The Lower City has endured as a community for generations, even as older rules governing residence and political influence have changed slowly.
Some people above view restrictions as necessary for safety and stability; critics below point to their labor, limited rights and lack of representation. Views differ within each level, and the city's merchants, families and reformers do not all want the same changes.
An uprising two years before the novel left parts of the Lower City damaged and many lives disrupted. The districts remain inhabited and working.