Warwick

Warwick is a monster who hunts the gray alleys of Zaun. Transformed by agonizing experiments, his body is fused with an intricate system of chambers and pumps, machinery filling his veins with alchemical rage. He bursts from the shadows to prey upon those criminals who terrorize the city's depths. Warwick is drawn to blood, driven mad by its scent… and none who spill it can escape him.

Real name: Vander Alias(es): The Uncaged Wrath of Zaun, The Howler, The Shadowed Fang, The Beast, The Hound of the Underground Species: Human (Chemically Altered; Cyborg) Age: 40-45 years old Place of origin: Zaun Current residence: Zaun

Warwick is a monster who stalks the gray alleys of Zaun, a living weapon forged by agonizing experiments. His veins are laced with an intricate network of pumps and chambers, flooding his body with alchemical rage. From the shadows, he strikes—drawn to blood and driven mad by its scent. None who spill it escape his wrath.

To most, Warwick is nothing more than a beast. But buried beneath the fury lies the shattered mind of a man—a former gangster who once sought to leave violence behind and start anew. No matter how far he ran, however, he could never escape the sins of his past.

Those memories come in fleeting flashes, inevitably drowned by the pain of what came after: strapped to a slab in Singed’s lab, the mad chemist looming above. Warwick cannot remember how he ended up there—only that the torment never ended.

Singed carved into him patiently, methodically. With every incision, he installed pumps, hoses, and reservoirs to inject experimental compounds into Warwick’s bloodstream. His goal was transmutation—an alchemical revelation. And Warwick, Singed believed, was the perfect subject: a “good man” hiding the truth of a beast within.

The chemicals accelerated Warwick’s regeneration, allowing Singed to reshape him piece by piece. When his hand was severed, it was reattached—augmented with pneumatic claws. A chemical chamber fused to his back linked directly to his nervous system, releasing volatile compounds whenever Warwick felt rage, fear, or hate—forcing the transformation further. Pain, Singed said, was the true catalyst.

Though Warwick’s body healed, his mind fractured. He couldn’t remember his name. Only a little girl screaming—a name he couldn’t understand—cut through the haze. Then even that faded. All that remained was pain. And blood.

Even near death, Warwick resisted the changes forced upon him. His body leaked toxins, tears replaced by acid, bile burning through his chest and the floor beneath. Bound to the table, he thrashed and writhed until, finally, his heart gave out.

Singed, unimpressed by his subject’s demise, discarded the corpse in a charnel pit deep within the Zaunite Sump.

But death proved to be the catalyst Singed had sought.

Lying amid the bodies, the chemicals within Warwick activated. The chamber pumped. His body twisted, bones snapping and reshaping, flesh tearing and regrowing with alchemical glow. By the time his heart restarted, the man he had once been was gone.

He awoke to hunger. Agony. And the overpowering need for blood.

First, it was a sump-scrapper. Then a priestess. A Piltovan apprentice. A masked merchant. A dram-dealer. A tallyman. One by one, they fell. Warwick made his den near a place that stirred something deep in his broken mind, and there the slaughter continued. He no longer cared who died, as long as blood flowed.

But even as the beast raged, shards of memory began to surface. In the reflection of a dying beggar’s eyes, he saw a scarred man—somber and familiar. Sometimes, the flash of knives recalled a bloodied blade. Sometimes, he remembered the girl’s scream.

And always, there was blood.

It had followed him his entire life. He couldn’t wash it away. Even if his memories were gone, Zaun remembered. When he looked into the eyes of murderers and thugs, he saw himself. The chamber filled with hate. His claws extended.

He hunted.

Now, Warwick chooses his prey. No longer indiscriminate, he seeks those already soaked in blood—the very same scent that once led him to Singed’s door.

He wonders if this is what he truly wanted. He cannot recall the details—but he remembers enough to know that Singed had been right. The “good man” had always been a lie. And when that lie burned away, only the truth remained.

He is Warwick. He is a killer.

And the streets of Zaun are full of killers to hunt.

Appearance: Warwick is a large werewolf-like creature, having a mix of human and canine anatomy. He is covered in bluish-gray fur, though his lower face and the front of his torso are paler. He has a canine muzzle full of massive fangs. His eyes are yellow-green by default but can turn a ferocious red in heated moments. His long, pointed ears have pink skin on the inside. He has a hulking, muscular upper body with slimmer legs and a fluffy tail. As a werewolf, he can move on two legs or get down on all fours. He also has numerous scars all over his body due to lacerations.

Warwick's body is augmented by asymmetrical chemtech machinery composed of brass-colored metal connected by tubes that house glowing green liquid. When Warwick is stressed, this liquid may turn yellow. Most notably, he has a clawed gauntlet on his right forearm and a large cylindrical chamber protruding from his back. This chamber features a single spike, almost giving it the appearance of a syringe. He also wears a pair of brown patchwork pants that are torn and faded.

