League of Legends MMO Races
When it comes to the races, just like the world, they are pretty much done. Over the years the lore fleshed out the races of Runeterra and now they each have their own unique story.
You may know that League of Legends has a lot of different regions where they all act independently, and they all have unique relationships with their neighbours.
Let's actually dive into all the races that exist in this universe. Spoiler alert — League doesn't have too many different races because it's focusing on depth over variety. Of course as it is with any RPG there is the human race but, it would be cool if the humans varied depending on their origins.
The Human race
For example if you pick a human from the Freljord they would be an iceborn and they would have extra frost resistance.
A demacian could have a bit more magic resistance.
Ionians could have a bit more nature resistance.
Shurimans heart resistance and so on.
We think it's going to be crucial for riot to preserve the feeling of every origin feeling at least slightly different. This is an RPG after all and, despite the fact that balancing is usually a big issue, we strongly believe these RPG elements have to be preserved.
But if riot is afraid of people min-maxing the game from the very beginning, focusing on the origin that with the most value, riot can always do the same thing and only give each origin different customisation.
In the Freljord people tend to be more pale with lush beards and nordic tattoos all over their bodies. Shurimans have the classic dreadlock style. People from Bilgewater have the pirate crew tattoos. Piltowers are your fancy moustache people, and Ionians have the wild untamed hair and beards.
So even without special origin stats, we do believe these unique character customisations would enhance the region pride too. So that's what humans would be about — pretty versatile and nothing too special in an RPG world.
The Vastaya race
Let's have a look at the more unique races.
After humans the second most spread out race are the Vastaya. The Vastaya are a race that came to be after humans started mating with magical animals. But the thing is depending on where they are from, there are loads of different kinds of Vastaya: from cat boys
and fox girls,
to lizard girls.
In fact here's a family tree of all the Vastayan tribes and even this doesn't cover all of them:
And this is where riot can pull off something genius. As we said this world already has set rules so it would be very difficult to introduce a brand new race into this universe.
However it is going to be very easy to just make up a new Vastayan tribe.
When it comes to Vastaya, most people think of Ahri. She comes from the Vasani that look like foxes. Although her tribe is mostly gone, the lore can justify new members to be found so they can be playable.
The Kiilash tribe (ex. Rengar) comes from the jungles between Shurima and Ixtal. These lion-like people are known for hunting dangerous beasts and they take great pride in trophy collecting.
The Shimon tribe are monkey-like people from Ionia while their older members are very wise their younger members can be very goofy.
The Ottrani come from mount Targon resembling the classic goat people. Their hobbies are taking care of the stellar corns.
The Lhotlan tribe are ionians who resemble bird people. This tribe likes to combine the art of dancing with lethal assassinations.
The Oovi-Kat are something close to lizards. Though they do have the ability to shapeshift, out of all of the other tribes these are the closest to their pure blood ancestors.
And we also technically have the Marai — the fish people whom we doubt are going to be playable. Imagine modelling boots for them.
Now these were the more pureblood tribes, but there are many many more Vastaya who don't fit any of these.
For example Sett has an ionian Vastayan mother and a Noxian human father so he doesn't really have a tribe.
Long story short, the Vastaya are an incredibly versatile race and riot can use them in a million different ways. This is where they can really go wild. but that's it for the Vastaya.
The Yordle race
Now let's have a look at the third most popular race.
The Yordles these are the classic RPG tiny people. In League of Legends, players either adore them or hate them — there is no in between.
There is no doubt in our mind that Yordles will be playable even though they have an interesting catch. You see, unlike all the other races on Runeterra, Yordles are immortal.
They are essentially modes of magic that come from a hidden magical realm known as Bandel city and. Because they are made of magical essence, when they die we don't really know what happens. We assume they return to the Bandle city and there they respawn.
With that said, the lore suggests that maybe Yordles can die, but they just can't die of old age. When it comes to gameplay, at least corpse running is going to make sense for them…
Because Yordles are immortal in most cases they are always happy and cheerful. Even their home realm is very colorful because of that. But then there is also Vex — a Yordle champion who gives Yordles an interesting perspective.
You see unlike all the other Yordles, Vex hates living. She hates the bright colors and the cheerfulness. Vex is constantly in deep depression and agony. All she wishes for is to leave this world but she can't because Yordles can't die.
Anyway just like all the other races Yordles can be found all around Runeterra. There is Poppy in Demacia, Kled in Noxus, Kennen in Ionia, Rumble in Shurima and so on.
But now so far we have only covered the races which i'm pretty sure will launch with the MMO — the Humans, the Vastaya and the Yordles are the core of this world. So now we are diving into the races that still exist in this universe but it's going to be up to riot if they make them playable.
The other League of Legends Races
The Minotaurs
First of all there are the Minotaurs.
The Minotaurs are different from the Vastaya because they don't have magical ancestors. They are just a standalone race.
Originally the Minotaurs controlled the mountains south of Noxus but, because Noxus is Noxus, soon they absorbed the Minotaurs into their empire. With that said some Minotaurs fled the tyranny of Noxus and they joined the other regions.
A great example is Kryl — the minotaur fighting in the elite armies of Demacia.
And yes, the minotaurs also have the stereotypical sexy female version in this universe so they can easily be turned into a playable race.
The Fish-Humans
Next in Bilgewater there is an incredible amount of weird fishy people.
A lot of these could be really cool playable races when Bilgewater gets its expansion. Although modelling helmets for a hammerhead shark is going to be interesting.
The Trolls
We also can't forget about the Trolls.
Previously we showed you the ice trolls but there are also the sand trolls.
Here's an interesting fact: for League veterans we have never seen a sand troll but because of ezreal's adventures we know they exist.
They should be around Icathia which is where Jax is from who also has three fingers. By the way so it is extremely likely that the mysterious Jax is a scent troll.
Regardless, the majority of trolls are united under Trundle — the self-proclaimed troll king who is fighting in the service of Lissandra who is a baddie even though she is morally right.
So since the majority of the trolls are our enemies I doubt they will be a playable race.
The Yetis
Lastly let's not forget that this universe also has yetis.
Fun fact: before everything got frozen, the yeti civilization was very advanced. They even had their own technology based around magic.
In fact Willump — the yeti Nunu is riding on — is a hologram from the yeti technology. But then, as the civilization disappeared, the yetis went a bit more ferocious.
So no they won't be playable either.
Conclusion
That's pretty much it for the races. There aren't too many different kinds but that's because riot is avoiding mimicking other RPGs. That's why there are no Dwarfs or Elves here.
Runeterra is simply trying to be unique in every way and so far it is working.
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