#more interesting even than the already standing War Vet Comes Home AU where Shon-Xan is defended by Yi

[yi-dashi-a]

Some Rambling on a ‘No Wuju Cleansing During the War’ Timeline

//Funnily enough, I feel like the nature of Yi’s angst wouldn’t change too much in the end if Wuju was to survive the war intact. Wuju would still exist in occupied lands supposedly, so they would still be suppressed in that way. They wouldn’t have influence anymore but, in accordance with the headcanon, internal volatility of the hierarchy would probably still manage to pull Wuju apart.

Some stipulations just to start with. There would be three major players in Wuju in a post war Ionia: Yi himself, his crippled and deteriorating Father, and his exiled Grandfather who secretly pulls strings to buy for power. Yi’s disciples would presumably all still die during the war, as that is described as happening before the cleansing of Wuju. Some of Grandpapa’s Wuju Swordsmen might be dead, because they ended up joining the war effort, but I’m going to assume that at least one or two survive just because they’re Wuju Masters in their own rights.

And whether or not Yi actively defends his village from the Melters or if they just simply didn’t attack in this AU, I feel it’s safe to assume that Yi would have still ended up back in occupied Shon-Xan. This timeline also assumes that Yi’s Grandfather doesn’t still commit suicide upon seeing the encroaching armies, though in my mind I feel like this would still happen. Perhaps below I’ll discuss both possibilities, but the one where he lives seems much more interesting to me. Already there are a lot of variations. I suppose that’s what happens when you have a lot of headcanons.

Primarily, Yi would take up a roll as a resistance fighter, and I can see him being very loud about it. This in of itself might cause Wuju to get cleansed later on in the timeline, and then Yi would proceed like in canon but a few years later than normal. If the Noxians continue to only take offense with Yi, then I suspect that Yi would end up being captured or killed in some capacity. As strong as he is, he took many of Shon-Xan’s greatest warriors with him to war, and came back alone. Unless he spent the time to quietly open up the Wuju School for free, or soldiers had trained in his absence and didn’t end up going to war, he would go on as a one man army against Noxus. This of course either results in Shon-Xan gaining independence, or Yi being squashed. I feel as if in lands that are firmly occupied, Yi has a lot more of a chance to get squashed and made an example out of.

For the safety of his family he may even go into hiding, and then his lore would continue as it is in canon. Wukong would then be his right hand man in a continued resistance, though again for the safety of his family he might think it better off if Wu and Yi eventually left Shon-Xan to fight the resistance elsewhere. Once again, the canon and headcanon timeline would be preserved somewhat

Some time during Yi’s freedom fighting however, Yi’s mother would still be growing elderly. Her death would be the catalyst that would tear Wuju down from the inside. Silently afraid of her magical powers, Yi’s Grandpapa would take the opportunity to swoop down and try to usurp the position of Head of School from Yi’s Papa, potentially killing the crippled man in the process. Grandpapa then becomes the first Wuju Practitioner to hold the title of Yi Wushi twice in his life.

If Grandpapa is dead however, Yi’s father might petition somehow for Yi to return to the Wuju village in order to complete his training. Yi’s father, existing in pain mostly because of a spinal injury, would do his best to teach Yi in the final Wuju techniques. He would then cease to practice Wuju, thereby ceasing his agelessness, and he might pass on in the years that follow in order to, what he would no doubt say, ‘Ride up North to see my love again...’

But back to Grandpapa being alive. Plenty of things could happen then. He’d most certainly try to gather up his family and try to teach the youngest children, his great, and great-great grandchildren, in Wuju; stealing them from their mothers and indoctrinating them under his near perfected cult like techniques at this point. He’d also petition for another wife, though in this new occupied Shon-Xan it might not be as easy to just pay a dowry. If Noxian law is enacted in the land, he may find it extremely difficult to do things as he once did them centuries ago, possibly resulting in an escalation of his behaviors and him taking a wife by force. And, if the Cabal still wants Wuju gone at this point, he may have to contend with being sniped at distance, though I wouldn’t be surprised if assassination came in other forms.

Noxians might take offense to his proclamations that he owns the land, and he may be slain in a standoff with them. It’s either that or he once again encourages the Noxians to ethnically cleanse Wuju at an even later date, though that’s about as far as I can speculate without branching off too far. Grandpapa would at least expect to outlive the Noxian occupation, so maybe that alone might stay his hand and keep him on the down low until his grandson’s freedom fighting efforts were successful.

That is until news reaches Yi and he finds out that not only his mother has passed on, but that his father was murdered. If he hasn’t been assassinated at this point, or squashed by Noxians as described before, then it’s back to the Wuju Lands for Yi. I don’t know who would win in a fight to the death between Yi and his Grandpapa, though I want to tend to the side of Grandpapa, with his centuries of experience under his belt and his own students. If Yi won though, then once again Yi would almost be in the position that the canon has him in.

He would be Master Yi, but he wouldn’t have been trained to fulfill that roll. No one would be left alive to teach him the remaining techniques or stories he didn’t know, and he’d be left, perhaps still in occupied Shon-Xan, to try and reconstruct Wuju on his own. Of course he would have his aging sisters, their children, and their grandchildren to help him figure it out, but it would be a rough climb for Wuju from there. Once again, there are also assassins to contend with.

Overall, the way I paint Wuju in headcanon is that it was basically destined to fall down in the state that it was in, which is how I rationalize how powerful, ageless swordsmen just kind of rolled over and died during the war. In this version of things however, Yi is just a bit older, more jaded, yet at least somewhat hopeful that he has time to change things in this AU. I’m honestly unsure, however, if this turn of events is actually better for him as a person in the end.

#GOGGLES OFF 『ooc』 #YOU WISH TO LEARN THE HARD WAY I SEE 『Headcanon Essays』 #AU talk #it's all very interesting #more interesting even than the already standing War Vet Comes Home AU where Shon-Xan is defended by Yi #so all he has to really do is deal with normal domestic village life #tw #trigger warning #tw: suicide mention