Galio the Sentinel's Sorrow

Long before the League's regulation of such magic, mages experimented with the creation of artificial life. Now forbidden, instilling golems with reason was once not so uncommon a practice amongst the more expert of craftsmen. One such visionary was the Demacian artificer, Durand. Peerless at crafting sentient beings, Durand's constructs served as tireless guardians for the border towns of his beloved city-state, affording them protection from their Noxian neighbors. For his own defense, however, Durand kept his magnum opus: Galio. This mighty construct forged in the image of a gargoyle kept him safe on his journeys, allowing him to perform his important work without fear of reprisal from those hostile to his homeland. That is, until dealing with his taxing sentinels finally roused the ire of the Noxian High Command.

As Durand crossed the Howling Marsh with his masterwork in tow, he was set upon by Noxian assassins in force. Outnumbered and overwhelmed, Galio looked on in horror as the murderers cut down his charge, executing him swiftly before vanishing back into the mists. Stripped of his reason for being, Galio despaired. For years he remained in solitude, standing vigil over the bones of the master he had failed to protect... a literal monument to his own everlasting shame. Then, on one nondescript day, a sad but determined yordle girl carrying a mighty Demacian crown stopped in the shadow of a great statue to rest. Hidden in plain sight from his unsuspecting visitor, Galio studied the forlorn yordle. She looked as though she too shouldered a tremendous burden. As quietly and as stoically as she had arrived, she departed in the direction of Demacia. This encounter lit a spark in Galio's eye. Remembering the cause that his master had died defending, Galio arose from his silent purgatory and followed in the wake of this brave creature. He had a new reason to live: to join the League of Legends and fight for the will of Demacia.

"There is no such thing as redemption. Only penance."

Corki the Daring Bombardier

When Heimerdinger and his yordle colleagues migrated to Piltover, they embraced science as a way of life, and they immediately made several groundbreaking contributions to the techmaturgical community. What yordles lack in stature, they make up for with industriousness. Corki, the Daring Bombardier, gained his title by test-piloting one of these contributions - the original design for the Reconnaissance Operations Front-Line Copter, an aerial assault vehicle which has become the backbone of the Bandle City Expeditionary Force (BCEF). Together with his squadron - the Screaming Yipsnakes - Corki soars over Valoran, surveying the landscape and conducting aerial acrobatics for the benefit of onlookers below.

Corki is the most renowned of the Screaming Yipsnakes for remaining cool under fire and exhibiting bravery to the point of madness. Before the League, he served several tours of duty, often volunteering for missions which would take him behind enemy lines, either gathering intelligence or delivering messages through hot zones. He thrived on danger, and enjoyed nothing more than a good dogfight in the morning. More than just an ace pilot, Corki also made several modifications to his copter, outfitting it with an arsenal of weapons which some speculate were more for show than functionality. When open hostilities ceased as part of the agreement surrounding the formation of the League, Corki was forced into a retirement which he felt "cut the engines and clipped the wings". He tried to make do with stunt flying and canyon running, but it was never the same without the refreshing smell of gunpowder streaking through the air around him. When Heimerdinger joined the League of Legends, it was no surprise to see Corki follow soon after, eager to test his mettle against the best the world has to offer.

"He is Corki - death from above!"

Kayle the Judicator

In a world far away where an ancient war still rages, Kayle was a great heroine - the strongest of an immortal race committed to destroying evil wherever it could be found. For ten thousand years, Kayle fought tirelessly for her people, wielding her flaming sword forged before time itself. She shielded her delicate features beneath her enchanted armor, the sole remaining masterpiece of an extinct race of craftsmen. Though a beautiful, striking creature, Kayle, now as then, avoids showing her face; war has taken a terrible toll upon her spirit. In her quest for victory, she sometimes would try to lift the wicked up from their morass of evil, but more than often she instead purged those she herself deemed beyond redemption. To Kayle, justice can so often be an ugly thing.

Ten years ago, Kayle's war against evil was nearly won... until her rebellious sister Morgana, a pariah amongst their people, suddenly gained powerful new allies: magicians of a hitherto unknown world called Runeterra. Morgana traded servitude to a number of the summoners in Runeterra's League of Legends for powerful new abilities that, if mastered, threatened to bring Kayle and her people to their knees. To save her world, Kayle had no choice but to make a pact with the League herself. She approached the leader of the League, High Counselor Reginald Ashram, with a deal of her own. In exchange for a thousand years of Kayle's service, Ashram halted all League interference on Kayle's world. With Ashram's disappearance five years ago, Kayle has new causes on Valoran: find out who or what caused Ashram to disappear, defeat her sister Morgana upon the Fields of Justice, and bring her own brand of justice to the League of Legends.

"In the League of Legends, Justice comes on swift wings."

Ashe the Frost Archer

One of the perennial favorites of summoners in the League of Legends is the Freljordian beauty known as Ashe. She is a direct descendant of Avarosa - one of three legendary sisters who each claimed dominion over the scattered tribes dwelling in the icy tundra of northern Valoran. Ashe mirrors her ancestor's unparalleled mastery of the bow, earning her the title of the Frost Archer the way Avarosa did during her era. Ashe is a literal Princess amongst her people, though she prefers to be addressed by outsiders as her tribal title rather than any form of royal moniker. There are those in Freljord, however, that would prefer to address Ashe as the late Frost Archer; the other two tribes that are descendants from the Three Sisters are historically sworn enemies of Ashe and her people. Having survived more than one assassination attempt in her life, Ashe is always aware of her surroundings regardless of where she is.

