What it is
Piltover is an aristocratic oligarchy led by the Council of Piltover, seven councilors who meet in the Academy's Council Chamber to vote on policy and hold trials. It is described as Valoran's cultural center, where art, craftsmanship, trade and innovation go together.
Its great invention is hextech, a technology that uses hex crystals to harness magic through science. Jayce Talis and Viktor are credited with the breakthrough, which made Piltover a magnet for craftspeople from across the world.
The short version
- Government: an aristocratic oligarchy run by a council of seven.
- Technology: hextech, magic harnessed through science.
- Holiday: Progress Day, for the opening of the Sun Gates around 789 AN.
- Relationship to Zaun: the two cities sit one on top of the other and are deeply unequal.
The story in 4 steps
- Step 1
A port destroyed and rebuilt
Around 772 AN a canal project went catastrophically wrong and destroyed an old port city. Piltover was rebuilt above, and Zaun below.
- Step 2
The Sun Gates
The opening of the Sun Gates around 789 AN made merchant clans rich and set the pattern of wealth in the north of the city.
- Step 3
Hextech
Jayce Talis and Viktor turned research into hextech, and Piltover became a global center for innovation.
- Step 4
From the Day of Ash to open war
The Day of Ash was a massacre that followed undercity revolutionaries' push for independence. Years later Jinx attacked the Council, Piltover occupied the undercity and a brutal war followed. It ended in an uneasy new arrangement that gives Zaun representation.