Vastaya/General

Other Related Champions

 * is the Aspect of the Moon that is searching for to help her people.
 * attacked in his Mega form during the hunters rescent hunts.
 * fought along side vastaya, and against other vastayan tribes allied with Noxus during the Ionian invasion.
 * attacked the God-Willow, a sacred site of the Vastayashai'rei, leading to his eventual transformation into the Green-Father.
 * attacked and injured in their previous skirmishes.
 * , a human residing in the Kumungu Jungle, is theorized to have diluted vastayan blood due to her shapeshifting ability. This has not been confirmed or disproven.
 * trains in the art of Wuju.
 * fought against many vastaya during his campaigns in the Ionian invasion.
 * According to Xayah and Rakan, was given vastayan blood, but this is not in fact true.
 * has frequently attacked vastayan lands and taken some as prisoners.

History


The vastaya's origins can be traced back to a hidden corner of Ionia, to which a group of humans fled to escape Great Void War. There, these refugees came into contact with a tribe of intelligent shapeshifting creatures who were greatly in tune with the world's natural magic. These spiritual creatures, known as the Vastayashai'rei, welcomed the human refugees and eventually produced what Runeterrans now refer to as vastaya - a blanket classification for any number of species of chimeric creatures. Over time, the varied offshoots began to settle in different regions and naturally adopted different forms -, , even - according to the creatures which most embodied their strongest characteristics.

Some of the Vastayashai'rei resided in the sacred grove of Omikayalan, the "Heart of the World". In its center stood the God-Willow. This massive tree, dripping with long gossamer leaves that shimmered with golden-green light, was of immense importance to both human Ionians and the vastayan people of the continent, which guarded the tree from anyone who wished it harm. Unfortunately, the tree was destroyed by an invading war party from the Freljord, its leader transformed by its natural energy into the being known as the Green-Father​.

As time wore on and the vastayan bloodline spread throughout Runeterra, an interesting genetic aberration occurred: certain humans with very small amounts of vastayan heritage gained the ability to shapeshift. From the frozen Freljord to the darkest jungles of Runeterra, these shapeshifters can't maintain their animalistic forms for long, yet are still capable of harnessing some of their ancestral magic and change their shape.

There is a very old treaty between specific tribes of Ionian vastaya and the humans, which deals with the sharing of natural magic. However in recent decades, post-Noxian Invasion, the vastaya have become increasingly unhappy and uncertain with the way humans are using magic. For instance, extremist groups like the Order of Shadows have begun consolidating power for their own purposes. The vastaya are, understandably, not pleased by this.

Physiology

 * For more information, see Eduard Santangelo's Vastaya Field Journal.

Vastaya are a group of sexually dimorphic races of various shapes and sizes. Their animalistic appearance depends on the location in which they adapted. However, disregarding distinctions between the tribes of land, sea, and air, there are three types of vastaya:
 * "Animal-like" vastaya resemble other animals, but are bipedal or otherwise mildly humanoid.
 * "Human-like" vastaya closely resemble humans, especially in terms of facial features, but still retain a modest level of animalistic elements: for instance, feline or foxlike ears, tails, or feathers.
 * Shapeshifters retain ether a human or animal appearance of their choosing, but they are able to shapeshift in and out of each form.

Each type of vastaya greatly differs from the others in appearance and abilities, but they are all in tune with the natural magic of Runeterra to some degree. The race has far longer life spans than humans. Some have been said to live for thousands of years, while others, rumors and legends say, might be immortal.

Races


There are three main vastayan tribes (sea, landwalker, and sky) each with their own sub-tribes:


 * Tribes of the Sea
 * Marai (most notable member being )
 * Makara ("carnivorous, ever-smiling")
 * Raylu


 * Landwalker Tribes
 * Unknown humanoid foxes (includes )
 * Fauhwoon (goatlike)
 * Juloah (notable similarities to Lhotlan, but they are hairy rather than feathered and have horns)
 * Kiilash (most notable member being )
 * Khonlui ("Rhinobears?")
 * Ophelis
 * Ottrani
 * Lhotlan (birdlike; most notable members are and )
 * Shimon (monkeylike; includes )
 * Sodjoko


 * Tribes of the Sky
 * Besheb
 * Chyra ("the Silent Chorus")
 * Strig ("Reptilian butterflies!")
 * Numerous other currently unknown tribes

Culture
General= Not much is known about their culture due to the mysterious nature of this race. However, we do know that many significant acts (like reproduction) involve heavy use of magic.

