Then You Came Into My Life With Come Hither In Your Eyes

My contribution to Leodia Week this year: Crossover AU with Elden Ring 🌞 🌚

For people who know a little bit about ER it should be obvious who they are stand-ins for in the original lore haha. Anyways lore dump for this AU below the cut

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As an infant, Diana was found orphaned by the Knights of Leyndell, Royal Capital. They took her in among their ranks and, once she came of age, allowed her to train with the other initiates, hoping to mold her into a loyal servant of the Golden Order.

During that time she befriended Leona, a fellow knight initiate of mysterious origin with fiery red locks and an even fierier spirit in battle.

However, while Leona remained fully devout to the Erdtree's cause, over the years Diana saw her own faith in the Golden Order begin to waver, especially once she discovered their treatment of non-human races such as the Albinaurics and Misbegotten. She frequently challenged the will of her superiors, becoming a thorn in the side to the Royal Capital.

This tension reached breaking point when as a late teen, Diana was revealed to be an Empyrean, someone capable of forming a connection with an Outer God. And so, Diana's very existence became a threat to the reigning Goddess and the Greater Will. Knowing the schematics of the Golden Order and fearing for her life, Diana fled the Capital.

Leona was heartbroken, for as far as she knew, her friend disappeared overnight. In truth, Diana went on to Liurnia, where she discovered the Full Moon and eventually came to lead the Raya Lucaria Academy.

Years later, Leona, now a Champion of the Golden Order, was tasked to lead the golden host and conquer Leyndell's surrounding territories in the name of the Greater Will. Her aggressive campaign lead her to Liurnia and the front steps of the Raya Lucaria Academy.

She did not expect to see her old friend, now a fully fledged Queen of Caria, standing on the battlefield and single-handedly repelling the Leyndell army's assault, aided by the majesty of the night sky she conjured.

Since the Canada griffin was proudly mentioned recently I figure it can’t hurt to ask if you do happen to have plans to design Canada griffin goslings at some point in the future? (muse permitting)

I DO NOW.

I present to you

honklings

Ahh thank you so much for the answer! This was a blast to read from start to finish <33 Given how ambiguous the situation with Leona and the Solari is in canon (please Riot just one update...), I can totally see either scenario being probable, and either way I agree that Leona needs overcoming a lot of emotional damage and personal growth in order to mend her relationship with Diana.

I love everything about Morgana and Syndra too. I never noticed how strong the parallels in their stories are, but now that you pointed it out I really would like to see them interact in canon (as improbable as it is ;-;). I agree that Morgana would opt to approach Syndra with patience. She of all beings would understand that Syndra did not enjoy the pain she inflicted on people, and that her outburst was a result of trauma and not understanding her own powers.

(Morgana as a character has so much lore potential in general... girl just gotta get out of that cave adsfdfg)

Thanks again for sharing the headcanons! Riot is painfully slow in releasing lore stuff so all this is wonderful food <3

Hi Heka, I discovered you for all your amazing Leodia art, but I genuinely enjoy everything you make! I have always wondered how you envision the reconciliation between Leona and Diana to be like? Do you think Leona will discover the error of her ways on her own, or will she require the intervention of some other person/a cathartic event?

Unrelated but I am also curious about how you think a meeting between Morgana and Syndra would turn out in the main universe, given the WIP you shared of them at Riftmas :3

Hii Explodingquails, thank you so much for your words and support!! <3 <3

And hmm, how could I answer this... Well, I have thought of this before and at the same time I have a pair of scenarios. I guess it depends on the route Leona takes? Either her tyrant route or she not know what the Solaris are doing (the lore itself is stuck between those two concepts, lord help me)

This requieres what we call a "mucho texto" (meme-ish way to say "very long text"), because for Tyrant Leona

I picture her as someone who has reached self-failure (Leona is meant to be a protector for the weak and yada yada). I don't think or picture her as brainwashed or a zealot, she knows her protective ideals, she knows the cruel actions of the Solari and is aware of their radical behavior specially because she saw how they treated Diana. But she's stuck in this radical place where the Solari can kill their own (as said in the latests story that features Atreus iirc). Leona decides to stay because she has the weight of her people + family and their expectations upon her, and has to fulfill them by the fear of dissapointment. I think some of us can relate to that.

The scenario of this route causes a conflict that escalates to war, and it's a situation that overcomes Leona psychologically. She accepts that she has become a tyrant and arrives to the conclusion that, in order to end the bloodshed, is by Diana killing her. This of course leads to a semi-god fight where Leona pretends to be cruel and ignorant as a way to anger Diana, who later notices that façade. Diana tries to reach Leona but she refuses and basically threatens Diana to make a supernova if she doesn't end her lol (extra dramatic I know). But Diana, knowing how Leona feels, just runs across the chaos and fire to hug her, which puts and end to the conflict. WOOOOOO clap clap and everyone was happy again.

That's the first reconciliation scenario I thought about. Now for the route where Leona doesn't know shit, well, I guess she would find out eventually and Diana herself or the Lunari, or the rakkor would tell her "hey the Solari are killing everyone please stop this" and Leona would go like "Wait what??" and start moving because Leona is, supposedly, a protector.

