna tilts her head as Landon goes flying this time.

“I’m positive they can.” You say as Jinx manages to successfully land a blow on Sevika. You smile in amusement as she follows the other three as well.

“YOU’RE NOT EVEN TRYING!” Jinx screams in frustration as she squeezes the water out of her braids, “YOU PULLED THAT PUNCH!” You couldn’t hear Sevika’s response from up here but the silent groans from the girls spoke volumes. ‘I should sit on a closer bridge next time.’ You chuckle in amusement.

~

Your eyes flit back and forth as the girls work together to land hits on Sevika. You can tell that they’ve been practicing in their free time. They were still working on hand-to-hand combat, but you gave them permission to practice with their weapons in private. Thin crystal disks hang underneath the bridges so they could be used as target practice. Iesura coached you on how to make regenerating crystals. Apparently, it was an old ability that the Brackern used to fix their exoskeletons. It took a few days of constantly trying, but you managed to do it.

Sevika kicks Torx in the chest and she slams into Zara. You wince as they fall over and the others move in. ‘I might have to ask Scar to come help. Jinx has amazing flexibility and that assists her fighting like it does for me.’ You watch as Jinx tries to punch Sevika, but she keeps on blocking her. Jinx ducks under one of Sevika’s swings and moves closer to her making you frown. ‘She’s inside her range now. You don’t want to get that close unless you know the person’s next move.’ Your thoughts were confirmed as Jinx got headbutted and staggered backward.

“Wait, can you say that again?” You pause and glance back at Vi. She looks up from her push-ups and sighs as she stops.

“When you’re in a fight, don’t get within their range unless you know their patterns.” Vi stands up and gets into position. She slowly moves forward and extends her arm out, “Keep them at the edge of yours. Move in and out quickly, but never stay inside their reach for too long. It could mean life and death.”

You close your eyes as tears quickly gather. ‘Damn it.’ You curse and wipe the tears away. ‘I can’t even think about her without crying. It’s almost worse that she’s alive because she’s out of my reach from her own decisions.’ You glance down at your wrist and gently rub the tattoo. You found yourself doing that when you thought about her.

“Hexxit!” You look up at Jinx’s voice and see her waving at you. You raise an eyebrow and drop down onto the platform, before heading over to them.

“What’s up?” You tilt your head. Sevika shrugs and the next thing you know, everyone is rushing at you with their weapons. Your eyes widen as you sink into a fighting stance but a grin settles on your lips. ‘Poor choice, girls.’ You giggle to yourself.

It doesn’t take long for them to end up groaning in pain on the ground. You straighten up and cross your arms with a smirk, “Who thought that was a good idea?” You tease them.

“It was a group decision.” Zara groans, “A bad decision.”

“I didn’t know pressure points could hurt this much.” Fue whines as she tries to sit up.

“You’re a monster!” Jinx complains, “Now I understand why you always hold back in our fights. This wasn’t fun at all!”

“Agreed.” Sevika grumbles, rubbing her shoulder in hopes to get the feeling back.

“Agreed!” The other girls repeat making you laugh.

“This is why I asked Sevika to do it.” You put your hands on your hips, “You have a chance with her at least. I’ve trained for years, guys, and that was before I got my magic.” The girls start throwing swear words at you, cursing out whoever taught you how to fight, and complaining that it wasn’t fair. You shake your head with a fond smile. ‘If my uncle heard you saying that, you’d be leaving with welts from his wooden staff.’

“Straighten out your back!” You yelp and do as you were told before the staff could hit you. You felt the air across your back from where he stopped it and let out a sigh of relief. Another yelp leaves your lips as a stinging pain erupts from your arm. You jolt and grab the place he hit you, “You didn’t say go!” You accuse him.

“I warned you that I wouldn’t.” Professor Uley chuckles as he stops in front of you, “Remember, your enemies aren’t going to warn you. They’re going to attack when they think your guard is down. Never let it be down.”

~

“Warlord, General, Sir!” A feminine voice calls from behind him. He pauses his writing and places the pen down. He stands and turns to see his lieutenant waiting there in a traditional Noxian salute.

“At ease, lieutenant.” He chuckles and watches as she relaxes, “What information do you have for me?”

“Your messenger hawk has arrived and is circling the camp for you, General Pyre.”

“Ah, thank you. I was wondering when he’d return.” General Pyre nods in thanks. He glances over his report before heading for the entrance of the tent.

“Tell me, how is everyone settling? I know the jungle can be a dreary place.” General Pyre inquires.

“Morality is high, Sir. The troops are ecstatic to be out of Noxus and away from Swain’s reach.” She says with joy in her voice. General Pyre smiles as the edge of the aura around her turns a solid white.

