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Comprehensive Guide to Zaun

from the story, art, and sound boards (source).

Academy of Techmaturgy - Institution that feeds into the College Of Techmaturgy

Augmentation - The use technological and/or chemical means to enhance or adapt human capabilities. Augmentations can be either hextech or chem-tech. Augmentations are pretty common in Zaun-Piltover.

Alchemist - a person who transforms or creates transmutation through a chemical and hextechnological process.

Apprenta - Apprentice

Ask-no-questions Augmentation Parlors - Facilities where Zaunites can be installed with various augmentations for any use.

Arc lamps - street lights used on the Promenade level

Bridgewaltz - a bridge spanning the Chasm containing a market with a taste of everything that makes Zaun great. The best in music, food, and artisanal chemtech creations can be found here every night. Zaunites and Piltovans alike flock here. Located on one of the Entresol’s lower levels.

Breather Station - Facilities where people can stop in to get a reprieve from the Gray for a breath of less dingy air. Breather Pipes - Pipes that move cleaner air to polluted areas

Black Lanes - A market of colorful bazaars, at the heart of Zaun where merchants and thieves do business. Anything is for sale, and everything is stolen goods. An area known for the especially gritty quality of air. Close to the Sumps.

Burn-off - smoke from combustion

Boundary Markets - a gathering of people for the purchase and sale of goods. They thrive where Piltover and Zaun meet above the Entresol level. The levels where division between Zaun and Piltover blurs are home to thriving markets and Commercia Halls. These areas are the most cosmopolitan of the city, where people from all walks of life and levels of society can be found.

Bonscutt Pump Station - A facility including pumps and equipment for removing sewage from the Entresol level down lower into Zaun. Located near a stop for the Rising Howl right beneath the Entresol level.

Cavernberry - Type of native edible plant species. Used to make a juice.

Chematurgy - Field combining chemicals and magic

Chem barons - People who have a certain level of control over the flow of resources in Zaun. They are factory owners, business owners, landlords, resource owners, and/or mob/gang bosses having large amounts of money, man power and influence. Examples: Petrok Grime, Baron Crimson, Boswell Holloran of Clan Holloran, Baron Spindlow, Baron Grime, Saito Takeda

Chem-burner - 1.) A powerful chemlight that can be used to illuminate over large distances 2.) Heating element with a near-invisible flame from chemicals, used to heat up food.

Chem-burnt - experiencing negative effects from being exposed to toxic compounds too much.

Chem-bomb - An explosive using chemicals as the incendiary material

Chem-fumes - Chemical gas, smoke, or vapor

Chem-forges - Facilities where machines produce and purify compounds. Located in Factorywood. Example: Fredersen Chem-forge

Chem-jacks - Someone who works with chemicals.

Chem-lamp - lights running on chemicals

Chem-lanterns - lights running on chemicals

Chem-lights - Source of greenish illumination for streets, they burn chemically with wavering flames in bolted sconces providing light through of colored glass, the polished steel lightweels light up pathways.

Chem-lumens - street lights running on chemicals, likely a type of gas.

Chem-merchants - People who make a living selling chemical compounds.

Chempump - parts of chem-tech augmentation

Chem-punk - Derogatory term used for a trouble maker, or gang member from Zaun.

Chemtech Researcher - A person who researches chemtech either through the the College of Techmaturgy, or other means.

Chemtech seam - crevasses in the cliffs that are the source of compounds used in chemtech

Chem-stunted - State of experiencing negative effects from being exposed to toxic compounds too much.

Chem-tech - The combination of machinery and equipment with a compound that has been produced artificially, that harnesses the power of both. Used to create utilitarian/practical artifacts that can be used by anyone. It harnesses chemical energy to power machinery, and produce light and heat.

Chem-thug - A chemically augmented gangster, often used as a grunt. Also known as a Chem bruiser

Chemtubes - parts of chem-tech augmentation

Cliff-shrikes - Type of native bird species

Crag-duck - Type of native bird species

Crawl-hatch - opening in the sides of pipes or ducts for maintenance and manual cleaning

Crystal burners - A type of power source that uses crystals as fuel

Cultivair - a large glass, curved/spherical Isolated crystal or glass building specifically designed to grow plants and trees and generate pure air. The wealthiest in Zaun maintain them as a symbol of their power and a source of clean air. Bioluminescent algae, and nocturnal blooming flowers are cultivated in these facilities. They've got the highest security, lest Sumprat kids dare think they can steal a clean breath from the rich and powerful.

