History Main / SoiledCityOnAHill

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ys The sunken city of Ys]] in French folklore and Myth/CelticMythology. It was built below sea level and surrounded by a dike with a gate that was opened to allow access for ships during low tide. Ys was destroyed by being sunk under the waves as punishment for the [[EvilPrincess Princess]] [[RoyalBrat Dahut-Ahès's]] and the other inhabitants' debauchery. (Although, in one version of the legend, Ys sank as a result of the Princess Dahut-Ahès [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy getting drunk]] and opening the gate at high tide during a storm.)

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ys The sunken city of Ys]] in French folklore and Myth/CelticMythology. It was built below sea level and surrounded by a dike with a gate that was opened to allow access for ships during low tide. Ys was destroyed by being sunk under the waves as punishment for the [[TheEvilPrincess Princess]] [[RoyalBrat Dahut-Ahès's]] and the other inhabitants' debauchery. (Although, in one version of the legend, Ys sank as a result of the Princess Dahut-Ahès [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy getting drunk]] and opening the gate at high tide during a storm.)

** ''Endwalker'' shows this to be the fate of [[spoiler:the Garlean Empire, itself a technologically advanced society, one that was violently expansionist. By the time the story of ''FFXIV'' starts back in 1.0, they had managed to annex the far eastern nation of Doma and the Eorzean region of Ala Mhigo, only to end up losing both in ''Stormblood'' and wind up forced on the backfoot, to the point that the powers that were considered using ''chemical weapons'' (which would've led to the world's being thrown back to the stone age in a BadFuture, as revealed in ''Shadowbringers''). The only thing that stopped that was the Emperor's son killing him and taking the throne, but even this leads to the Empire being brought to the verge of collapse when said Emperor's son ''purposly'' orchestrates his homeland's destruction just to pick a fight with the Warrior of Light. By the end of the story, Garlemald is spared from total annihalation, albeit left in such a devastated state that it is unlikely to become a global superpower ever again.]]

* The Allagan Empire of ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIV'' is revealed to be this. Once a technologically advanced society with a literal [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas Crystal Spire]], its emperor made a DealWithTheDevil in a bid for more power, causing him to seal Bahamut into [[ThatsNoMoon Dalamud]] and use him to power said crystal spire to fulfill his end of the bargain; the attempt created a massive earthquake that wiped their civilization out. The Fractal Continuum museum in their artificial FloatingContinent of Azys Lla (the only other place of Allagan origin besides Dalamud that survived their fall) highlights their arrogance and Azys Lla itself shows how far they'd fallen before the Fourth Umbral Calamity.

* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'', [[spoiler:the entire human civilization of the Algo system is dependent on Mother Brain. This leads to complacency, and the world is unable to handle it when she starts going bonkers on them.]]

* The city of Brussels, Belgium, appears this way in retrospect to Marlow in ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness''.

Compare with AfterTheEnd, CataclysmBackstory, AndManGrewProud, HeelFaceTown and {{Gotterdammerung}}. Also compare ViceCity, which is a city that has never been destroyed despite being similarly infested with crimes.

* [[CityPlanet Syl Anagist]] in ''Literature/TheStoneSky'', the third book of ''Literature/TheBrokenEarthTrilogy'', is revealed to be built on the oppression of people like the Thniess who are used as HumanResources. The tuners, genetically engineered people used as tools to power their {{Magitek}} engine, decide to use that engine to shut down its power source and destroy the city. However the Earth, which turns out to be sentient and also mad at the city taking its magic, destroys things far more than the tuners originally intended.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numenor#History Númenor]] in Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. After Sauron is taken captive by the Númenóreans, he takes on a role as TheCorrupter, and by the time he's done Númenor was so corrupt that it had become a militarily expansionist EvilEmpire that treated its conquered peoples as [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slave chattel]] ([[{{Irony}} and it was this horrible treatment that drove many Easterling and Haradrim groups to side with Sauron later on]]), Melkor (aka [[{{Satan}} Morgoth]]) [[ReligionOfEvil worship]] went so far as to include regular HumanSacrifice, and nobody among the populace save for the few dissenters who escaped being sacrificed batted an eye when TheEmperor Ar-Pharazôn decided to [[VillainousIncest marry his first cousin against her will]]. Ar-Pharazôn is eventually explicitly said to be the greatest tyrant the world has seen since Morgoth. The final straw was when Sauron tricks them into sailing to Valinor and violating the Ban on setting foot there. As a result, the Valar call upon Eru Ilúvatar and he destroys Númenor with a giant wave, sinking it beneath the sea. The survivors, those who saw the writing on the wall and left while they could, became the Dunedain, founding the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor.