“I’m glad to hear that morale is high, but we are not out of Swain’s reach. As long as we can see the sky, his ravens may find us.” General Pyre looks up at the sky to see his hawk circling. His vision flashes, briefly seeing himself from above, before it refocuses. A screech echoes through the air as his hawk dives down towards him. He extends his arm and the red-tailed hawk grasps onto his gauntlet.

“Sir, should you have told us about Swain’s ravens?” She clears her throat nervously, “Wouldn’t that put you in danger?”

“If it is a matter of life or death that can affect you, I will not hide it. Your lives are under my care. You swore yourselves to my House under your own volition. I will not allow your lives to be tampered with.” General Pyre says sternly but with an underlying tenderness not usually seen in a Warlord, “My life is constantly in danger and it has been that way before Swain. I am the only man who can rival him, but even he does not know this fact.” His hawk lets out a squawk and flaps its wings in agitation. He gives the bird an exasperated glance and it stares at him in return. With a sigh, he removes the rolled-up message and Spear Hunter takes off to rest.

“Impatient bird.” General Pyre mutters as he unrolls the message.

“What does it say, Sir?” His lieutenant gives him a questioning glance. The dangerous smile slowly spreading across his lips unnerves her.

“It looks like my niece has more surprises for me, just as I have for her.” General Pyre chuckles. The letter was quite a rich one with the hidden message of a coming war in Piltover-Zaun being instigated by her own hands. He couldn’t wait to return to the isthmus to see the young girl he had taken under his wing. They have much to talk about and he could finally share his secret with her and her younger brother. Y/n had truly become his niece in every way but blood, and he didn’t want to lose either of them.

~

One by one, each girl manages to hold their own against Sevika. They were improving fast with the rough training you’ve been putting them through. You requested that Scar come help with training and ended up with the whole crew instead. It was hilarious watching Heather and Scar dance circles around them without breaking a sweat. Every day consisted of flexibility stretches, stamina runs, and hand-to-hand combat. All you were waiting for was Sevika’s approval and they’d be moving to proper weapon training. It’s been three weeks since they started and you’ve been doing your own practices. Ekko has been coming by every morning to continue practicing together and today is the day you’re going to show off your mechanical wings.

Standing atop the cliff, you turn to see Ekko clearing the edge and dropping down from his hoverboard.

“Hey, little brother!” You grin and give him a fist bump.

“Hey, big sis!” Ekko grins back as he docks his hoverboard, “So, why are we up this high? Usually, we practice much lower.”

“I made my own device to fly around.” You wink at him, “And I want to show it off to you.”

“Sweet! Where is it?” Ekko glances around and gives you a confused look when he doesn’t see anything. You give him a mischievous smile and turn your back to him. The wind blows the metal cape and you feel the device on your back get slightly heavier. You hear Ekko gasp as the vibrations of its opening and spreading apart ripple across your back. There’s a sudden sense in your mind that tells you it’s ready to go.

“Holy shit!” Ekko shouts. You giggle and glance back at your brother who’s staring at you like you blew up the sun.

“I created the metal for it!” You rush out in excitement. You start babbling about how you made it to him. Ekko listens to you speak with laser-focused attention, only interrupting you to ask more questions. You detail the process of figuring out the metal, playing with the design, and the painful process of making the dream a reality.

“After you show me, I want to try! Please, please, please, please, pleeassee?!” Ekko begs and you giggle as you’re reminded of when you woke up.

A low humming caught your attention and you look up to see a person fly right past you with a wave. The green streaks that you had seen were a product of the board they’re on! Your jaw drops as they cruise up to one of the platforms on the tree.

“Ekko…” You gasp out, “What was that, and how do I get one?!” You grab your brother by the shoulders and shake him, “How do I get one?!” Ekko just laughs.

“You can have one of your own, silly.” You punch his shoulder playfully, “Now, watch this!” You squeal and take off from the ground. The wind whips at your face as you circle around Ekko who has the widest grin. Reading your thoughts, the thrusters flare and you spin faster, shooting up into the air before diving over the cliff’s edge. You let the feeling take over you as you spin and dance through the air. You’ve been practicing extensively at night with Janna and you got the hang of it. You hear Ekko’s cheering and land with a slightly breathless laugh.

“Oh, it’s soooo my turn!” Ekko shouts as he runs to you. You pull his set of wings out of a rift and motion for him to turn around. He eagerly spins around and you remove his hoverboard before fitting the wings onto his jacket. You grab the receiver and press it to his temple, the little crystalline object glittering like an earring.

“So, let me explain how to use it. The little receiver will pick up the thoughts that are specifically for the wings. They’ll function like regular wings with a few extra additions.” You pull one of your wings forward, “The edges of the feathers are blades, so when they pivot a specific way, they can be used as a weapon.” You demonstrate by brushing your finger along the edge and showing it to him.