The Marai vastaya have cultural ties with Mount Targon. The Moonstone protects its people from Voidborn, which come from the dark depths of the Guardian's Sea. However, the moonstone's energy needs to be replenished over time, so a Tidecaller of each generation is tasked to retrieve a new one from the contemporary vessel for the Targonian Aspect of the Moon.

The Kiilash vastaya reside in Shurima. Their entire society revolves around the honor and glory of the hunt. Due to Shurima having a wide infestation of Voidborn creatures, the Killash see them as one of the most venerated and sought after prey.

The Lhotlan vastaya have cultural and existential ties with Ionia. Being one of the oldest Vastayan tribes in existence, they have deep ties with their ancestral roots and protect their cultural heritage from the ever encroaching human population of the continent.

The Shimon vastaya reside in Ionia. These apelike Vastaya are a wise, cautious people, and as pacifists, chose to build their society away from landwalkers, cultivating their society atop the tallest trees in Ionia. The Shimon see life as an evolutionary climb to wisdom, thus upon death, the Shimon believe they become stones, returning to the soil to begin the climb of life again. Languages=

Vastaya speak their own language, linguistically unrelated to various languages spoken by humans:


 * Vastayan basic word-order is.
 * Vastayan is a predominantly, which forms words by combining morphemes, yet the morphemes often remain unchanged; e.g. vi "wild" & om "magic" becomes vi-om "wild-magic".
 * Vastayan has at least two : masculine & feminine.
 * Interestingly, Vastayan grammar allows grammatical tenses to be affixed onto pronominal subjects, just like.

Just as each human language consists of many dialects, so does Vastayan language: for instance, the Baraashi dialect is spoken by the Lhotlan tribe of and. (Baraashi was created using elements from the real-life Finnish & Arabic languages as its basis.)


 * Vastaya Baraashi dialect (Lhotlan Tribe)
 * Baasi - I (future tense).
 * Eli, Ella - Love (masculine, feminine).
 * Faash - They (present tense).
 * Ighilya - Great Grandmother.
 * Iminha - Little One.
 * Mi - My.
 * Mieli, Miella - My Love (masculine, feminine).
 * - A slang for "Blood traitor".
 * Na - To not be.
 * Om - Magic.
 * - Farewell.
 * Soura - To Gather.
 * - Rest in peace/well.
 * Tann - Here.
 * Va'h - To be (present tense).
 * Vastaya - Vastaya (the people).
 * Vi - Wild.
 * Vi-om - Wild-magic.
 * Vi-om - Wild-magic.

Trivia

 * In-universe, the appellation Vastaya means simply "[the] people" & is shortened from their supernatural ancestors' endonym Vastayashai'rei.
 * Some Vastayan tribal names might've originated from human languages, due to Vastayans' partial human ancestry:
 *  < *mokaray "crocodile" < *mo(ṅ)k(u)- "devour" ; Marai <  móri "sea", Ophelis < *h₃bʰel- "help" or h₁ógʷʰis "snake", Ottrani < udrós "otter",  < *bʰh₂u-enos "gracious one", etc.
 * Vastaya resemble yordles in the sense that both are animalistic in appearance and both have a strong connection to magic.
 * is annoyed that humans mistakenly label yordles as vastayan.
 * The true existence and fate of the vastaya were unknown to mainland scholars until an explorer from Piltover, Eduard Santangelo, chronicled his findings of this mysterious race during his expedition to Ionia. Upon first encountering them, he coined the term 'Phantasma', but later adopted the local name for them.
 * Santangelo mentions examples of vastaya ranging "from the winged humanoids of Ionia or the sporadically-limbed sandshufflers of Shurima, to the Freljordian scaled manatee with a look of perpetual discomfort on its face."
 * Vastaya tend to settle near springs where magic flows into the world or near the invisible streams that expand from these springs. While most vastaya need this supply of magic to thrive, they can go extended periods without it.
 * There is a very old treaty between specific tribes of Ionian vastaya and humans that deals with the sharing of natural magic. Over the last decade the humans have begun to abuse their share, causing a lot of concern from the Vastaya as well as mistrust between the races.
 * 's chemtech transformation may have been inspired by the Vastaya and their chimeric existence (which might have discovered when participating in Noxus' Ionian Campaign).
 * Despite having vaguely vastayan features, is not a vastaya; was a plague rat that was transformed by chemical waste.
 * On Summoner's Rift, the red team's shopkeeper may be a vastaya.
 * Half-breeds of vastaya and human are not considered true vastaya, but do have some vastayan blood that grants some form of shapeshifting ability.
 * During the war with Noxus, certain vastaya tribes allied with the invaders, looking for a better deal.

Media
Music=
 * Related Music