Piltover & Zaun
Lore of Progress: Piltover & Zaun
I. The Foundation: One City, Torn Asunder
The twin cities of Piltover and Zaun are a monument to ambition and its consequences. Originally one settlement built around the strategic Sun Gates, a great canal was carved to open trade between the eastern and western seas. The resulting economic boom created a rigid class structure. The wealthy elite inhabited the upper levels, which became known as Piltover, or the "City of Progress." The lower depths, flooded with chemical runoff from the industries above and choked on the fumes of progress, became the undercity—Zaun.
This physical divide forged two distinct cultures: Piltovan ingenuity, fueled by wealth and order, and Zaunite resilience, born from desperation and innovation.
II. The Spark of Revolution: The Birth of Hextech
The catalyst for a new era was the discovery of rare, blue-hued crystals capable of storing and releasing raw, elemental magic. For years, these crystals were geological curiosities, deemed too unstable for practical use.
The Hextech Revolution began with two visionaries:
Jayce Talis: A brilliant Piltovan engineer, discovered a method to stabilize the crystals' energy through a mechanical apparatus, proving they could be harnessed safely.
Viktor: A resourceful scientist from the Undercity, partnered with Talis. He provided the critical insight that the crystals responded to human will, allowing for precise control.
Together, they unveiled the first stable Hextech device, transforming the crystals from volatile curios into the most powerful energy source in the modern world. Piltover enshrined this as "Hextech," the jewel of its identity. The city's elite, including the secretive Ferros Clan who had long hoarded crystal knowledge, rapidly integrated it into everything from enforcers' weapons to luxury airships, cementing their power and wealth.
The Unspoken Truth: The scientific community of Piltover remains unaware of the crystals' true nature. They are, in fact, the hibernating forms of the Brackern, an ancient, sentient race from Shurima. Each crystal used to power a Piltovan streetlight or weapon contains a slumbering consciousness, a truth that remains the world's most dangerous secret.
III. The Grit of Survival: The Rise of Chemtech
Denied access to the refined resources of the upper city, Zaun developed its own parallel science: Chemtech. This field of volatile alchemy and industrial engineering uses chemical reagents, toxic waste, and biological mutagens to achieve powerful effects.
Chemtech found its most potent expression in a substance called Shimmer. Originally developed by the disgraced alchemist Singed, Shimmer is a vibrant purple mutagen that grants temporary superhuman strength, accelerates healing, and can fuel powerful technology. Under the revolutionary leader Silco, Shimmer was mass-produced, becoming:
A Drug: Creating a wave of addiction and dependency.
A Weapon: Augmenting enforcers and creating living weapons.
A Political Tool: Funding the movement for Zaun's independence.
While Shimmer became the most visible form of Chemtech, it was not the only one. The entire ecosystem of Zaun is a breeding ground for chemical innovation, leading to other phenomena, such as the sentient chemical mass known as Zac and the reckless self-augmentations of "doctors" like Mundo.
IV. The Architects of the New Age
Piltover's notable characters
Jayce Talis: The public face of Hextech. A celebrated inventor and councilor who believes in Piltover's idealistic future, yet is increasingly burdened by the political and moral compromises required to maintain it.
Caitlyn Kiramman: The Sheriff of Piltover. Driven by a commitment to justice that often puts her at odds with her city's entrenched corruption, she seeks to bridge the divide with Zaun through law and order.
Camille: The "Steel Shadow" of Clan Ferros. A high-society enforcer decades old due to a primitive Hextech heart, she operates from the shadows to protect Piltovan interests, fully aware of the Brackern secret she helps conceal.
Seraphine: A pop star who uses a Hextech stage. Uniquely empathetic, she can hear the "song" of the Brackern crystal in her platform—a mournful, trapped consciousness named Skarnar. She uses her music to plead for unity and understanding between the cities.
Zaun's notable characters
Jinx: The living embodiment of Zaun's chaos. Once a girl named Powder, she was fractured by trauma and reshaped by Silco's influence and Shimmer into an anarchic force of destruction, forever locked in a tragic dance with her past.
Vi: The enforcer with a Zaunite heart. Forced to grow up in the undercity's brutal streets, she was reunited with her lost sister only to find her transformed into Jinx. She now walks a difficult line between the law of Piltover and the loyalty to her home.
Viktor: The visionary of the Glorious Evolution. Once Jayce's partner, his drive to elevate humanity and save his own life led him to embrace radical body augmentation. Rejected by Piltover, he now seeks to free humanity from its "flawed" flesh through a fusion of Hextech and Chemtech, becoming the prophet of transhumanism in Zaun.
Ekko: The Boy Who Shattered Time. A prodigy who turned the trauma of his childhood into resilience. Using a device of his own invention, the Zero-Drive, he manipulates time to protect his community in the "Firelights" and fight for a better future for Zaun.
Warwick: A beast haunting Zaun's streets. Once Vander, a beloved leader of the undercity, he was mortally wounded and later resurrected by Singed through brutal Chemtech augmentation. He is now a monstrous, hulking wolverine-like creature, tormented by flickers of a humanity he can no longer grasp.
Urgot: A former Noxian executioner who embodies Zaun's brutal underbelly. He was betrayed and cast into the depths, where he rebuilt his body with the most painful and destructive Chemtech augments, preaching a gospel of strength through suffering.
V. The Present Day: A Precarious Balance
The cities exist in a state of cold war, maintained by a fragile treaty. Piltover continues its golden age of Hextech, willfully ignorant of the living cost of its power. Zaun, now officially independent, struggles with its own internal power vacuums, chem-baron wars, and the lasting societal damage of Shimmer.
The twin cities stand as two faces of the same coin: one gilded and gleaming, built on a hidden sin; the other gritty and resilient, powered by volatile, self-destructive innovation. Their futures are inextricably linked, a powder keg waiting for a spark.