“Woah, has your blood always looked like that?” Ekko leans closer in interest.

“No, it was redder than this, but after I absorbed those crystals it got darker.” You wipe the drop of blood away with a shrug, “It’s something I’m still studying.”

“Now, go ahead and give it a try.” You step out of his way, “Janna is on standby to catch you if anything goes wrong, and I’ll be there as well.”

“Promise?” Ekko gives you a nervous smile.

“I promise, little brother.” You nudge him affectionately, “Now, let us take a dive!” You cheer and throw yourself off of the cliff once more.

“SISSSYYYY!” Ekko screams after you, “WAAAAIT!” You giggle to yourself when you see him come falling over the edge. You watch as he tries to orient himself before a gust of wind zips past you to catch him. You follow the wind to him and correct his shoulders.

“You want to use your shoulder muscles. Pretend like the wings are really yours. Flex the muscles here and here, and it’ll work with you.” You point out the areas and pull back from him.

“You could have told me that before I tossed myself off a cliff.” Ekko says dryly. You give him an innocent smile.

“I forgot.” You chuckle nervously, “Besides, Janna is here to assist us as I said.” You can feel her presence in the air and curiously wonder why she hasn’t appeared.

“Right.” Ekko nods to himself, “I can do this. I built a hoverboard and learned how to fly it. I can do this easily.” He tries to hype himself up and it makes you smile. Without warning, Ekko’s wings shift and he goes zipping upwards in a sloppy spiral. You monitor his movements, catching him when necessary or softly requesting that Janna slow him down when he goes too fast.

The wind spirit still hasn’t shown herself, but you didn’t want to mention it yet. Something told you that she was doing it for a reason.

Slowly, the three of you make your way closer to the ground. Ekko was rapidly learning how to control his wings. He copies your movements, getting a feel for the controls, and watching him do that brings you joy. For a while, Ekko was the one taking care of you. Now, you’re able to take care of him like you should’ve been doing.

“Hey, Kiko? Why don’t I make curry tonight and you stay over? It’s been a while since we’ve been able to have a warm meal together.” You glide closer to him as you clear the treetop.

“Eggplant curry?” Ekko gives you a hopeful look.

“No, mom’s fish curry.” You say seriously.

“WHAAAAT?!” Ekko shrieks and it stretches out from him dropping unintentionally, “No! No, no, no! Please don’t make mom’s fish curry! I still can’t forget the taste!” Ekko gags. You follow him down as you laugh hysterically.

“Oh, my Gods! Your reaction was better than I thought it would be!” You laugh harder, “No, I’m not making mom’s fish curry.” You wipe away the tears that gathered in your eyes.

“Oh thank the Gods!” Ekko shouts in relief, “I thought I was going to have to create an excuse to leave.” He chuckles weakly. The sounds of fighting from below you are barely reaching your ears at this point.

“No, I hated that dish too. I’m glad it’ll never be on our table again.” You sigh while slowly spinning in a circle with him, “I’m making eggplant curry. If we have basil at the Firelight base, I’ll put some in there too.”

“FUCKING TAP OUT ALREADY, DAMN IT!” Landon’s screaming reaches up to you three, making you glance down. You were close enough to the ground where you can see them clearly fighting. Landon was being led around by Fue who kept evading her attacks.

“Hey, Sis.” Ekko grabs your attention, “From this height, how long do you think it would be until I needed to stop to avoid hitting the ground?” You tilt your head and look back down.

“Uum…” Your mind races to calculate the answer, “At top speed, without Janna’s propulsion? 10 seconds.” You turn to him questioningly, “Why?” Ekko flashes you a mischievous grin.

“SEE YOU AT THE BOTTOM!” Ekko screams as he takes off. Panic rushes through you at the action.

“EKKO!” You scream after him, hurriedly following him as your heart pounds in your chest. ‘Janna, if you can hear me, please catch him before he can hurt himself!’ You watch as Ekko breaks roughly, his feet hitting the ground hard and forcing him to stumble. A worried shout leaves your lips as he loses his balance. You break, feet hitting the ground as Janna appears in front of him just in time to catch him.

“Are you alright, gentle whirlwind?” Janna questions Ekko as he stands back up. She backs away slightly, hands nervously smoothing out her dress as she does.

“I-I’m fine. I underestimated myself there.” Ekko laughs nervously, a blush on his face as he glances at you.

“You must be careful. Your sister nearly fell out of the sky when you did so.” Janna scolds him. Ekko blinks in shock but lets out a yelp when you tug his ear.

“Siiiis!” He whines as you hug him.

