The Judean mountains (low, up to 1000 m above sea level) are located around Jerusalem, and among them Zion is a mountain that is actually a hill in the southwest. Jerusalem itself is located on the southern spur of the Judean Mountains. As the capital of the State of Israel, the city is controversial. Its eastern part is claimed by Palestine, which is supported by a significant part of the world community. UNESCO does not consider Jerusalem to be anyone's possession, but it has been included in the World Heritage List. Its cultural property is under serious threat of armed conflict.
Zion (mountain) - a symbol of Jerusalem
How did Jewish people, is not known for certain. Ethnographers say that the shepherd tribes of the Hapiru, northern Semites, came from Arabia, crossed which was then full-flowing and wide, like our Oka, and conquered hilly lands, among which was Zion - a mountain that would later become sacred. And if you go by the Bible, then the Jews are an artificial people. It was formed when God called from the city of Ur (city of Light) Abram, whose family was high, a man of advanced years, but of impeccable morality and who, to his great grief, did not have children. God gave everything to Abram in the new place: herds, money, respect for neighbors, but still he had no children. And when an angel appeared to his wife Sarah and told her that she would give birth, Sarah only laughed in response: “I am old, and my master is old.” To which the angel replied: “Is there anything impossible for the Lord?” And Sarah conceived. And it is believed that the whole family of Israel, as well as Arabs and Muslim peoples, descended from her sons. And Abram began to be called Abraham - the father of many nations.
Well, how to deal with it? As you wish. Here there is a discrepancy between scientific and sacred history. Many centuries passed, the land of Israel, like the whole world, was under the boot of the Roman legionnaires. And how do the conquerors behave among the conquered peoples? They are outrageous. The Jews began to prepare for the uprising. People bought daggers, swords, armor. A war was brewing, which would later be called the Jewish one. But she did not bring victory to the Jews, but on the contrary, they were expelled from their homeland, from their native temple, which stood on a hill. This is Mount Zion, the holy mountain. The Jewish people sought to return to it, but the Romans finally expelled the Jews from their homeland, they scattered around the world in diasporas. And the land received from the Romans the name of Palestine.
temple mount
Zion, or Zion, - this was the name of the fortress, which was located on a small hill next to And later the name Zion (mountain) became synonymous with Jerusalem. during the Roman occupation, the city was divided into the Lower, the Temple and the Upper City. For contemporaries, this place, the Upper City, was of no interest, it was forgotten. But when Jesus appeared, he held the Last Supper in the upper room. The place for this was Zion (mountain). A small Christian church was also built there after the Savior ascended to heaven. The prophets foretold that the salvation of mankind would come from Mount Zion. Therefore, the first Christians called the Upper City Zion. Here the disciples and relatives of Christ created their first community. By the middle of the 4th century, Zion (mountain) completely belonged to Christians. They treated him like a saint. By this time, the mountain was already protected by a wall in which there was a gate. Through them passed the road that surrounded Zion and separated it from the whole city.
In the Middle Ages
After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Jerusalem began to belong to the Eastern, whose capital was Constantinople. Jerusalem was almost completely Christianized, for faith in Byzantium was strong. But in the 40s of the seventh century, Muslims captured it. However, Europe could not come to terms with the fact that Christian shrines are under the rule of infidels. A series has passed crusades. Twice Mount Zion in Jerusalem belonged to Christian Crusaders. In the East, more precisely in Constantinople, part of the crusaders met Jews who successfully traded with the whole world.
Templars, Freemasons and Zion
The crusaders learned that it was not at all necessary to transport mountains of gold to pay for the goods, but rather IOUs. Trading in this way, the Knights Templar became rich. This was not tolerated by the King of France, Philip the Handsome, and in search of the wealth of the order, he arrested almost all of its members at the same time, tortured and burned them like heretics at the stake. The survivors who fled from France to the desert mountains of Scotland and Switzerland founded the Masonic Brotherhood, which, being true to all Christian covenants, nevertheless became the impetus for the development of new forms of trade in Europe. Unable to reach the real holy Zion, they built their own city of Zion in Switzerland. In it, presumably, the Masons created their first bank. Then the banking system in Switzerland developed unusually and brought wealth and fame to the small country, because there were no natural resources and trade routes. The city of Zion and Mount Zion are separated from each other by many thousands of kilometers. But for the first Masons, he served as a symbol of the holy land.
