aformerspellthief-blog

[aformerspellthief-blog]

Mun Update: Joining the Hiatus Crew

So I’m gonna level with you guys, because my activity’s been a bit lower than usual for the past couple weeks. A few things are going on:

First off, I’m angling for a promotion at work when my current supervisor heads off to law school. He’s putting me up for it so I’ve been shadowing him/taking on some of his responsibilities lately, which means I’ve had less downtime during the day.

Second, I’m starting my application prep for law school (applying in September to start night school in 2018) early to get all required essays drafted and documents in order, which means I’ve been redirecting some of my drive to write towards non-fiction instead of fandom stuff.

Third, I picked up the don’t starve games (and dragged @crescentsweep into that fandom, SORRY) a few weeks ago and am pretty damn enamored.

So, my attention’s been off League and my roleplay blogs. And I’ve noticed that a lot of my favorite people to collaborate with have been on and off hiatus, so I haven’t felt much pressure to maintain a consistent level of activity.  Considering that all that- and the fact that the community here is undeniably fracturing between the new and old lore adherent crowds- I’m not really eager to invest time on what currently feels like a... waste, to be completely honest.

For now, I’m going to be stepping away from this blog and @bymywill (and League stuff in general) for at least a solid month. That means I won’t be logging in to see my dash, check activity, or answer messages- like at all. So if you need to talk, go ahead and send me a message on my brand new personal blog.

[aformerspellthief-blog]

So are we throwing the entire Measured Tread out the window then? All of it?

[aformerspellthief-blog]

On Lux

Before anybody says “but they did something so interesting with Lux’s character!” let me stop you right there.

Her backstory is a sloppily pasted together amalgamation of overused and underflavored fantasy tropes. And here’s a quick piece of constructive criticism for Riot: rattling off a laundry list of names of people and territories for the Demacia-flavored fantasy name generators doesn’t constitute creating a descriptive image of the Kingdom.

Beyond that, the “Demacia hates magic” element that Riot presumably fished out of a Zaunite sewer is indicative of their unwillingness to work within the narrative frameworks they set up to begin with, irrespective of how far they diverge from the intentions of the original lore team or the metaphorical “soul” or “theme” of various city-states.

Riot staff goes on and on about how when they rework kits and visuals and lore that they want to stay thematically true to the characters and regions, but that wasn’t done here.

[aformerspellthief-blog]

Okay it's different, but this time they really did okay with the new lore. Nothing sticks out as obviously bad or stupid and it's an enjoyable read. Except that one bit with Galio, but if we look at the new new stuff, it's nicely done imo.

I’m just going to go ahead and copy over what I explained to another anon a couple days back- the problem is that it is dramatically different from the original intentions. Character backstories, national history, and, for lack of a less poetic description, the very soul of Demacia has been changed.

–

My feelings about the lore changes aren’t structured around whether they make my particular muses the stars of the show. I’m irritated, especially about the new moves to make Demacia a magic-hating Kingdom, because it’s a sign that they are departing even further from the source material than I thought possible. If this were a completely new game and a completely new story and they wanted to reconstruct the world from scratch, it would be a whole different story.

But it’s not. And every time they make a massive change to the world that we as writers cannot ignore, it risks fracturing our community here even more.

This is how it works:

First, Riot introduces a new flavor story or champion, and it redefines something that had been accepted as canon. Let’s take, for instance, Piltover and Zaun being two cities piled one on top of the other.

Then, you get mixed reviews from Piltovian and Zaunite roleplayers. Some of them like the change. Some of them hate it. Some of them are flexible, but the stories of their muses will be drastically different depending on which way their partners go. Right off the bat, that’s created two groups of roleplayers who can no longer interact with each other based on whether they accept or reject the change.

Now you multiply that by the number of massive, structural changes Riot’s made to the lore.

Did the Rune Wars happen? Presumably, because Ryze was revamped and exists. Are they still going on? We don’t know. If they stopped, how did they stop? Isn’t it kind of important to know?

