An endless death march, an unyielding force...

Barcid·9/19/2017, 10:07:05 AM·5 votes·647 views

https://i.imgur.com/ul7belL.jpg

Queen Aradai, her highness lost to her ire, returns. A towering giant of a woman armed with a magnetic flail and enchanted flamberge, she has turned her anger festering for millennia outward. To Aradai, her long lost throne is something to be regained - if not by submission, then by force.

#The Queen's Tale

"You impotent mongrels live only to tear at each other's throats."

Born to unremarkable parents in ages long gone, Aradai was such a large child to begin with that her mother died before ever entering labor from the toll she took, with Aradai having to be cut straight from her womb. By the time she was thirteen, Aradai already towered over the tallest adults in her homeland and commanded strength even greater. She was, however, kept from her people's army for her insubordination, regularly denouncing her superiors for being naught but warmongering barbarians. By eighteen, she put this strength to use and usurped the leaders of her people single-handedly. Her prowess and sheer might were enough to garner the the fear - if not the respect - she needed to keep her new position.

From here, she marched with her new forces, accepting no allies - only submission. Those who knelt lived under her, and those who chose to stand soon found their legs gone from beneath them. Within two decades, Aradai had conquered the entirety of the continent, having lead the conquest from the front lines.

Now hailed as a warrior goddess incarnate, her word became the law of the land, keeping all nations, peoples, and disputes in complete check, for to act against her highness' wishes was to demand ones own death. Through respect and fear, she had finally quelled the many blood feuds that once plagued the realm. Regular tribute was paid to her majesty in the form of arms, decoration, and newfound technology.

But Aradai was still mortal, and she knew this. But try as she may, she could not bear a child.

The years continued and took their toll, with Aradai growing ever more distressed at her lack of an heir. She found with time she could not stand at the front of her army as she once could, and weakness began to show in her. Those under her rule saw this, and tensions began to rise. Aradai's fears only grew as she saw her realm on the verge of collapsing.

"I would never be so bold as to proposition a woman of your... stature."

During what should have been the twilight years of her rule as her subordinates began in-fighting, Aradai was visited by a demon posing as a simple vagabond. Though Aradai still sought an heir to take her place, the demon offered her instead an alternative to this, claiming even were he to offer her such a thing that no heir could match her rule. Instead, he told her that he could restore her youth and make her immune to the ravage of time and nature, leaving her only vulnerable in battle. For this, the demon only requested she offer him her soul upon her death. Thinking this little more than an amusing jest, Aradai humored the demon and agreed to the terms. With this, the demon vanished.

But it seemed the demon's offer was more than just smoke, for day by day after that Aradai seemed to regain her lost vitality. With her newfound strength she led her forces once more to quell the uprisings across her realm. Utterly stunned by her revitalization, the nations quieted with immediacy when she stepped upon the battlefield. To many, this only reinforced the belief that she was a goddess incarnate.

For many years after, this status quo was maintained once more, leaving the world to develop along more peaceful paths.

"Without me, this world returns to its self-destruction... but as I stand, this world withers and fades away..."

Undying, the queen reigned for near a century before the demon's deal began to show its true nature. In Aradai's own nation, her people became stricken with plague; the crops withered and died; the air turned sour and sickly, and the ground became barren and dry. Though she forced the subordinate nations to offer up their own supplies, much of what was sent became rotten or unusable within days. No medicine seemed to work upon the plague, and no amount of healing seemed to reverse its effects.

Soon the weight of her withering people became too great to bear by the subordinate nations who were being bled dry. They retaliated against Aradai's rule altogether, with Aradai's own army in shambles unable to help her quell the countless rebellions. Seemingly all at once, Aradai had lost complete control over the realm, and she could truly do nothing but watch in a stupor.

