How to (re-)add Metalmancy to Morde's skillset in a very organic/natural way
Now that the storm over Neeko calmed down I thought it's time to actually post what I had to intended to write up this Monday. What you may ask? Well, read the bloody title!... Erm, anyway...
Mordekaiser is commonly regarded as THE Metal champion. He's the founder of League's most popular, and sadly sole, Metal Band, he embodies the Badass Bravado of an Undead Titan encased thick Metal Warplate and his old title was "The Master of Metal".
But most of that has been retconned over the years, leaving Morde in somewhat of a power-limbo, with us not really being able to grasp the true extent of his power and how he utilizes his mastery over the darker magics.
We do know he's able to bind Spiritual creatures to the material plane as seen by him binding Veigar to Runeterra and I think it's heavily implied that the Demon of Secrets itself was residing in the Immortal Bastion for a reason. Perhaps having been trapped there by none other than the guy who erected that monolithic fortress to begin with.
Another one of his powers that we know of is that of perpetual resurrection through his bones. Morde is virtually invincible and even if you do manage to destroy him he's bound to return as a baleful Revenant. His conquest is made possible through endless life, or rather undeath, which forms the basis for his sorcerous existence.
Last but not least, Morde is able to enthrall creatures and enslave them to his will. Other than his powerfull, soul-bound liches, Morde is able to raise the dead to do his bidding, as seen in his colour story and his iconic ultimate.
But there's another power that's only mentioned once, which is some form of metalmancy as Mordekaiser is able to twist and bend a heavy iron gate simply through his own will, shown in his color story "Shadows of Damnation": This is the power I aim to rationalize and explore more in this thread so bear with me.
The rattling of long war-pikes echoed through the field where we would stand against the malevolent entity that swept across our lands like a deathly plague, bringing all it touched under its control as it subjugated all that lived. Each step, every oh so small movement of my armored shield-brothers and sisters causing the metal that would rend the conqueror's armies and raise his ruined body on a pike to sing its murderous melody.
The sound of metal had always accompanied us through our lives. Be it deep inside the mountain's heart where we unearthed the ground's treasures, draining its veins of Iron, copper, tin and other valuable ores.
Be it in our forges where our craftsmen would bring fire's kiss to rough iron, melting it down and making it malleable to assume new shapes of war. Swords, pikes, shields, warplate, helmets, creating suits of metal out of the earth's riches. The ringing of steel, the roaring of flames was the tune to which our blacksmiths would forge those weapons that would secure our victory this day.
And now, on the verge of battle, their song was true and steady, our march accompanied by the melody of our arms. Metal seeking to meet its ilk on the battlefield and prove its superiority to our enemy, seeking to skewer its brittle foes and pierce the weak flesh that hid beneath layers of strong mail.
We formed our Phalanx, broad shields scraping against each other as they formed a wall resembling a dragon's glimmering scales, the setting sun's rays reflecting off our shined arms as we awaited our enemy....
"Who are we?" My brother, my captain, our king, roared, his own powerful armaments giving him the appearance of an Ironclad titan. "NOXII!" We answered, our weapons meeting the bulk of our shields.
"And why are we here for?" He asked, raising his great spear skywards.
"To spill blood, to crush our foe, to win!" The voice of our steel joined our own-a melody of war....
And then we heard him.
His approach was dreaded, had been told of in hushed whispers by those survivors who now filled our ranks.
The earth shook as Nightfall heralded his entry, the sky's free blue fading for the gray streaks of clouds and the vivid, malevolent glow of red...
"Steady!" Our commander roared as our arms met each others, ironclad body against another, broad shields forming an immovable wall of metal.
Then he appeared on the horizon, the hordes he called an army behind him, their spears flying his dark banner that now adorned countless subjugated fortresses under his rule. He stood there, overlooking our formation as his Iron form towered over us, almost as if he was part of the mountainous ridge that aided our strategic position.
And from my place in the frontline I could catch a glimpse of not a mortal man's gaze...but the fiery glare of malicious witchfire that burned in a metallic visage crowed with a crest of Iron spikes...
