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Name: Riven
 
Alias: "Riven, the Exile" "Riven of Noxus"
 
Class: Melee Fighter, Carry, Bruiser
 
Race: Human - Noxian
 
Age: Approximately mid thirties
 
Occupation: League Champion
 
Residence: Institute of War (LoL Forums) / Wandering in Exile (Maelstrom)
 
Alignment: Good
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Ability
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Physical Abilities
Riven has trained for combat from a very young age, pushing herself to her breaking point again and again. As a result, her body is built like a professional martial artist, with thick, strong bones and muscles. She is lean, and fairly muscular despite still maintaining a curvy, and surprisingly petite, feminine shape. The lack of true body bulk makes Riven naturally preconditioned toward speed rather than bulky armor. Her body and maneuverability are her defense, and her bones are her armor for the most part. Riven is a fighter with inhuman strength, speed, and dexterity, but lacks the heavy defenses of other bulkier champions. That being the case, Riven is more likely to avoid any attacks made against her, before striking at high speed, and with terrible power. This combination of attributes makes her a problem for slower, bulkier fighters, as they can rarely keep up with her higher speed, and her high strength can strike denting blows against their armor. Fighters faster than her have a distinct advantage, but she can still fight defensively using a combination of her Ki Burst and Valor to stave off blows. Mages have a better chance at defeating Riven, as long as they maintain some form of distance between themselves and Riven. Riven can make use of her years of training to find a solution to most difficult combat situations, making her a wildcard if crossed.
 
Abilities Description
Riven’s abilities are incredibly similar to her abilities on the Fields of Justice, however, when unbound by the League’s magical restrictions, Riven can unleash her full power and strength, making her much more dangerous if she chooses to fight. While these are extrapolations based on her known abilities on the Fields of Justice, Riven is capable of using her abilities in ways unseen on the fields before, due to a lack of League Restrictions.
 
Runic Blade:
Riven’s Passive works very much the same way it does on the fields, empowering her sword strikes. However, off the fields, it is not reliant on her using an ability. Instead, Riven may willingly charge her blade with energy for a more powerful strike. The sword itself was thought to be nigh unbreakable when it was forged by the greatest smiths in Noxus, and given to her by Noxian General Marcus Du Couteau at High Command as a part of her promotion to Captain. It is attuned to Riven’s own willpower and drive, and it also has a tie to the element of wind. By charging the blade with her will and the wind element, Riven’s basic attacks can gain tremendous cutting force. Magically enhanced materials or damage barriers can be cut with enough force, but put up more resistance and are more difficult to damage. That said, Riven’s strikes can be made up to around four times as powerful as normal by using this ability to its maximum potential, unless Riven is using her fully realized Runeblade, in which case it can be even stronger, but at a cost.
 
Broken Wings:
Broken Wings works very similarly to how it works on the Fields of Justice. It is meant to be a combo of sword strikes designed to output as much damage to a foe in quick succession as possible. Strikes from Broken Wings are charged with energy for more damage, actually growing in power until the third strike hits home, which strikes with such thunderous force that it knocks enemies away, deals damage in a fairly large area of effect around Riven, and, at higher concentrations of power, might actually stun an opponent similar to a concussive blast. This is Riven’s most commonly used means of attack, and it makes her dangerous, especially with Blade of the Exile active. The “cooldown” on Broken Wings is approximately 12 seconds, or two posts between uses. However, Broken Wings can be delayed for roughly 4 seconds, or a post, before the combo must either continue or be halted.
 
