Arc Warden/Lore

From the shattered Primordial Consciousness, Zet the Arc Warden wills itself into being with one goal in mind: to restore unity by reuniting the fragments of Radiant and Dire back into the one unified intelligence that they once were at the beginning of the universe, or destroy them both should the conflict spread even further.

Biography
Before the universe came to be, there was a singular presence: an ancient consciousness, the Primordial Mind, an infinite intelligence who could think inscrutable thoughts that no mind of the past, present, and future can hope to penetrate. In the moment when the universe was created, this mind was shattered into many fragments. Although all of these parts shared the same progenitor, these mental fragments soon gained individuality. Two among its greater fragments—Radinthul and Diruulth--fought each other and twisted all of creation with their powers of enthrallment to serve their conflict.

In this cascade of moments, a third greater fragment, the unsung Ancient, made itself known. This intellect named itself Zet and strived to stop the appalling disharmony that it had just witnessed in the first moments of its conception. Focusing all of its power, Zet overwhelmed both of its siblings and fused them into a single form, trapping them both in an inert crystalline sphere. Zet hurled this sphere into the darkness of space to be adrift for eternity until the gravitational force of a burgeoning planet captured this body and turned it into its satellite. The cost of this imprisonment drained most of its strength, but Zet was determined to use its remaining power to sentence itself into an eternal vigil.

Time passes by and the once nondescript world became teeming with primitive lifeforms that rose into significance and then fell into naught but apocrypha. But in each generation of this life cycle, none could escape the glare of this eerie celestial body (which they soon named "The Mad Moon" in their lore) that appeared at all times of the day. Meanwhile, the warring Ancients resolved to escape their prison using the reverberations of their clash, tidal forces, and the orbital stress acting between the planet and their prison. Zet used its weakened powers to contain the breach, but on one fateful night, the Mad Moon was shattered and the resulting explosion expelled moonstuff at high velocity towards the planet and destroyed its surface in an extinction event.

The Ancients were freed, but they returned in a new form that they stole from the very material that made up their prison. As for Zet, it was flung to the farthest reaches of space and warped by the dissonant energies of his siblings. No longer of single form or thought, Zet embodied the very concept that Zet despises the most: disharmony. They were disunited into many parts, a fractured consciousness much like its progenitor. Using the remaining power that they had left, Zet struggled to reunite their separated elements into a single goal and travelled the cosmos to rejoin the fray against the Ancients who had resumed their war.

The Sundered Moon
Zet was among the many heroes who were gathered in the Sundered Moon bar. Unlike the other heroes socializing with each other, Zet sat alone in the corner of the pub as if the Self was waiting for someone. Overhearing a conversation between a certain amorous god and his unlucky prey, the Self provoked the former to get his attention, calling him a half-god.

The vexed "half god" left his potential lover and confronted this strange hooded figure by himself. Zet taunts the deity with its superior origins, but Zeus retorts with quips on its lack of pronouns and poor enunciation. Adding to his words, he took the Self's taunts as an invitation to a fight. The Self declares him half correct, saying that Self only came here to fight. Annoyed with this meaningless ebb and flow of talk, Zeus reminded the stranger about why they were all gathered here, telling the Self that anyone it picks a fight with in this bar will tear down an Ancient the next day. Undaunted by his boldness, Zet corrects the half-god by saying that the Self will not destroy one Ancient, but both of them.

Zet revealed a projection of the lore about the two ancient intellects from the "world before your world", Radinthul and Diruulth. It told the story of their battle, imprisonment, and escape. Zet reveals to him that the Ancients have been building an army of lesser creatures to serve their conflict, and if either Ancient were to win, their power would end "both of their worlds". Such a grand task could not be done alone, and like its Ancient siblings, it seeks to amass an army aligned against both Ancients. Zet handed him a scroll and told him to fulfill whatever mystery was inside it.

Unsure of whatever nonsense that Zet had just talked about, Zeus asked the Self if he had any stake in this war. Zet promised him that the Self would "make him whole again" should they be successful in the destruction of both Ancients. Still having doubts with the Self's offer, Zeus asked him to verify this claim by giving him a "taste of this wholeness". The Self agreed and returned to him a small fragment of his rightful power, including a golden helm rimming with divine power.

Satisfied, Zeus relished in his newfound power, completely ignoring the nonsense that led to this moment. He invites the Self to hear about his divorce story while offering it some ambrosia. The Self politely declines because it has work to do, before revealing six other scrolls like the one it gave to Zeus.

Nemestice
The Mad Moon's destruction introduced the shards of Radiant Ore and Direstone to the burgeoning planet where most of Dota 2's story takes place. These shards contained the very presence of the two greater fragments of the Primordial Consciousness, both known as Radiant and Dire or Radinthul and Diruulth by Zet. But a third stone—known as Nemestice—was left uncorrupted by the Ancients. Instead, it contained the power that Zet sacrificed aeons ago to seal its warring siblings together into one form, eventually trapping it within an inert crystalline sphere that would become the vessels for both of the Ancients' power.

