History Main / SoiledCityOnAHill

::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 plans to slaughter and consume hundreds of innocent teenagers to complete and eldritch ritual to make himself into a power serpentine demon, or 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, 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 unwiting victims of witchcraft. While it's clear by the third season that all but the more 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 insanley 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, LA. Or Cleaveland.

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

* Texas City, CA in ''Film/BreakerBreaker''. An abandoned mining town re-incorporated by what the film, at first, seemed to hint was a band of traveling gypsies (but later just turned them into 70's-style corrupt hicks) and funded by bootlegging and hijacking 18-wheelers. Gets destroyed in the end by a band of vengeful truckers responding to a distress call on behalf of the film's hero, [[Creator/ChuckNorris JD]].

* Coruscant in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels shows signs of this, as does the Old Republic generally. At least, according to the Empire's propaganda. To be fair, the fact that they could and the circumstances surrounding their willingly voting in the Empire and its new and oppressive system does, ironically, illustrate it nicely. This was one of the major reasons why [[spoiler:the New Republic went and changed its capitol to the planet of Hosnian Prime in the thirty-plus-year time gap between ''Return Of The Jedi'' and ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', and then the entire Hosnian system [[EarthShatteringKaboom gets blown to pieces by the First Order's secret weapon]]]].

* Magrast in ''Literature/ChroniclesOfMagravandias''. The city is pretty much the concentrated corruption of the entire Magravandian empire, and the palace in particularly bad.
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/MovingPictures'', this sort of divine retribution is rumoured to be what happened to the civilization that once existed around Holy Wood Hill. It's been suggested that if the gods wreaked hideous vengeance on corrupt and depraved cities, they'd certainly have done it to Ankh-Morpork by now, but it's possible they did and no-one noticed the difference.
* In the Creator/HPLovecraft story "The Doom that Came to Sarnath", a group of colonists which founded the titular city razed the nearby lake city of Ib and the exterminated the FishPeople who had lived there for thousands of years simply because they were ugly to look at, retaining only an idol of the lizard god that they had worshiped, Bokrug, as loot. Exactly one-thousand years later, at the peak of Sarnath's prosperity, Bokrug rose from the lake and completely levelled Sarnath, leaving only the idol unharmed.

* Creator/AndreNorton's "Operation Time Search". In our real world, Atlantis fell under the control of evil rulers and was destroyed. The actions of the hero prevent this, and as a result history is changed and Atlantis survives to the present day.

* [[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 an 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.

* Sunnydale on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' was doomed from the start, ''founded'' to be an epicenter of a Hellmouth and its citizens meant to be prey for demonic beings. Buffy's biggest accomplishment in early seasons, it seems, is to make the citizens realize the danger, even as it gets worse. Eventually, in the seventh season, supernatural activity becomes worse than ever, and the human populace finally have the sense to evacuate. Soon after, the showdown between the Scooby Gang and the First Evil in the SeasonFinale (the last season shown on television) results in the town being obliterated, reduced to a smoldering crater as the Hellmouth is closed.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The ancient Eldar both embody and subvert this trope. Their glittering, technologically dazzling civilization once dominated the galaxy, but their descent into jaded excess and hedonism led directly to the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh and their near-obliteration during the Fall. The heartlands of the civilization are now the warp-tainted hellholes known as the Crone Worlds, swallowed up by the Eye of Terror that the Fall ripped into the fabric of realspace. However, the one part of pre-fall Eldar civilization that survived and prospered was the dark city of Comorragh -- the Eldar's worst den of vice, iniquity and depravity. It survived because it was safely concealed from prying eyes in a pocket universe between the dimensions, and is now the home base for the Dark Eldar, who continue to celebrate and indulge in the kind of vileness that brought their civilization low in the first place. [[MeaningfulName And if you still don't get it]], Commorragh used to have a sister city named Satom.

** 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?

--> '''Varric''': Kirkwall, "The City of Chains". Long ago it was part of [[TheEmpire the Imperium]], slaves coming from far and wide to work the quarries. Now it's a Free City... but I use the word ''loosely''

** Nipton from ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' was populated by gamblers, thieves and prostitutes, until the Legion laid waste to the town and executed or enslaved the residents.

* 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.

* {{Atlantis}}, in Plato’s original account, became a soiled city (and island) before it sank into the sea. Details are unclear because Plato’s account is incomplete, but it’s clear the place was blessed by its patron deity, Poseidon, for many years, and became a global power as a result, before it somehow angered the gods by falling into moral decline, and was dramatically punished as a result.