Are Piltover and Zaun separate, or stacked-cities? Is Piltover run by the nobility, or a government? Are augments commonplace, or rare and strange? Was Zaun the instigator in the Piltover-Zaun relationship by polluting their shared bay, or was Piltover by destroying half of Zaun?

You’ll get different answers to these questions depending on if you’re following old lore, new lore, or a fusion of the two. And, the problem is, for someone who wants to do a lot of worldbuilding and long-term, structured plots, the answers are pretty damn important. It’s fine if you’re only roleplaying on and off, or in a multiverse, or focusing on the type of (for example) romantic plots that don’t require much in the way of worldbuilding. But it’s not fine for me, because that’s not what I’m trying to do here.

[aformerspellthief-blog]

Youre going to be unreasonably salty over the lore again right?

I only have one thing to say to you, friend.

[aformerspellthief-blog]

You can’t be a victim. You have to be a warrior.

Kesha (via wnq-music)

[aformerspellthief-blog]

bask-in-the-glow:

“I… I believe I understand now.”

Awkwardly, Taric adjusted his hold on the chopsticks and attempted to work the utensils as they were supposed to move.  This was, of course, easier said than done; despite the obvious troubles, the Aspect persevered and eventually managed to crudely yet accurately demonstrate what could be very loosely labelled ‘proper’ chopstick utilization. 

Regardless of how small a feat it may have been, Taric felt as if he had just climbed mount Targon over again; a smile broke out across his face, and he couldn’t help but giggle foolishly. Throughout his jovial laughter, the Aspect attempted to speak his mind. 

“This is… Honestly, this is rather simple. I didn’t think it would be this easy, and yet… Here I am…!”

He didn’t dare think about performing that task for its intended purpose. That bridge could be crossed when he got there. For now, Taric simply repeated the actions in an attempt to ingrain it into his mind. 

Taric’s smile is infectious, as it turns out- though it doesn’t usually take much to get Lux grinning, anyways.

“And you wanted to get a fork,” She teases, twirling one chopstick idly between her fingers. 

“See, it’s not that hard. And there’s a spoon for the broth- well, of course.” She gives a short laugh before digging in, fishing a thin slice of pork out of her soup with clear familiarity.

[aformerspellthief-blog]

I know you are not a fan of the changes, but I think this new direction to Demacia will work great in the bigger picture and make them finally different from Noxus other than the color scheme. Lux must be very special person if she can do magic around all the anti-magic stone so that's good too I think. Makes her more badass.

So, I’ve talked extensively (see my new lore tag here and on the old archived blog) about why I don’t think Riot’s doing well to fit anything into the bigger picture, so I’m not going to focus on that for long. I do want to say right off the bat, though, that anyone with even a cursory understanding of history can tell you that Riot is making one really unmistakable error in summarizing Demacia. It’s indicating right off the bat that Demacia is two things:

A major world power; and

An isolationist state that historically does little to nothing to intervene beyond its borders.

The problem is, you can’t actually be both. It’s possible that they’ll turn this around by clarifying, for example, that Demacia isn’t actually “isolationist” (which has been repeated in lore AMAs) but, alternatively, that it just doesn’t instigate war (while still retaliating, participating in the global economy, and doing other things that “isolationist” states don’t do). It’s possible that they’ll do that, but I don’t have high hopes given what we’ve seen so far.

That being said-- I don’t want them to make Lux somehow more “special”. My feelings about the lore changes aren’t structured around whether they make my particular muses the stars of the show. I’m irritated, especially about the new moves to make Demacia a magic-hating Kingdom, because it’s a sign that they are departing even further from the source material than I thought possible. If this were a completely new game and a completely new story and they wanted to reconstruct the world from scratch, it would be a whole different story.

But it’s not. And every time they make a massive change to the world that we as writers cannot ignore, it risks fracturing our community here even more.

This is how it works:

First, Riot introduces a new flavor story or champion, and it redefines something that had been accepted as canon. Let’s take, for instance, Piltover and Zaun being two cities piled one on top of the other. 

