Piltover (Pill-T-Oh-ver)
Summary
Piltover is a thriving, progressive city whose power and influence is on the rise. It is Valoran’s cultural center, where art, craftsmanship, trade and innovation walk hand in hand. Its power comes not through military might, but the engines of commerce and forward thinking. Situated on the cliffs above the district of Zaun and overlooking the ocean, fleets of ships pass through its titanic sea-gates, bringing goods from all over the world. The wealth this generates has given rise to an unprecedented boom in the city’s growth. Piltover has - and still is - reinventing itself as a city where fortunes can be made and dreams can be lived. Burgeoning merchant clans fund development in the most incredible endeavors: grand artistic follies, esoteric hextech research, and architectural monuments to their power. With ever more inventors delving into the emergent lore of hextech, Piltover has become a lodestone for the most skilled craftsmen the world over.
History
Events
Piltover’s history is short and interchanges with the neighboring state of Zaun who's story dates much further back to even the great Empire of Shurima. The City of Progress begain as a wealthy district to the city of Zaun before building its own distinct identity.
Recognizing the strategic value of creating a navigable waterway through the isthmus to link major trade routes, the city of Oshra Va'Zaun's engineers embarked on an ambitious project to open a canal. The operation, though innovative, was fraught with risks and unforeseen consequences.
As the canal neared completion, a catastrophic miscalculation caused a massive section of the isthmus to collapse. This collapse flooded the lower parts of the settlement, creating the canal but sinking the lower districts. The submerged areas flooded with water and eventually flooded with toxic gases that filled the now sunken city. As myth is told, only by the actions of an old Shuriman diety known as Jan'ahrem who used her wind magic to blow away the toxic gases did Oshra Va'Zaun survive.
A decade long reconstruction project began shorty after the city’s sinking eventually leading the renaming of the city to simply Zaun. Following the disaster, the wealthy elite of the region distanced themselves from the hardships of Zaun. They constructed a new district above ground, high above the sunken ruins, and established it as Piltover, a city of wealth, art, and innovation. With access to the thriving trade routes created by the canal, Piltover quickly flourished as a cultural and economic hub.
Piltover’s upper districts became synonymous with opulence and progress, attracting scholars, inventors, and merchants from across Runeterra. The city leveraged its unique position to dominate trade and develop cutting-edge hextech, fueling its rise as a global power.
As Piltover prospered, the disparity between the two settlements deepened. Zaun, though vital to Piltover's industry, was left to languish as an overpopulated, polluted undercity. It became a haven for laborers, criminals, and outcasts, who toiled in unsafe conditions to sustain the wealth of Piltover above.
Over time, the social and economic divide became so pronounced that Piltover and Zaun began to function as distinct city-states. Piltover positioned itself as a beacon of law, progress, and commerce, while Zaun was seen as a chaotic, dangerous counterpart. Despite their separation, the two cities remained interdependent—Piltover relied on Zaun's industrial output, while Zaun depended on Piltover’s wealth and trade.
Culture Heritage
Piltover’s earliest foundations lie within the ancient Shuriman Empire, where Zaun began as a humble settlement. Situated on the River Pilt, the region thrived as a trading outpost connecting distant parts of the empire. Over time, Zaun grew into a sprawling industrial hub, known for its ingenuity and resourcefulness.
Piltover’s transformation began with the ambitious project to create a canal through the isthmus, linking the continents of Shurima and Valoran via the River Pilt. While the project succeeded in establishing a major trade route, it also led to the catastrophic sinking of Zaun, submerging much of the lower city.
In the aftermath, the wealthy elite built the new district of Piltover above ground, establishing it as the itdentity of innovation and luxury. This separation marked the beginning of Piltover’s rise as a cultural and economic powerhouse, fueled by trade, maritime success, and the exploitation of Zaun’s labor and resources.
Geography
Landscape and Climate
Piltover is located on a narrow isthmus connecting the continents of Shurima and Valoran, overlooking the River Pilt and the surrounding ocean. Its proximity to water has been crucial for trade and maritime activity. The city is divided by an artificial canal that allows ships to bypass the isthmus, creating a navigable waterway linking major trade routes.
Built on the higher ground above Zaun, Piltover’s upper districts are characterized by gleaming towers, elegant bridges, and art deco-inspired architecture. These areas house the wealthy elite, prestigious academies, and grand public spaces. Piltover’s landscape is interwoven with hextech-powered devices, from streetlamps and transport systems to automated machinery. These innovations give the city a modern, almost futuristic aesthetic.
