Noxian Hillmen and Their Ancestry
"An Essay by Dr. Dimitri Gaskeet, Romislav University in Zaun. The Hillmen of Southern Noxus, who live in the base of the Great Barrier and bordering the Tempest Flats have long been a ethnic quandary. Though De Jure apart of the Noxian state, they have little of the culture and even biology of their more northern and coastal countrymen. But why is this? Some of those who favor the theory of Magical Evolution will most likely attribute it to generational influence of Runic magic that had accrued in the Great Barriers, explaining the Hillman's same stout stature shared with the local Minotaur population. Although those academics that propose a more biological approach to human deliverance have their own evidence.
Archaeological artifacts of Pre-Rune War Noxus coincided with found records of the "Warrior Kings" first invading from Mt. Targon suggest that Proto-Rakkor tribes had migrated into ethnically Noxian lands. This could explain, at least where some of the more prominent features stem from. The ginger hair, a common trait among Rakkor, and the large stature they are so famous for. If personality is believed to be genetic, then their conservative and isolationist ways, along with their common terrible presence on the battlefield, can also be attributed to the Rakkor culture and it's assimilation.
Both sides must agree however, that all of it is speculation and theories. Proper evidence has yet to surface from the anthropological world, though not for a lack of trying..."