Clean air - A foreign concept to Zaunites. Down in the Sump, the air has texture, but getting higher, it has a sharp clarity.

The Cliff - The most important location of all of Zaun, it was once the epicenter of a massive man made geological disaster that sunk most of the city. Currently, it is the location of massive spires jutting upwards towards Piltover as the arrogant testimony of Zaun's resolve to survive. One such building is the Tower of the College of Techmaturgy.

Commercia Fantastica - A market specializing primarily in gearwork toys. Possibly located in the Black Lanes.

Delicatessens - a store selling cold cuts, cheeses, and a variety of salads, as well as a selection of unusual or foreign prepared foods.

Descenders - Another word for Hexdraulic Coveyors

Dram - A small drink of whiskey or other spirits

Dram-carts - Carts used to carry Dram

Dram-dealer - Person who sells dram.

Drop Street - Street to a wheezing hexdraulic descender station on the Entresol level. The descender connects the Entresol level Drop street to a Piltover level street by the same name. The descender has an iron-framed cabin with a lozenge-patterned grille, and is still running in Piltover later at night than other descenders. A quiet a secluded route for those on the run.

The Dredge - a prison mine for chemtech compounds deep beneath Zaun with hellish conditions. The prison once held Urgot.

Ductwork maintenancer - People who clean off the scum when the breather pipes got too clogged. They often employ/use kids to clean narrow ducts. Example: Gray-Scrape Malkev

Emberflit Alley - A fog-bound narrow corridor. Area for Viktors house. Location thought be somewhere in a secluded area in Entresol's lower levels.

Entresol - A level of Zaun situated just below the Promenade: the notional border between Piltover and Zaun. A flourishing hub of cosmopolitan commercial arcades, supper-clubs, recital halls, joy houses, and “everything goes” type clubs, making it one of the most populated districts of the cities. It was also widely regarded by the people that lived and toiled there as the place where the real work of Zaun got done, where most of the city's trade and business occurs. Birthplace of Viktor.

Esophilters - A chem-tech augmentation installed to allow people to breathe noxious fumes safely

Factorywood - A place where many factories are situated close together. Located somewhere beneath the Entresol level and above the Sump.

Foundlings - orphans

Foundling home - Orphan Home

Flesh-eating mites - Type of native insect species

Gangs - Groups of criminals. Examples: The Gray Nails, Factorywood Fiends, Lost Children of Zaun

Gondola - A mode of transportation in Zaun using chains to diagonally/horizontally traverse the canyons and valleys of the Great Chasm from “the Incident”. Usually carries a smaller number than Hexdraulic Coveyors.

Glorious Evolved - A religious group whose beliefs fervently revolve around augmentation, viewing of flesh as inferior to metal. Velveteen fabrics in dark colors are draped over the parts of their bodies that are still flesh, while their metal arms and augmented legs are exposed. They are inspired by Viktor, but Viktor thinks they're idiots. Beliefs of the Glorious Evolved include: The body is frail, the machine drives people forward. The Glorious Evolved also celebrate the old Zaunite tradition of sacrificing something personal for Progress Day in the hopes the next iteration of invention would be better. They give their discarded flesh parts as offerings to a shrine dedicated to The Gray Lady wrapped in cloth or suspended in jars of fluid. Non-augmented individuals are forbidden to step foot onto their sacred grounds, but the Glorious Evolved often take in the sick, seeing the removal of dying flesh as a key to transforming a person’s life and faith through technology, Piltovan or Zaunite, the Glorious Evolved doesn’t discriminate.

The Gray - 1.) The thick, burning chemical atmosphere. A by-product of the constant production and spread of chemtech industry throughout Zaun. The production of synthetic crystals initially created in Piltover is also rumored to be a heavy contributor to the Zaun Gray. Fatal to breathe where densely settled - It is believed to be the cause of the lung blights that afflict many Zaunites. At times when it gets thicker it becomes a constant chemical fog that makes every breath a battle. Most days, it’s thin enough to breathe deeply without coughing up something wet. Primarily originates in the Sump and disperses into plumes drifting upward. When the Zaun Gray grows thick, some say Janna blows it away. It gives off a chemical smell, like it could singe off your nose hair if inhaled too deeply. To Zaunite though air outside the city is thin and unsubstantial. 2.) Dusk

The Gray Lady - The holy patron saint of the Glorious Evolved. Depicted in statues of cold lead and frosted glass.