** Columbia from ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite''. Sure it's a beautiful city. Sure, it has beautiful parks, gorgeous architecture, boys and girls play in the streets together, and it's flying in the sky so everyone feels special and privileged. But it relies on slave labor, constantly indoctrinates its citizens, and revels in genocide. And ultimately, the elitists used eldritch portals to see the future, saw the worst totalitarian governments in history, and are trying to ''emulate them'' with American motifs, while the anarchists seek to burn the city down and become sky pirates. All while the middle class are fleeing from brutal purges coming from both groups, who in turn are being hunted down by their [[TheAntiChrist Anti-Christ]]/AndThenJohnWasAZombie FallenHero and their [[RebelliousPrincess crown-princess]]-[[PersonOfMassDestruction turned-interdimensional-witch]]. And ''they're'' being hunted by a giant angry bird monster who doesn't give a crap about how much destruction he's causing with his rampage. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Also, sales taxes are at a staggering]] ''[[TaxmanTakesTheWinnings 50% of all profits]]''. Not so fun being the 'chosen ones', is it?

* The Kingdom of Boletaria in ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' used to be called "Heaven on Earth" by those who visited it, as its knowledge of soul arts allowed them to do feats thought of as miraculous by others. But then, a hop, a skip, and a suicidally depressed king later, and [[EldritchAbomination The Old One]] was summoned to eradicate all human life on Earth. Again. This resulted in the kingdom being enveloped in a mist that turned much of its populace into soul-thirsty demons, and will eventually spread through the whole world.

* TheEmpire of Thundera in ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011''. The [[CatFolk Cats]] of Thundera are a ProudWarriorRace who believe themselves a SuperiorSpecies and practice UrbanSegregation, FantasticRacism and enslavement of species like [[LizardFolk Lizards]] and [[{{Dogfaces}} Dogs]]. They employ a FantasticCasteSystem, where tailed Cats and Specific minorities live in a FantasticGhetto that exists below the upper level's ShiningCity, BrightCastle, and gardens of the nobility. The city is [[EasilyConqueredWorld conquered]] overnight by Mumm-Ra and his [[LesCollaborateurs collaborators]] the Lizard army and {{Plunder}}ed of all its valuables while surviving Cats hide in the wilderness or are taken as slaves.

* The Mont Granier landslide (in the night between November 24–25 of 1248) is the most destructive European landslide. It razed five villages (and partially destroyed two others) in Savoy. An explanation from the era was that the landslide was a divine punishment against a man who just expelled a local community of monks to live at their former place (coincidentally, said monks took shelter in a small church in the area, which was spared from the destruction). Said "divine punishment" killed more than 5,000 people to hit a single one...

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[Characters/AmphibiaNewtopia Newtopia]], the capital city of Amphibia, though not exactly a WretchedHive, has been at the source of many socio-cultural and economic problems in Amphibia, such as a FantasticCasteSystem which exploits and disadvantages the toads and frogs in other parts. [[spoiler:Then it's revealed that the city was once an imperialistic regime of interdimensional PlanetLooters a thousand years ago who used the Music Box to pillage and genocide other worlds, although this legacy has been forgotten by everyone sans Andrias and the Core over generations]]. In the final season, thanks to the resurgence of the very same {{ancient evil}} empire which Newtopia originally gave birth to, Newtopia itself has been reduced to ruins and everyone has apparently either joined the bad guys or left.