Piltover enjoys a mild, temperate climate influenced by its coastal location. The city experiences moderate rainfall, cool breezes from the ocean, and relatively stable temperatures year-round. The convergence of the river and ocean often blankets Piltover in morning fog, which adds a mystical ambiance to its towering spires and bustling canals. The mist clears by midday, revealing the city’s vibrant activity.
Winters in Piltover are cool but not harsh, with occasional frost along the waterways. Summers are warm and humid, with sea breezes providing relief from the heat. The temperate climate makes Piltover an attractive destination for trade and settlement.
Natural Resources
The River Pilt is one of Piltover’s most valuable natural resources. It serves as a vital waterway for transportation, trade, and energy. Piltover sources hextech crystals from trade routes connected to Shurima, making these magical gemstones integral to its technological advancements. Though not naturally occurring in the city, their acquisition and refinement are central to Piltover’s industry.
Forests on the outskirts of Piltover provide timber for construction, shipbuilding, and manufacturing. While not as abundant as in regions like Demacia, sustainable forestry practices have been implemented to meet the city’s needs. The isthmus provides ample stone and clay, used extensively in Piltover's art deco-inspired architecture and infrastructure. These materials also support the construction of bridges, aqueducts, and hextech-powered transportation systems.
Demographics
Population
The upper city is home to wealthy merchants, inventors, scholars, and aristocrats. These individuals form the social and political elite, living in luxury and benefiting from the city’s technological advancements and trade networks.
Piltover’s middle class includes engineers, scientists, craftsmen, and traders who are integral to its economy. They often work in hextech innovation, maritime industries, or the academies.
Many of Piltover’s laborers are originally from Zaun or descended from Zaunite families. They perform essential but low-paying jobs in shipping, construction, and maintenance, often enduring poor living conditions and minimal upward mobility.
While Zaun is officially a separate city-state, a significant number of Zaunites live and work in Piltover, commuting between the two cities or working in factories and workshops. Zaunites face systemic discrimination and limited access to the privileges enjoyed by Piltovens.
Due to being a gloval trading hub, races and nationalities of all kinds can be found in Piltover. Whether it be prospects of the academies or the noble class acrivities of art or theater, there are people groups from Vastaya and Yordles to nationalities as far as Demacia or Ionia.
Religion
Piltover’s identity as the “City of Progress” emphasizes science and technology, often overshadowing traditional religious practices. Many Piltoven's view innovation and discovery as their primary pursuits, placing human ingenuity above divine influence. The breakthroughs in magic and technology are seen as proof of humanity’s potential, with inventors and engineers regarded as visionaries.
As a global trading hub, Piltover hosts many beliefs from around the world though none are officially recognized. The closest thing to a church is the University of Piltover which encourages academics from all over. Religion is seen as a personal matter and Piltover is the last place to revere gods in public settings.
Culture
Traditions and Festivals
Piltover’s largest and most celebrated festival, Progress Day, commemorates the city’s establishment as an independent district after the creation of the canal. It honors Piltover’s rise from a district of Zaun to the “City of Progress.” The festival includes parades, hextech exhibitions, and public performances showcasing Piltover’s technological advancements. Inventors unveil new creations, and competitions are held to highlight innovation.
Food and Cuisine
Piltover’s bustling markets and food stalls offer a variety of quick, affordable meals, including skewered meats, fried snacks, and spiced wraps. These stalls cater to workers, travelers, and students. Food in Piltover has expanded beyond just survival and practicality. Desserts and dine dining are staples of Piltover cuisine as nothing like it is found much anywhere else other than the nobility or leadership of other nations. The average Piltoven enjoys highclass food and surgery sweets.
Additionally, Piltover has access to cuisines found all over the world especially expensive and fancy pallets. Though places like the Freljord or the tribes of Shurima don't offer any diserable foods that Piltovens would usually want, they can easily be found within Piltover markets for trade purposes at the least.
Arts and Music
Piltover’s visual art and architecture are dominated by art deco aesthetics, characterized by bold geometric patterns, metallic accents, and elegant symmetry. Many Piltover artists incorporate hextech crystals and mechanisms into their work, creating dynamic, light-infused sculptures and interactive installations that blur the line between art and technology
Piltover’s music often incorporates the sounds of its bustling industry. Orchestras and composers use mechanical rhythms, metallic clangs, and steam hisses to create unique, dynamic symphonies.
A grand venue for art exhibitions, orchestral performances, and cultural events, inducing the sounds of violens, cellos and pianos.
Government & Politics
Political System
The city is governed by a powerful Council, composed of wealthy merchants, industrialists, and inventors. Membership is based on merit, wealth, and contributions to Piltover’s prosperity, ensuring that decision-making rests in the hands of those with vested interests in the city’s success.