Then, you get mixed reviews from Piltovian and Zaunite roleplayers. Some of them like the change. Some of them hate it. Some of them are flexible, but the stories of their muses will be drastically different depending on which way their partners go. Right off the bat, that’s created two groups of roleplayers who can no longer interact with each other based on whether they accept or reject the change.

Now you multiply that by the number of massive, structural changes Riot’s made to the lore.

Did the Rune Wars happen? Presumably, because Ryze was revamped and exists. Are they still going on? We don’t know. If they stopped, how did they stop? Isn’t it kind of important to know?

Are Piltover and Zaun separate, or stacked-cities? Is Piltover run by the nobility, or a government? Are augments commonplace, or rare and strange? Was Zaun the instigator in the Piltover-Zaun relationship by polluting their shared bay, or was Piltover by destroying half of Zaun? 

You’ll get different answers to these questions depending on if you’re following old lore, new lore, or a fusion of the two. And, the problem is, for someone who wants to do a lot of worldbuilding and long-term, structured plots, the answers are pretty damn important. It’s fine if you’re only roleplaying on and off, or in a multiverse, or focusing on the type of (for example) romantic plots that don’t require much in the way of worldbuilding. But it’s not fine for me, because that’s not what I’m trying to do here.

And further-- I’ve already posted about this numerous times, but Demacia and Noxus are literally as different as night and day, in the old lore. I’m not going to write out a rant about that because it’s a waste of time so just... Read the lore. If you’re not sure what i’m getting at, just read the lore.

[aformerspellthief-blog]

other people: give the new lore a chance!!!

me: 

[aformerspellthief-blog]

My mother said the cure for thinking too much about yourself was helping somebody who was worse off than you.

Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (via thequotejournals)

[aformerspellthief-blog]

First Stab at Diplomacy

Lux is already tired by the time she’s given leave to speak with Azir, but it’s a good-tired, the sort of weariness that comes from working towards a long fought goal. It had been clear for quite some time that she couldn’t slip easily back into her old role: infiltration was a task best left to the unknown. For a while, she was simply directionless, waiting on an order she thought might never come.

(Not exactly an order, to be fair: a request. The thought that this is her own choice leaves Lux self-satisfied in a way she isn’t fully willing to admit.)

And when the order (or request, or proposal) was finally made, she didn’t try to hide her enthusiasm. Of all the the places she could have been asked to go, and people she might have been asked to work with, Shurima and Azir pose a certain sort of novelty. 

Who is she kidding? She’s ecstatic. There’s hardly any other subject of such magical intrigue anywhere in the world right now, and she’s been given a ticket directly to the heart of it!

She does more reading in the scant few days between Azir’s tentative agreement to the King’s proposition and their meeting than she might have accomplished in the last two months. She sits with the Council to be briefed on what to expect from his behavior and on Shurima as a whole. She learns a monumental repertoire of construction-based spells, a school of magic she’d barely ever even leafed through, but which comes to her as effortlessly as every other she’s had the opportunity to study.

So she’s running on a little less sleep, and a little more excitement than usual. Waiting on Azir’s arrival in what would ordinarily be the Council’s meeting room, she has to remind herself to not let that get ahold of her: to be professional for this.

(She’ll just have to gush about it to Garen later, when the final test is through.)

@sandsandsorrows

[aformerspellthief-blog]

Small Formatting Change

In order to keep track of long term AUs, AU threads will be tagged as follows:

AU: [Name of AU]

AU: [Timeline Date]

As always, the number of active AUs will be strictly limited, and I will aim for the majority of plotted content to take place in the main, cataclysm-based verse. 

This tagging system will be applied to my other blog, @bymywill, as well.

[aformerspellthief-blog]

Sheep’s Clothing

An idle impulse brings Lux to Ionia- she came to realize some time ago that her tours abroad had made it difficult to adapt to staying put, even less-so than usual without any clear mission. 

It would be one thing to stay in Demacia if she had anything to do. But, for the most part, she’s found herself on permanent standby for her family and the Crown, waiting for some inevitable crisis to send her away again.

She never thought the day would come that she’d feel like being sent away.

