[Champion Concept] Strafling - The Last Convict
Hello everyone! I've been working on this idea for about a month, most of it wording and rewording, and I'm excited to share it and see how people react. I'll start off by posting a clean version of what I have in my documents, and then go into my own personal ideas about the fluff of the character after the bio section. (As a note - I am not going to be dealing with numbers or scaling. If I did everything correctly, most people should get a mental idea of what kind of power this particular individual would/can wield.)
Strafling - the Last Convict
P - Past dues: Due to Strafling's insanity, he occasionally misidentifies a random opponent as a tormentor/jailer, and a random ally as a benefactor. For a duration, Strafling's abilities are empowered on these targets. Q - Coronet's Halo A halo of light descends from the sky, burning enemies and warming allies (damaging enemies and buffing allies). If cast above Chain's Torment, the damage against enemies is increased. W - Chain's Torment Strafling sends his chains to a location to slow all opponents within. The rust on the chains cause damage to opponents/reduces resistances while within the area. E - Forgiving Bonds Strafling marks himself or an ally for an empowered blessing. After a small delay, Forgiving Bonds spends a few seconds to heal wounds and gives the recipient a small burst of speed. If Forgiving Bonds is cast on an enemy, they do reduced damage (to Strafling) for the duration. R - Eternal shackles Strafling infects a large area around him with his ancient bonds. Enemies within the area are slowed, accruing "shackled" stacks. Upon getting three stacks of "shackled," an enemy is rooted. Upon getting six stacks of "shackled," enemies become stunned [and are briefly immune to damage?], sharing a portion of Straflings torment. Alternate ultimate ability idea - (Strafling extends his chains and strikes the ground in front of him up to four times, slowing opponents struck.)
Bio: Far below the ground, an ancient ruin has lain dormant for thousands of years. Long forgotten, light has failed to pierce its gloom. It is not, however, abandoned. Within remains a single resident, a soul of untold age; an ancient man chained to the walls of his cell, and subdued by an artifact clasped around his head. Those responsible for his incarceration never planned for when they passed beyond and their captive remained. Years passed, empires rose and crumbled, and age wore at the artifact. Eventually, the bindings gave way, and the prisoner was imprisoned no more. The last convict of a forgotten kingdom rose from the earth.
Strafling emerged from his prison as broken as the relic he now wears around his neck. Once his captor, the artifact is now his captive, and though it kept him alive throughout all the years, it could not keep his sanity intact. Old phantoms haunt this being who should have died long ago, and he often confuses passersby as hated tormentors or long missed benefactors. And while the artifact is be broken, it is not destroyed. Periodically, the artifact remembers its purpose, and attempts to contain the prisoner once more, never quite succeeding.
With no understanding of the amount of time that has passed, or the events of the world, Strafling seeks out the only solid memory he has left: find his master, and finish their research.
Free of his tomb, Strafling is lost chronologically, physically, and mentally.
Incoming fluff / my personal imagery that I associate with this champion First thing to note! "Strafling" is the German word for Convict! Well, there needs to be two dots above the 'a' for it to be that, but I just wanted everyone to be fully aware of how indubitably clever I am.
How I picture Strafling: A well-preserved, middle-aged physique with extremely disheveled hair. He's clothed in rags and the rusted chains are still clasped to his wrists and ankles. He has some lichen on his back, and his best friend is an insect that lives in his hair. The most important features about him are that his eyes shine with intelligence- I picture him as being a researchers assistant before his jail time - and a stone-like artifact that he displays proudly around his neck. I didn't realize this until just now, but I was picturing the old Philosopher's Stone item as what remained of the artifact.
The classic Control-1 through -4 "I've had enough of darkness." "You fight for the Light? You're barely bright enough to light a match!" Jumps rope with chains Normal into maniacal laughter
Special interaction with Clarity spell: "I hope to join you soon, Master." / Exhausted voice "I'm too old for this." Clarity would theoretically make Strafling fully aware, albeit briefly, that he is actually alone.
I am going to show my gaps in knowledge of the lore that Riot has set up in what comes next, but I'm certain that I will be forgiven by kind hearts if I do.
I imagine Strafling to have been a prisoner in one of two locations: the Shadow Isles or underneath Mordekaiser's old fortress (now Noxus), the Immortal Bastion. In both of these scenarios I imagine Strafling to have a negative relationship with the Iron Revenant, refusing to bend to the will of another. He could really come from almost anywhere, though. My only personal point of caution is that if he did come from the Shadow Isles (you know, before they were known by that name) then he absolutely shouldn't be known by Thresh (unless someone more clever than I can find a workaround for the following issue). In my mind, if Thresh knew of this prisoner at all, it is highly unlikely Strafling would have ever become free, much less have a will to call his own.
I also imagine Strafling to be extremely amoral. Whether he was amoral before or after his incarceration, I won't say. Strafling is this creepy old dude with obviously old prison chains walking down the street, sees a person struck by poverty and wants to help. Strafling doesn't have anything, so he murders a nearby shopkeeper to take the money to give to the poor person. Someone insults him or tries to arrest him or something, so he kills that person and a nearby building in a fit of rage. A baby starts crying and he rushes over to coo at the child and play with it. I picture him to be an average person with absolutely no filter, no thought of consequences, and extraordinary power at his disposal.
I also picture Strafling to be having a constant war with the artifact. Every now and then it unexpectedly strikes to try to take control of him again, and so he feels like a conqueror every time he bests it, but he isn't brazen about it. He has a healthy respect that the artifact could best him, and he can't be using his full power all the time. His insanity gets the better of him every now and then and some random person gets mistaken for "John" who used to belittle Strafling in the laboratory or whatever. "John" is now nothing more than a smoking hole in the ground. Or sometimes a person becomes "Jordan," the other androgynous lab assistant that Stralfing got along really well with. Boom, that passerby now spends the rest of their day being showered with flowers. Strafling has the ability to be doing things like this all the time, but if he does he risks taxing his energy, and the artifact could choose that moment to attempt to contain him again. I also imagine that Strafling doesn't need to sleep anymore, and so he doesn't.
I hope everyone found at least one thing here to be enjoyable or inspirational. I had a lot of fun coming up with this guy, and will actually be starting a completely different champion because of the inspiration this guy gave me. I appreciate any and all thoughts on this guy, and apologize if anything like this has appeared before. I don't normally post, and really don't read the forums much, so if I did a bad, sorry. Thank you all for reading, and have a great time on the rift!