Grayout - When the Gray rolls thickly through the streets limiting visibility to less than a few feet, causing people’s chests to grow tight, choking with every breath. Can cause death or asphyxiation.

Grey-pox - Illness caused by The Gray. Symptoms include blood poisoning, black spider veins, poisoned and failing organs. Possibly connected to Lung Blight.

Gutter rat - 1.) Type of native mammal species. 2.) an insult.

Handmade Shrines - A holy relic dedicated to Janna, crafted of scrap and gearworks.

Hex-mechanics - People who work with hextech

Hextech - the newly emergent fusion of magic and technology/machinery that harnesses the power of both. Used to create exquisite artifacts that can be wielded by anyone, not just those few with a natural aptitude for the arcane. It harnesses the magical power contained within extremely rare crystals, and its power is limited only by the imagination of their users. It is capable of amazing feats, from powering machinery to creating beams of light capable of cutting the strongest steel. The process of crafting hextech is a closely guarded secret, and no two artificers work to the same methodology. As such, each item of hextech is a unique artifact of rare beauty, a bespoke creation that will likely have taken years to craft.

Hextech crystals - Authentic and synthetic crystals. They power weapons, tools, and machinery. They can create energy on their own.

Hexdraulic Coveyors - A mode of transportation in Zaun using chains and/or rack and pinions to descend/ascend, they are basically towering city-wide or semi-city-wide elevators. One of the larger ones in particular is known as the Rising Howl. Also known as Descenders

Hexdraulic descender - Another word for Hexdraulic Conveyor

Hexplosive - fusion of magic and technology/machinery for detonations.

Hearth-lights - Lights used to illuminate a permanent residence.

Hope House - a crumbling foundling home cut into Zaun’s cave-riddled cliffs dedicated to the welfare of the many orphans created in the wake of the disaster that tore Zaun apart. Location: Somewhere in the Slums between the Factorywood and the Sump.

Horticulturalists - People that tend to cultivairs

Horticultural Merchant - People who sell goods related to maintaining and growing plants

the Incident - Series of events that led to Zaun’s current geological situation. Demolitions to carefully split the isthmus that Zaun and Piltover sat on to make a canal catastrophically failed. The explosions ignited a chemtech vein and caused a chain reaction of earthquakes that shook the isthmus to its core. Zaun sank into the canyons. Years after the city called Zaun was repaired and the shining town of Piltover was built above it.

Kouaxi - a potent spirit made from fermented goat’s milk

Lung Blight - Illness caused by The Gray. Symptoms include chronic coughing, production of gray phlegm that leaves a brackish residue, and death. Possibly connected to Grey-pox. Possibly a form of pneumonia.

Lost Children of Zaun - A group of children and teens known for mischief that make up Ekko's gang. Not all Zaun kids are in Ekko's gang.

Mark - A thief’s target

Memorial Wall - A place in the Slums where residence of The Slums give homage to those they had lost.

Name day - Birthday

Old Hungry - A large old iconic dulled metal mechanized clock-tower in the heart of Old Zaun with exposed grinding gears with its base located at the heart of the Sump. It towers high above the levels of Piltover and hasn't told the correct time in years. It is a popular haunt for the Zaun kids, and is the "hear of Old Zaun."

Orderly - A caretaker

Philter - Device situated around the face for filtering airborne toxins

Physicker - phyiscian, or doctor

Piltie - Derogatory term for Piltover natives

Pipework - pipes that make up a network

Plague rats - Type of native mammal species

Plaza - Cavernous areas hollowed out from the cliffs

Pneuma-tube - Sealed container to protect paper messages from moisture and the corrosive environment

Pneuma-tube runner - people who carry messages throughout the levels of Zaun, taking quick climbing routes that few can follow

Progress day - the city’s annual observance of innovation, celebrating invention and ingenuity

Progress Day remembrances - 1.) a day dedicated to remembering those lost in the geological upheaval of the Incident that created the east-west passage and submerged entire districts underwater. 2.) The act of participating in remembering those lost in the past on Progress day

Promenade - The uppermost levels of Zaun where the Entertainment and commercial zone is located above the Entresol level where Pilties go for good, cheap times. The upper reaches of Zaun exist alongside the lower districts of Piltover, though the differing architecture means the two could never be confused. This is also where the wealthy of Zaun gather to shop, dine, and trade goods and supplies from below.

