Concept Lore
From a rival clan of Olaf's.
Concept Game-Play
Murdock specializes in tanking and counter jungling with his pet Worg, Larsa. There isn't a champion that specifically controls a pet in the league, and I thought a Worg would be a favorable companion. Mosh Pit. Well...a Mosh Pit with a bear-sized wolf with tusks. That's Murdok and Larsa. The characters are supposed to play with a lot of heavy, tanky, movement. I originally thought of their game-play as being very tanky with a lot of taunt and command game-play so that the player could control who of their champs was targeted, and who they themselves targeted. This taunt switch style of game-play would enhance Larsa's purpose as a pet. This way, Larsa could be purposed to committing a lot of "saves" or "kill secures" when Murdok needed the help.
Art Direction
The biggest problem I faced with conceptualizing Murdok, is that I didn't want a pet class that was another Ranger with a Wolf. But that is one of the more identifiable tropes, so I decided to enhance it. To begin, I displaced the "ranger" and made him someone from the tundra, or icecaps, as opposed to a simple forest. This pushed me to focus on more of a barbarian archetype. As for the pet, I thought the wolf was overplayed, but was still aggressively fitting for the trope. So to mirror ranger + wolf, I considered what might be paired with a barbarian. I decided a bear would be correct size wise, but was still too simple. That's when I remembered Worgs, which are unfortunately not used as much as I'd like them to be. Murdok sports a slightly different attire than Olaf, that mirrors his connection to living in the wilderness with a worg. He wears more red toned clothing and wears fur and bone. Larsa simply mirrors Murdok as they are a package deal. They are both big characters to depict their tanky role, but not so big as to detract from the idea that they can't still deal damage.
