Riot Games · World artworkShurima · Ruined homeland
Icathia
Icathia's rebellion against Shurima unleashed the Void and destroyed the land its people hoped to free. Jax and Zilean preserve very different responses to that loss; other champions connect to the breach, the war or its aftermath.
Riot Games · Regional world artwork
A clearer way into the lore
The story, step by step
Follow the relative order of the story. These stages do not assign calendar dates or imply that every linked biography shares one exact chronology.
- Riot Games · World artwork
Riot Games · World artwork02The breach consumes the homeland
The Void overwhelms the land it was meant to help defend. The war reaches Ascended warriors as well as Icathia's people, spreading consequences beyond one rebellion.
Riot Games · World artwork
Artwork sets the scene; it does not depict each event. Stage numbers show reading order.
More about this place and its region
Behind the name
The story of this place
A rebellion sought freedom from Shurima and instead unleashed a catastrophe its people could not control. Jax's survival and Zilean's study of time preserve different responses to the lost homeland. The wider war against the Void also reaches into the histories of Ascended warriors and later survivors.
Part of a larger world
Shurima
The empire's fall did not end life in Shurima. Settlements, trade and local cultures continued among its ruins. Azir's return reopens old imperial ambitions, while Sivir and Taliyah offer perspectives shaped by the people living in the desert today.
Explore the regional history →People behind the place
Stories connected to this place
These connections include origins, pivotal events and the wider culture of the setting. They do not confirm a character's current location.
AatroxHow their story connects
The war against the Void is part of his history as an Ascended warrior before his fall as a Darkin.
JaxHow their story connects
Jax survived the destruction of his homeland. His continuing search for fighters is shaped by the threat that consumed it.
KassadinHow their story connects
Artifacts and forbidden equipment allow Kassadin to pursue Malzahar where ordinary travellers could not survive. They cannot restore the family life that set the mission in motion. His determination turns the search into an ongoing confrontation with the forces that consumed his home.
Kog'MawHow their story connects
Kog'Maw investigates unfamiliar things by consuming them, making discovery dangerous to everything nearby. The published overview establishes that appetite and the creature's connection to Icathia, but not a complete sequence of later adventures. Its apparent innocence should not be confused with harmlessness.
MalphiteHow their story connects
Without the Monolith around him, Malphite encounters lives far shorter and more fragile than his own. Defending the world from the Void preserves something of his original purpose. Understanding the beings within that world is a different challenge from surviving the destruction of his progenitor.
MalzaharHow their story connects
Malzahar brings followers toward the Void because he regards its promised end as salvation. Kassadin pursues the catastrophe from the opposite direction, seeking to stop what the prophet welcomes. Their stories connect a personal loss to a mission that threatens many more lives.
ZileanHow their story connects
Icathia's fall drives his efforts to find a future beyond the catastrophe through the study of time.
Look closer
A window into this world
Official Riot artwork. The gallery includes the regional setting; not every image depicts this exact landmark. Open an image to see the full composition.
View full artworkView full artworkView full artwork
View full artwork
View full artworkContinue your journey
More places in this region
Explore another chapter of the region. These reading links are not directions or a claim that the places are neighbours.
Ascension landmark
Sun Disc
The great disc is central to Shurima's imperial history and the Ascension of its god-warriors. Azir's return makes the lost capital and its legacy important again.
Explore this placeTrading city
Nashramae
A surviving city on Shurima's northern coast. Riot's artwork shows the architecture of a living settlement, an important counterpoint to the empire's monumental ruins.
Explore this place
Desert landscape
Valley of Song
Wind passing through hollow rock gives this landscape its name. The valley shows how Shurima's geography shapes its local stories as well as the journeys between settlements.
Explore this placeDiscover more regional places
Sandfalls
Zoantha Cascade
A cascade of flowing sand rather than a river waterfall. This landmark is one of the distinctive desert landscapes featured in Riot's Shurima gallery.
Explore this placeRegional illustration · exact site not picturedIndependent oasis city
Nazumah
K'Sante's home stands apart from Shurima's returning empire. Protecting its oasis and people against enormous beasts helps explain why his ambitions as a warrior are also responsibilities to a living community.
Explore this placeRegional illustration · exact site not picturedShuriman city
Marwi
Akshan grew up on Marwi's streets under the power of local warlords. His relationship with his mentor Shadya and his response to her murder give the place a personal role in his pursuit of justice.
Explore this placeRegional illustration · exact site not picturedCity on the Great Sai's eastern edge
Amakra
Samira and her parents performed on Amakra's streets before violence displaced the family. The city connects the showmanship of her later Noxian career to a childhood and homeland that preceded it.
Explore this placeSources and story contextOfficial stories, artwork credits and reading notes
Where the stories come from
VRC.LOL writes the introductions, reading notes and connections using linked Riot Universe biographies and regional guides. Short champion summaries use Data Dragon version 16.20.1. Longer histories link to the official story used; some champions currently have a shorter official overview.
What the pictures show
Artwork belongs to Riot Games. Scenery comes from Riot's Runeterra world map; champion art depicts the character. A regional illustration sets the scene when a landmark has no dedicated image. It does not show a confirmed event at that exact place.
A world still being written
Older biographies and newer adaptations can differ. These guides introduce connections rather than declaring a final chronology or a character's current whereabouts. Translations help you explore and may keep original proper names. Follow the official sources for full context.