Nowadays
AT post-war years, more precisely in 47, by decision of the UN, Palestine was divided into Jewish and Arab states. The Arabs did not accept this, and blood is shed endlessly on both sides. But the Jews who have found their historical homeland are not going to lose it. They revived this fantastic business, the long-dead literary language, Hebrew, and everyone mastered it perfectly and without exception speak it. In memory of the Holocaust, on Mount Zion in Jerusalem is the grave of Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist who saved about 1,200 Jews from extermination by the Nazis in concentration camps.
City of three religions
For two millennia, this land has become holy for both Muslims and Jews and Christians. All of them have their shrines here. Many are located in Jerusalem on Mount Zion, which today is all built up. Old city It is customary to divide into Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Armenian quarters.
Partly excavated, it has truly cyclopean dimensions and is the main shrine of Judaism.
The Dome of the Rock Mosque is the main mosque in Jerusalem. But for Muslims, the most important place is the ascension of Muhammad to heaven - the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Ita-a-ak... Zion. The desire to update it arose not today, not yesterday, and not even last year. And now that the reborn champion is ready to appear before you, it's time to tell you exactly what was wrong in the old version and how Sion turned into a crusher who is crushing skulls on the PBE server at this very moment.
The whole truth about the new version
There were many complaints about the old version of Zion: it was a magician with an ax; regardless of the build, the usefulness of his two skills was called into question; the champion model is obsolete; his voice acting was... unusual. And the worst thing was that all of its features were poorly combined with each other. When creating modern champions, we try to tie together design elements such as history, appearance and mechanics. Zion looked at us with mute reproach. After much deliberation, we - the champion update team - have decided to take on the biggest project we've ever had, completely redesigning Sion's mechanics, appearance, and rewriting its history. Our plan was simple: to bury old Zion with only the best memories of it that we could use to create a new version.
How did work on the new Zion begin? First of all, we needed to identify the key features of this character, which determine its mechanics, history and appearance. This is a standard process when working on new and updated champions. We settled on the following points:
- undead,
- unstoppable killer,
- the faded glory of Noxus.
Our vision of Sion was that of a ruthless war machine: the rage-filled titan of Noxus, who is pieced together after each battle to be sent back into battle. All of the above elements had to come together in order for Sion to become a modern-day champion. Next, we will talk about the key figures responsible for the updated Risen Destroyer, and their vision of the situation.
Game process
The mechanics were designed by Riot Scruffy
The lack of a clear understanding of the role is what was most embarrassing in old Zion. One part of his skills depended on attack power, the other part - on ability power ... and often he played the role of a tank. It just so happened that regardless of the assembly, you could not effectively use whole line his skills and take full advantage of his parameters. On top of that, Summoners weren't able to showcase their skills and prowess to the fullest, as Sion's skill set had a single behavior pattern that couldn't give rise to a variety of tactical choices when playing as this champion. Therefore, when we set out to update Sion, we knew that we would have to start from scratch, because most of his skills, except for his [W] and passive effect, did not meet current standards.
So we knew we were going to end up with a massive and unstoppable undead warrior; but what do these words mean in terms of design? First of all - he must be slow and hardy: a kind of walking corpse that can take a lot of damage before being defeated. Based on this, we have established the following design concept: the new Sion should be a tanky champion with a low movement speed, and his offensive actions should be powerful, but obvious. By the latter term, we mean the ability of Sion's opponents to know in advance exactly where this champion uses his skills, which in turn allows the Risen Destroyer to use the tactics "I know that you know that I know..." Take [Q] Devastating Strike as an example. ]: graphic display of the zone of destruction during the stage of accumulation of forces allows the enemies to see in advance exactly where Sion will strike. This means the following: Sion gains indirect control over a certain area, and his enemies have to analyze incomplete information - they know exactly where it will strike, but they do not know the exact moment at which it will happen. Crucible of Souls [W] - the only one of Sion's active skills that survived the rework - also involves working with incomplete information: the enemy sees that the skill is activated, but he does not know exactly when Sion is going to blow his shield and if he is going to at all. Among other things, Risen Destroyer's skills have AoE effects, making Sion extremely useful in the thick of battle, where he can deal damage to the most enemies and also use his skills to protect the most vulnerable allies. So Sion will have to think about how to best use both the skill itself and the potential threat it creates, and his opponents how to turn the situation in their favor, taking into account incomplete information.
