Alternate New York

Just like our New York, it's a massive city and it continues to grow all the time. Buildings are constantly in a state of construction and the means to make them is industry right within the city. Steel and iron works fill the air with the scent of metal, and wagons full of building material is a common obstacle on the busy streets. Speaking of the streets, a new construction method is in use, and paved streets are starting to appear. This all precludes the big construction project at the edge of the city. A massive structure, the beginnings of a bridge are starting to take shape. If you're looking for work, this is where you head, though you may have to wait for someone to be injured or die before you can take their place. The bridge has been under construction for five years and is finally almost halfway complete. You see, a feat like this has never been attempted anywhere in the world and a lot of the premiere architects of the time have been consulted. Fusing human construction with the power of elementals could change everything...if this weren't a selfish project meant to invade another dimension and conquer its resources. But hey, even if you disagree with the mission, I mean, a job's a job, right? You know lots of people who are without work at all, and you see them in line at the soup kitchen. By far the most dangerous job in the city, the bridge has had fatalities from many different sources. Hazardous working conditions could kill a worker by throwing them several hundred feet to the water below or just by beaning them in the head with heavy equipment. But the threat more focused on by workers and their employers (which lead to more deaths out of negligence) is the attacks. The energy around the bridge is tangible, and that energy does seem to be leaching into another dimension, as creatures and...people(?) have come through, destroying what progress has been made. Sometimes they leave threats with workers they've decided to spare to act as messengers, other times they make a mess of the construction site, set work back weeks or months, and then disappear without a word. The foremen running the site insist that hiring protection for the workers would cost too much money, and they'd just get in the way of the workers.

Demographics

The majority of the population is white and indigenous peoples, with people of color from all over living in the city as well. Luckily, in this universe, race was quickly determined to have nothing to do with the worth of someone's personhood. Instead, money, power, and nationality seem to be what sets people apart. Anyone may rise in power or money, though they may need to be cruel or relentless in their endeavors to do so. Poverty is rampant, but it affects all people the same.

Type

Large city

Population

The population is somewhere around 2 million. The interest in keeping track of the migrants and destitute coming to the city looking for work prevents a truly accurate count, but that does seem to be the best estimation.