Utterly desperate under the desolation, Aradai's own people came to the conclusion that the plagues they faced now must stem from her highness herself. They marched upon Aradai's throne with weapons drawn, ready to strike down their queen. Aradai, enraged by their action, slaughtered them all, ending her faction by her own hand.

"My dear queen, you must realize your life had to be drawn from somewhere..."

Several years passed with Aradai never moving from her throne. The world around her had returned to its old ways, perhaps more desperate than before. And she knew all she could do was watch - for all around her became barren and cold.

Though no mortal would step foot within her castle again, she was visited by the demon one last time. He apologized for the outcome that Aradai had unfortunately faced, but explained that to support her life forevermore, that the life force of all around her would need to be drained. Infuriated by his trick, Aradai thought to strike him down, only for him to disappear once more. So blinded by her rage, she began swinging her blade wildly as if convinced the demon was still around her, and smashed the ground - she did this with such force that the ground gave way beneath her and resulted in an enormous earthquake. Her castle and the deserted city around her sunk beneath the earth, never to be seen again.

But beneath the earth, the queen could not die. Lost within her own rage and obsession, she wandered the buried streets and halls of her forgotten land. For millennia she walked, never stopping, never faltering, never tiring. Only festering.

All she did and all she lost to quell the chaos of the land. Men and women, unworthy, both shed blood if only for the sake of it. They will not stop themselves, she knew. No, they would not...

And this gave her ire a vector.

"For what do those dogs fight for? As if they were even worthy to display their 'strength'."

#Abilities

Aradai comes to battle equipped with her flamberge and flail. She attacks with her flail for her base autos. For criticals, she flat-foot kicks enemies.

Note: I have temporarily nixed the number values on the abilities. They will be re-posted.

Passive: The Endless March

Aradai is immovable, being immune to displacements and knock-ups and instead reducing them to stuns lasting the same duration. Slows against Aradai are also reduced in effectiveness (scaling with level). Speed increases from allies, masteries, and items (besides set value increases) are also reduced in effectiveness (this value is set).

Q: Queen's Indictment

Aradai whips her flail in a target direction, knocking aside minions on the way and attaching to the first enemy champion hit for moderate base damage and slowing the champion for a scaling amount. Once snared by this, the champion is tethered to Aradai and unable to move further away from her. Dashes, blinks, and leaps that cause the enemy hero to move further away will result in Aradai yanking them back toward her, stunning them very briefly and reeling them in for a set amount. As Aradai moves closer to the enemy champion, she will also reel her flail in (further limiting how far the enemy can move). This effect lasts a scaling amount of time but is ended prematurely if:

Aradai moves directly away from the enemy champion.
Aradai yanks on the chain more than twice.
Aradai auto-attacks the champion.

W: Burning Ire

Passive: Using an ability causes Aradai's next auto-attack within a certain amount of time to swing her sword in a horizontal arc at her target, dealing her attack damage in the surrounding area. On-hit effects are applied to surrounding targets at a reduced effect, but at full effect on her primary target.

Active: Aradai's sword ignites for her next three auto-attacks - within a certain amount of time - to deal an additional damage over time effect, scaling with her attack damage but having no base value. This burning effect deals magic damage. Burning Ire's passive is increased to two auto-attacks for the duration.

E: Beneath My Feet

Targeting a nearby champion or monster, Aradai will stomp over them, walking over to the other side of them and damaging them for a percentage of her max health in the mean time. Enemy champions are stunned for the short duration.

Aradai can also target walls with this ability, allowing her to step over them and making her unstoppable for the duration. Aradai moves at her normal movement speed during this effect.

R: Destructive Obsession

Aradai lets loose, stomping the ground with a resonating force. Enemies in a large area surrounding her are slowed and crippled temporarily and grounded for the duration and then some (scaling with ult level). The affected area is marked on the battlefield by a cracked circle. For the duration of this effect, Aradai gains increased attack speed and movement speed toward enemy units. The ult itself does no damage.