Personality: While not much is known about Warwick's past life, it can be assumed that despite his role as a gangster, Warwick still cared about the well-being of others and sought different ways to better himself, with Singed even describing him as a "good man". However, after Singed's experiments on him, little remained of the old Warwick or his memories, as he was replaced with a bloodthirsty, monstrous creature of pure wrath.

Warwick is a creature in constant pain and wants desperately to remember his past life, but his chemical mutations prevent him from seeking this out. He is proud of his Zaunite origins and holds a special hatred for the chem-barons and the Zaunites who have abandoned the undercity for Piltover. Warwick also sees Yordles as "alpha predators", growing distracted by them like a dog would be by a squirrel.

Even though Warwick has lost most of his memories, he sometimes gets flashes of his former life as a human. These last remaining memories prevent him from harming innocent people and cause him to only attack criminals, specifically those who have blood on their hands.

Abilities: Eternal Hunger - The weaker he is in combat, the faster his wounds heal. Jaws of the Beast - Warwick lunges forward and bites his target. Blood Hunt - Warwick senses the blood of his enemies. Primal Howl - His adrenaline negates pain and terrifies those around him.

Ultimate Ability: Infinite Duress - Warwick leaps in a direction of an enemy before pouncing on them and painfully ripping them to shreds.

Runeterra (meaning magic earth) is a plane of existence composed of the physical realm: an oblate spheroid planet and the Spirit Realm. The currently known continents the planet comprises are Valoran, Shurima and the Camavoran Continent. It also boasts several large bodies of water, such as the currently known 18 Seas (like the Conqueror's Sea and the Guardian's Sea), and 2 Oceans with several archipelagos and islands around them (like Ionia, the Serpent Isles, and the Shadow Isles). The planet orbits around a G-type star while a natural satellite moon orbits around the planet. Runeterra's sun and moon also even mirrored equivalents in the spirit realm. Composed of both the material and spirit realms, Runeterra is all that separates the celestial powers of creation from the abyssal threat of all undoing. This is a magical world unlike any other--inhabited by peoples both fierce and wondrous.

Centuries ago, magical artifacts called the 'World Runes' were rediscovered. Over the following decades, knowledge of the Runes began to spread as more were unearthed. The world's brightest minds studied the ancient glyphs, attempting to determine the powers they possessed. Few could even begin to understand the importance of their origins, or the sheer power held within them. Some surmised that the Runes were integral to the creation of Runeterra itself. The first use of these mysterious artifacts proved catastrophic, as they reshaped the landscape of entire nations. Mistrust quickly grew as those who knew of the Runes imagined such “Makers' Might” being used as a weapon. Conflicts related to these magical artifacts began to occur, known as the Rune Wars.

Open warfare raged across Runeterra. The first horrors of the Rune Wars sparked fear and aggression among those who now realized the power at their command. Ryze and his master, Tyrus, had sought out to lock away every World Rune beyond the reach of man for the protection of Runeterra. Some complied with their pleas, others dismissed them due to their new found powers and influence. After an incident with Tyrus, Ryze later on continued his journey alone in gathering all Runic artifacts so as to prevent another Rune War from starting and possibly destroying the world.

Runeterra has a large number of sapient species. These sapient species can range from being able to use primitive tools to one's advantage to god-like feats like forging literal stars. Some sentient species are monster-like and aggressive while others less aggressive or tame. While most sentient species are animals, there are instances of plant based sentient species. Most known instances of non-sentient species are found with plants. As rich and diverse as Runeterra is, not all species are well documented. From the Shuriman Jungles to the magic wilds of the Ionian Archipelago, known only by names or by visuals, these numerous species are an enigma.

Zaun is a sprawling undercity nestled in the deep canyons beneath Piltover, bathed in a perpetual twilight of industrial fumes and stained-glass reflections. Once united, the two cities now exist as separate yet symbiotic societies. Piltover’s wealth fuels Zaun’s growth, making it a dark mirror of the city above—vibrant, chaotic, and rich in culture.

Zaun thrives amid pollution and danger. Toxic runoff stagnates in its depths, yet its resilient people endure. Black markets flourish with goods filtered from Piltover, and inventors rejected by the upper city often continue their volatile research below, free from oversight.

Above, Piltover rises as a beacon of progress and innovation. Positioned atop cliffs overlooking the ocean, its sea-gates welcome global trade, fueling rapid expansion. The city’s power stems not from military might, but from commerce, craftsmanship, and forward thinking. Merchant clans fund bold artistic and technological ventures, particularly in hextech, attracting the world’s finest minds and transforming Piltover into a center of opportunity and ambition.