The Under Zaun (Lore) and Rotch, the Grand Priest of Under Zaun (Champion Concept)
THE UNDER ZAUN Zaun, a city of pollution and the home of many of the insane inventors of today's world, is a city that needs some cleaning up. However, nothing above the ground is anything near as bad as what is below Zaun. Under Zaun, for lack of a better name since most don't find the wretched place needing of good name, is what most outsiders think the people of Zaun call the city's vast series of sewers. There, many horrid creatures dwell, some mutations from the waste that is dumped down there. However, any smart citizen of Zaun knows that the sewers are only the attic of Under Zaun. Under Zaun goes much deeper into the ground and houses truly the biggest problem the city faces if it is to become a decent city. One of the most common visitors to the sewers, Twitch, is from this place. You see allow me to explain something about Zaun. A city of waste and pollution attracts things. Flies, the insane, and death for sure. However, the biggest thing that comes from filth is actually vermin or, to be more accurate, rats. Rats upon rats. Twitch, being a product of the waste below Zaun, is the one most known by the people since he is arguably the most skilled at scavenging among the rat people. Yes, there are rat people, and that is what makes the Under Zaun so dangerous. Rat people. So many rat people. Thousands, possibly millions of rat people, all under one city. It should be no surprise however. When only about two cities in Runeterra, being Noxus and Zaun, are hosts for rats, most flock to Zaun, since it by far is much more advantageous for the rats. Many of those who visit Noxus question why, with all the bodies of war and the weak pile up, there aren't rats everywhere. Well, that is because they are all in Zaun. (If you want some music to listen to while reading this, I recommend this) https://youtu.be/IfsZhYiCNfA The Under Zaun could be labeled as a whole city by itself for rat people, despite being a little (a lot) mentally unstable, can still build their own homes from the wastes of the sewers from their sheer will to live on. In Under Zaun, there is tons to be discovered by man. In fact, explorers would have a field day writing about and discovering the cultures of Under Zaun... if they could survive the horde of rats that live there that is.
Religion Starting with the most important part of the Under Zaun, religion is, surprisingly, a decently big part of the rat society. http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammerfb/images/a/a7/Lost_Hold.png/revision/latest?cb=20140525025620 The religion of this society revolves around the waste of the sewers above and the pollution (or for the rats, food) it brings with it. The rat people collect the food and, to the naive, would think they eat the food to survive. Wrong. While the food does fill their bellies with the energy needed to survive, that is not the biggest part of it. Rotch, the Grand Priest of Under Zaun, has risen to the top of the food chain in Under Zaun to teach his fellow kind of a greater purpose. All rats are connected and, like the pollution that fills the sewers, have a purpose. A rats body serves as a gateway to the pollution that surrounds them. By eating the waste that surrounds them, their bodies, acting as a gateway, then release the pollution to become more powerful. The pollution is the key to survival for, in this endless cycle of pollution, it grows stronger. To summarize, the rats worship the pollution that surrounds them as if it was a being all by itself. They eat the food, digest it, and then release the pollution to the world around them. From there, the pollution grows stronger and more waste is made from the disease that is brought with the waste of the rat people. Yes, the religion of the rat culture revolves around worshiping their own digestive system. You are reading that correctly. This is only the start of the disgusting and barbaric ways of the rat people. I did warn you about this, did I not? Focusing more on Rotch, he was one of the first of the rat people, relatively speaking. He was much more insane than any of the other rat people, which is saying something. However, in a society of the insane, it should be no surprise that the most insane is the one that makes the most sense to the other mentally unstable. His teachings have actually caused the rats to unite under one roof, bringing worry to the citizens that have noticed this. However, he began the religion that the rat people call: Pollutionism
Government Government? Yes, it exists if you were to twist your head enough to where you can see some form of it in the Under Zaun. https://krosusssaysburn.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/skaven-underworld.jpg Rotch is the leader of the rat people, making him the most important and powerful being in the Under Zaun, unless you consider the pollution a being like the rats do upon which you probably are one of the rats. From Rotch, the next powerful rats is actually a group of rats, known as the Prophets of Pollution. Rotch is the Arch Prophet of Pollution, and then there are those he trusts the most under him. The Prophets of Pollution are for the most part a mystery as far as names and such go, but it has been generally agreed upon that Twitch is one of them, although that is not confirmed. However, it is heavily agreed upon for reasons I will explain below. These Prophets of Pollution look over the other groups of the Under Zaun and each generally specializes in the group they oversee. There are four Prophets of Pollution and, therefore, four main groups, being the following.