* This was the state of "the cities of Man" in ''Anime/TheAnimatrix'', which lead to the creation of robot slaves that have since rebelled. It doesn't really factor into the plot, though; [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters mankind's]] chief characteristic is hatred rather than self-indulgence.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' gives us Gallifrey, home of the Time Lords, as a ''planet-wide'' example of this trope. As early as the classic serial ''The Deadly Assassin'', Gallifrey was established as having fallen into decadence and corruption long ago. By the end of the Time War, the Time Lord High Council had tried to destroy the time-space continuum to save their sorry hides. In hopeless desperation, the Doctor actually set out to destroy Gallifrey for the good of the rest of the universe. [[spoiler:Fortunately, he and a pair of his future regenerations figured out at the last minute how to shunt Gallifrey into a separate dimension instead, protecting the rest of the universe ''and'' the remaining civilians on the planet.]]
* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime'': Shadar Logoth. As dark and cursed as in the books, as a once-great city now abandoned since its citizens' long-ago destruction by a sinister force. As in the books, objects brought from the city carry its corruption with them, like [[spoiler:the ruby-hilted dagger that Mat picks up]].

* TheEmpire of Thundera in ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|2011}}'' (2011). The [[{{Catfolk}} Cats]] of Thundera are a ProudWarriorRace who believe themselves a SuperiorSpecies and practice UrbanSegregation, FantasticRacism and enslavement of species like [[LizardFolk Lizards]] and [[{{Dogfaces}} Dogs]]. They employ a FantasticCasteSystem, where tailed Cats and Specific minorities live in a FantasticGhetto that exists below the upper level's ShiningCity, BrightCastle, and gardens of the nobility. The city is [[EasilyConqueredWorld conquered]] overnight by Mumm-Ra and his [[LesCollaborateurs collaborators]] the Lizard army and {{Plunder}}ed of all its valuables while surviving Cats hide in the wilderness or are taken as slaves.

** Columbia from ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite''. Sure it's a beautiful city. Sure, it has beautiful parks, gorgeous architecture, boys and girls play in the streets together, and it's flying in the sky so everyone feels special and privileged. But it relies on slave labor, constantly indoctrinates its citizens, and revels in genocide. And ultimately, the elitists used eldritch portals to see the future, saw the worst totalitarian governments in history, and are trying to ''emulate them'' with American motifs, while the anarchists seek to burn the city down and become sky pirates. All while the middle class are fleeing from brutal purges coming from both groups, who in turn are being hunted down by their AntiChrist / AndThenJohnWasAZombie FallenHero and their [[RebelliousPrincess crown-princess]][[PersonOfMassDestruction -turned-interdimensional-witch]]. And ''they're'' being hunted by a giant angry bird monster who doesn't give a crap about how much destruction he's causing with his rampage. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Also, sales taxes are at a staggering]] ''[[TaxmanTakesTheWinnings 50% of all profits]]''. Not so fun being the 'chosen ones', is it?

* [[PlanetCity Syl Anagist]] in ''Literature/TheStoneSky'', the third book of ''Literature/TheBrokenEarthTrilogy'', is revealed to be built on the oppression of people like the Thniess who are used as HumanResources. The tuners, genetically engineered people used as tools to power their {{Magitek}} engine, decide to use that engine to shut down its power source and destroy the city. However the Earth, which turns out to be sentient and also mad at the city taking its magic, destroys things far more than the tuners originally intended.

* This is what ultimately ends up happening to the World of Mana in ''Anime/CrossAnge'', due to the hubris of its creator, Embryo, and the disgust he has for the world's over-entitled pacifist-wannabes. Its inhabitants are guilty of complacency and overdependence on Mana, as they by and large have no ability to think for themselves due to [[FantasticDrug Mana's effects]], leading them to immediately (or for sadistic effect, slowly) turn on Princess Angelise Ikaruga Misurugi after they find out she is a Norma, {{muggles}} who are instinctively despised by them, in the first episode. By the time Ange encounters a few survivors as the world is falling apart, they [[EntitledBastard angrily demand she help them]]; after all the crap she has been through, including them earlier cheering for her {{public execution}}, she breathlessly executes one at random so the others will run away screaming, thus leaving them (not to mention her sister who also turned on her) to survive in the post-apocalypse aftermath after Ange and her comrades save the multiverse and are transported into the Dragon Earth to live in peace.