Ashe originally came to the Institute of War in service of the League summoners, seeking enough influence and favor to finally bring peace to her realm - one that has endured civil strife since Avarosa and the Time of the Three Sisters. With countless victories under her belt, she has started to put the influence she has earned in the League to use. Rumors abound that Ashe has begun to associate herself with fellow champion Tryndamere outside of the Fields of Justice. While she denies such talk as frivolous, all eyes will remain on Ashe now that her success in the League may finally allow her to restore lasting peace to her people.

"It's a good idea to spread out. Ashe can hit five birds with one arrow."

Tryndamere, the Barbarian King

There are those who choose not to live in one of the great city-states of Valoran. Instead, they live in remote locales, often as part of a nomad or barbarian tribe. While perils abound in these untamed lands, there is also great freedom in being removed from the politics of Valoran. Tryndamere was born a member of one of these barbarian tribes in northern Valoran. Even as a young boy, it was obvious that he would grow in martial prowess to become one of his clan's greatest warriors. However, as his clan moved south between the Howling Marsh and the Ironspike Mountains, they came across strangers in black garb, brandishing symbols of a beast's skull. Despite Tryndamere's pleas, his elder went out to speak with the strangers; they cut him down mercilessly. From there, they began to slaughter every man, woman, and child in the clan. Tryndamere, the sole survivor, hid under the bodies of his dead parents. Upon their bloodied corpses, he swore eternal vengeance on those who took his people from him - the assassins of Noxus.

To train himself, Tryndamere voluntarily served under all the great chieftains of the barbarian tribes, learning the ways of the barbarian warrior. Not only did this make him the man he needed to become in order to exact his revenge, it has also garnered him friends and allies among the most powerful barbarian leaders of Valoran. This recently allowed him to unite the barbarians into a single, powerful force - all under his command. Now he has joined the League of Legends to earn enough influence to find a permanent home for his people... and to slake his rage on the champions of his hated foes.

"The next true power will come from the far north, and it will involve Tryndamere - one way or another."
Graccus Mightstone, League Senior Political Scholar

Caitlyn the Sheriff of Piltover

One of the reasons Piltover is known as the City of Progress is because it has an extraordinarily low crime rate. This hasn't always been the case; brigands and thieves of all sorts used to find the city-state an ideal mark for plunder, primarily due to the valuable resources it imports to fuel its techmaturgical research. Some even theorize that it would have fallen long ago to the chaos of organized crime if not for Caitlyn, the Sheriff of Piltover. Born the daughter of a wealthy statesman and a pioneering hextech researcher, Caitlyn discovered her natural gift for investigation when, at age 14, her father was assaulted and robbed on his way home. She snuck out of her house that night with her father's rifle and tracked down the muggers from the crime scene. At first, her parents did their best to discourage her from such risky hobbies, but she was incorrigible. Wishing to protect her daughter in the only way she knew how, Caitlyn's mother began outfitting her with techmaturgical devices tailored to her sleuthing needs.

Caitlyn quickly gained notoriety, both because she was singlehandedly defeating crime in Piltover and also because she soon developed into a ravishing beauty. She never backed down from a case or a challenge, and she was one of the sharpest shots in the city-state. Her services were soon requested by Demacia to help track down a mysterious outlaw who had begun committing high-profile heists. The bandit, who always left a card with an ornate "C" at the scene of the crime, became Caitlyn's arch-nemesis. To this day, Caitlyn still searches for this cat burglar, and the chase has led her all across Valoran. She has joined the League to hone her skills and gain the influence necessary to track down the only quarry that has managed to evade her.
"Go ahead, run. I'll give you a five minute head start."

Dr. Mundo the Madman of Zaun

It is said that the man now known as Dr. Mundo was born in the city of Zaun without any sort of conscience. Instead, he had an unquenchable desire to inflict pain through experimentation. By the time he was five, most of the pets in the Zaun neighborhood where Mundo grew up had gone missing. By his teenage years, his parents were nowhere to be found. By the time he had legally acquired his license to practice medicine, he had been acquitted of thirty-eight separate charges of murder by the Zaun authorities; the lack of evidence made prosecution impossible.

Dr. Mundo has become equal parts serial killer and mad scientist, though no one is entirely sure how his butchery qualifies as science. However, he has made tremendous strides in mapping the pain response in the human brain and body, going so far as being able to suppress it, even in the most excruciating of circumstances. He has also tapped into the primal parts of the brain through chemistry, learning how to enhance aggression and adrenaline, as well as dulling conscience and the survival instinct. In short, Dr. Mundo's life's work has been how to create the perfect science-enhanced killer. Unfortunately, the city-state of Noxus regards such behavior as a sign of initiative and ambition, rather than inhumanity. Originally fighting for Zaun, Dr. Mundo was recruited to also fight for Noxus in the League of Legends; the Madman dual faction status represents the fruits of a blossoming relationship between Zaun and Noxus. He continues his experiments to this day, even using himself as an experimental subject, as evidenced by his disfigured appearance and his... unique manner of speaking. There are rumors that the High Command in Noxus has given him free reign to pursue his life's work in his spare time.

"Beware the Madman of Zaun. In his eyes, you are already dead."