- Scavengers
- Priests
- Guardians
- Chosen
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vfMXZQseYtc/maxresdefault.jpg The Scavengers' name explain the group. They scavenge the sewers of Zaun for pollution. Arguably the most important of the rat society, they are the ones who collect the fuel for the Priests. They find waste in the sewers and tinker with the loose pipes to bring the metal back to the city, fueling the Guardians as well, but more of that later. They are the ones who funnel waste, metal from pipes, and whatever form of currency the rats use for trade with one another into the city. This comes at a risk however for the rats themselves. Greed is still existent in the rat society so it can consume the Scavengers at times, most notably Twitch. Twitch being the longest lasting scavenger makes most believe he is the leader of this group and therefore a Prophet of Pollution. However, even Twitch has succumbed to greed and many sewer cleaners have found his own hordes of waste and presumably rat currency stuffed into various pipes. Any cleaner or even rat who takes from him is usually found dead with some venomous arrows in their back. Scavengers are generally equipped with strangely well made crossbows and arrows usually coated with the Scavenger's personally made venom. Their clothes, if they are wearing any at all, are usually whatever they find during their raids on the sewers, ranging from fancy Piltover coats to poorly made cloth shirts. Twitch is the image of stylish among this group. Hilariously. The Priests' are the most disgusting group of them all. They are the most religious of the rat people and therefore the most gross and twisted. The Scavengers find them food and give it to them to digest, for Priests are, somehow, found to be the prime creators of pollution among the rat people. I don't want to dwell on this group, mainly due to the fact that a.) gross and b.) we know only that they exist and their job since they are usually found in the deepest part of the Under Zaun. No one that goes that far under generally survives. They wear withered cloth over their heads and all over their body. Their weapon is usually a staff with an object at the end. The object usually contains some disgusting material within it that not even the rats themselves would want to touch, although some say the Priests drink/eat whatever it is from time to time. http://whfb.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/thumb/b/bf/Plague_priest.jpg/300px-Plague_priest.jpg The Guardians are the main reason why many do not survive the trip down to rat town. While most would laugh at the idea of Rat Warriors, they are real and incredibly dangerous. The metal from the sewer pipes of Zaun is actually very strong and resistant to acids, making it also very good armor for the Guardians to where. Their weapons are actually very surprising, being guns and large swords. Guns? Where do they get those? Actually, this is explained by the fact that the Zaun sewers all have an exit that usually flows to an open body of water, so whatever Bilgewater ship (or any ship) that comes to close to these exits will, let's say, occasionally be "RATATATATATATATATATATAT"-ified by some lucky Scavengers. Any ships carrying guns are made use of and the guns are given to the Guardians. Guardians protect Priests and are fueled by Scavengers. Pretty well-made system by Rotch right? That leaves one group however. The Chosen are a group of, let's say, janitors of leaked information. Assassins that hunt those who escape the reaches of the Guardians, they are the only rats besides a few lucky (or unlucky) Scavengers and exiles who see the light of day. They hunt down those who leak information about the Under Zaun and swiftly dispose of them, sometimes even bringing them back down to rat town for... whatever horrible reasons. Little is known of this group since they are actually really good at their job. (More music) https://youtu.be/elKYJZ5nC9s
Important Rat People
- Rotch Leader of the rats and arguably the most powerful due to his rank among in Under Zaun. Only a few have ever seen him and those that do are often targeted by the Chosen, being overwhelmed by the Guardians, or just so happen to be lucky enough to see Rotch on one of his vary rare visits to the surface. Very, very rare visits that are mainly to handle business with the Chosen. It has been confirmed that he does know how to use magic of some kind.
- Twitch Presumed leader of the Scavengers and menace of the sewers of Zaun. He is not seen much, but at the same time is seen the most of all rat kind. Has huge hordes of waste and rat currency (unknown what it is exactly... bugs? whatever) in pipes in the sewer. From what many have heard him say, it is believed that he likes to boast about his importance and enjoys bossing those he commands around. Probably believes he himself is the unofficial leader of the rats.
- Unknown Priest Prophet of Pollution Never named, but seen once when a curious visitor from Piltover was unlucky enough to take the wrong turn one too many times. Is known to wield a large staff with a bottle filled with what is presumed to be musk of inside of it. The bottle has many holes on the top of it so the musk can be spread and used to spread disease among any he encounters. Presumed to often times be the source of any epidemic that happens in Zaun.
- Unknown Guardian Prophet of Pollution Again, never named, but heard actually. His voice is so incredibly powerful that in presumed fits of rage, cleaners can hear him all the way up in the sewers before he is silenced by presumably Rotch. The best showcase of his strength is probably when he was in a loud fit of rage and, during this fit, he presumably punched a wall and caused the base of a building on the surface to break and fall in on itself. Those in the sewers were knocked off their feet as well.