Piltover’s government is divided into specialized departments that oversee areas such as trade, law enforcement, hextech regulation, and urban development. Ministers are appointed by the Council to manage these departments, ensuring efficient governance.
Leadership
Piltover’s law enforcement is led by figures like Caitlyn Kiramman, the Sheriff of Piltover, who ensures order and enforces the city’s laws. The Watch often collaborates with hextech experts to maintain security.
Foreign Relations
Piltover’s economy revolves around its canal and strategic location on the isthmus, connecting the continents of Shurima and Valor. Its diplomacy often prioritizes securing trade routes, negotiating tariffs, and fostering economic partnerships.
Piltover maintains a close economic relationship with Shurima, sourcing hextech crystals and other valuable resources from the desert region.While Zaun is technically a separate city-state, its relationship with Piltover is deeply intertwined. Piltover relies on Zaun’s industrial output, while Zaun depends on Piltover’s wealth and trade networks. However, economic disparity and systemic inequality fuel ongoing tensions and occasional unrest.
Piltover has a pragmatic relationship with Noxus, engaging in trade and diplomacy despite ideological differences. Noxian merchants and diplomats are common in Piltover, though some citizens view Noxus’s militaristic expansion with suspicion.
Economy
Industry
Piltover’s most renowned industry is the development of hextech, a fusion of magic and technology. Hextech drives advancements in transportation, medicine, communication, and security, making it a cornerstone of Piltover’s economy.The city produces high-quality machinery, tools, and industrial components.
Exports and Imports
As a city with limited natural resources of its own, Piltover relies heavily on imports to fuel its industries and support its population. Hextech crystals, primarily sourced from Shurima, are among the most critical imports, powering the city’s groundbreaking technologies. Exotic metals and rare materials from regions like Freljord and Noxus are essential for the construction of hextech devices and precision machinery. Additionally, Piltover imports food and agricultural products from nearby fertile regions due to its limited arable land.
The city also exports high-precision machinery and tools, supporting industrial and construction efforts worldwide, along with advanced maritime equipment like ships and navigation tools, reflecting its expertise in nautical technology.
Currency
Piltover and Zaun have been using paper notes, symbolizing Valors. The note is an agreement of the payment of Valors at a later date, along with a number on the note signifying how many Valors the note is worth. Notes are created using special paper techniques, to prevent forgery and create a decorum of using notes within the cities. Notes come in values of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 Valors. Notes are currently only accepted within the two cities.
Tourism
Landmarks
The city’s landmarks, such as the Pilt River Canal, showcase its engineering marvels and bustling trade activity. Visitors can enjoy scenic boat rides along the canal or explore the vibrant docks filled with merchants and traders. The Progress Hall stands as a cultural centerpiece, hosting exhibitions, concerts, and events that celebrate Piltover’s achievements in art and technology. For a closer look at its technological advancements, the Hexgate Nexus provides an awe-inspiring glimpse into Piltover’s mastery of hextech transportation, while the University of Piltover offers guided tours of its cutting-edge research and historical contributions to innovation.
Activities
Food enthusiasts will delight in Piltover’s diverse culinary scene, ranging from high-end hextech-enhanced dining to flavorful street food markets. The city’s advanced transportation system, including hextech-powered trams and boats, ensures easy navigation, and its luxurious hotels and cozy inns cater to travelers with varying budgets. Knowledgeable guides offer immersive tours of Piltover’s landmarks and industrial marvels, providing rich insights into its heritage and innovation.
A History of Commerce
Once known as Oshra Va'Zaun, the slim isthmus that connects Valoran and Shurima has been a hub of mercantile activity since ancient times. Even after the fall of Azir, it continued to serve as a prosperous port and trade route, and became known simply as Zaun. But the steady growth of the area came at great cost to the community, when ambitious construction works resulted in the flooding and collapse of some of the oldest parts of the city. Undeterred, the powerful merchant clans moves their interests to the outlying districts of Piltover instead.
Impacts Across Valoran
Trade is the lifeblood of Piltover, and its command of the main sea-route between east and west has seen its coffers swell with gold. A consequence of this has been the rapid expansion of the Noxian empire, whose armies and supplies can now travel the length and breadth of Valoran with relative ease. It has also allowed Bilgewater to prosper as a haven for reavers who prey on ships traveling to and from Piltover.
The Jubilee
A local festival dating back several thousand years, the Jubilee has been celebrated every quarter century to give thanks for the sea and the bounty it brings. For modern Piltovans, this is a quant but happy excuse for traditionally themed feasting. For Zaunitess, it has become a more somber observance.
