[LORE DISCUSSION] Urtistan and Zilean
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I keep having to work on friday, bleh. Anyways, hello and welcome back to Lore Discussion. So we've been on a city-state kick as of late and today shows that it has no signs of slowing down. This week is the discussion on the place that time forget...or well the man of time never forgot...and that would be Urtistan, home of the Chronokeeper Zilean!
http://i.imgur.com/OvR9lsu.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/XaQHxIT.jpg #All that Remains: Urtistan
The most depressing thing about Urtistan is that...well, there's nothing left. No stories, history, lore, nothing (I couldn't even find one singular artist depiction! I'm using a ton of fan art from google that I -hope- someone will come and claim as their art!!!). All of it is torn out of Runeterra. Now, the original lore is that Urtistan is a casualty of the rune wars and one of the primary cases for the founding of the League but with the retcon, I'd safely say that idea probably is as decimated as Uristan is. Instead, let's talk about what COULD have happened to Urtistan...
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Urtistan's demise may very well be a cause of Zilean's chronomagic. This would paint Zilean as a sort of sympathetic figure yet still cruel, having given all he loved to reach a transcendent state of magical prowess. I'd argue this is the most possible path and probably the one Riot would take. I don't have the foresight Skillean has but I'd say that is the most likely of paths.
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Urtistan was a place fueled by time magic and overdoses on it. Think Zaun or Piltover but harnessing the very essence of time. Eventually it goes wrong and the chronogenerators or chrono-whatever they're using goes into overload, killing everyone except Zilean. Again a tragic idea but another possible outcome.
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Alternatively to the last one, Urtistan was fueled by time magic but also one of the most powerful cities. Naturally, they drew the ire of others. Perhaps Demacia, perhaps Zaun, perhaps Noxus, we'll never know. Still, they assaulted Urtistan in a surprise attack that caught the city off guard. Rather than saving their city by leaping back before this happened, however, their chrono-tech was sabotaged, causing it to implode and take the city with them, leaving the lone survivor of Zilean.
Another possibility I'd like to suggest is that we may see more people from Urtistan as champions. While Zilean sort of set the bar as the chronomage, I would say that him alone surviving seems...unlikely. Yes, Urtistan blew up but my guess is we'd see some more vengeful Urtistan warriors or scientists emerging from the cracks in the time-space continuum. Perhaps a young lad who exists on the edge of time, perhaps a furious woman who lost everything she loved. The possibilities are endless.
http://i.imgur.com/CQyGoSm.jpg?1 #"I have seen your death; It will be painful!": Zilean within Time
The question of Zilean is what type of time he lives in. Yes, we know he is powerful enough to cause harm at immense points and to rewind the clock...but what is the extent of his time power? We have a few possible time travel theories that we can use, all of which come from a variety of movies/shows/novels that I'll try and point out. Mostly these are <x> rules that I know of so you can suggest other titles for what works for you.
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The Time Machine Rules- Based on the movie/book 'The Time Machine' and the classic story of time travel, "Time Machine" rules are essentially that time cannot be changed. For example, let's say Zilean knows that Sion will kill Jarvan I. He goes back in time and stops J1 from confronting Sion. All's well and good right? Well, wrong. In his dying breath, Sion throws an axe with inhuman force, decapitating J1. Send him back to Demacia? J1 dies of an assassination attempt. The key factor is you can go back a thousand times and see him die a thousand different ways. Time cannot change what happens, it can only change the attributes of -what- happened.
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Back to the Future Rules- Yes this movie (Great Scott!), Back to the Future rules are that going back in time presents huge consequences that will completely alter the present in terrible ways. Let's say Zilean does the previous scenario and stops Jarvan 1 from dying. Yah, everything worked out right? Riiiiiiiight? Well not really. With Noxus crushed, Demacia becomes a totalitarian state and completely dominates all of Runeterra, becoming a dictatorship that silences everything. Whoops. The key factor with this theory is that going back causes time to alter in enormous ways. The most 'common' time travel seen.
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Dr. Manhattan Rules- Ever see Watchmen? Amazing graphic novel, ok movie. Dr. Manhattan is a being that exists beyond space, time and reality. He completely dominates the universe because he is essentially a god. However, his stipend is that while he is immortal and can technically see the future, to him it's already happening. Again with the Sion/J1 scenario. Zilean cannot do anything because to him, this is happening in real time along with every concurrent future. The key factor is that Zilean would not exist at a fixed point. He experiences every reality at every moment.
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Futurama Rules- Futurama rules harkens back to the episode where the group goes back in time and discovers that Fry is, in fact, his own grandfather. Now while none of us want to imagine Zilean being anyone's grandpappy (Much less his own), let's use the example again: Zilean goes back in time to try and stop Jarvan I from fighting Sion. As Zilean is explaining this to him, Jarvan becomes furious. Now he HAS to go fight Sion even though he had no intention of it. The key factor is that Zilean trying to change the past are actually what cause the past to happen.
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The Fountain Rules- THERE ARE NO RULES.
So now we have all these faux rules for time travel...which one fits Zilean? Personally, I think the Dr. Manhatten ruleset applies most to Zilean: He knows everything that will happen but he cannot do anything to stop it simply because to him, it's happening in real time. Perhaps a mix of the Time Machine rules too, as Zilean can't change anything because no matter what, he knows the change will happen regardless of how hard he tries to stop it.
So what do you guys think? I'm sorry we're basically a little short this week but Urtistan has such little to cover that I couldn't go too far without going directly into "hey so I like to pretend Urtistan is actually blah blah bleh blah". I'm interested in seeing what you guys consider Zilean's time powers to be reminiscent of. And, as always, vote on the next topic!
and her Sinful Succulence Bakery in Noxus.