“You really are my brother.” You sigh as you let him go, “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“You did the same to me four years ago.” Ekko crosses his arms, “I’m just returning the favor.”

“What was THAAT?!” Torx shouts in surprise, making the three of you turn to the group. Shocked and surprised facial expressions greet you causing you to pause. You glance at Ekko who shrugs as Janna lets out a squeak and vanishes. ‘Oh… she’s shy.’ You giggle to yourself. ‘I’ll have to talk to her about it.’

“I told you there was going to be another way to get around!” You grin at them, spinning to show off the wings, “Who wants to try it out?”

[the-glorious-evolution-fanart]

I feel like it’s unfortunate that blitzcrank is so incompatible with arcane viktor’s storyline at this point cuz he’s a funky lil robot and deserves recognition. I think blitz played a pretty big part in why viktor became the machine herald in the first place while arcane viktor is augmenting for a completely different reason

You are quite right! Blitzcrank played a significant role in Viktor's original trajectory for many reasons.

Blitzcrank was not just a splendid scientific achievement. No, he was (yes he, a robot with autonomy can choose pronouns. Should I go into detail how Riot forcing non-binary gender onto a robot is counter-productive? The point should be to show that non-binary folks are also human. And that gender isn't tied to physical body, so even a machine could be called He);

He was a sentient artificial creation, capable of taking care of himself. The students created a being out of non-living matter using code. It's not just discovering a new element or building a car. This was transcendent.

Blitzcrank's behaviour can in bits actually tells us something about his creators. He picked up mannerisms or interests from the people he developed alongside. "A rolling golem gathers no rust". Maybe I'm reaching, but assuming we are allowed to take all text and interpret it plainly without investigating author intent - this sentence hides a type of sadness where the person is forcing themselves to just keep moving. Depression.

Blitzcrank knows good jokes. Blitzcrank was interested in creating a dating service. Blitzcrank was granted personal autonomy by the council of Zaun backed by overwhelming public support. Blitzcrank is loved.

Viktor was shoved to the side during the theft and he was not just left without accomplishment, he was denied to be part of this historical achievement. His story was about theft of intellectual property and it explored how it can have devastating effect on a person. It doesn't matter that a meteor hitting the planet makes for a more tragic story - it's not the point to keep changing the story in search of more and more tragic plots (like Riot did).

~

In new Universe lore, losing Blitzcrank means very little to Viktor. To the point that their connection exists there just to justify why Blitzcrank exists. It also portrays Blitzcrank as incapable and causing a mess despite his good intentions for whatever reason. (I guess Riot's writers thought a robot would be a good representation for autism.) Not just that, but he was created by placing an already sentient Brackern crystal into a repaired chassis. I have nothing else to add here, I hope it's clear to readers why new lore is bad.

Arcane lore... let's just say shoving Blitzcrank's massive impact would probably overcrowd the complex story even more. Maybe he will be created by the Machine Herald as an after-thought, as a helper or something. In Arcane Viktor augments himself because he's forced to by his illness. Arcane Viktor is not... Viktor...

[steelandscience]

I think those are the brackerns trying to comunicate with him

(Sent in response to)

so are we ever gonna talk about Viktor’s visions and wtf THAT was or are we just gonna leave that one alone

Okay so I had to look this up because I’m still trying to learn League Lore. but holy SHIT. Thank you!

The question originally came up because I couldn’t quite figure out why they made such a big deal about the visions. On my first watch through, the visions seemed to be just another way to say that Viktor is smart and to liken him to Tesla in a way, but they seem... too intentional for that, and this show doesn’t exactly seem to include a single frame without a lot of thought behind it. On top of that, Jayce-- whatever you think of his character-- is also a genius. So why would Viktor have visions and not Jayce? Is it just an emotional way to show that Jayce is getting distracted while Viktor is falling deeper into their research? (maybe that’s a possibility, too).

But the idea that brackerns-- the celestial beings inside the namestones, or the true hex crystals-- are trying to communicate with Viktor through the visions is super cool. I can’t decide if it is more plausible, more satisfying to the depth of the story, or both, but I could totally see his visions being a result of his newfound proximity to the hex core, as they start to happen as he begins to say things like “hextech can learn” and as he starts to dive into the way that mages may use it.  

I also think there’s some very interesting implications in the fact that hextech is actually powered by magical beings / godlike things, and not just some type of magic energy like how we would think of electricity (maybe that’s obvious if you know the lore but oh my god my mind is spinning).

Anyway I have a lot of thoughts now on what this could mean for Viktor so I’ll put them under here because this analysis got a little out of hand. Essentially...