The Sun Gates
The construction of these huge accessways - originally named to honor the region's Shuriman heritage - brought unimaginable wealth to the merchant of Piltover. A shortened route between east and west has also enabled the rapid expansion of the Noxian empire along the coast, although Piltover charges truly staggering hazard rates for the transport of all military assets.
Trade and Progress
The ancient city of Zaun was a northern Shuriman trading post, but it was the creation of Piltover’s sea-gates more than three thousand years later that brought even greater prosperity.
Residents of the City
The cosmopolitan nature of Piltover makes its inhabitants as varied as their city, but there remains a particular character to its people. A citizen of Piltover is typically self-reliant, does not expect handouts, and always aspires to do better. They are averse to meddling from outsiders, and see an open and free market as essential to the city’s continued prosperity. Fashions quickly rise and fall in the salons of Piltover, and while most tastes tend toward formal and functional, there are those who push the boundaries of good taste and common sense with their overly elaborate displays of wealth.
Wardens
The Wardens are the men and women tasked with maintaining the rule of law in Piltover. The organization is funded by trade taxes and 'voluntary' contributions from the mercantile clans, outfitting the Wardens with uniforms and equipment. Many of these donations take the form of unique hextech, such as specialized weaponry or other devices.
Merchant Clans and Inventors
Jago Medarda
The current head of Clan Medarda, Jago commands immense respect throughout Piltover. His family was instrumental in the construction of the Sun Gates.
Vaido Violante
A former apprentice of Corvin Reveck, Vaido works on numerous projects at once, but stabilizing the energy outputs of his renowned Atlas Gauntlets is at the top of his list of priorities.
The Flow of Commerce
A council of the richest merchant clans forms the basis of Piltovan government. While a greater flow of traffic and profit may not be their sole motivation, more recently Clan Medarda has convinced them to invest a fortune into harnessing the power of hextech, to speed the opening and closing of the Sun Gates. Since the citizens tend to be keen and idealistic, to date there has been little opposition voiced.
A Culture of Innovation
Piltovans are self-reliant, industrious, and always aspire to do better. They see an open and free market as essential to their city's continued prosperity.
Signs of Wealth
The merchant clans of Piltover each have their own unique sigil to identify their homes, workshops, shipments, warehouses, inventions, and places of business.
Wealth and Status
The entrances to mercantile buildings are often incredibly elaborate. Even those dwellings that predate hextech have since been ornamented with elaborate details to further reinforce the impression that Piltover is a city drowning in gold.
Monuments of Progress
Structures of Wonder
Piltover's newer structures are graceful mixtures of polished marble, latticework bronze and shimmering glass that sit alongside older building of hewn stone and weathered timber. Fluted towers inlaid with gold and silver reach for the clear skies, as arching bridges span the chasms between the clifftops.
The Great Funicular of Cantexta
The port of Piltover is always busy with ships from every major region. This funicular brings goods from the docks to the Commercia.
Sidereal Avenue
Entrance to the Piltover Treasury. The streets of the city are rumored to be paved with gold, but to the disappointment of many a hopeful traveler, that is merely a metaphor.
The Piltover Treasury
The Ecliptic Vaults
Piltover's most secure bank. The interior of Piltover's buildings are no less ornate than the outside, and are often marvels of technological ingenuity in their own right.
Zindelo's Incognium Runeterra
The lifetime's work of Valentina Zindelo, the Incognium Runeterra is a device she claimed was able to locate any individual in the world. Since Zindelo's mysterious disappearance, many believe her alchemical formulae were stolen. The apparatus remains eerily dormant.
Workshop of the Horological Institute
Workshops of hextech researchers are magnificent examples of what a wealthy patron can do for an inventor.
Workshops
Bluewind Court
Lighting the City of Progress
Alight source on the richest streets in Piltover, these lights pierce the darkness (and rising Zaun Gray) with ease.
Pneuma-Tube Conduit
Used for transporting sealed messages between the Commercia Halls, a tangled network of vacuum pipers threads the city, allowing extremely rapid communication across Piltover.
Harnessing Hextech
Hextech
Hextech is the newly emergent fusion of magic and technology used to create exquisite artifacts that can be wielded by anyone - not just those few with a natural aptitude for the arcane.
This discoverry harnesses the power contained within extremely rare crystals, and its potential is limited only by the imagination of its creators. Hextech is capable of amazing feats - from driving engines without generating heat or internal pressure to creating beams of light that can cut the strongest steel. The provcess of crafting hextech is a closely guarded secret, and no two artificeers work to the same methodolgy.