She can call out the Solari but I don't think that would go well for her lol, maybe she can try to find Diana but the Lunari take her as a prisoner because it's the enemy AND leader of the Solari, Diana finds out and both talk about the things that are happening and how Leona just didn't know. Maybe the Solari go absolute bonkers and decide to burn everything everywhere at the absence of Leona since she's a threat to their bloodshed too. It's not a polished idea so I can't say a lot more kjkjdkj but I think it would be a desperate situation that can make them fight together (A DREAM RIOT PLS) and a first step to end the conflict

Now for Morgana and Syndra

This involves that Morgana is not in Demacia (maybe when things start to go well in there she can afford traveling around), and this scenario is related to my HC of Syndra being an incognito. Not as a spy or anything, but let's say, she pretends to be a wanderer or someone who lost everything to the war.

Syndra (and this is canon) can only understand her magic fully if she discovers and knows herself, because it's driven by her emotions. So I decided to use that excuse to make her go around Ionia (and to get food and stuff because the suplies of the fortress aren't infinite, like). She doesn't think that she's making a self-discovery trip, she's not aware of that fact, but something within just tells her to go to the country she hates to the gut lmao.

While she wanders around, maybe at night but totally in the middle of the forests where she usually hides, she encounters a mysterious figure that approaches her, this being Morgana. With the "What's troubling you, child?" kind of trope.

Syndra immediately feels threatened by her because there's something about Morgana that makes her feel exposed, and emotional exposure equals danger to Syndra. She warns Morgana to stand back and leave, ready to attack. Morgana however just walks closer as she knows that Syndra cannot attack her even if she wants to.

Just as Morgana can percieve Syndra's incredible magic, Syndra notices Morgana's power, but is unable to determine what she is. She's not human, she's not an ordinary mage, nor a vastaya, or any other type of creature that comes to mind. Whatever she is, Morgana is just something superior. She knows she can't mess with her.

Morgana presents herself calm and smiling with tenderness. She explains to Syndra that her large pain caught her attention and how she understands that feeling of anger, betrayal and loliness created by her people and family, just like she felt because of Kayle. But she also senses how Syndra is trapped inside her own mind and how that torments her deeply.

Syndra somehow knows that what she says is true, so decides to accept her company even if it makes her feel vulnerable. There is something about Morgana that makes her unable to reject her.

This strong empathy that Morgana feels would drive her to share her views, teachings and wisdom to Syndra, and Syndra herself, with time, would feel free to be herself infront of a mentor and motherly figure, figures that in the past hurt her deeply. It's a dynamic that would help both characters come into terms with their personal pain and broken bonds.

Syndra's "I had a brother once, but he betrayed me instead of protecting me." which would mirror Morgana's "I had a sister once, that betrayed me instead of being by my side." You get what I mean overall.

Now this HC comes from the Kayle and Morgana's rework AMA, where a Rioter stated that the character that Morgana would feel the most empathy for, would be Syndra.

This Rioter also stated that she would make Syndra feel the pain she inflicted to others as a way to teach her (like she usually does), but I disagree with that part. Syndra's new lore puts her as a victim of family mistreatment and bullying, who developed an (almost uncontrolable) explosive temperament along with a strong distrust towards others. If Morgana tries to approach her and uses her magic to make her feel pain to learn, it just would make Syndra see Morgana as a red flag, someone like those who had hurt her.

Even if it goes against her judgement themes, I think it's something that would break the first steps of their dynamic, which are very important and fragile because they revolve around trust and being emotionally open.

Anyways I'll leave it here before I write even more LMAO hope this was at least a pleasant reading!

I love how Hades II sets up the impression that Olympus is in full-on war mode with big armies of various supernatural beings and the Gods all dressed up in armor and personally participating — and then you reach the mountain and their entire line of defense is just a dozen cranky bots and Athena

At the request of OP, and Ms. Aabria I’m very sorry if you’ve already been pinged @quiddie

Dusty I have an important question :D : Do you think Shartwolf’s fur would be black or silver; if it starts out black, do you think it suddenly switches color like her hair when Selune happens

I definitely envision her fur as all black in the beginning, and I have sketched up a crack design of her with a white skunk stripe post selune lmao, because in my head i rationalised that her body hair would remain black?

BUT i definitely LOVE the all white/silver fur!!! it's my personal preference!

Felt like drawing something cute today so have a happy little sun blob.

In case it's not obvious I'm buried deep in League lore after Arcane. Might do a matching moon gif later hehe

I made this comic for the literature festival ‘Québec en toutes lettres'. If you are in la ville de Québec, I believe you can find this comic displayed on a large panel or as a free postcard in these cute vending machines they’ve set up around the downtown. I don’t actually have proof of either, so if you are in Québec and you see my comic in the wild, please send me a photo!

The theme of this year’s festival is ‘climbing the light’ based on a line of poetry from Jean-Paul Daoust. My comic is a pretty abstract take on that. I was thinking about how great art can inspire people all over the world to create art, and how that art can then inspire future artists and so on, making this unending giving-and-receiving of light through our history. I was also thinking about birds (as I do sometimes), and how they do a similar thing with their songs.

The bird I’ve painted here is an Eastern Whip-poor-will, a night singer.

Everyone should read their own fanfics recreationally tbh this shit fucking rules. It's like the author knows exactly what I like.