League of Legends: Kin of the Stained Blade

In early 2019, we were invited by Riot Games to collaborate with Haoliners Animation League, Paper Plane Animation Studio, and Studio Tumble to create a concept promotional short film for the new League of Legends champion "Yone."

The collaboration between IDEOMOTOR, Haoliners, and Paper Plane began with the League of Legends "Light and Shadow" short film project in 2019. Together, we faced the Anime art design challenge, which was unfamiliar to us before, and we developed a deep understanding of workflow integration with Haoliners and Paper Plane. This laid the foundation of experience for our collaboration on the "Kin of the Stained Blade" project, providing us with a clearer understanding of the boundaries and expressive capabilities of the 2.5D Animation technique. For this "Kin of the Stained Blade" collaboration, IDEOMOTOR pursued a more rational and proactive approach to artistic design goals.

LEAGUE OF
LEGENDS
乘风归

The setting of the story is Ionia, a land filled with magic. The abundant magic blurs the boundaries between the material and spiritual realms, allowing them to coexist and intermingle.

In this setting, the spiritual realm is another world that coexists and shares the same land — the Rune Land — with the material realm. Magic flows between the two realms, and in places like Ionia, where magic is abundant, the two realms are closer. Some humans and other creatures can cross the boundaries between realms; for example, Shen can enter the spiritual realm, and Lee Sin can resonate with the dragon spirits in the spiritual realm.

The spiritual realm is home to various creatures, including spirits, demons, and yordles, just like humans inhabit the material realm.

When humans in the material realm die, they may enter the spiritual realm, making the Rune Land a mysterious place.

The Blossom Festival is a traditional holiday in Ionia to commemorate deceased ancestors. People can use the magic of blossom flowers to perform brief spiritual rituals (referred to as "offering spirits" in the film) with their departed loved ones. Blossom flowers only appear when there is a balance between the newly born soil of both realms, the material, and the spiritual. Therefore, we mention that this is the first Blossom Festival since the war with Noxus.

Character Intro

The protagonist of the story, Yasuo, is a native of this land. In his youth, he followed his half-brother, Yone, to study swordsmanship. Yone was skilled in swordsmanship, but Yasuo, with his exceptional talent, became the most esteemed disciple of Elder Souma, the master of the Wind Technique.

Yone, adhering to loyalty and righteousness, has always played the role of protector for his beloved family since he was very young. This is largely due to the influence of losing his father at a young age. In stark contrast to him is his half-brother, Yasuo. Unlike Yasuo's impulsiveness and recklessness, Yone is patient and disciplined.