The next step is to create an image of an unstoppable destroyer. To achieve this goal, we used Sion's passive ability, which allows him to temporarily revive after death and crush his enemies in a frenzied fury (just like in his updated history). The same theme is played on in Risen Crusher's ultimate, Unstoppable Advance, which transforms a slow-moving, walking corpse into a deadly Rocket Man with its massive range. But where there are pluses, there must be minuses: for effective application this skill requires a clean runway, so Summoners will need to combine proper positioning with optimal timing of Unstoppable Advance to break into the ranks of an unsuspecting enemy team. While playing on the private test server, we've seen Sion teleport behind enemy team lines using his ultimate. A terrible sight. This is just one use case and we can't wait to see more. effective ways applications of the Unstoppable Offensive you come up with.
Story
Story written by Riot Entropy designer
When we begin work on updating a champion, we gather together all the known information about him and isolate from it the basic elements - an unshakable foundation, the change of which will lead to the loss of the existing image. Yes, it would be easy for us to forget the old Sion and start his story from scratch, but we wanted to stick to the canon that says that this is a massive undead warrior. The problem with old Zion was that a large number of elements of its design did not conform to this very canon. Humor, bright colors, Arnold Schwarzenegger-inspired voice acting - all this worked against the basic concept. So this time we decided to stick to the basics and create the look of a truly creepy warrior. To achieve this goal, we made changes to the mechanics and appearance of Sion, as well as rewrote its history.
The goal was clear: to turn Zion into a huge, undead killing machine. But we had to find the answer to the question: what makes it unique? Place of Noxian tough guy with an ax was occupied by Darius, and Urgot staked out the role of animated horror. Something special had to be found for Zion. And the similarity of certain traits of the above champions helped us a lot in our search. We started asking questions. Who was Zion in life? Why did Noxus need him again? How old is he really? How did the resurrection effect affect him? Why are the goals of revitalizing Urgot and Zion so different from each other? What does Darius think about Zion and life after death? If Noxus is capable of resurrecting the dead, why don't they do it on a regular basis?
In the end, we settled on the story of one of the greatest Noxian warriors of the past - the story of the First Hand of Noxus, who, at the cost of his own life, destroyed the most sworn enemy of his people. We decided to talk about how Zion was awarded immortality for his feat and how the eternal life given to him became a curse. This is tragic story about a legendary warrior who lost his mind and became undead. Resurrected Zion - only pale shadow who he once was; they are driven by only one thing - the thirst for blood. But we didn’t want everyone to perceive this champion only as a bloodthirsty monster. Therefore, in order to make the story more interesting and add the possibility of new chapters from which the reader could learn new details about the past and present of Zion, we decided to keep the intrigue - a faint ray of light in the impenetrable realm of madness. Being in the thick of the battle, Sion begins to remember who he was, at the same time realizing who he has become ... but he is not able to hold these memories for a long time. Will the warrior be able to break out of this terrible circle and gain sanity? Only time can answer this question.
It should be noted that the champion you control in the game must match its history, otherwise it will seem to you that its image is not completed. Therefore, in order not to step on the same rake twice, we decided to experiment with the voice acting of the Risen Crusher. When Sion enters battle with enemy champions, his mind begins to awaken from sleep, and this is reflected in his voice: for a short moment he becomes the old Sion again - energetic, rough, rejoicing in every new fight. But as soon as the noise of battle subsides, our warrior again turns into a bloodthirsty killer with a clouded mind.