At the moment when the Mad Moon exploded from within, the shards that contained the Radiant and Dire essence were flung by the blast and captured by the gravitational pull of its celestial companion before falling to earth, with some of these shards being flung away into space or destroyed by the heat of atmospheric entry. However, the Nemestice stones remained afloat within the ruins of the Mad Moon, left behind by its ancient fugitives.

Aeons later, Arc Warden's magnetic compass revealed the impact site of a prophesied Nemestice storm that would precede a meteor shower of the other Nemestice stones. They finally fell to earth in the present age to rejoin the fray against both Ancients, ready to be reclaimed by the jailer of the Ancients...or anyone seeking control over both of them.

Personality and Mannerisms

 * Zet always speaks in third person.

Allies
Zet is building an army of Heroes to fight against Radinthul and Diruulth. So far, it has currently recruited into its ranks.

Enemies
Zet is ill-disposed towards Radinthul and Diruulth ever since it willed itself into being.

Embodiment
Zet is the third greater fragment of the Primordial Mind, an infinite disembodied consciousness. Although Zet recognizes itself as an individual consciousness, it is still the Primordial Consciousness in essence, because it refers to Radinthul and Diruulth as its other selves.

In its current form, Zet has been warped by the dissonant energies released by the Mad Moon's destruction. It was so powerful that not only did it send the Self flying into the farthest reaches of space, but it even split its disembodied mind into many mental fragments of varying power—some lesser, some greater. With his power weakened, Zet struggled to restore itself back to a whole form, whereas its prime form was able to fuse both Ancients. The result was Zet being able to control its shattered fragments, but it's still not powerful enough to make itself whole. He can still fuse his fractured elements (excluding his main self) to create a clone via, but it is nowhere close to what he once was.

Thence Zet was transformed into a collective consciousness—a mind consisting of many individuals who think the same thoughts in unison. Zet is many, yet it is only one.

Arc Power
Zet is an extremely powerful being. The Self overwhelmed both Ancients in a single stroke and fused them into one form, before locking them into the Mad Moon. However, this task drained most of Zet's power, but it has not been consumed into nothing. Instead, the power that it used was locked in the moon as well, which it seeks to reclaim through the rare Nemestice storms to restore itself back to full power.

The Self also has the powers of creation. Zet was able to create a massive celestial body made of crystals to seal the Ancients within it and prevent them from influencing the outside world. As a force of order and unity, Zet can make broken or incomplete things whole again. Besides its attempt to fuse the 2 greater splinters of the Primordial Mind and its attempt to partially fuse itself after Zet was warped by his siblings' energies, Zet was able to casually restore a portion of Zeus' lost powers and imbued him with the energies of the Ancients themselves, making him partially "whole" again.

Zet has the ability to summon draconic wraiths from another plane, who gladly serve the warden in exchange for sustenance. By using the Self's being as a bridge between the wraiths' plane of existence and the mortal plane, Zet can call upon these wraiths who will consume the energies found in the mortal plane. The energies they consume in the mortal plane will manifest tenfold of its power in their home plane.

Powers
Zet's in-game abilities utilize kindred forces with, who also uses electromagnetism. This makes sense with its theme of order and unity, since both electricity and magnetism are binding forces.

is the same power that Zet used to imprison the Ancients. In its current form, it has been heavily weakened due to Zet's power being depleted from fusing and imprisoning the Ancients. At its weakest, this power manifests as a discharge of volatile, fluxing energies that will electrocute anyone unfortunate enough to receive this shocking energy.

By distorting space itself, Zet can generate a to protect anyone within it from incoming attacks. It's possible that the field deflects attacks by either repelling the attacks with magnetism or distorting space to cause attacks to miss.

Calling upon a lesser fragment of its fractured being, Zet summons a to perform a watchful vigil around a certain area. Upon materializing, the wraith will patrol the chosen area until it finds a trespasser. The wraith will be drawn to them, infusing the trespasser with harmful magic upon contact.

Willfully accepting its disunity, a temporary of the Self is created when Zet fuses its fractured elements into a single form, creating a perfect electrical duplicate of itself to bring twice the chaos and disharmony to the fight—two concepts that Zet absolutely despises. Perhaps the same process that creates Zet's double was the same process that it used to fuse the two Ancients back into a single form, but the incompatible intellects managed to retain their individuality and resisted the process.