Ki Burst:
This ability, too, works very similarly to how it works on the Fields of Justice. Riven calls upon her inner strength to release a burst of power around her in a fairly-good-sized area of effect. The force of Riven’s will slamming into an opponent will knock them off their feet, or cause even the heaviest opponents to stumble, acting as a stun that prevents them from reacting for a short period of time. Riven generally uses this small window of opportunity to strike, and hard, with Broken Wings, dealing incredible amounts of damage over a short period of time while her enemies cannot react effectively. Unlike on the fields, however, Ki Burst is powerful enough to serve a variety of utility functions. If grabbed or held in place by a physical force, Riven can Ki Burst to break the grapple, as well as stunning an opponent as normal if he or she is close enough. The burst of Ki can also be channeled through her body, making any of her unarmed attacks something ferocious to witness as well. An unarmed Ki Strike will hit with enough force to severely dent even the hardest substances, break bones, and stun a target with the force unleashed. In addition, this can be used to throw Riven into the air by focusing the force of the strike through her legs and into the ground. It can also be used midair to redirect her flight-path in a similar fashion, once more adding to Riven’s mobility. The “cooldown” of Ki Strike is approximately 7 seconds, or one post between uses.
 
Valor:
Using her own willpower and Ki, Riven manifests a “shield” of energy around her body that absorbs both magical and physical damage, surpassing her normal limits of damage mitigation. It is not technically a shield, but her charging her body with her Ki to strengthen it to superhuman levels temporarily to shrug off damage. Riven’s armor is generally lacking, which lends itself to her incredible mobility, but makes this ability her biggest means of self defense, other than a strong offense to intercept things she cannot otherwise avoid. The more energy Riven puts into her body, the more damage and punishment she can take. This includes damage she would otherwise take from her own exertion. Unlike on the fields, Riven does not have to be capable of movement to manifest this shield, though it is typically used for an advance, nor does the shield necessarily have to surround her body. In fact, by charging her Runeblade with energy, Riven can actually block or lessen spells or energy attacks launched toward her by using this ability. If used in this way, however, Riven will be unable to use it to protect her body itself until the ability’s “cooldown” has timed out. Valor has a “cooldown” of approximately 6 seconds, or one post.
 
Blade of the Exile
Riven’s ultimate ability also works similarly to how it works on the Fields of Justice, however, many of the limitations present there are not so outside them. When unleashing her power and reforging her blade, Riven’s strength increases dramatically, as well as her reaction time and natural defense against damage, as more of her willpower and Ki flows through her body, energizing it. In addition to this, it is important to note that all of Riven’s abilities gain a power boost as well, and a range increase. Blade of the Exile taps directly into Riven’s willpower and Ki, supercharging her body, as well as allowing any of her abilities to be supercharged beyond their normal levels. The only true “limit” to this is Riven’s body’s ability to withstand the tremendous force of her own will made manifest. This strain is not to be underestimated.
 
As she begins to reach her body’s physical limit on her power, it first drains her stamina, winding her if she continues to fight beyond her standard limits. If Riven continues to push beyond those limits, the raw power will literally erode her body from the inside out, causing serious internal hemorrhaging and other injuries. While the forces the blade unleashes can and do bolster her body’s resilience, it cannot be used to offset the toll the energy will inevitably take if Riven pushes herself too far. In short, if Riven pushes herself too far, she will kill herself with her own willpower and Ki.
 
While under the effect of this transformation, damage to the blade itself can be regenerated by a similar process to the one that created it, making it a very durable weapon. Unlike on the fields, this ability is permanent until Riven dismisses the reformed blade, but it can only be used once per day (or every full 8 hours of sleep and rest she receives), as the strain from manifesting the blade is far too heavy to do multiple times in a set of time without significant rest. Therefore, it truly has no meaningful in-battle “cooldown” to mention.
 
Wind Slash
The ultimate of Riven’s ultimate. This ability is the attack that single-handedly made Riven a terror to fight in the Ionian War, and the technique postulated to have killed Yasuo’s charge. Groups of soldiers would fall before the onslaught of a single Wind Slash, the Ki mixing with the blade’s elemental affinity to create a cutting blade as sharp as Riven’s will, and with all the fluidity of the howling wind, molded into a single, mighty slash of energy. Unlike Blade of the Exile, Wind Slash does have a “cooldown” of 8 posts attached, or approximately 50 seconds depending on situation. However, in most cases, one use of this ability is enough to defeat virtually any foe that Riven must face, assuming it strikes its target.
 
