I really love this Piltover anthem, composed by community member Vedrim:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3spACC0wqgc

Can't you just imagine that playing as Piltovian Champions strut out onto the Fields and wave to the screaming crowds? (I like to imagine that one way or another there are "stands" surrounding the Fields. And hey, post Great Retcon, we can imagine whatever we like about Summoner's Rift!)

Anyway, though, I thought I'd make a topic to discuss Piltover. Is Narrative planning a big rewrite of Piltover in the near future? No clue. Maybe they'll come by and give some indication on that. Maybe some Narrative staffers will join in on the discussion. Or maybe not! Either way, I feel like talking about the essence of each faction is a good thing for the lore community to do.

Theme and Aesthetics

So, Piltover. It's the steampunk faction, with some bright and shiny hextech mixed with incurable optimism and a Victorian aesthetic. Caitlyn has (to our ears) a British accent, and the others don't. They really, really like belts, though not necessarily around their waists. They also enjoy gears.

Although there's a lot of shine to Piltover, it also seems appropriate to have at least a bit of industrial revolution grime about the place. While I doubt it's as regimented as (say) Demacia, a vaguely industrial-era class structure seems appropriate. As noted above, it's really only Cait who speaks with a British accent. This vexes me somewhat, as I keep wanting Piltover to be kind of British. (I definitely went with that idea when I wrote this story for Factions.) It just seems right, especially for describing its class structure. Maybe they'll redo Caitlyn with an American accent at some point; that would make me kinda sad.

Contrast with Zaun

Both Piltover and Zaun are science-y (hextech-y) civilizations; my impression is that Zaun is more about reckless "mad science" and unchecked innovation, while Piltover is more interested in the refinement and thoughtful application of hextech. I like to describe the contrast this way: Piltover will invent a steam locomotive, then work out how to build railroads across Valoran and increase efficiency by 50% over 5 years; Zaun will figure out how to make a steam engine, make one length of track, then get bored and start trying to make jet-powered zeppelins, most of which crash in fiery wrecks before they work out how to do it reliably, then some wacko modifies one to fly to the moon and it vanishes into another dimension on its maiden voyage, returning ten years later with a mutated crew. Neither is objectively "better" or "smarter" than the other; they just have different focuses, and very different ideas about acceptable risk.

Diplomacy and Military

They seem to have a certain friendly rivalry going with Bandle City, though not everyone is that friendly about it (see: Rumble). They have a distinctly less pleasant relationship with Zaun.

I don't get the impression that Piltover is that much into military endeavors, which leads me to ask how they're surviving in a League-less Runeterra. One option is to have them ally with a superpower like Demacia (compare the Zaun-Noxus alliance). They also seem like the kind of civilization that would get excited about building an elaborate system of hextech fortifications that would allow Piltovian troops to hold off a much larger attacking force.

Trade

I would think that Piltover is a highly mercantile civilization, with a particular focus on industry. I imagine that also applies to Zaun, but I would think Zaun would have a much greater focus on modern "consumer" goods. If we're going with the British thing, then it seems right that Piltover would have a huge merchant fleet.

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Anyway. Those are just my random thoughts. I was listening to that Vedrim track, and I was like, you know, we should talk about Piltover. What does the rest of the lore community think?