Piltover Artifice
Each item of hextech is a unique artifact of rare beauty, a bespoke creation that will likely have taken years to craft.
The Disc-Runner
A Combination of hextech, precision engineering, and visionary technology, this single disc-runner is capable of reaching dangerously high speeds, and takes great skill to control.
Ekalavya's Hexbow
The power of the hex-coils in this bow make its bolts so powerful that they can punch through cold forged iron.
Atlas Gauntlets
Exceedingly rare and powerful hextech augments that considerably boost the wearer's strength and dexterity. Continued usage has resulted in skeletal damage to the wearer, but this has not halted demand for such items.
Vishlaa's Hexlyene Caliver
Originally manufactured for the Piltover Wardens, the designs for this hex-powered weapon have since been locked away as being too dangerous.
Hextech Cube Battery
The first attempt to capture crystalline power in portable form was the Hexahedral Configuration, with shards cut from the Odyn Valley.
Hextech Guns
Plitoven Language
Due to Piltover and Zaun being international trade ports, every type of language can be heard around its docks.
Over the course of its history, Zaunites / Piltovans have formed their own terms and slang:
- All-night bender - Phrase describing one who has spent a long night under the influence. "Bender" is also real-life slang.
- Apprenta - Apprentice.
- Bells - Term for the hour. Example: Eight bells = 8:00
- Burn-off - Smoke from combustion.
- Chem-burnt - Experiencing negative effects from being exposed to toxic compounds too much.
- Chem-fumes - Chemical gas, smoke, or vapor.
- Chem-stunted - Experiencing negative effects from being exposed to toxic compounds too much.
- Crawl-hatch - Opening in the sides of pipes or ducts for maintenance and manual cleaning.
- Chem-punk - Derogatory term used for a trouble maker, or gang member from Zaun.
- Dram-dealer - Person who sells dram.
- First rule of the Sump - Only marks go in through the front door.
- Foundlings - Orphans.
- Foundling home - Orphan Home.
- Go pound a sump - An insult.
- The Gray - Term used to describe Zaun's thick chemical atmosphere.
- The Gray Lady - The holy patron saint of the Glorious Evolved.
- Grayout - Massive pollution of The Gray.
- Grey-pox - Illness caused by The Gray.
- Head up top - Phrase meaning "Go to Piltover".
- Hereabouts - Phrase used to describe a person's current location.
- Hex-mechanics - People who work with hextech.
- Horticulturalists - People that tend to cultivairs.
- Janna's mercy! - A Zaunite exclamation used in cases of extreme danger, a plea for help.
- Lung Blight - Illness caused by The Gray.
- Mark - A thief's target.
- Name day - Birthday.
- Not even a plague rat's brown cough - Basically so silent you could hear a pin drop.
- Orderly - A caretaker.
- Physicker - phyiscian, or doctor.
- Piltie - Derogatory term for Piltover natives.
- Pipework - pipes that make up a network.
- Sawbones - Zaunite doctor.
- Skirl - Term used to describe a shrill, wailing sound from pipes.
- Snipe - A derogatory term for a Zaunite child.
- Stilt-walking sump-scrapper - A salvager who uses stilts to stay above the toxic gases and sludge of the Sump.
- Sump-raker - A derogatory term for a person from the Sump level.
- Sump-scrapping - The act of salvaging items from the Sump level.
- Sump-snipe - A derogatory term for a child from the Sump level.
- Sump-scrappers - People who make a living salvaging items from the Sump level. Also known as a Sumper.
- Sump-sucker - A derogatory term for a person from the Sump level.
- Sure as gray follows day - Phrase signifying certainty.
- Tallyman - Person who sells merchandise on credit, especially from door to door.
- The cliffs are muttering - A reaction to small earthquakes.
- Techmaturgy - Field of study combining technology and magic.
- Trencher - A derogatory term for a person that lives in the Undercity, a.k.a. Zaun.
- Toxic runoff - Poisonous liquid drainage.
- Uppside - Term for Piltover.
- Well-heeled - Phrase used to describe those well off, named for their state of the soles of their shoes not being worn down, or the type of shoes that wouldn't last long in the muck below.
- You ken? - You know?
Being connected, both Piltover and Zaun have formed similar writing systems and numerals used throughout the two cities. While having a common writing system used for general communication, a specific writing system, both elegant and rough, is used for numerous applications. Its symbols are used for alchemical works and scientific equations.
The cities use several different numerical symbols for its mathematical and time measurements. This is due to Piltover and Zaun being key trading hubs for both north and south continents. However, the common numerals used in Piltover and Zaun resemble that of Roman numerals.
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