Viktor is a mage, even though he was not born one

Viktor is a mage in Piltover

Viktor is a mage who (eventually) goes by the Machine Herald, with a corresponding ethos that doesn’t quite seem congruent with the use of magic

Hex core and brackerns could protect Viktor if they brought him into their little communication web

VIKTOR AS A MAGE

The first important thing I think here is that this almost certainly means that Viktor is becoming or has already become a mage himself, as he is in the game (which actually shocked me when I first found out because it just... didn’t fit right in my mind). @arcane-temp-fandomblog has some wonderful posts analyzing the hex core itself and how it bonds with people, but I’m really interested in what this means for Viktor himself.

This is a man who has dedicated his life to science and invention, and a man who later dedicates his own body to the exploration of technology and metallurgy. And yet… now he has the ability to wield magic.

I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive— science OR magic instead of and— and I actually think they’re quite intertwined for both Jayce and Viktor in the very nature of working with hextech. But there is something that feels incredibly different about investigating Magic’s practical use in the every day, seeing if you can essentially use it as a renewable energy resource, and… bonding with magic in a personal and very singular way.

The general populous of Piltover and Zaun do not have that connection to magic: the ability to wield it and shape it to their will. Jayce himself isn’t bonded to the hex core or to any of the crystals, and he is who they know of as the inventor of hextech.

It’s just Viktor.

On one hand, as a character, I’m very excited for him… this is a man who loves discovery and invention, who craves exploration of knowledge even at his own detriment. And we already know that that passion burns so deep within him that he is willing to break the rules in the pursuit of knowledge at every turn.

And now he has the ability to explore something completely new, to create tools and shape magic to do anything he can imagine, which must be the most incredible, heart stopping gift to give someone who loves discovery. An entire world has just opened up for him to explore, and if everything were chill in the world, I think that this is possibly the best thing that could every happen for Viktor. (My little academia loving heart just adores him omg)

However… he is now a mage in a society that hates magic.

Sure, they now accept hextech. But it’s branded very distinctly as technology, and I’m genuinely not sure how much the citizens of Piltover or Zaun think it is intertwined with magic? (I would assume it’s talked about a little bit as it does enable literal teleportation lol. If anyone knows, lmk). It also seems that the refined hex crystals are no longer magical, but are genuine tech created by Jayce and Viktor in Arcane, and the Ferros Clan in lore. From the brackern wiki page:

Piltovan scientist have created synthetic hex crystals as an alternative power source for hextech devices. It is unclear if this was done to prevent the wide exploitation of Brackern namestones, or as a result of the namestones being a finite and a difficult to gather resource.

So it seems that the majority of hextech used is not powered by the truly magical brackern namestones, or the unstable crystals we see in Act 1, even though they are sort of marketed as “magic meets science in the new frontier” or whatever. But, as I said, there is something that feels distinctly different about the crystals and tech that are manufactured in a lab to be used in ship engines and hex gates, compared to the overtly organic thing that hex core seems to be.

And once again, hextech is bonded to no one, so it doesn’t feel as innately personal as Viktor being an actual mage who can wield and shape the power of a namestone.

I think that maybe Viktor’s new status may play into his exile in Arcane?

It also feels like something that has the possibility to tear at Viktor’s priorities a little bit. Right now, and for the last seven years, Viktor has focused on hextech knowing that it had to do with magic, and he now has a much larger field to personally explore and experiment with in a way he never has before. Essentially, he has the opportunity to dive headfirst into magic and nothing else. But he becomes the Machine Herald. Every voice line he has is about welcoming in steel and technology, and how much better it is than the organic— which the hex core kind of fits imo. I know Arcane could simply be altering or retconning this, but if we go under the assumption that they are not right now, that means that Viktor either rejects his newfound ability to genuinely create and shape magic, or he lies about it.

Both are incredibly interesting to me.

MACHINE HERALD MAGE

On one hand, the Machine Herald could be created partly by magic (or the Void, or whatever the brackerns represent). It makes “Machine Herald” a bit of a misnomer, but it would make sense with the transformations we already see in the show. Perhaps he continues to use magic to augment himself, whether through the power of the hex core, some other manifestation of his newfound mage abilities, or through other means. For other people to join him his Glorious Evolution in this case, he would have to figure out how to use magic to augment other people as well.

Perhaps calling himself the Machine Herald, or even just allowing others to call him that, is simply a form of self defense or plausible deniability for Viktor in a world where no one should be using magic like this— his augmentations from the hex core certainly look to be made of metal, so perhaps he says he constructed them with metal when that isn’t quite the case. I think this theory feels a little disingenuous to Viktor’s intelligence, however, and actively choosing augmentation is pretty important to his character in lore, so I don’t know that this would be a likely case.