* Magrast in ''Literature/ChroniclesOfMagravandias''. The city is pretty much the concentrated corruption of the entire Magravandian empire and the palace is particularly bad.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numenor#History Númenor]] in Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. After Sauron is taken captive by the Númenóreans, he takes on a role as TheCorrupter, and by the time he's done Númenor was so corrupt that it had become a militarily expansionist EvilEmpire that treated its conquered peoples as [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slave chattel]] ([[{{Irony}} and it was this horrible treatment that drove many Easterling and Haradrim groups to side with Sauron later on]]), Melkor (aka [[{{Satan}} Morgoth]]) [[ReligionOfEvil worship]] went so far as to include regular HumanSacrifice, and pretty much nobody among the populace save for the few dissenters who escaped being sacrificed batted an eye when TheEmperor Ar-Pharazôn decided to [[VillainousIncest marry his first cousin against her will]]. Ar-Pharazôn is eventually explicitly said to be the greatest tyrant the world has seen since Morgoth. The final straw was when Sauron tricks them into sailing to Valinor and violating the Ban on setting foot there. As a result, the Valar call upon Eru Ilúvatar and he destroys Númenor with a giant wave, sinking it beneath the sea. The survivors, those who saw the writing on the wall and left while they could, became the Dunedain, founding the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor.

* In ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' this happens to the US through a combination of deficit spending leading to a hyperinflation crisis, a genetically-engineered pandemic caused by spreading around scientific knowledge, and a series of oppressive laws meant to please everyone leading to growing rebellion and secession movements as the federal government becomes ever more tyrannical and dictatorial. Of course, according to the protagonists, the ''real'' failure of the United States was ever dabbling in multiculturalism and tolerance at all, straying from its solid Christian foundation.

** Columbia from ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite''. Sure it's a beautiful city. Sure, it has beautiful parks, gorgeous architecture, boys and girls play in the streets together, and it's literally flying in the sky so everyone feels special and privileged. But it relies on slave labor, constantly indoctrinates its citizens, and revels in genocide. And ultimately, the elitists used eldritch portals to see the future, saw the worst totalitarian governments in history, and are trying to ''emulate them'' with American motifs, while the anarchists seek to burn the city down and become sky pirates. All while the middle class are fleeing from brutal purges coming from both groups, who in turn are being hunted down by their AntiChrist / AndThenJohnWasAZombie FallenHero and their [[RebelliousPrincess crown-princess]][[PersonOfMassDestruction -turned-interdimensional-witch]]. And ''they're'' being hunted by a giant angry bird monster who doesn't give a crap about how much destruction he's causing with his rampage. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Also, sales taxes are at a staggering]] ''[[TaxmanTakesTheWinnings 50% of all profits]]''. Not so fun being the 'chosen ones', is it?

** ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'': The titans of fire defeated their predecessors, the stone dragons, and lorded over humanity atop literally titanic castles. Then King Gwyn got paranoid about his human vassals wielding dark magic and cursed them with the [[RevenantZombie Darksign]], driving them insane and accidentally spreading a fire-quenching disease that engulfed the fire-worshiping world. The three games are about exploring the ruins of their long-gone glory in a desperate attempt to save what remains. At the end of the third game, [[spoiler:one of your options is to just let the world end once and for all.]]

* ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'': Atlantis, hands-down. Their reaction to the First Chimera turning rampant and ''glassing an entire continent''? '''"We want an army of those."''' Though what happened to them is so downright horrible that they are pitied by the cast: [[spoiler:[[DemonicPossession a succubus got into the chimera's head]], messed with their BrainUploading protocols, and teleported all the babies into the ocean where they drowned while their mothers were teleported to the worst wastelands on the planet where they starved, froze, or dehydrated to death. The remaining Atlanteans were locked up inside a supercomputer and forced to watch the only survivors die slow and agonizing deaths, driving them mad.]]