* In the ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'' books, Salon Corbeau is a city-state that serves as a playground for the insanely rich and shameless. Casual cruelty and violence against the powerless are institutions; noble parents give their children small animals to experiment on with new daggers and poor people are made to play a twisted version of chess on a giant chessboard for rich spectators where they are subjected to humiliating degradations. At the end of the novel, [[spoiler: the main character sets a pirate armada on them.]]

* The city of Shadukiam in ''Literature/TheOrphansTales''. In "The Book of the Sea" we learn about how its rich inhabitants care about nothing but aesthetics and money, devouring ridiculous delicacies made of jewels and forcing their [[FantasticGhetto species minorities to live in ghettos.]] In "The Book of the Storm," we learn of how the city met its terrible end, lost its anchoring in the world, and became the hollow nightmare city of [[spoiler: Marrow.]]

* [[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 an 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 (a.k.a. [[{{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.

* The Emerald City in ''Literature/{{Wicked}}''. Even in ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' it has shades of this--although the people aren't unhappy or corrupt, the Wizard in charge is a phony playing the whole city for fools (and the city ''isn't even really emerald''; the Wizard just makes everyone wear emerald-colored glasses so they think it is). But like everything else in Oz, the depiction is even worse in ''Wicked.'' Booze-soaked nightclubs, whores on every corner, chamberpot contents in the street, the Unionist church's {{Knight Templar}}s running unchecked, and a brute posing as a wizard cheerfully exploiting all of it to keep in power.

* ''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.]]

* In the ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'', the city of Dwaraka (a.k.a., Dvārakā) sinks into the ocean after becoming corrupt.

* 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.]]

[[folder:Anime]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* The Thran Empire, particularly the city of Halcyon, that served as {{Precursors}} to the main setting for ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' is shown to be one of these in its titular novel, ''The Thran.'' Even before Yawgmoth started pulling their strings, they practiced FantasticRacism against the goblins and other species, were much more concerned with aesthetic beauty than people's safety or comfort, created a massive undercity of caves where all the undesirables (both criminals and people who merely disagreed with the way of doing things) and had a superstitious understanding of disease (which they believed was caused by evil spirits....granted that was sometimes true in Dominaria, just not most of the time. [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt After Yawgmoth...]]

[[folder:Mythology, Philosophy, and Religion]]

* In the Literature/{{Mahabharata}}, the city of Dwaraka (a.k.a., Dvārakā) sinks into the ocean after becoming corrupt.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''

* TheEmpire of Thundera in ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats 2011}} ThunderCats (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.

* Texas City, CA in ''Film/BreakerBreaker''. An abandoned mining town re-incorporated by what the film, at first, seemed to hint was a band of traveling gypsies (but later just turned them in to 70's-style corrupt hicks), and funded by bootlegging and hijacking 18-wheelers. Gets destroyed in the end by a band of vengeful truckers responding to a distress call on behalf of the film's hero, [[Creator/ChuckNorris JD]].

* Coruscant in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels shows signs of this, as does the Old Republic generally. At least, according to the Empire's propaganda. To be fair, the fact that they could and circumstances surrounding their willingly voting in the Empire and its new and oppressive system does, ironically, illustrate it nicely. This was one of the major reasons why [[spoiler:the New Republic went and changed its capitol to the planet of Hosnian Prime in the thirty-plus-year time gap between ''Return Of The Jedi'' and ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', and then the entire Hosnian system [[EarthShatteringKaboom gets blown to pieces by the First Order's secret weapon]]]].

* Legend — or rather, a very questionable 19th century interpretation of supposed ancient texts — tells of a Pacific (or originally Atlantic) {{Expy}} of the above-mentioned {{Atlantis}} called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(lost_continent) "Mu."]] It, too, sank into the ocean after becoming riddled with corruption.

* On the Arabian Peninsula, there was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iram_of_the_Pillars Iram of the Pillars]] -- the "Atlantis of the Sands". In Islamic legend, Iram of the Pillars (also known as Ubar) was a city of untold riches that was buried under the desert sands as punishment for defying God. Long thought to be a myth, satellite photos and recent archeological excavations have indicated such a city probably existed until around 300 AD -- about 300 years before the birth of UsefulNotes/TheProphetMuhammad, i.e. long enough for it to become the stuff of legend.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Royal Port Royal]] was an open haven for pirates and smugglers during the 17th century with economy largely based around boozing, whoring, and stealing. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1692 that caused it to sink into the sea.
** Perhaps most impressive is the multiple tsunami waves that also hit the city in its destruction. For years scientists thought the accounts of multiple great waves hitting the city must be an exaggeration, until geological surveys of the area showed it was indeed possible for a tsunami to enter the harbor, hit one side, rebound, hit the other side, rebound and repeat.

