Providence
The Land of Progress
Providence, also known as the City of Progress, is a thriving, progressive city whose power and influence is on the rise. It is Riven'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 iron stilts overlooking the ocean, fleets of ships dock onto it's titanic walls of iron acting as dams for the Veridian Ocean, bringing goods from all over the world. The wealth this generates has given rise to an unprecedented boom in the city's growth. Providence 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 aethertech research, and architectural monuments to their power. With ever more inventors delving into the emergent lore of aether crystals, Providence has become a lodestone for the most skilled craftsmen the world over.
However, lurking underneath the technological advancements of Providence is a network of slums located under waterfalls and chemical-smog known as the Undercity. What light reaches below is filtered through fumes leaking from the tangles of corroded pipework and reflected from the stained glass of its industrial architecture. The district of iron and glass and Providence were once united, but are now separate, yet symbiotic societies. Though it exists in perpetual smogged twilight, the Undercity thrives, its people vibrant and its culture rich. The topside's wealth has allowed the Undercity to develop in tandem; a dark mirror of the city above. Many of the goods coming to Providence find their way into slum's black markets, and aethertech inventors who find the restrictions placed upon them in the city above too restrictive often find their dangerous researches welcomed in the Undercity. Unfettered development of volatile technologies and reckless industry has rendered whole swathes of the district of iron and glass polluted and dangerous. Streams of toxic runoff stagnate in the city's lower reaches, but even here people find a way to exist and prosper.
Piltover and the Undercity may seem worlds apart, but an unusual harmony connects them beyond mere proximity. On the surface, Providence is a prosperous city of industry. Standing as Riven's cultural center, innovation and ingenuity are prized. However, amidst the towers beneath Providence lies its Undercity. Swathed in a smog-induced twilight, the district of iron and glass thrives in the shadow of its sister city. When the brilliant scientists above find society too constraining, they journey below, into the toxic air to conduct their experiments.
Providite Wards
Main Article: Providite Wards Providence is a vertical city, and elevation is an indicator of status and wealth. Each quarter is roughly divided into two levels, and the combination of quarter and level defines a ward. Thus, wards have names such as Lower Progress or Upper Central. Providence is an enormous city, and travelling from one side of topside to the other can be time consuming.- Central Plateau - Towers of North-central Providence, Seat of the Providite Overlords.
- Progress Bridge - Towers of Central Providence, land of industry, study, and research.
- Menthis Landing - Towers of West Providence known for trade and residential housing.
- Eastedge - Towers of East Providence known for trade and factories.
The Undercity
Main Article: The Undercity The symbiotic underside of Providence, the Undercity is a place both supported and ruined by unchecked industry, mercantilism, and magic run amok. The pollution from the countless factories and laboratories is constantly spewed into the environment. The urban heart of the city is often choked with smog that blocks the morning sun and drains the sky of its pastels. Visitors have called the sky the 'Chemical Grey', and describe staring up at it akin to seeing the beginnings of a cosmic disturbance.- Fissures / Lanes Level - Transitional Promenades from Providence to the Undercity
- Entresol Level - Residential, factorial, and trade districts covered by the Chemical Grey
- Sump Level - Residential and factorial levels rife with crime and anarchy
- The Dredge - Deepest level of the Undercity, former prison labor factories and camps now fully taken over by Undercity gangs