Ionia is a decent enough choice, though, as far as Lux is concerned. She has two or three friends to visit, a couple outstanding offers to pursue, and one of them leads her to a quiet meeting spot to reunite with a friendly acquaintance.

Khada Jhin hadn’t given her any reason to mistrust him yet and he seemed, to Lux, a convenient person to pass a couple hours with before settling in for the night. So, she’s completely dropped her guard awaiting his arrival, half-entranced by a small book printed in flowing Old Demacian.

@gxldendemon

[aformerspellthief-blog]

Cheat Sheet for Lux’s VU

10/10 taunts 

(I don’t get runes. I mean, are spells really that hard to remember?)

0/10 movement/idle lines 

(how many times can we shoehorn the word light in? is lux actually a 1950s disney princess come to life? the answers may shock you)

3/10 voice acting 

(I was fine with lux having a high pitched squeaky voice, i am not fine with lux having a high pitched inexplicably raspy voice and poor enunciation)

1/10 pronunciation of demacia 

(can we at least pretend to be consistent. at least for one champion.)

2/10 length 

(you paid for 15 minutes of galio lines, riot, i see you)

4/10 overall 

(they didn’t seem to know what they were going for thematically; it sounds like they switched writers 3 times throughout the drafting process; and they gave us 4 minutes when the reworked champs are getting 15 when i damn well know this is gonna be the only VU for Lux for 5 years)

[aformerspellthief-blog]

What is one thing you would never do in a story or to a character?

Random Writing Asks

I don’t want to write about rape.

This is especially true in the medium of roleplaying, because it involves getting into your muse’s head and, frankly, I spent the better part of two years trying to get out of the rape-victim headspace. I’m not interested in diving back in.

I’ve written on the subject of sexual assault as a legal issue and in nonfiction, even though it’s unpleasant, when I felt it was necessary and wanted to dive into the topic critically to dispel misinformation or make meaningful arguments. But when I write fiction, collaboratively or on my own, I’m doing it for enjoyment, and I don’t enjoy being reminded of what some asshole did to me four years ago. 

[aformerspellthief-blog]

25. How do you figure out character motivation and backstory?

Random Writing Asks

Step one is just empathizing with your character. I honestly don’t think you can write a believable, well-rounded human if you’re trying to start from a trope, or a joke, or stereotype about that character. For roleplayers, the best thing to do is look at the character’s actions and basically reverse-engineer their motives from there.

Take what I did with Jarvan, for example. I operated under the assumption that everything we knew he did was true, and that he acted on his own imperative- every altercation with Swain, every mistake, every triumph boiled down to something he chose to do. Then, I added in logical assumptions that are obvious just based on the real world: he was born to eventually succeed to the throne, so he’s gotta be well-educated. He was raised in Demacia, so he’ll probably think in terms of their values and philosophy. He’s royalty, so he wouldn’t have necessarily experienced any significant hardship until his capture.

If you work backwards like that, starting with what we know to be true and drawing logical conclusions based on it, I firmly believe you’ll come to a more whole and believable understanding of the character. 

[aformerspellthief-blog]

22 Do you “write what you know” or not? 23 Do you research things in your story? If so, how?

Random Writing Asks

Do you “write what you know” or not?

Sort of, and sometimes. That’s a non-answer, I know, but it totally depends on the type of character and circumstance-- I definitely don’t enjoy writing about topics I’m completely clueless about, mainly because I will stall and research and invest way more time into it than I should. Part of the reason that I really love delving into the political repercussions of my characters’ actions (Jarvan’s in particular, over on bymywill) is because I already have done the research there and am educated on the topic.

Do you research things in your story? If so, how?

I more or less answered above, but to elaborate a little- if I have literally no idea what I’m talking about, I start with a google search and go from there. As far as League RP goes specifically, I’ve made it a point to critically read all of the old material we have available on Demacia and Noxus, and have skimmed the new lore as it’s released for the sake of being well-informed. I feel like that’s the bare minimum, though, and when getting into topics that can translate into the real-world easily, I might put a thread on pause for a couple days to try to understand the basics before moving forward.