Who they are
Zac is a sentient ooze created in Zaun's Sump by alchemists working for the Chembaron Saito Takeda, originally as a super soldier. He escaped and was raised by a married pair of alchemists who taught him morality and kindness.
After Takeda's forces killed them, Zac settled in Zaun's pipe network. He is an urban legend who helps citizens and repairs infrastructure while coping with his empathic link to others' emotions.
Their story belongs to Zaun. The smoggy undercity where unregulated science pushes back.
Their story, step by step
- Step 1
An ooze in the Sump
A chemical spill ran through a chemtech seam in Zaun's Sump and pooled in a hidden cavern. The chembaron Saito Takeda developed it into the 'Zaun Amorphous Combatant', an obedient, injury-resistant super soldier that could reach tight spaces.
- Step 2
Learning kindness
At first the ooze only reacted to what was nearby. When children threw stones at it, it threw them back, which started rumours of a 'Returning Pool'. Alchemists found that kindness made it joyful and pain made it lash out, killing several of them.
- Step 3
A family
A married pair of alchemists who disagreed with the project saw Zac as a thinking being, named him and taught him right from wrong. When Takeda's team would not recognise his rights, they smuggled him out in a septic tank during Progress Day. Zac chose to stay with them rather than go free, and learned language by copying their voices.
- Step 4
Heroic but overwhelmed
The family lived in hiding. Zac was highly sensitive to emotions and was often overwhelmed by them, which led him to impulsive heroics such as fighting bullies and repairing the city, but sometimes to destructive outbursts.
- Step 5
Loss and rebuilding
Takeda's operatives found the couple and killed them. Zac felt their distress, raced through the pipes and arrived too late. In rage and grief he killed several attackers and damaged nearby buildings, then rebuilt all of it and moved permanently into Zaun's pipes.
Turning points
- Being taught morality by the alchemist couple
- Choosing to stay with them after the escape
- Arriving too late to save them, then rebuilding what he destroyed
Where their story stands now
Zac is an urban legend of Zaun, an informal watchman and handyman in the sewers who helps people who cannot help themselves and fixes broken infrastructure. Takeda's fate, whether the killers faced justice and how far his destructive power goes when he is overwhelmed are still open.
Where this fits in the story
- Zaun · step 1
From port city to undercity
Zaun began as an ancient seafaring port sacred to Janna. Around 772 AN the site was drowned in a catastrophic excavation, and it was rebuilt as the undercity below Piltover.
- Zaun · step 2
Chemtech and Shimmer
Without rules, Zaun's alchemists pushed science further. Singed's Shimmer serum can enhance soldiers and also became a major illegal drug that drives the underground economy.
- Zaun · step 3
The Day of Ash and Silco
Vander and Silco led a failed uprising on the Day of Ash, and hundreds died. Silco then built a criminal empire on Shimmer until his adopted daughter Jinx killed him.
- Zaun · step 4
A fractured city
After Silco the Chembarons split, Piltover occupied the undercity, Noxus intervened and Viktor rose to prominence. Zaun is now represented in Piltover's politics, but the peace is uneasy.