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayocean Bayocean, Oregon]], founded in 1906, was envisioned to be "the Atlantic City of the West", with a hotel, a dance hall, and numerous homes, but due to concerns with crossing treacherous Tillamook Bay, a jetty was built to calm the bay's waters. Unfortunately, [[GaiasVengeance this attempt to control Mother Nature backfired]] (two jetties were needed for a proper solution, and the town could only afford one), and the changed bay current began eating away at the sand beneath the city. From 1932 to 1971, the town slowly fell into the sea, starting with the huge indoor swimming pool and ending with a garage. Nothing but a plaque marks the spot now.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Newtopia, the capital city of Amphibia, though not exactly a WretchedHive, has been at the source of many socio-cultural and economic problems in Amphibia, such as a FantasticCasteSystem which exploits and disadvantages the toads and frogs in other parts. [[spoiler:Then it's revealed that the city was once an imperialistic regime of interdimensional PlanetLooters a thousand years ago who used the Music Box to pillage and genocide other worlds, although this legacy has been forgotten by everyone sans Andrias and the Core over generations]]. In the final season, thanks to the resurgence of the very same {{ancient evil}} empire which Newtopia originally gave birth to, Newtopia itself has been reduced to ruins and everyone has apparently either joined the bad guys or left.

* ''VideoGame/{{Enderal}}'': Ark is a zealous theocratic city-state that practices caste systems, religious fundamentalism, and isolationist policies. The end result was a sprawling undercity that houses thousands, if not millions, of starving, worm-infested beggars and cultist mobs right below a nobles district that cares more about appearing virtuous than being virtuous. The whole continent around Ark is a mess due to their isolationist policies and dogmatic laws, as bandits roam the roads while the priest-guards refuse to do more than dummy practice. Near the ending, an army of disgruntled ex-priests and fanatic atheist invaders from another continent marched on the overcity to raze it, while the undercity was either flooded with neurotoxin by the city watch or also purged by the army. And then [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt The Cleansing]] happened, [[spoiler:[[KillEmAll killing everyone in Enderal and depending on the ending, possibly all of Vyn]].]]

The name refers to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_upon_a_Hill the City on a Hill]], an early epithet for UsefulNotes/{{Boston}} (literally built on a hill) which in turn became an early symbol of American {{Utopia}}. Wprthy mentioning the original phrase was less about a city being good and more about a city being presented for the world to judge its action.

The name refers to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_upon_a_Hill the City on a Hill]], an early epithet for UsefulNotes/{{Boston}} (literally built on a hill) which in turn became an early symbol of American {{Utopia}}.

The name refers to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_upon_a_Hill the City on a Hill]], an early symbol of American {{Utopia}}.

::Well, the destruction element fits, but Sunnydale is not in other respects a particularly good match for this particular trope, as it mostly lacks the karmic/maybe they had it coming aspect that is typical and arguably central to a Soiled City. While there are certainly many notable exceptions (such as a mayor who [[ImAHumanitarian plans to slaughter and consume hundreds of innocent teenagers]] to [[RitualMagic complete an eldritch ritual]] to [[DemonOfHumanOrigin make himself into a power serpentine demon]], or [[BlackSite a secret military project experimenting on supernatural beings]]), for the most part the citizens of Sunnydale are consistently and expressly presented as not being particularly corrupt or nefarious, [[InnocentBystander just ordinary people]] trying to get by while dealing with both the normal challenges of modern life and the extra burden of being prey to vampires and extradimensional monsters, or unwitting victims of witchcraft. While it's clear by the third season that all but the most oblivious and self-deluding residents of the town are either vaguely or completely aware that they are living in a hell-adjacent deathtrap with a suburban veneer, it seems most are just innocent "walking happy meals" for vampires and other demons, who stay not out of any love of the occult, but just out of their whedonesque indifference to suffering--and to be perfectly fair, property costs must be insanely low in Sunnydale, with a lot of turn-over. At least until the final apocalypse breaks the {{doublethink}} barrier and finally causes a much overdue mass exodus. But based on what we know about these people, they probably all headed immediately for the other nearby Buffyverse center of evil, Los Angeles. Or Cleaveland.

