So I think most of us are aware of the current lore issue to some degree: not enough of it is in the client. The new Quinn journals and Zac previews were nice, but these have the problem of not being in the client itself and therefore don't reach the players who don't visit the forums. At first I entertained the idea of a 3D client that allowed players to wander around the Institute itself and had commands to immediately que for games or go to the shop, view profile, etc. to keep it convenient for the players, but that seemed like too much work and probably wouldn’t be implemented in the end. I tried to come up with a way to put more information in the champion window itself, which probably gets the most hits in the way of views and readers.

And then I thought, what if instead of the single page of bio we get right now, the Lore/Information tab on the champion window contained a "file" on the champion, compiled by summoners, for the eyes of other summoners and employees of the League.

There are all sorts of cool little facts you can drop about the champions in the file that help bring the character to life for the players. Like height. I'd love to know how tall Twisted Fate is for example, given how tall and lanky he looks in-game. Is he taller than Graves? Is he taller than me? How does he measure up when compared to the other human champions? What about likes and dislikes? What quirky little details about our favorite champions are just waiting for us to uncover in that file? Things like hobbies, likes/dislikes, favorite foods/drinks, what they prefer when it comes to gifts of thanks or bribes...

And the lore reason for these files existing? Well, when you're trying to bargain with or ask a favor of someone, isn't it better to know how to make them like you and how to avoid ticking them off? It could also help summoners create synergized teams of champions that work the best together. It could have two separate sections to it: Public information that is available to everyone, and Classified information that is meant only for the eyes of other summoners. Just noting what’s public and what is not could be helpful to fan fic writers, role players, and people debating various topics on the lore forums as well as being an interesting bit of information in and of itself. And when the League doesn't know an awful lot beyond what's made public? You can specifically note that more information is needed, suggest to the readers that there is still much to discover about this character that can be carried out beyond the bio files.

Another thing you can put in there, besides the general facts discovered by summoners, is testimonies and stories from other champions or important political figures. It would be interesting to see what other champions, be they friend, foe or neutral, think of the champion in question. Who are they friends with? What sort of company do they generally keep? Do they visit the Institute's library a lot, follow their own studies, or write the very books that others will be reading in the future?

Like the Quinn journals and Zac teasers, these could also contain pictures and small bits of paper that other summoners added to note various curiosities or mysteries in regards to a champion. Make it look like an actual file that you would retrieve from an Archives filing cabinet at the Institute.

And please remember, just because it has all this fun extra stuff doesn’t mean that the already-written stuff should be dumped. This is just adding to what we already have, for the sake of the players’ entertainment if they decide they want to find more about the champion they main or commonly play. I think it’s preferable to having to hunt everything out on a wiki, anyway...


(Grand Viper's Thoughts and Examples Below)

Other companies with long established histories have realized this through their years of being in business. Look up almost any character in Street Fighter and you will find some basic information on them, from Ryu to Dan Hibiki. You can write summaries as simple as and concise as Capcom, or you can go into more detail like SNK does for its KoF franchise and the majority of their characters. Even Namco does it for Tekken and Soul Calibur, and it lends a better idea as to who these people are.

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Examples:

SNK

Wolfgang Krauser

Full Name: Wolfgang Krauser von Stroheim

Birthplace: Germany

Height: 200 cm (6'7")

Weight: 145 kg (320 lbs)

Blood type: A

Family/Relatives: Micheal Stroheim (great-grandfather, deceased), Rudolph Krauser Von Stroheim (father, deceased), Elza Stroheim (mother, deceased), Geese Howard (half-brother, deceased), Rock Howard (half-nephew)

Job/Occupation: Earl of Stroheim

Likes: Chivalry

Dislikes: Vanity, falsehood

Hobbies: Medieval antique collecting

Favorite food: Rare meat; anything (Fatal Fury 2)

Forte in sports: Not interested in sports (but able to do anything)

Special skill: Playing the piano/organ

Pet Peeve: Weak opponents

Favorite music: Classical music, Opera

Fighting style: Kampfringen (He was also German Professional wrestler)


Capcom

Makoto

Full name: Makoto Rindou

Birthdate: July 1st

Birthplace: Japan

Height: 5’3”

Weight: 110 lbs (50 kg)

Eye color: Brown

Hair color: Black

Blood type: B

Fighting style: Rindoukan Karate

Likes: Family

Dislikes: Pickled ginger, being mistaken for a boy (Due to her appearance and her lack of fashion sense)

Rivals: Fei Long, Ibuki, Elena, Ryu


Namco

Hildegard von Krone

Birthplace: Wolfkron Kingdom, Holy Roman Empire (Present day Germany)

Birthdate: August 13th, 1573

Age: 18 (Soul Cal IV), 35 (Soul Cal V)

Height: 5’3” (160 cm)

Weight: 110 lbs (50 kg) (SC IV), 119 lbs (54 kg) (SC V)

Blood type: AB

Weapon(s): Short sword and Lance

Fighting Style: Grobe Erbschaft

Family: Father, King of Wolfkrone (MIA)

Two children

Sworn Ally: Siegfried Schtauffen

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If one goes into monsters, Lizardman and Astaroth both have some basic information on them, but for something like Nocturne?