Appearance
HUGEnFAST designer worked on the appearance
By 2014 standards, Zion's old model looked lousy. Well, I finally said it. This is one of the oldest champions in League of Legends, whose model - like the models of most other champions present in the game at the time of its launch - is obsolete. And this fact is not a revelation to anyone. To be honest, for some time we tried to avoid eye contact with the old model. We also knew that this champion was being targeted by the mechanics and literature teams. Therefore, we just had to wait until we could finally take it apart piece by piece in order to determine which elements to get rid of and which ones to keep. After getting together and discussing the details, we realized that from a number of design elements inherent in Sion - the size of the champion, big ax, the themes of the dead - do not refuse. The roots of the problem lay in a different plane: in the past, these elements were not worked out at the proper level. So our task was clear: to make sure that the appearance of Sion is fully consistent with its image and the theme of Noxus.
First of all, we wanted to identify and emphasize the role of magic in the resurrection of our big man. It is quite obvious that a huge ax can serve as the source of his power. It should also be noted that when Swain brought Sion back to life, he filled his physical shell with magical energy, the red flickering of which is especially noticeable in the abdomen of a walking corpse. By the way, the Risen Crusher uses the same energy to create the shield of the Crucible of Souls. The next step was to compare the weapons and armor of Sion and Darius, a man who plays the same role in modern Noxus that Sion played in his time.
The similarity of basic uniforms and equipment colors (black and red are the colors of Noxus) is immediately evident, but we also wanted to show how the army has changed since the first death of Sion. The resurrected warrior has strong and heavy armor, and his ax is more intended for crushing rather than slashing blows. Darius, on the other hand, illustrates the very changes that have taken place over the centuries separating the eras of the two warriors: the ax of the current Hand of Noxus is forged to deal slashing blows, and his armor is not as bulky as Sion's. Yes, and the character of Darius differs from his predecessor: no doubt, this is a tough man, but not without refinement. Darius is the type of person who will strike the enemy with surgical precision, then to enjoy the agony of the victim to his heart's content.
The next thing we wanted to pay attention to - inanimate nature Zion. We started with his skin, which we think is a pale ash color that contrasts with the rich reds and blacks of his armor. By the way, about the armor. You have probably already noticed that there are not so many of them in Zion compared to other warriors of Noxus. This was done intentionally: through experience, we came to the conclusion that with the addition of armor, the theme of the undead fades into the background, and we would not want this. In addition, Sion is not one of those who often changes his clothes: this is a lively war machine, which, at the end of the battle, is locked away from people so that it does not unleash its fury on own people. Therefore, if you look closely, you will find that his armor is bolted to his body. We also advise you to pay attention to his hairstyle - or rather, its absence!
After trying several options, we realized that the hair on the undead warrior looked strange. But at the same time, we liked the way his silhouette with a bun on his head looked, so we began to think about how to decorate his bald skull. As a result, we came to an ideal solution: the dagger emphasizes the brutality and uniqueness of the image, and we immediately included it in the ritual of resurrection. By the way, since we are talking about brutality, look at the lower jaw of Sion - this is the crown of Jarvan I!
This example perfectly demonstrates how we used the history of Sion to create his game model, and also shows how cruel our guy is - he terrifies enemies with his jaw with the crown of the king of Demacia he killed.
I hope that in today's article we managed to explain what exactly we were guided by when updating Zion! The result of our long and hard work - worked out to the smallest detail and endowed with unique features champion.
Mount Zion is not just a hill near the Old City. For Jews, this is a sacred place (it is not for nothing that the word “Zionism” arose from its name, meaning a movement for the revival of national identity and the creation of a Jewish state in the Promised Land). It is believed that the gospel events that took place here (the Last Supper, the interrogation of Jesus Christ by the high priest Caiaphas, the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the first church cathedral) make Mount Zion sacred for Christians. Muslims also revere local shrines.
The building on the top of the mountain unites three religions: it houses the tomb of King David, the chamber of the Last Supper and on the roof - the minaret left from the mosque. King David, revered in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, allegedly in 1000 BC conquered this territory from the Jebusites and placed the Ark of the Covenant on Mount Zion. At different times, different hills were called Zion, including the Temple Mount. Gradually the name became a symbol. The prophet Isaiah addressed Jerusalem: "...and they will call you the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel" (Is 60:14). And the psalm read: “From Zion, which is the height of beauty, God comes” (Ps 49:2).