"Do not falter men, we WILL hold this position, we WILL be victorious!" And for the first time since our march the battlefield fell silent as a crypt, as if neither man nor metal dared to speak in his presence...
Slowly the conqueror seemed to stir, heavy sabotons moving as he took a step towards us... And our metal sang as brothers and sisters braced themselves for war.
"Archers!" My commander screamed and our ranks kneeled, allowing the bowmen being hidden by our broad shields to fire their volley at our foe. The sky darkened as metal sang, slicing through air as they swiftly approached him like a thousand raindrops ready to drown an insect under their combined weight.
But whatever triumphant smiles were resting on our faces swiftly faded as Mordekaiser raised a clawed gauntlet and the barrage of arrows were halted mere inches in front of his own ranks, hovering in the air as their song of steel was silenced.
Just for the sound of wood shattering, akin to bones being broken, echoed through the battlefield, the steel of our arrows becoming their downfall as the metal was ripped from arrowshafts, starting to circle around the titan's Ironclad form like moths drawn to light...
Then he approached and I felt our song of war lack its original force, shieldarms quivering and weapons no longer as steady as a surgeon's we braced ourselves for the tyrant's charge...
A charge that did never come as Mordekaiser slowly approached us, his heavy boots of lead making the ground shake under the weight of a creature wrought of crude Iron itself...
It was too late to run now, our fates were in the Kindred's hands now..
"STEADY!" My commander roared as shield brothers and sisters stood strong, knowing that there was only victory or death for us now. With his unstoppable approach nearing our immovable wall of tempered steel, his overwhelming presence made my heart beat heavy, gray eyes meeting the fiery pits of malice that burned from a blackened soul encased in scorched Iron Warplate....
And then his song reached our ears... And the combined shards of hundreds of arrows would come homing in on us like birds of prey, finding their mark wherever the embrace of metal was weak and frail. The blood of our kin tainting our gray arms with red as men and women fell to the Revenant's dark sorcery....
"STEADY! SHOW NO FEAR!"
My knuckles turning white as they grasped my shield tightly, my eyes suddenly widened as another tune would join the revenant's chorus of death. The wrenching sound of metal, neither our arrow's, nor Mordekaiser's own Ironwrought form, raising its voice as it suddenly dawned on me: We were doomed from the start...
Suddenly the Revenant raised his heavy gauntlet and I heard the agonized screams of my brethren. Next to me, Babak, my shieldbrother's form was being crushed by his own armour, the metal denting inside by an unknown outside force as the sickening sound of bones breaking and flesh being torn made my eyes widen in horror... Only for the metal shell that he had thought would protect him from our common foe to rip into sharpened metal shards as they began to follow they master's call.
More and more of my friends fell to Mordekaiser's vile sorceries as the metal that we thought would sing of our victory became the funeral dirge to our demise. Face red from my fellow men's gore I raised my glare to meet our tormentor.
Shards of Metal forming a devastating storm that ravaged the ranks of our forces I saw him... At the eye of this hurricane of sorcerous might and murderous metal my eyes fell on him.
Standing tall, surrounded by the metal armaments of his foes, Mordekaiser stood triumphant, having turned the weapons and armour of his enemies into tools of their own destruction...
And as his fiery gaze fell on me I felt all air leave my lungs as the chestplate that had kept blades from ever rending my flesh, protecting me from all harm, would come to crush my ribs and choke the life out of me. Trapped within an Iron Maiden of our own making...
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By giving Mordekaiser mastery over Metal Riot could add another terrifying power to his ever-growing arsenal. No longer being just a goofy way to explain Maces from popping out of nowhere, him having control over metal would make him a force to be reckoned with as he would be able to turn his foes' own arms against them. Forming an ever-growing metal storm he would tear their armour from their bodies, destroying their bodies in the process and increasing his own destructive power.
Truly a horrifying thought, no? Having the tools of war follow your enemy's every whim makes Mordekaiser THE Master of Conquest, using his enemy's strength against them as it's already shown by him raising fallen enemies to do his bidding. It would fit his theme perfectly and make him very unique by giving him a power no other evil overlord uses to such brutal efficiency.
But what are your thoughts on the matter, please let me know what you think of it. Suggestions, criticisms and all!