The last option I see is him trying to remove, alter, or perfect the hex core augmentations mechanically, moving him closer to the Machine Herald in lore. I could see him doing this out of guilt from what happened to Sky, as he already wants to destroy the hex core, so I don’t think loathing of the augmentations it created are that far off. Personally, I think this is the most likely theory, but I am interested to see how his becoming a mage and the possible communications with the brackerns affect his transition into steel augmentation. Perhaps it simply helps him gain better knowledge on how to create superior augmentations? The brackerns did give him visions that helped his research even before his blood touched the hex core.

I also think there is some fantastic inspiration in this for Viktor desperately trying to rid himself of the limbs that killed Sky

CONNECTED TO BRACKERNS / THE HEX CORE

I’m sure I am not the first to speculate this, but I think this is further support for the theory that the hex core could help protect Viktor in the explosion following Episode 9. 

Again, on the brackern wiki, it says:

Through their namestones, the Brackern posses a hive mind connection with each other, being able to sense each other from long distances. Skarner himself was able to sense the cries of the namestones from as far as Piltover.

And of course in the show we see that Viktor is unable to harm or destroy the hex core after he has bonded with it, indicating that the hex core certainly has some self-preservation tendencies, and that Viktor himself may have bonded enough with the hex core or the brackern that was attached (?) to that namestone in order to connect himself with the brackern hive mind.

The theory that mages could bond with the namestones is either well known enough or discoverable enough that twenty-something Jayce made note of it long before the events of Act 1. In his journal:

I have collected several theories I've discovered on my journeys on how the power of the Arcane might be harnessed: Crystals form bonds with a sole user - their power is channeled though it

- Can a device be created to manufacture such a connection? - What determines the bond?

Of course, we know that while Jayce and Viktor were successful in creating a loose bond strong enough to discover how the hex crystals work and turn it into marketable and recreatable tech, Viktor was the only one who actually made that unique bond with a crystal-- through his blood.

Because this particular bond is unique, I think it is possible that Viktor has connected to the brackerns / the namestones in a way we have not seen yet.

With their hive mind and their instinct for self preservation, I think it is even more plausible that this is what saves Viktor in the Council explosion.

Whether it saves anyone else... that is up for debate.

[sir-adamus]

wait Jayce's journal says he took a year out to go to Shurima to acquire the hex crystals?

so he either directly benefitted from (or worse, actively participated in) the mass genocide of the Brackern

yeah i was right, Jayce can fuck himself

[kenyizsuartblog]

Skarner's full regalia (+chibi)

Despite being the very first Yun Tal and father of the Ground Axioms, ironically Skarner could never don the magical garments all other Yun Tal could - the brackern's mind seemed incompatible with the Vidalion and the artifact could not weave anything out of his magic.

So the people took it upon themselves to weave a headdress worthy of their eternal protector, featuring colors that mimicked the Yun Tal garments as close as possible, and lines of precious gold that resembled the Axiom patterns of Ixtali magic.

Creating this giant gift and then putting it on the equally massive head of the brackern was no easy task... but the Yun Tal aren't called elemental masters for nothing. Their protector's gratitude was well worth it.

----

LoL Train ain't stopping yet, boys!!

Although I will absolutely throw every ounce of my energy into finally finishing the Diablo fancomic in time, and will probably only upload small sketches on the side until it is done, Skarner and Runeterra in general continues to dominate my interest without fail. I have a lot of ideas for this amazing bastard, and I hope I can put as many as I can into drawn (and maybe written?) form.

We might just have another Solar Demigod Doc Ock situation on our hands here, cupcakes.

I must confess I'm so damn sad that I can't share my obsession and headcanon ideas with others about this scorpion. Man, I see so much potential in his story, his past, his justifiable fears and paranoia, and how he could become a more positive character... and immediately he gets labelled "evil boomer" by almost everyone else and that's the end of the discussion. :( I can understand OG Skarner mains, they have the right to mourn the loss of their purple crystal scorpion. But even those who had no emotional connection to his original design just brush him off.

I feel like people don't really put effort into putting themselves into characters' shoes anymore. I sure damn hope I am wrong about that, tho, because if I am not.... oh man, that is some sad state of the world.

I know right now Riot is going through yet another "lore allergy" phase in their existence, but come on guys. Can we give Skarner a chance?

No?

"Evil boomer" it is?

... Yeah, f that, not in this house! The Primordial Sovereign may rise yet!

2024.05.25.

[leagueoflegends-confessions]

As someone who is a racial and cultural minority, Seraphine makes me really angry and uncomfortable. People arguing that she's ignorant about her crystal and that the Brackern is voluntarily helping her: You know she's isolating and emotionally/spiritually abusing it, and that's Stockholm syndrome, right? It would be better if they just said she was a sociopath, because at least it would acknowledge that what she's doing isn't okay.

[sheriff-caitlyn]

.

