Magicborn

Magicborn is the term for humans born with an innate capacity for magic, as opposed to those who learn spellcraft through study or acquire power by external means. Magic runs through Runeterra like an unseen river, and the magicborn are those able to draw on that current from birth. Its source is disputed: some hold it to be a trait carried through bloodlines, others tie it to exposure to magical ley lines, and others to mere chance. Whatever the cause, such humans have existed throughout Runeterra's history. How they are treated depends on where they are born. In Demacia, innate magic is regarded as a curse, and the kingdom developed petricite specifically to suppress it, leaving magicborn citizens to live in fear of discovery as a hidden underclass. Sylas, a magicborn able to absorb and turn others' magic against them, rose from that oppression to become the face of a mage rebellion against the Demacian state. Elsewhere the same gift carries a different meaning. Noxus views magic pragmatically, as another form of strength to be harnessed in the empire's service. Ionia weaves it into everyday life and celebrates its magicborn, though it still contends with those whose power outgrows their control, as with Syndra, while Ixtal builds an entire civilization upon the mastery of elemental magic. Across these lands the magicborn count figures such as Lux, Ryze, Karma, and Taliyah among their number, their fortunes shaped as much by birthplace as by the power they carry.