Content Warning: This section refers to racism.

The Great Cities trilogy is based on the idea that cities can become alive through choosing human avatars to hold and enact their will. In The City We Became (2020), the first book in the series, Jemisin introduces the six avatars of New York City, born in the middle of conflict with a great, cosmic enemy (the Ur, represented by the avatar of their city, R’lyeh). When New York’s primary avatar, who is unnamed in the first book, is injured during the first fight, he falls into a long slumber, hidden away underground where the enemy can’t reach him. The other five avatars, one for each borough of New York City, wake to their power and new identity and must decide whether they want to join the others or reject their new calling.

One by one, these avatars join together. They explore their “city-power,” the new abilities given to them by the city, which utilize “concepts” unique to their borough’s identity. As they grow in skill, they seek to find and revive the primary avatar and to defend New York City from the “Woman in White” (later revealed to be R’lyeh).