#freljord!jayce

In Runeterra, we have a large field of Tundra-like land named Freljord (Freu-iiord), where only those strong enough can survive the harsh cold, that takes a lot of inspiration from the Norse Mythology. Interestingly enough, Freljordians have quite a lot of warm and welcoming representions in LoR, but anyway.

Freljord was created by four siblings gods, which I'll speak about two: Ornn and Volibear.

They don't like each other.

Volibear, the younger one, is a belligerent bear-like god who longs for the savagery, blood, and the natural cycle of the world. He despises such things like crops and is the main god of those who hunt, kill and steal (case in point: Winter's Claw)

Ornn, the oldest, is ram-like god. He's a nonchalant, stoic and very reclusive blacksmith whose biggest love is his Hammer (the name of his hammer) and whatever masterpiece he is currently making. He cares very little about the rest of the world, but there once were a few people who started to worship him.

Those people were known as Hearthbloods, and they lived peacefully at the foot of the Vulcan where Ornn lived. There was no sacrifice or offering for the god other than the simple act of forging, and while Ornn himself would deny, everyone knew he appreciated his 'followers', to the point that those people were blessed with an unnaturally high resistance to critical temperatures (both hot and cold) and an uncanny skill in the forge.

Well then. One day Volibear went to Ornn and demanded him to forge weapons and armors for him and his followers (the ursine), since they would soon enter a war, but Ornn refused, despising his brother's warmongering drive. Volibear told him to pass the order to the Hearthbloods then, and Ornn refused yet again.

Annoyed, Volibear tried to steal the armoury already done. Ornn snapped and they started to fight.

Now, you gotta remember that these two are the embodiment of the force of nature itself so. The whole lane around them suffered from it, and by the end, there were no more hearthbloods to share the love of creation with Ornn, and so he retreated down to the earth, and little people these days see of him.

Despite Ornn's vanishment, there are still Freljordians who follow his way of life and worship him as their main god, people who somehow feel the forge god's blessings just like the Hearthbloods used to... But Volibear is a revengeful one, and his followers, ursine, winter claw and any who seek his blessings all hunt these quiet blacksmith tribes, to the point that many of those who achieved Ornn's blessings emigrated somewhere away from Freljord.

ACTUAL STUFF

And then we get to the Talis family. Here I often get torn between two options:

Immigrant Talis.

Jayce's father and Ximena lived in one of those small tribes composed of blacksmiths, gatherers and hunters, strong and resilient through the harsh cold and cruel winds, when the first raids from Volibear's followers started. Of course they tried to remain where they were, alongside the tribe and their homeland, but as time passed and Jayce was born, the couple was forced to make a plan:

With the growing raids all around, it was a question of a few years until their small tribe was attacked as well... So when Jayce reached his seventh year of life, Jayce's father went to Piltover, a city known for its love towards innovation which would, with no doubt, treat their genius and inventive son far more kindly than their cherished but mortal motherland.

The plan was for the father to build foundations and a safe house in this foreign city while Ximena and Jayce enjoyed Jayce's last years of comfort and childhood on Freljord, and by his tenth anniversary his father would go back and the family would all immigrate to Piltover with provisions, warm clothes and travel goats

Well. It did not go as planned.

Jayce's father reached prestige working on and then owning a forge, gathering enough money and famousness to found a small house (Talis, a homage to the talismans their tribe was fond of making, and the T of their crest made in the likeness of Ornn's totems and his Hammer).

But the Winter's Claws raided their tribe a few weeks shy of Jayce's birthday, and both mom and son were forced to flee the carnage and travel all the way to Piltover on foot and with no provisions... And because of that, Ximena almost died of hypothermia.

An alternative take on this would be pretty much the same, but with Talis father being a piltovense and just meeting Jayce and Ximena after they immigrated to flee the hunt of Volibear's followers, marrying Ximena and adopting Jayce as his son and heir... Though I prefer the first option, since it means giving a bit of Ornn's symbolism to the Talis crest.

But nevertheless they got to Piltover and all went well 👍👍

I might write a few topics in a day or two on how this would affect Jayce's relationship with others... like how poor people think of Freljordians, calling them savages and simple-minded, and how this would make Jayce that much anxious about people discovering he is, in fact, the 'simple-minded savage' they speak about.

And the shenanigans of Viktor assuming he is a Piltover and getting puzzled every time he does something weird, as well as other headcanons and whatnot (if I don't, @nukteross-al is gonna kill me) but there are also crack ideas for it, like abysmally different courting methods and the fact that Freljordians are canonically polyamorous (as in, it's a CLOSED relationship but it can have more than two people) and how this would confuse both Viktor and Mel.

And Iceborn Jayce. Because why not.

PLUS⬇️

That's a tattoo I'm working out which Hearthbloods would put on their shoulder-arms when they're of age, to show their commitment to Ornn and the forge. If the person who bears this tattoo manages to please Ornn with his work, the tattoo's lines would start to shine a bit like molten lava whenever Jayce went to the forge, since it's linked to Ornn's blessing and brought upon only when under oppressive heat or during the creation of something impressive

It also means that if the person loses himself in some way, like if they become violent and warmongering like Volibear, the tattoo would cease and any magic would vanish; or if the person stops creating altogether, he would no longer deserve it (hence more angst for Pit Jayce, with his months of creating absolutely nothing other than sad and deranged vibes)