Friendships and rivalries
Allies meeting Arc Warden
 * vo_abaddon_abad_ally_03.mp3  Waste not your energy, Zet, but wield it well.
 * vo_centaur_cent_ally_10.mp3  Arc Warden, try to keep up.
 * vo_dark_willow_sylph_ally_09.mp3  If you were so good at your job, how did the Ancients escape?
 * vo_dark_willow_sylph_ally_10.mp3  Warden, your jurisdiction stops at the Mad Moon, right?
 * vo_dawnbreaker_valora_ally_009.mp3  Was it my transgression that freed your wards, ancient gaoler? The timeline seems to match.
 * vo_grimstroke_grimstroke_ally_06.mp3  If I prod the other one, do you feel it?
 * vo_grimstroke_grimstroke_ally_07.mp3  Is "Zet" your name, or just a useful pronoun?
 * vo_hoodwink_hoodwink_ally_09.mp3  If I had a nut for every bloke who came through these parts with a big head and stories to match...
 * vo_legion_commander_legcom_ally_18.mp3 vo_legion_commander_legcom_dem_ally_18.mp3   Bring forth the tempest, Arc Warden.
 * vo_mars_mars_ally_03.mp3  You didn't need to go through all the trouble. I could have solved this problem for you ages ago.
 * vo_mars_mars_ally_04.mp3  Which one of you two would win in a fight?
 * vo_monkey_king_monkey_ally_09.mp3 vo_monkey_king_monkey_crown_ally_09.mp3   Alright, it's just a suggestion, take it or leave it at your leisure. But maybe you should start talking in the first person?
 * vo_monkey_king_monkey_ally_10.mp3 vo_monkey_king_monkey_crown_ally_10.mp3   Arc Warden, you're not planning on sticking me in the moon or anything like that?
 * vo_pangolin_pangolin_ally_09.mp3  So this whole mess is all your fault?
 * vo_pangolin_pangolin_ally_10.mp3  Didn't I just see you over there?
 * vo_snapfire_snapfire_ally_10.mp3  You two make a lovely couple!
 * vo_snapfire_snapfire_ally_11.mp3  To be honest, I didn't factor two of you into my bakin' plans.
 * vo_void_spirit_voidspir_ally_05.mp3  Your watch soon comes to an end, Warden.
 * vo_winter_wyvern_winwyv_ally_10.mp3  Arc Warden, you have such a magnetic personality.

Enemies killing Arc Warden
 * vo_centaur_cent_rival_28.mp3 Arc Warden, your spark goes out.
 * vo_dark_willow_sylph_rival_10.mp3  I wasn't sure if someone could annoy me more than Donte, but then you had to go talking in the third person.
 * vo_dawnbreaker_valora_rival_010.mp3  If I am to blame for your presence here, then consider this my first act of contrition.
 * vo_dawnbreaker_valora_rival_009.mp3  Die in peace, Warden. I will see to the end of both ancients myself.
 * vo_ember_spirit_embr_rival_14.mp3 Rest with your tempest, Warden.
 * vo_grimstroke_grimstroke_rival_09.mp3  You come unbound, Warden. I merely finished what was already started.
 * vo_hoodwink_hoodwink_rival_09.mp3  This one's heaps of fun! Get to kill him again and again!
 * vo_hoodwink_hoodwink_rival_10.mp3  Glad I didn't get zapped.
 * vo_legion_commander_legcom_rival_36.mp3 vo_legion_commander_legcom_dem_rival_36.mp3  Never trust a--what are you anyway?
 * vo_mars_mars_rival_09.mp3  You didn't need to go through all the trouble.
 * vo_mars_mars_rival_10.mp3  Don't worry, Zet. I'll bring them all crashing down.
 * vo_monkey_king_monkey_rival_10.mp3 vo_monkey_king_monkey_crown_rival_10.mp3   Arc Warden, I'll take you seriously the moment you start talking in the first person.
 * vo_pangolin_pangolin_rival_09.mp3  You didn't need to die, Arc Warden. I was going to end this war either way.
 * vo_pangolin_pangolin_rival_10.mp3  You're too weak to stop the Ancients. Leave this one to me.
 * vo_snapfire_snapfire_rival_11.mp3  I think your story's fulla holes. Just like you.
 * vo_snapfire_snapfire_rival_10.mp3  I'm told all this is your fault, fishbowl!
 * vo_spectre_spec_redux_rival_17.mp3  The warden falls.
 * vo_spectre_spec_redux_rival_18.mp3  Imprisoned in death.
 * vo_void_spirit_voidspir_rival_06.mp3  You thought you understood the true nature of this conflict. Fool.
 * vo_skeleton_king_wraith_rival_14.mp3 Go back and guard your arcs.

Enemies meeting Arc Warden
 * vo_dark_willow_sylph_rival_09.mp3  You may have imprisoned the Ancients, but you'll never capture me.
 * vo_grimstroke_grimstroke_rival_08.mp3  This was the great jailer of the Ancients? This war should be easy to win.
 * vo_monkey_king_monkey_rival_09.mp3 vo_monkey_king_monkey_crown_rival_09.mp3   Alright fishbowl head, show me what you've got.

Others
 * vo_oracle_orac_prophecies_006.mp3  I envision not one, but two tempests to twist your fate awry.