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— Fighting the Exile —
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On the surface, Riven looks to be an almost unstoppable dunking machine. After all, she has power only limited by her own fragility. However, Riven is every bit as mortal as any other Noxian soldier or human being on Runeterra. In this section, one will learn how to deal with Riven competitively, as that is where she shines strongest.
 
Attack Routines:
Riven is a talented duelist, but her power lies in her rapid attack routines. Her abilities come up fairly often, giving her a trump card when she really seems to need it most. To overcome Riven, one must think tactically, and plan for her moments of weakness. Everything she does is more or less predictable to some degree. Planning ahead for contingencies, then, becomes easy in some respects. If she has just used a Ki Burst and a Valor to stave off an attack and follow with an attempted stun, she will be vulnerable to attack for the next post as her defensive abilities will be unable to come to her aid. Timing and preparation are important when dealing with Riven, and a smart duelist will have no problem trading with her regardless of strength. Strength is only as good as the brain wielding it. This is no different than fighting her ingame.
 
Assault Strategies:
Riven’s weakness lies in her fragility. She is fast, she can deal damage, she can not sustain heavy hits for long. Her shield can stave off attacks, her Ki Burst can stun, but if she takes a hit, Riven feels it. All defenses must crack and break eventually, and Riven is no different. Steady attacks are the best way to defeat Riven. She can only defend and block so much before she is overwhelmed. Ranged attacks are even better means to defeat her, as forcing her through a minefield of things will wear her down and force her to play on your terms. If one can attack from multiple angles with incredible speed, she will have even more problems defending, hence why champions like Master Yi, Yasuo, Irelia, and a grand multitude of ranged attackers are foes I regularly state can defeat Riven if played to their strengths. Groups are also a great way to strike at Riven, and will force her into a defensive fighting style or to make greater sacrifices.
 
Outlasting the Exile:
Riven is her own worst enemy in combat. The stronger the foe, the more she will push herself, and the longer the battle with said foe, the more her energy use will damage her at higher levels. If you can defend against her, she will wear herself down. It is a battle of attrition, and damage from a patient and calculated foe will combine with her own self-inflicted injuries to bring her down. Her costs are an equalizing factor. For every bit of damage she delivers to an opponent in her higher forms, she sustains damage herself. Capitalizing on Riven’s costs and built-in shortcomings is the best strategy at all times to defeat her regardless of how one goes about it.
 
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RELATIONSHIPS
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Riven is a woman who keeps to herself. She does not impose herself upon others unless they impose themselves upon her first. She keeps out of the world’s way for the most part, unless it is required for her to act to further her goals. She is well adjusted to a battlefield, and takes on a very different personality when in combat, however, she never truly learned how to interact with people on a more personal or intimate level. Due to this, and to the harshness of anything emotional being labeled as “weak” by much of Noxus, Riven never truly had anything that she called a “friend” much less a “lover.” Such things were said to make her resolve weaker, and could be used as a source of exploitation. As a result, Riven does not often seek out friendship or companionship with others.
 
In the simplest sense, Riven was “married to Noxus.” Her goal was only to be the best she could be, and give her all for her homeland. The concept of love, relationships, or even friendships were the farthest thing on her mind. If Riven ever held any romantic feelings for any members of her squad, she never expressed them, and was never known to have them. In a conversation with Shyvana, the Half-Dragon, it was revealed that Riven has semi-romantic feelings for Summoner Kaz, but is afraid or unwilling to act on them for fear of weakening her resolve and being distracted from her goals. This proves that Riven can, and does, feel attraction to others.
 