Priggs Industries - a large industrial complex of Dr. Priggs. It houses a large amount of warehouses and factories. His reputation has been ruined by the reveal of underground holding facilities and slave labor camps.

Pump station - facilities located in Piltover including pumps and equipment for moving clean air from Piltover into Zaun via ducts and vents.

Razor-rings - a band of metal worn on a finger with a bladed or pointed projection used by sump-snipes to aid in emptying purses.

Rising Howl - A large multi-tiered rack and pinion Hexdraulic Coveyor supported by three vertical structural beams which span the height of the city from the Sump to the Boundary Markets. Its ovoid shape, and curved topside are constructed of thick glass and an elaborate ironwork baroque latticework frame with ratcheting endless gears. At the top there’s wrought iron howling wolf, and a pipe that blasts steam whistles. It’s the primary Hexdraulic Coveyor for transporting crowds between the levels of Zaun and Piltover. Conductor’s voices are magnified by a flexible speaking tube connected to a bell-shaped sonophone. The passengers of the Rising Howl are used to people hitching a lift upward.

Revelers - People who is enjoying themselves in a lively and noisy way, often under the influence.

Sawbones - Zaunite doctor

Shadowhares - Type of native mammal species

Shared pipe - exhaust pipes with intakes from more than one location, an experienced ductwork maintenancer can identify them by smell.

Shimmer - a corrosive chematurgical waste substance that is popular among Zaun's rebellious youth. When slathered onto the skin the Shimmer stimulates intense emotions in its subject. The Shimmer then creates an assortment of shining colors that corresponds to the emotion the subject is feeling. Frequent application of the caustic glop can result in progressive degeneration of the skin and muscle tissue.

Shimmer Bar - Location for the use of the drug Shimmer

Shimmerdrops - quantity of shimmer

Shimmerfiend - Person who is addicted to the drug shimmer

Shimmer Trafficker - Person who sells shimmer

Shimmerwine - Liquer made from the same substance as Shimmer

Shok-club - A type of electrical weapon used by guards

Skirl - word used to describe a shrill, wailing sound from pipes

Skylight Commercia - Market where people browse galleries, meet friends, dine or going to see one of the companies of players that tour the undercity with satirical works. The atmosphere warm and friendly, it’s the perfect place to bask in all that Zaun has to offer. Probably located within the Promenade levels

Slums - The most densely populated and second most polluted location in Zaun. Large pipes flowing with industrial waste snake around its buildings. Many of its residence are main source of labor for Zauns factories.

Snipes - A derogatory term for a Zaunite child

Sonophone - Metal horn shaped instrument for magnifying sound

Sons of Ur - A group that holds a fanatical respect for Urgot, who follow the belief that only the strong survive. Though Urgot rejects the idea of followers.

Spark lights - Lights used by the Glorious Evolved in their places of gathering. They are lit one by one by during religious practices.

Spray-philter - canister that dispenses liquids in a spray

Sump - Zaun's lowest deepest levels, past the reaches of the Gray-filtered light, where the environment turns grim, increasing disorderly and poorly lit, densely cramped with piping and discarded items. Most of the working class live there or just above it. Lower than the residential neighborhood areas the Sump becomes more squalid where increasingly thicker chem-fumes thread the alleys between crowded mostly abandoned industrial buildings. It has been built and rebuilt on top of itself, and almost everything there now serves the chem-tech industry (or its workers) in some way.

Sump pools - Chem-tech holding vessels located in the Factorywood

Sump-raker - A derogatory term for a person from the Sump level.

Sump rat - A derogatory term for a child from the Sump level.

Sump-scrappers - 1.) People who makes a living salvaging items from the Sump level. Also known as a Sumper 2.) Person from the sump

Sump-scrapping - The act of salvaging items from the Sump level

Sumpsnipe - A derogatory term for a child from the Sump level.