//Just some thoughts on Seraphine, starting with some of my friends’ reactions on her being release (because technically I don’t go here anymore).

//Let’s start off with one of my fave Ahri’s responses:

//I mean, *chef’s kiss*, a member of a celebrity company apologising and taking responsibility for mistakes but moving forward, while distancing themselves from the Problem? Good. Very good.

//It was at this point I realised Seraphine had been released to be Piltovian and my brain flatlined for a moment. I can see Riot wanted to make a Lucio Overwatch but there is a significant layer of context that is missing in order to make that possible, let alone believable. What’s she going to do, give Camilla a Pepsi and suddenly Piltover and Zaun are at peace?

//Girl you have released ONE album and it is BECAUSE of Ahri that you’re even here. She’s got lines for all the KDA members that seem undercut with smugness, too. And hey, doesn’t it seem weird that Seraphine throws so much shade...

//... ala Mean Girls, when she’s supposed to be this sugar-sweet hard-working uwu type? See back to my post from Vi, there; seems like Seraphine isn’t as sweet as her stage persona, and now that she’s getting attention a lot more of that two-faced bitchiness is going to come out. The kind of ‘I got here so now I can do what I want’ attitude is tired and irritating and I’m sick of seeing this being the only way that media portrays Complicated Female Characters.

//And on related note, I know there’s been so many retcons and redoing of lore but if she’s using brackern crystals for her own personal gain...? Well, this [x] source quoting a facebook group got it right, all the way back in September:

//‘We’ll sing their elegy’ is such a milquetoast thing to say, and feels to me somewhere along the lines of ‘if you work hard you can make it in this world, just like I did when my dad let me work for his company and my mother loaned me thirty-five grand to get started’. Hypocritical, at the very least.

//Jokes about her slaughtering an endangered species for fame and power aside... she had the potential to be interesting. But now she’s out she’s honestly nothing except more ways for Riot Games to make $40 a pop. Kudos to anyone trying to RP her but I really don’t see how she fits in as a ‘champion’ when she has nothing to commend her to that title. She’s just a girl who lied and stole her way to stardom with a goal that is so fluffy, and so fake-woke, it cannot possibly be taken seriously. I don’t see that as worthy of being considered a ‘Legend’. She’s just a girl, guys. Just a girl.

//Anyway I’m sorry that the Drawing On Twitter has anxiety but she’s more problematic than fave, and is a reflection of her company as a whole: demanding attention while doing nothing new, kind, involved, or interesting.

//Oh and one more thing, while we’re at it...

//Cute. A twitter account for a champion? Wonder where they got the idea for that? 

//I mean I started here before I made a twitter account for her but anyway. (I see you, Skyen, and I’m not pleased to be lumped in with that particular generalisation).

[rilive]

so if im understanding this right: hextech crystals are actually skar.ner’s people which means ori’s energy/life is some poor brackern who’s been repurposed and is now left screaming for eternity---??????

[etoilae]

Does your version of seraphine speak out about the mistreatment and abuse of the brackern and their crystals? Or does she just not realize exactly whats happening? Just curious based off your last post and I hope I did not come off as rude.

no   ,      it’s   not   .         it’s   a   legitimate   question   .         however   ,      i   do   want   people   to   understand   ,      seraphine   is   a   young   adult   .         probably   around   20   years   old   .         the   only   legitimacy   in   piltover   and   zaun   that   she   has   is   that   she’s   their   idol   .         she   has   no   scientific   backing   nor   political   footing

i   will   give   piltover   and   zaun   the   grounds   that   they   likely   don’t   know   the   cost   of   their   hex   crystals   ,      or   what   a   brackern   namestone   is   .         there’s   a   chance   ,      since   the   brackern   aren’t   publicly   known   or   researched   in   either   region   ,      no   one   has   any   idea   that   the   namestones   kill   the   brackern   from   which   they   were   taken   ,      especially   since   they   were   stolen   from   their   sleeping   bodies   .         a   horrendous   act   ,      but   again   ,      likely   ignorant

piltover   ,      especially   ,      is   a   place   that   prioritises   logic   and   technological   advancement   .         there   is   no   way   that   seraphine   would   be   taken   legitimately   if   she   spoke   out   saying   that   she   could   hear   the   voices   of   brackern   souls   within   the   crystals   .         she’d   likely   be   taken   as   crazy   .         if   she   was   in   ionia   ,      a   place   which   values   spirituality   and   magic   ,      there   is   a   larger   chance   she’d   be   listened   to