Admittedly, you cannot do much, but you can put in what it likes and dislikes, what its maximum length/height is when it chooses to do so, some observations made of it, but what about Cho’Gath? One can write what his maximum height and weight he has attained so far is, possibly due to an incident involving Kog’Maw and a pie factory explosion. It helps humanize some characters and dehumanize and make other ominous characters more ominous.

So what would one of these profiles look for our League champions? Let’s take two of them as an example, Twisted Fate because he was mentioned earlier, and Irelia because a certain someone is a fan of hers.

Twisted Fate

Full Name: Twisted Fate (True name could be unknown or classified, we really don't know)

Birthdate: October 3rd (His VU release date)

Birthplace: Unknown

Blood Type: A

Height: 6' (182.88 cms)

Weight: 160 lbs. (72.5 kg)

Family: Unknown <There appears to be more to this entry, but it has been obscured by thick black ink>

Occupation: Ex-conman, Dance Teacher, League Champion

Likes: Cats, cheating other cheaters

Dislikes: People touching his hat, snoops

Hobbies: Dancing, card games, cooking

Favorite Food: Southern food, otherwise anything spicy

Friends/Allies: Associates with many, but allows very few to actually get close to him

Rivals/Enemies: Malcolm Graves, Evelynn, the Void, the Shadow Isles

Special Skill: Good at storytelling, rarely uses this

Forte in Sport: Never bothered with sports

Pet Peeve: Bad luck

Favorite Music: Jazz, Swing, Hextech Swing

Fighting Style: Unique, uses teleportation and specially-made enchanted cards

Special Note: Seems to have exceptional “luck”, even when confirmed not to be cheating


Irelia

Full name: Irelia Lito (If Lito is her last name. I think it is, could be wrong)

Birthdate: November 16th (Her release date)

Birthplace: Shon Xan region, Ionia (Making region up, it’s just an example, but it pulls a correlation with Riven by mentioning this)

Blood type: O

Height: 5’7” (170 cms)

Weight: 135 lbs (61 kg)

Family: Father - Master Lito - Deceased

Mother - Unnamed - (Assumed) Deceased

Brother - Zelos - Missing

Occupation: Captain of the Ionian Guard, League Champion

Likes: Her sword, modesty, tranquility

Dislikes: Fighting, instigators, dresses/revealing clothing, egotists, brash people

Hobbies: Painting, dancing, training

Favorite Food: The spicier the better

Friends/Allies: Karma, Soraka, Shen, Akali, Kennen, Lee Sin, Udyr (Tentative), Janna, Caitlyn, Ashe, Amumu, Ezreal, Nunu, Kayle (Just a few examples)

Rivals/Enemies: Katarina Du Couteau, Swain, LeBlanc, Morgana, Sejuani, Viktor, Gangplank, the Void, the Shadow Isles (Few examples)

Special skill: Can sing despite no formal training

Forte in sport: Never played formal sports, but if forced would choose an offensive position

Pet peeve: People surprising her

Favorite Music: Will say traditional Ionian music, owns a Pentakill nightie

Fighting Style: Hiten (Flying Heaven) martial arts

Special Note: Summoner Morello has been assigned to keep constant vigilance on her performance as requested by her fellow Ionian due to possible mental and health concerns.


I know that it’s not implied or said in her lore that Irelia has mental concerns, but she was an adolescent who was thrown into war and went on to become the hero of Ionia by defying death and facing the Noxian/Zaunite armies head first. There’s bound to be “an issue or two”, no matter how well she hides it. And in regards to physical, well, she defied death (Not forgetting about Soraka, Irelia still defied death).

If you have any thoughts or suggestions you’d like to add, please let us know. The bios for Twisted Fate and Irelia that we added are just examples of some of the extra tidbits that could be added. The real “meat” of the file would be the champion testimonies and summoner notes.

Irelia is a Lich, so she wouldn't have health problems, and Champions are stated to all have a rather remarkable mental fortitude; if they didn't then they would never make it past their Judgements.

And what is your opinion on the actual meat of the profiles? I listed the reasoning as to why I wrote what I did, not meaning I'm right in what I wrote. What is your opinion on these sort of profiles for champions?

Irelia is not actually a lich. It would be a pretty big part of her lore if she was and would without a doubt be mentioned. In fact, she never actually died. Karthus is a lich, he has power over death. Irelia does not. But that's not the point here.

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On topic, I actually really like this idea. It would be fun to read though the profiles... Would they be unlocked as you unlock champions?

I've never understood the appeal of unlocking lore. It certainly provides an incentive but, at the same time, it also prevents players from learning about characters they rarely take to the Fields without going the extra mile to look it up elsewhere. If the whole point of this enterprise is to make basic information about the champions more readily available, tying it to purchases seems completely contradictory to that goal.

I certainly think it'd be a nice idea to get something along these lines in the client and I think you've handled it very well, GV.

I agree with Melancholy Exile, the viewability of the profiles shouldn't depend on whether you've unlocked the champion yet or not. If they're available to everyone, that could be used as a selling point if someone is curious about a champion, read their file and think, "Yeah, this guy's pretty cool. I think I'll buy him." Because some people do play champions for their lore, it's a way to flesh out the game and potentially bring in more money as well.