The Old City is actually located on Zion - its southern wall runs along the top of the mountain. The legend tells that the Turkish conqueror Suleiman the Magnificent in 1538 started the reconstruction of the city walls. Two architects mistakenly moved the walls to the north, leaving the tomb of King David outside, unprotected. The Sultan, in a rage, ordered the beheading of the architects. They say that their graves are located in the courtyard of the Jaffa Gate.
AT recent history Israel Zion played a big role. During the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, the mountain was an important strategic point. Until 1967, while East Jerusalem remained under the control of Jordan, pilgrims from all over the world arrived in Zion: the Temple Mount and the Wailing Wall were visible from the roof of the building with the tomb of King David, and the Jews could at least look at their shrines. There was even a small room on the roof of the second President of Israel, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi - now it is a tiny museum.
Now Mount Zion is a popular tourist destination. It is difficult to walk here in the heat: it is useful to wear comfortable shoes and take plenty of water. But it's worth it.
To the north, the magnificent basilica of the Assumption Abbey is adjacent to the Armenian monastery of the Holy Savior. It is interesting to see the tombs of the Armenian patriarchs, but only organized tours are allowed there. Tourists are not allowed into the nearby Franciscan monastery at all. But you can visit the tomb of King David and the chamber of the Last Supper, and next to it is the Chamber of the Holocaust. To the east of this Holocaust museum is a cemetery with the grave of Oskar Schindler, a German who saved more than a thousand Jews from death. Art lovers visit the museum of Israeli sculptor David Palombo. On the eastern slope, near the church of St. Peter in Gallicantu, a stone staircase from the First Temple period was excavated. These steps, which are thousands of years old, remind tourists what an ancient place they are in.
- (from the name of a hill in Jerusalem), 1) a type of Orthodox church utensils, a storage of prosphora (consecrated bread). Zion (usually silver) repeated in miniature the architectural forms of a Christian church. 2) The name of a number of Georgian medieval ... ... Modern Encyclopedia
1) a type of Orthodox church utensils intended for storing prosphora (consecrated bread). Zions were usually made of silver and repeated in miniature the architectural forms of the Christian church. 2) The name of a number of Georgian ... ... Art Encyclopedia
Tabernacle, Jerusalem Dictionary of Russian synonyms. zion n., number of synonyms: 6 mountain (76) ... Synonym dictionary
Yugo western mountain in Jerusalem, on which the fortress of Jerusalem rises. N. is surrounded by valleys on all four sides: on the west by the Gion valley, on the south by Ginn, and on the north and east by Tyropeon. The latter is currently all built up, and in the past, starting ... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron
ZION, a hill in Jerusalem where, according to the Bible, was the residence of King David, as well as the temple of Yahweh ... Modern Encyclopedia
- (from the name of a hill in Jerusalem) 1) a type of Orthodox church utensils, a storehouse of prosphora (consecrated bread). Zions (usually silver) repeated in miniature the architectural forms of a Christian church. 2) The name of a number of Georgian medieval ... ...
A hill in Jerusalem, where, according to the Bible, was the residence of King David, as well as the temple of Yahweh ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
I hill in Jerusalem, where, according to the Bible, there were the residence of King David, as well as the temple of Yahweh. II (Sion), a Czech medieval fortress in Kutna Hora, the last stronghold of the Taborites (J. Rogach led the defense). The fall of Zion (taken by the troops ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
Zion- 1) The same as Hermon (Deut. 4:48) 2) Zion Zion That is, sunny, one of the mountains of Jerusalem, the ancient fortress of the Jebusites (Joshua 15:63), which was taken by David and became the main fortress new royal city, called "the city of David" (2 Sam. 5:7 ... Dictionary of Biblical Names
Zion- - the southwestern mountain of Jerusalem, on which Jerusalem was built and on which the fortress of Jerusalem rises. Its position is not exactly defined in the Holy. Scripture, neither in Flavius, but quite clearly indicated in the south or, more precisely, in the southwest ... ... Complete Orthodox Theological encyclopedic Dictionary
Books
- Ancient Zion, . "All my words speak of you - it is you in my entire book. My book is your book. But here I go ...
- Red Zion, Alexander Meilakhs. Promised land. Red Zion. The world's first Jewish state, founded in 1934, turns out to be...