::Well, the destruction element fits, but Sunnydale is not in other respects a particularly good match for this particular trope, as it mostly lacks the karmic/maybe they had it coming aspect that is typical and arguably central to a Soiled City. While there are certainly many notable exceptions (such as a mayor who [[ImAHumanitarian plans to slaughter and consume hundreds of innocent teenagers]] to [[RitualMagic complete an eldritch ritual]] to [[DemonOfHumanOrigin make himself into a power serpentine demon]], or [[BlackSite a secret military project experimenting on supernatural beings]]), for the most part the citizens of Sunnydale are consistently and expressly presented as not being particularly corrupt or nefarious, [[InnocentBystander just ordinary people]] trying to get by while dealing with both the normal challenges of modern life and the extra burden of being prey to vampires and extradimensional monsters, or unwitting victims of witchcraft. While it's clear by the third season that all but the most oblivious and self-deluding residents of the town (and it is pretty clearly a midsize town at most) are either vaguely or completely aware that they are living in a hell-adjacent deathtrap with a suburban veneer, it seems most are just innocent "walking happy meals" for vampires and other demons, who stay not out of any love of the occult, but just out of their whedonesque indifference to suffering--and to be perfectly fair, property costs must be insanely low in Sunnydale, with a lot of turn-over. At least until the final apocalypse breaks the {{doublethink}} barrier and finally causes a much overdue mass exodus. But based on what we know about these people, they probably all headed immediately for the other nearby Buffyverse center of evil, Los Angeles. Or Cleaveland.

::Well, the destruction element fits, but Sunnydale is not in other respects a particularly good match for this particular trope, as it mostly lacks the karmic/maybe they had it coming aspect that is typical and arguably central to a Soiled City. While there are certainly many notable exceptions (such as a mayor who [[ImAHumanitarian plans to slaughter and consume hundreds of innocent teenagers]] to [[RitualMagic complete and eldritch ritual]] to [[DemonOfHumanOrigin make himself into a power serpentine demon]], or [[BlackSite a secret military project experimenting on supernatural beings]]), for the most part the citizens of Sunnydale are consistently and expressly presented as not being particularly corrupt or nefarious, [[InnocentBystander just ordinary people]] trying to get by while dealing with both the normal challenges of modern life and the extra burden of being prey to vampires and extradimensional monsters, or unwitting victims of witchcraft. While it's clear by the third season that all but the most oblivious and self-deluding residents of the town (and it is pretty clearly a midsize town at most) are either vaguely or completely aware that they are living in a hell-adjacent deathtrap with a suburban veneer, it seems most are just innocent "walking happy meals" for vampires and other demons, who stay not out of any love of the occult, but just out of their whedonesque indifference to suffering--and to be perfectly fair, property costs must be insanely low in Sunnydale, with a lot of turn-over. At least until the final apocalypse breaks the {{doublethink}} barrier and finally causes a much overdue mass exodus. But based on what we know about these people, they probably all headed immediately for the other nearby Buffyverse center of evil, Los Angeles. Or Cleaveland.

::Well, the destruction element fits, but Sunnydale is not in other respects a particularly good match for this particular trope, as it mostly lacks the karmic/maybe they had it coming aspect that is typical and arguably central to a Soiled City. While there are certainly many notable exceptions (such as a mayor who [[ImAHumanitarian plans to slaughter and consume hundreds of innocent teenagers]] to [[RitualMagic complete and eldritch ritual]] to [[DemonOfHumanOrigin make himself into a power serpentine demon]], or [[BlackSite a secret military project experimenting on supernatural beings]]), for the most part the citizens of Sunnydale are consistently and expressly presented as not being particularly corrupt or nefarious, [[InnocentBystander just ordinary people]] trying to get by while dealing with both the normal challenges of modern life and the extra burden of being prey to vampires and extradimensional monsters, or unwitting victims of witchcraft. While it's clear by the third season that all but the most oblivious and self-deluding residents of the town (and it is pretty clearly a midsize town at most) are either vaguely or completely aware that they are living in a [[Hellgate hell-adjacent deathtrap]] with a suburban veneer, it seems most are just innocent "walking happy meals" for vampires and other demons, who stay not out of any love of the occult, but just out of their whedonesque indifference to suffering--and to be perfectly fair, property costs must be insanely low in Sunnydale, with a lot of turn-over. At least until the final apocalypse breaks the {{doublethink}} barrier and finally causes a much overdue mass exodus. But based on what we know about these people, they probably all headed immediately for the other nearby Buffyverse center of evil, Los Angeles. Or Cleaveland.