User blog:ND999/Lore of LoL - Blast from the past: Doran

Greetings and saliutations fellow summoners and wiki-goers, it is, the one guy who makes a blog post about once a year or something. Anyways, as always, I would like to discuss a tidbit of the (currently) shambled lore this game has in its possession. Specifically Doran.

Who is Doran?
Assuming you are someone who is not sure who or what I am talking about a small introduction is in order.

Effrem E. Doran is the name of an in-universe non-player character who has three in-game items named after him (, and ) and is credited to being the creator of  staff weapon. There was even a private server (where Riot Games' employees and a few chosen community members experimented around) named Doran's Workshop which was permanently closed in 2012 after a leak of patch notes.

In the old lore, back when the Institute of War still existed and Summoner's were all-powerful, Doran was a man who was born with a talent for smithing. The League invited him to assume the role of Master Artificier but tragedy befell him as donkey who was carrying him to the Institute kicked him in the head. After that incident Doran was a changed man, a simpler bloke who still loved crafting but instead of metallic masterpieces he created only the simplest of trinkets (lots of 'em). Ever since he had a permanent home in the Institute of War as Champions purchased his items on the daily basis.

However, this begets the question, if the Institute (and everything connected to it) no longer exists, then where does that place our poor little Doran? Despite being a faceless background character he still made himself well known and had a few roles to play (this might be a biased opinion since I have a soft spot for blacksmith-type characters).

Now, the new (and IMHO improved) League of Legends setting, many characters got their background information updated in all the good ways and Riot said that there are more lore updated incoming. The few of you who know me (and I do mean few) might recall how I refer to myself as a "lore-nut" so you can tell this means a bit to me, so it got me thinking. The Champion roster has a great menagerie of characters, ranging from, , , , , , , ,  and even , so why not add a blacksmith into the mix?

Doran, the Master Artificier
Basically, I kinda want to see Doran turn into a champion, so I might as well share how I'd go around it personally.

Lately Riot's been adding a couple of pagan-myth influenced characters who act as devils or deities to the people of Valoran, including, , , and. With this in mind I will now pitch my idea for the "reworked" Doran:

The idea is of Doran acting as a "smith god" (referencing the likes of Hephaestus, Wayland, Goibniu, Tubal-cain and Ogun) who etched out vast planes, carved canyons into the ground, sculpted all of Valoran's mountains and so forth. But regardless how much effort Doran placed into his work and no matter how desperately he tried to hammer out the flaws, vile things always managed to corrode Doran's masterpieace and create irreparable damage. Having encountered a plethora of problems during his eonic lifetime, Doran created a repertoire of choice items, each designed for a specific purpose, each considered to be artefacts of the highest caliber in the eyes of mortal men. Whenever a disaster of immense magnitude strikes and blemishes Doran's master-work, for example when an entire plain is laid to waste or when a mountain crumbles due to the actions of reckless mages, he intervenes and with a few deliberate strikes of his tools he sets things right. The legends of Doran are as ancient as Valoran's oldest civilizations, and many of his exploits became relagated as myth. Though the following of the Master Artificier had diminished drastically over the centuries, it has not died down just yet, the flames of theri belief still burn brightly, akin to a blazing furnace. Many of the Artificier's Apprentices continue to forge items in the name of their patron, imperfect replicas compared to the peaces of art which many heard about in Doran's folklore. These people believe that by creating these "forgeries" they will rekindle Doran's interest in preserving Valoran and he will eventually return to mend it with his own two hands. But alas, Doran remains a figure of myth, a character from an old story, a mere legend.

So yeah, I know this might make this post fall into the "Champion concepts" category, but what I have written here is just the prototype of an idea which I am posting here in order to receive feedback from all of you people. Is it a good idea? Is it a bad one? Does it hold potential but is not properly executed? Feel free to drop your own opinions in the comment section below. If this post receives enough feedback I just might create a separate "Doran, the Master Artificier" post where I would detail the stats, abilities and perhaps a full background on the updated Doran.

Thank you for reading through yet another one of my crazy blogs.