Simply stated, Riven could be considered pan-sexual, caring more about the person themselves and their personality rather than their gender as far as relationships. This extends into her friendships as well, where she cares more about who they are as a person rather than their political affiliations. However, Riven has shown no real romantic attraction to women, and even seems a little uncomfortable during any personal physical contact with them. This being the case, one can assume that Riven’s preferences for romantic attraction are males, with the ability to find attractive qualities in females under the right circumstances. Riven’s current “relationships” are as follows…
 
List of Relationships and Status – LoL Forums
 
Tekun Valos – Acquaintance / Respected Sparring Partner
Singed, the Mad Chemist – Hatred / Disgust
Warwick, the Blood Hunter – Hatred / Disgust
Katarina Du Couteau – Uneasiness / Acquaintance / Noxian Confidant?
Talon, the Blade’s Shadow – Irritance / Dislike
Swain, the Master Tactician – Hatred / Disgust
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DESCRIPTION
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Riven is a petite, tanned, white-haired, amber-eyed woman in her mid twenties that stands approximately 5’6" tall. While petite, she is also fairly well-muscled, yet maintains her feminine curves. She is slightly heavier than a woman of her same height due to her bones being more dense and stronger from repeated training. Riven is almost always seen in her casual attire, which consists of a simple white tunic of sorts, with a leather armored wrap around her midsection. On her left shoulder is a single Noxian green armor pauldron, while her right shoulder is adorned with another pauldron and covered in what remains of a tattered cloak of some kind. Her left leg sports a Noxian green knee and shin guard, while Riven wears hearty sandals on her feet. On her right arm is a massive gauntlet with a glowing green rune, part of the armor she once wore. Contrary to popular belief, Riven’s gauntlet does NOT increase her physical strength, but the padding assists in lessening impact forces along her forearm when wielding her massive blade.
 
Riven has also been known to be seen in a different, more “Demacian-looking” set of clothing nicknamed her “Redeemed” outfit. It can be seen, pictured above. She also owns, begrudgingly, an outfit known as her “Bunny Suit” or “Battle Bunny” outfit. She hates this particular set of attire for various reasons, but the most prominent is that it reminds her of her failure to strike down Jericho Swain before he was crowned Grand General of Noxus, and the General blackmailed her into wearing the uniform from the “Battle Bunny” as a sort of cruel joke as payment for keeping the attempt on his life a secret. She has also mentioned that she hates it for its revealing, demeaning, nature, and that she is only summoned in it so that her summoners can gawk at her in lewd and detestable ways. Riven also owns one final outfit, known as her “Crimson Elite” uniform, given to her by Katarina Du Couteau. She has, thus far, refused to wear it in any way.
 
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BIOGRAPHY
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In Noxus, any citizen may rise to power regardless of race, gender, or social standing — strength is all that matters. It was with committed faith in this ideal that Riven strove to greatness. She showed early potential as a soldier, forcing herself to master the weight of a long sword when she was barely its height. She was ruthless and efficient as a warrior, but her true strength lay in her conviction. She entered battles without any trace of doubt in her mind: no ethical pause, no fear of death. Riven became a leader amongst her peers, poster child of the Noxian spirit. So exceptional was her passion that the High Command recognized her with a black stone rune sword forged and enchanted with Noxian sorcery. The weapon was heavier than a kite shield and nearly as broad — perfectly suited to her tastes. Soon after, she was deployed to Ionia as part of the Noxian invasion.
 
What began as war quickly became extermination. Noxian soldiers followed the terrifying Zaunite war machines across fields of death. It wasn’t the glorious combat for which Riven trained. She carried out the orders of her superiors, terminating the remnants of a beaten and fractured enemy with extreme prejudice. As the invasion continued, it became clear that the Ionian society would not be reformed, merely eliminated. During one bitter engagement, Riven’s unit became surrounded by Ionian forces. They called for support as the enemy closed in around them. What they received instead was a barrage of biochemical terror launched by Singed. Riven watched as around her Ionian and Noxian alike fell victim to an unspeakably gruesome fate. She managed to escape the bombardment, though she could not erase the memory. Counted dead by Noxus, she saw an opportunity to start anew. She shattered her sword — severing ties with the past — and wandered in self-imposed exile. Now she seeks atonement and her own way to serve the pure Noxian vision in which she believed.
 