Sump-sucker - A derogatory term for a person from the Sump level

Steam conduit - A pipe for conveying steam

Stilt-walking sump-scrapper - A salvager who uses stilts to stay above the toxic gases and sludge of the Sump

Tallyman - person who sells merchandise on credit, especially from door to door

Techmaturgy - Field of study combining technology and magic

Therma lamps - indoor sources of yellow-orange illumination uses on the Promenade level

Tower Of The College Of Techmaturgy - A large tower housing university with studies focused on the advancement of technology. It rises arrogantly into Piltover from the wide canyon separating North and South Piltover, anchored to the upper cliffs by swaying suspension bridges and thick iron cables that thrum like musical strings when the winds blow in hard from the ocean. It's the cities best known institution of learning and prime location for techmaturgical research for the new and inexperienced.

Tox-mask - mask that filter gaseous toxins

Toxic runoff - poisonous liquid drainage

Velocipede - a type of hextech bicycle with large wheels to avoid the splash of toxic runoff

Vent Stacks - Tall chemtech industry pipes that spew out gaseous chemicals that produce The Gray.

Vigilnauts - People who are heavily augmented to be brutal and dangerous combatants. Vigilnauts usually have hextech chem-tech combined, their armaments are meant to be used specifically for combat and are not aesthetically pleasing.

Viridian beetles - Type of native insect species

Zaunites - People who live or were born in Zaun.

Zaun Asylum for the Irreparably Troubled - first known home of Dr. Mundo. No longer in operation.

Zaun’s Layout

General environment: Industrialized and Urbanized (toxic)

Each location includes more than one physical level. The Chasm splits Zaun -like Piltover - primarily into northern and southern halves, and Zaun is threaded by smaller canyons, valleys, and crevasses. Boundary Markets: Commercia Halls Promenade: Boundary Markets continue, College of Techmaturgy main entrance, Horticultural Center, Skylight Commercia, The Cliff Entresol: Bridewaltz, Emberflit Alley Black Lanes: Commercia Fantastica Factorywood The Slums: Hope House The Sump: The Dredge

Common Phrases

Sure as gray follows day - Phrase signifying certainty

You ken? - you know?

Not even a plague rat’s brown cough - Basically so silent you could hear a pin drop. Also a plague rat's brown cough actually means a plague rat's fart.

Uppside - Piltover

Well-heeled - Phrase used to describe those well off, named for their state of the soles of their shoes not being worn down, or the type of shoes that wouldn’t last long in the muck below.

Go pound a sump - An insult

Bells - Term for the hour. Example: Eight bells

Head up top - Phrase meaning: Go to Piltover

Hereabouts - Phrase used to describe a person's current location

All-night bender - Phrase describing one who has spent a long nocturnal time under the influence

First rule of the Sump: Only marks go in through the front door

Janna’s mercy! - A Zaunite exclamation used in cases of extreme danger, a plea for help.

The cliffs are muttering - Phrase used to describe the myth of the common small earthquakes

Questions about How Zaun works

Currency? Coins: gold hexes, silver gears/cogs, and bronze washers. Zaunites may refer to any amount of money as cogs.

What are the Rites of passage for the kids of Zaun? Hitching a ride on top of the Rising Howl. Reaching the top of Old Hungry with all your limbs intact, cutpursing a baron’s man or playing knock-and-run with a stilt-walking sump-scrapper.

Accent? loose familiarity as opposed to Piltovan affectation, though accents from many other locations can be found in both cities due to the fact that many merchants pass through.

Architecture: Most of Zaun's structures are crafted from lattice ironwork, either forged in the many seething foundries or wrought from scavenged material discarded from above. Though there is brutal functionality to the bolts-and-rivets of Zaun's structures, its inhabitants still manage to craft breathtaking wonders. Many structures are build into the cliffs or extend from them. They create a lattice work building on top and around existing structures to create anchor points. Chem-lights burn in bolted sconces and through creative use of colored glass, polished steel lightweels bring light to the depths. Other forms of street lights are Arc lamps and Chem-lumens.

Attitude towards magic: Exploit

Who controls Zaun? Industrial oligarchy Chem barons are not the government, but they are in control of Zaun. There is no formal government. The powerful Chem-Barons keep a loose alliance that keep the city from falling into chaos. They are rich and influential, and if you disagree with them you might disappear. That makes them in charge, even though there is nothing official about the arrangement.

#worldbuilding #League of Legends #zaun

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