#Gameplay

Playing As

Queen's Indictment will only break if Aradai moves in a direction directly away from her target - skirting the circle can keep an enemy tethered and led quite literally by a leash into danger.
While Aradai has the potential to do massive amounts of damage and scales well as an AD champion, her relative immobility and great size make her extremely susceptible without bulk.
Beware when laning with Aradai's W passive - the AoE will cause you to push lane faster than desired many times. Use your skills wisely.
Queen's Indictment will stun jungle monsters as well when knocking them aside.
Beneath My Feet has a rather high cooldown, meaning you should plan out whether you'll need it to escape ahead of time - don't be caught unprepared.
Destructive Obsession, while certainly best as a counter-engage or lockdown ult, is also useful as an escape. This has quite the high cooldown, though, so using it now may cause future problems.
Your passive helps more than you know, but also harms just as much - make sure you're the one setting the pace for engagements on your team, or you may lag behind them in some very key cases (Sivir may notice this most).

Playing Against

Save any flashes or dashes for when Queen's Indictment ends - the effect always ends on her first auto against you, so you may have to be patient before making a getaway.
Beneath My Feet may be uninterruptible, but Aradai is also unable to attack during the duration - if she's engaging by stepping over a wall, taking advantage of her brief moment of inactivity may be enough to seal her fate.
Aradai suffers greatly at ranged, having only her Q to help her deal with that - keeping a distance between you and her and dodging Queen's Indictment can put her in a rough spot.
Aradai's base movement speed is rather low, but it's not to be underestimated - if she gets a hold of you, there's not a high chance you'll be escaping too soon.
Try to bait out Burning Ire and wait out the duration - it's not particularly long, but challenging Aradai with it up could very easily send you to a grey screen.

#Miscellaneous Trivia

Aradai has had a total of 739 suitors. Surprisingly, only 4 of these were assassins who all failed and were revealed to be dead the next day. The cause of their death was found to be suffocation.
Though a tyrant by definition, Aradai was historically noted to be typically very level-headed and just despite peoples' fear.
The average adult male stands at about Aradai's thigh. Her thighs are also only a little less thick than the average male as well.
The portrait used for this captures Aradai's general demeanor and appearance, but undersells her size - if only I could draw.
Aradai's flail is actually a magnetic slab with a chain stuck to it. This "weapon" was gifted to her by a subordinate nation, who discovered the odd phenomena while mining, where a worker's pickax was unable to be dislodged from the surface.
Aradai's sword was gifted to her by a northern nation, claiming it was forged by a small mountain tribe. The sword was masterfully crafted, so much so that despite it having rusted over, it still cuts clean when it ignites.
Several cities were leveled and a small faction went extinct following the earthquake from Aradai's "tantrum".
Aradai actually has deuteranopia.
Foliage struggles to grow where Aradai's city sunk. The winters there are also especially harsh, and typically the snow lasts most of the year.
A small tribe living in this area is known for its capable warrior women and still honors Aradai's legend. Each year they hold a tournament in the queen's honor, with the winner facing a final test of strength having to brave the cold wastes and light a beacon said to stand where Aradai's throne sat.
This tribe also has a relatively high infant mortality rate.
The precise amount of time since Aradai's reign is unknown - written records from those times are scarce, having been a period where the known alphabet was just starting to be made, writing before that being either archaic or purely symbolic.
Aradai is ambidextrous.
Aradai also can't whistle. But she can certainly shout.

Edit 1: Tried to clean up some of the typos. Tell me if you find more. The original picture link has also been replaced so that it shows up instead of being clickable. The artist is Mario Teodosio, and all credit goes to him. Would even recommend following him.

An endless death march, an unyielding force...

Queen Aradai, her highness lost to her ire, returns. A towering giant of a woman armed with a magnetic flail and enchanted flamberge, she has turned her anger festering for millennia outward. To Aradai, her long lost throne is something to be regained - if not by submission, then by force.

2 Comments