“There is a place between war and murder in which our demons lurk.”
―Excerpt from the poem, “Scarlet Shon-Xan”
 
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LEAGUE JUDGMENT
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Candidate: Riven
Date: 9 September, 21 CLE
 
OBSERVATION
 
The weight Riven carries seems to hang in the air around her. The remnants of her Noxian armor are tarnished, they speak of her absence from duty. The broken sword she carries is, in itself, so massive that imagination falters to conceive of the blade’s original size. The echo of battle lingers with her. It smolders in her eyes, tenses in her grip, and coils in her step. It never leaves her. She is there now still, in the midst of it, as she enters the marble doors.
 
REFLECTION
 
Riven’s fingers played along the edges of her blade’s runic inscription – an idle habit, long deprived of meaning. Her thoughts went where they often went in darkness: to dark memories. She gritted her teeth. There was nothing quite so cutting as the recollection of a guilty mind.
 
She twitched, involuntarily, as the scene of her death unraveled before her.
 
A damp fog yawned across the valley floor sheepishly, as though reluctant to conceal the horrors of the day. The gagging stench would have betrayed its effort, had not the smell so thoroughly permeated the Ionian countryside. Death was now a permanent resident of the somber isle, and its purchase grew with every passing hour. After so many similar fields, Riven no longer took account of it.
 
Dusk was settling as the company marched on, the stamp of their boots thick and dull crossing the grimy stretch. Riven’s own boots were becoming stained a deep brown by the mud. She felt a pang of nausea as she realized it wasn’t rainwater that dampened the soil.
 
She forced the thought out of her head. There would be more fields, more fogs, more harrowing muck – she could process it all later. “Focus is essential,” her drill instructor used to bark. “A lot happens in the chaos of battle, but you can only accomplish one thing at a time.” Now it was marching.
 
Fury Company had trudged for days to catch up with the rest of the 42nd Standard, and the dreary trail through the Zaunite Melters’ aftermath was… messy. War was all about casualties, but the rising number of civilian losses was staggering. The High Command had expected the peace-loving Ionians to roll over and surrender in the face of Noxus’ military juggernaut. Instead the resistance was fierce and unrelenting. For a society that preached pacifism, the Ionians didn’t hesitate to get their hands dirty.
 
Riven was impressed.
 
This was a particularly grim scene. The Coeur Valley was one of the few passageways through which the Melters could cross the foothills of northern Shon-Xan. The Ionians had made a desperate stand there that morning, hoping to stem or slow the pace of Zaun’s death machines. It was a telling failure for Ionia. They hadn’t even managed to scramble half the forces Noxian intelligence had predicted, and ample countermeasures were taken long before the Melters attempted the pass. Still, for such a meager resistance, Riven couldn’t help but notice the abundance of Noxian uniforms littered amongst the dead.
 
A day or two behind, the Noxian cleanup effort was requesting reinforcements.
 
Riven’s attention was drawn to the path by the sound of advancing footsteps. Someone was approaching the group from the front. Riven raised her blade high, halting the company and eclipsing herself beneath it. It was a true Noxian weapon, built to instill fear at sight alone.
 
The figure emerged from the fog. It was a girl, a couple years older than Riven, stumbling as she walked. Her clothes were torn and matted with blood. When she saw the company, her eyes went wide.
 
“No no no no no,” she muttered. “No more, please.” She fell to her knees and started weeping.
 
Riven ordered two men to retrieve the girl. Handling civilians was a chore that had wearied the men over the past several weeks. They’d been trained to kill soldiers in battle, not to dispatch helpless bystanders. Ionia didn’t even have a standing military.
 