- Unknown Chosen Prophet of Pollution Never named, seen, heard, or anything of any kind. Only mentioned once by Twitch, but he isn't the most reliable source. I question if there even is a Prophet of Pollution for this group, but it seems that based on the other groups of rats, there likely is one. If it does exist then I would presume it is incredibly dangerous because, for an assassin to be so good at their job that it is unknown if they exist or not is unheard of.
http://orig07.deviantart.net/5081/f/2012/180/c/5/lord_skrolk_by_greatjester-d55b6r8.jpg KIT Rotch, the Grand Priest of Under Zaun Mage Health- 500 (+68 per level) Health Regen.- 6.25 (+0.75 per level) Armor- 17 (+3 per level) Magic Resist- 30 (+0 per level) Movement Speed- 340 Attack Damage- 40 (+3 per level) Attack Speed- 0.645 (+2.25% per level) Attack Range- 575 (Ranged)
Passive- The Arch Prophet of Pollution Innate- Origin of Pollution: At all times, the entire battlefield is filled with pollution, causing all enemy champions to be applied a stack of Pollution every 15 seconds. Once they have reached 20 stacks of Pollution and are injured, they will be applied Grievous Wounds and marked as Diseased until they return to full health, upon which they will begin to lose a stack of Pollution every 3 seconds. While Diseased, a target emits a rotting odor from themselves, causing allies near them to have 4/7/10/13/16 reduced magic resist and take 0.7/0.8/0.9/1/1.1% (+0.2% per 100 AP) of their max health as magic damage per second.
Ability 1- Plague Tome Passive: Rotch carries a tome filled with plague magic with him at all times. Rotch uses Plague for his abilities, which is obtained by killing enemy units or standing in an area that is infected. Rotch gains 1/2/3/4/5 Plague from killing enemy minions and small monsters, 6/8/10/12/14 Plague from killing enemy champions and large monsters, and 2/2.5/3/3.5/4 Plague per second from standing in an infected area. He can hold up to 100/115/130/145/160 Plague at one time. This ability must be ranked up first. Active: Rotch releases some Plague that he has obtained to heal himself by an amount of health equal to the amount of Plague he currently has, plus an additional 15/55/95/135/175 (+30% AP) health over the next 5 seconds. Enemies around him upon casting this spell take the same amount as magic damage over 5 seconds. The area around Rotch, upon casting this spell, becomes infected for the next 10 seconds. Cost: 10/15/20/25/30 Plague Cool Down: 25/22.5/20/17.5/15 seconds Range: 500
Ability 2- Curse of Acidic Rain Active: Rotch releases some of his Plague into the atmosphere in order to cause acidic rain to fall down upon all enemy units in the target large area, dealing 5/15/25/35/45 (+6/7/8/9/10% AP) magic damage per second to enemy units in the area and shredding 2/2.5/3/3.5/4% of their armor and magic resist per second for 1.5 seconds, shredding up to 12/15/18/21/24% armor and magic resist. This acidic rain lasts for 6 seconds. The area affected by the rain is marked and is visible through the fog of war. The area that is being rained upon is infected during the rain and for 4 seconds after the rain passes. Cost: 20/25/30/35/40 Plague Cool Down: 22/20/18/16/14 seconds Range: 1500 AoE Radius: 1000
Ability 3- Flood of Waste Active: Rotch causes waste to flood onto the map from underneath all enemies that are Diseased, creating a pool of waste underneath every Diseased unit that deals 30/45/60/75/90 (+10% AP) magic damage per second to enemies in the pool of waste. Diseased units in the pool are also slowed by 15/17.5/20/22.5/25%. The pool will slowly increase in size over the duration as well as wate floods onto the map. Cost: 30/35/40/45/50 Plague Cool Down: 30/27.5/25/22.5/20 seconds Range: Global Pool Starting Radius: 200 Pool Max Radius: 600 Pool Spread per Second: 80/90/100/110/120
Ultimate- Infection Active: Rotch pours more Plague into the air, causing the map to be filled with more pollution. Every time Rotch uses this ability, the damage aura from Diseased units will increase in damage by 0.1/0.125/0.15% (+0.01% per 100 AP) permanently and the fog from the pollution will thicken, decreasing the vision radius of all enemy units other than enemy champions (minions, structures, wards, etc.) by 2/2.5/3%, decreasing their vision radius by up to 30/40/50%. Cost: 100 Plague Cool Down: 210/200/190 seconds
RECOMMENDED ITEMS
Starting Items
Essential Items
Standard Items
Situational Items
Consumables
Thank you for reading all of this! I appreciate any feedback made for this post and it will influence this post!
I used many images and some music for the Skaven race from Warhammer in this. I claim none of these creations, but I highly recommend checking out that universe. It's very interesting, especially for those who love lore.
