Denver:Denver
Denver, Colorado
The Mile High City
Denver is a consolidated city & county, and the state capital of the US state of Colorado. It is also the 10th most populous city in the United States with a population of 1,063,500. Set on the western edge of the Great Plains, just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. It is nicknamed the Mile High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile above sea level. In 2016, it was named the best place to live in the United States.
History
The site that would become Denver served as an early stopping place for Native Arapaho fur trappers, & traders. With the discovery of gold in June 1858, the rival towns of Auraria & St. Charles were founded on opposite sides of Cherry Creek.
In November that year, St.Charles was renamed Denver City after the governor of the Kansas Territory. The site grew during the 1859 gold rush, resulting in Denver City & Auraria being consolidated in 1860; the following year Colorado Territory was established & Denver City became Denver. Devastated by fire in 1863, and a flash flood the following year. When the city of Denver’s own railway was completed in 1870 and subsequently connected to the transcontinental railway. The resulting economic boom saw the population soar. During the 1870s and ’80s, silver became more important economically than gold. Mining fortunes were created almost overnight. This period of opulence ended in 1893 with the crash of the silver markets. New gold discoveries helped prevent a major decline, & farming, ranching, and tourism began to provide a more stable economy
Military activities—defense contractors and other facilities related to the Cold War—contributed to an economic boom after World War II, tapering off in the 1990s. Another boost came from oil production in the 1970s. The population began declining after reaching a peak in about 1970, & a crash in oil prices led to economic bust. Increasing population & tourism growth brought back prosperity in the 1990s, the city’s population surpassing its 1970 level by 2000.
Today, Denver hosts over one million residents, its population having nearly doubled over the last twenty years. This boom is estimated to be in large part due to migrants fleeing devastation along the West Coast in the aftermath of the 2006 Endbringer attack, as well as several smaller-scale disasters in the Northwestern United States since 2000. Recent counts place more than one-fifth of Denver's current population as displaced people from the surrounding regions of the United States.
Geography & Climate:
Denver is in the center of the Front Range Urban Corridor, between the Rocky Mountains to the west and the Great Plains to the east. Its topography consists of plains in the city center with hilly areas to the north, west, and south.
The climate, while generally mild compared to the mountains to the west & the plains further east, can be moderately unpredictable. Significant amounts of snow has fallen in Denver as late as May, & as early as September.
Tornadoes are rare west of the I-25 corridor, with a notable exception of an F3 tornado that struck 4 miles south of downtown in 1988. The suburbs east of Denver on the other hand see a few typically weak, tornadoes each spring & summer. The Rocky Mountains: The portion of the Rocky Mountains to the west of Denver is known as the Front Range, and rises nearly 10,000 feet above the Great Plains. Ground cover is a combination of ponderosa pine forest, and mixed conifer forest.
Longs Peak, Mount Evans, & Pikes Peak are its most prominent peaks, the area is a popular destination for mountain biking, hiking, climbing, & camping during the warmer months & for skiing & snowboarding during winter.
Past the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, and the Pike-San Isabel National Forest is the ski-resort town of Breckenridge.
Economic Activity & Business:
With a gross product of 157 billion, it is the 18th largest metro economy in the United States, Denver’s economy is based partially on its geographic position & its connection to some of the country’s major transportation systems. It has become a natural location for storage & distribution of goods & services.
Over the years, the city has been home to other large corporations in the central United States, making Denver a key trade point for the country.
Denver’s position near the mineral-rich Rocky Mountains encouraged mining & energy companies to spring up in the area. In the early days, gold & silver booms played a large role in the city’s economic success. Energy & Mining are still important in the city’s economy today, with many companies having significant operations.
Denver has enjoyed success as a pioneer in the fast-casual restaurant industry, with many national chain restaurants founded & based in Denver, Quiznos, Chipotle Mexican Grill in particular amongst the most notable.
Local Culture:
Denver & the surrounding cities are home to a large number of local & national stand-alone breweries. Additionally many of the region's restaurants have on site breweries. The city hosts the annual Great American Beer Festival, each fall.
Denver has long been a place tolerant of the LGBT community, with an assortment of Gay bars. Hosting Denver Pridefest, the largest LGBT pride festival in the Rocky Mountain Region.
Denver has one of the countries largest populations of Mexican Americans (25%), & hosts several large Mexican American celebrations, frequenting 500,000 attendees for their Cinco De Mayo celebration alone.
Parahumans & Cape Culture
Denver was home to two small early cape hero teams, The Ridge Rangers, and The Denver Defenders, with the majority of villains aligning mostly with street gangs.
In 1987 the Parahuman Response Team incorporated the Ridge Rangers, Denver Defenders, and a handful of solo heroes into what would become one of the seven original inaugural Protectorate Teams.
Denver is now the PRT regional headquarters for the Rocky Mountains. (Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico) The Criminal Element: Historically the city of Denver is home to a wide assortment of small-time villains, as well as an assortment of smaller parahuman & unpowered led street gangs.
The Elite have on several occasions made moves to establish a significant presence in the city, for the most part the Elite’s more overt efforts have been kept out or pushed to the periphery. They have made investments to strengthen the city’s drug & weapon trade.
The Fallen generally look poorly on those attempting to undermine their gods, those fleeing inland from the coast away from Leviathan for instance.
While Denver is far from a stronghold for The Fallen, the city has its sympathizers, usually these are the fruit of prior efforts to convert & recruit from the populace, frequently but not always with coercion.
While sects from outside the city, especially those dedicated to Leviathan have on occasion made known that while Leviathan may not stray so far inland, they will do so on his behalf.