but   this   isn’t   saying   that   she   ,    at   least   in   regards   to   my   version   ,      never   will   .         seraphine   JUST   had   her   lore   released   .         there   are   so   many   avenues   she   could   explore   in   the   future   ,      such   as   the   nature   of   the   hex   crystals   .         but   as   it   stands   now   ,      my   seraphine   doesn’t   believe   she   can   speak   out   ,      which   is   why   she   sings   for   them   instead   ,      and   the   brackern   in   the   namestones   don’t   seem   to   resent   her   for   it   ,      at   least   not   the   majority

i   believe   champion   initial   lore   shouldn’t   explain   everything   that’s   going   to   happen   with   the   character   ,      as   it   is   just   a   footing   to   explain   the   background   of   a   character   to   the   point   we   know   them   .         no   character   in   league   is   fully   rounded   ,      their   background   carries   up   to   to   present   day   and   provides   a   chance   for   them   to   be   explored   in   future   animations   and   stories   ,      some   more   than   others

so   expecting   her   to   construct   a   plan   against   brackern   crystal   use   at   this   point   isn’t   really   giving   her   a   chance   to   grow   .         her   main   focus   at   the   moment   ,      something   she   thinks   she   can   achieve   with   her   abilities   ,         is   unity   .         she’s   not   going   to   have   everything   figured   out   ,      but   her   background   paints   it   as   an   issue   she   could   explore   ,      something   that   may   be   brought   up   in   the   future      (   at   least   for   me   it   is   )   .         we   could   have   interactions   with   jayce   ,      someone   else   who   heard   the   crystals   sing   ,      or   heimerdinger   ,      a   yordle   who   is   revered   within   piltover   .         these   champions   could   provide   a   chance   for   seraphine   to   make   things   better   ,      and   i’m   hoping   the   lack   of   interactions   she   has   with   them   right   now   shows   that   she   hasn’t   yet   had   a   chance   to   speak   with   them

but   as   for   her   using   the   hex   crystals   .         she   kinda   has   to   if   she   wants   to   succeed   at   her   goal   .         like   how   we   ,      despite   knowing   the   effects   of   global   warming   ,      still   use   fossil   fuels   .         this   isn’t   going   to   be   an   easy   change   ,      especially   since   both   regions   have   been   using   this   source   of   energy   for   a   while   .         but   it   doesn’t   mean   they’re   right   and   it   doesn’t   mean   seraphine   doesn’t   feel   guilty   about   using   their   stones

singing   for   them   is   the   solution   she   has   right   now   .         singing   their   song   for   them   is   the   best   thing   she   can   do   right   now

[noxianhand]

Throws your own Jayce at you in your verse of choice because I'm an enabler and want Darius to kiss the jerkass.

first five six get a kiss from mountain mannot accepting.

THERE ARE MANY WORDS darius would choose to describe the infamous hero of piltover and most of them were hardly flattering, his prejudice towards the citizens of the city of progress something he was hardly ashamed of. surely they had their merits and their science could be a valuable asset, but people who let themselves be ruled by oligarchy hardly deserved his respect. he stayed his tongue only for the sake of diplomacy, for the greatest part of it.

still, now and then, the newly appointed diplomatic envoy of piltover would try to make conversation and as the might of noxus was coming to notice, sometimes alcohol would make him border the line of flirtatious, though any advances of his were subtle enough most would merely think him casually gallant. much to his chagrin, however, darius isn’t among most, and he notices how those eyes linger on him at every other turn. as another bit of talk runs its course in a more reserved side of a gala, he decides for simple and straightforward challenge.

as the younger man goes on and off about techmaturgy, something of schematas and brackern crystals, the hand decides he’s had enough of his nonsense. one firm gauntleted hand coming to chiseled jaw, grasping at it rather unceremoniously, he seems to cut off whatever train of thought that had been on-going as blue eyes widen almost comically — to the point it elicits a snicker from the noxian. he sees words forming in jayce’s mouth by the way his expression contorts into indignation, the very way he tries to pry away from his iron-like grasp, but before he can speak or move away fully, he’s silenced by rough lips upon his own, an exclamation of surprise dying at the back of the younger man’s throat.

it’s less of a kiss and more of a display of dominance, crude as it is in its effective and wordless attempt to silence and challenge. one gloved hand comes to his pauldron, turns into a fist against the spikes before another simply shoves darius away with far more strength than expected. as the older of the two puts some distance between them, he sees the scowl twisting jayce’s face and can’t help a self-satisfied smirk. something about ruffling the feathers of such a picture-perfect ruse like the defender amused him, something about cracking at his charade tickled his fancy.

not enough that he’d go enough further, this already being enough of an overstep. it’s worth it if the daggers jayce glares at him right then are any sign.wiping at his mouth with narrowed eyes, the piltovan breaks the silence:

“you are every bit the brute they say you are, huh?”

“and it seems not even that can keep you shut for long. a shame, truly.”