Only the strong survive, Riven reminded herself.
 
The two soldiers reached the girl and stood to either side, each silently hoping the other would take the lead. Riven was about to intervene when the girl made a quick motion and a thin red mist appeared in front of her. The two soldiers crumpled, dead before they hit the ground.
 
“Ambush!” Her warning was lost amongst the cries of her soldiers. On all sides of the company, corpses were rising, weapons in hand, and charging into their ranks. Except they weren’t dead. Their eyes were very much alive with hateful resolve. Riven remembered the intelligence reports: less than half the expected opposition. It was a trap. The Ionians had planned this all along.
 
Already the rear guard was overtaken. Riven screamed for the unit to collapse to a defensive formation. The army needed to be warned. She drew a distress flare from her belt and fired into the darkening sky. Pale green light illuminated the entire valley.
 
One of the Ionians leapt out at Riven. She slashed upward, bisecting him lengthwise. The Ionians had the advantage, but Riven wasn’t one to surrender. If they could defeat her in combat, they deserved this victory. The strong would prevail.
 
The remaining Noxian soldiers tightened their ranks, backs to each other. Nearly half the company was already dead or dying. The Ionians were taking their time now, savoring the growing Noxian despair.
 
They were surrounded and outnumbered. Her men were tired, demoralized. The Ionians, by contrast, were fueled by their hate. She wondered how long they had lain there, amongst the bodies of fallen friends, waiting for this moment. She tightened her grip on the sword. One way or another, she would end this.
 
A blinding ball of light erupted thirty feet in front of her, sending Ionians flying. Riven spun, looking for a source, just as another explosion hit the edge of the Noxian circle. Riven’s ears were ringing, all she could hear was her heartbeat. Noxian and Ionian soldiers were in chaos, some fighting, some running, some… clawing at their skin.
 
And then she realized it. The Melters had opened fire on them.
 
Only the strong survive, she repeated… but that was meaningless here. Nobody would survive. By all rights, the Ionians should have won this fight, but they too would die. How did this follow the Noxian way?
 
As she fled the cursed valley, explosions rocked the ground around her. Soldiers on both sides were subjected to horrific, unspeakable deaths. Something changed in her then. The conviction with which she charged boldly to war had evaporated, and without it she was… lost.
 
The memory neared its conclusion. Though she’d relived it a thousand times over, Riven never understood why that day went the way it did. She didn’t know why Noxus depended on Zaun’s horrific techmaturgy instead of its own military. She didn’t know why she didn’t see the ambush coming. She didn’t know why she survived. “Why do you want to join the League, Riven?” Behind her, the weeping girl stood, matted in blood, tears running down her cheeks. But the voice was out of place.
 
“This isn’t right…” Riven started, but the valley around her was melting away. This was some kind of trick.
 
“Why do you want to join the League, Riven?”
 
“What are you-”
 
“Why do you want to join the League?” Impatience.
 
“I don’t know!” Riven spat. She was stung by the invasion of her mind. She’d lived with this memory for years, but it was something she wouldn’t, couldn’t share. She took a deep breath, “I fought for something once, but it was a lie.” Spoken in her own voice, the words hurt to hear. “I still love Noxus, I never stopped. But now… I want to fight on my own terms.”
 
“How does it feel, exposing your mind?”
 
Riven let the question turn in her mind. So many times she wanted to confide in someone, to let someone else shoulder the burden. But telling the story – even watching it through her own eyes – didn’t ease the pain. It was hers alone, and some things could never be shared.
 
“Exposed or not, it changes nothing.”
 
Then the girl was gone, and she was alone in the Institute. Her broken sword glowed dimly at her side. The illusion was invasive, but she’d almost forgotten the former heft of her sword. As if in response, a faint green outline played out from the shard, tracing the blade’s former curve. She felt a sudden wash of reassurance. Perhaps she wasn’t so lost after all.