* [[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 jettys 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.

* 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 of the area, which was spared from the destruction). Said "divine punishment" killed more than 5,000 people to hit a single one...

* ''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.

* [[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]] [[WhatAnIdiot and opening the gate at high tide during a storm]].)

* 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 [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad 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.

** Sodom and Gomorrah are the prime examples. The destruction of these cities is the subject of the 1852 painting by John Martin that's the image for this page.

%%* ''Fanfic/TheLastGreatTimeWar'' shows Gallifrey becoming this as the Time War progresses.%%ZCE

* ''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.

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

* Texas City, CA in ''Film/BreakerBreaker''. An abandoned mining town re-incorporated by what the film, at first, seemed to hint was a band of traveling gypsies (but later just turned them in to 70's-style corrupt hicks), and funded by bootlegging and hijacking 18-wheelers. Gets destroyed in the end by a band of vengeful truckers responding to a distress call on behalf of the film's hero, [[Creator/ChuckNorris JD]].
* The title cities in ''Film/SodomAndGomorrah'' are so vile and corrupt that Lot is told Jehovah has decided they must be destroyed before the sun sets. Lot is only just able to lead the Hebrews and the cities' freed slaves out of the city gates before lightning storms, earthquakes, and fiery explosions reduce the cities and their inhabitants to dust.

* [[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 an 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 (a.k.a. [[{{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.
* Creator/AndreNorton's "Operation Time Search". In our real world, Atlantis fell under the control of evil rulers and was destroyed. The actions of the hero prevent this, and as a result history is changed and Atlantis survives to the present day.

* The Emerald City in ''Literature/{{Wicked}}''. Even in ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' it has shades of this--although the people aren't unhappy or corrupt, the Wizard in charge is a phony playing the whole city for fools (and the city ''isn't even really emerald''; the Wizard just makes everyone wear emerald-colored glasses so they think it is). But like everything else in Oz, the depiction is even worse in ''Wicked.'' Booze-soaked nightclubs, whores on every corner, chamberpot contents in the street, the Unionist church's {{Knight Templar}}s running unchecked, and a brute posing as a wizard cheerfully exploiting all of it to keep in power.

* Charn from ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew'', the {{prequel}} to ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''. The civilisation (and ''the entire world in which it existed'') was destroyed by the Empress Jadis, who killed every single living organism just because she couldn't be queen. She kept herself preserved as SealedEvilInACan until two kids from another universe freed her from her slumber (they had been tempted by the SchmuckBait-laden mechanism used to awaken her). Then she hitched a ride with the kids back to their universe, and eventually to Narnia, where she became known as [[spoiler:the White Witch.]] Some of Jadis's passing comments suggest that Charn was plenty corrupt before she destroyed it, too. Nostalgic remarks about torture chambers and "the cracking of whips and the groaning of slaves" convey a pretty clear impression of what life was like there.

* The city of Shadukiam in ''Literature/TheOrphansTales''. In "The Book of the Sea" we learn about how its rich inhabitants care about nothing but aesthetics and money, devouring ridiculous delicacies made of jewels and forcing their [[FantasticGhetto species minorities to live in ghettos.]] In "The Book of the Storm," we learn of how the city met its terrible end, lost its anchoring in the world, and became the hollow nightmare city of [[spoiler: Marrow.]]
* New Babylon, by virtue of destiny, becomes this in the Literature/LeftBehind books.
* Magrast in ''Literature/ChroniclesOfMagravandias''. The city is pretty much the concentrated corruption of the entire Magravandian empire, and the palace in particularly bad.
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/MovingPictures'', this sort of divine retribution is rumoured to be what happened to the civilisation that once existed around Holy Wood Hill. It's been suggested that if the gods wreaked hideous vengeance on corrupt and depraved cities, they'd certainly have done it to Ankh-Morpork by now, but it's possible they did and no-one noticed the difference.
* In the ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'' books, Salon Corbeau is a city-state that serves as a playground for the insanely rich and shameless. Casual cruelty and violence against the powerless are institutions; noble parents give their children small animals to experiment on with new daggers and poor people are made to play a twisted version of chess on a giant chessboard for rich spectators where they are subjected to humiliating degradations. At the end of the novel, [[spoiler: the main character sets a pirate armada on them.]]
* 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 [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad 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 multicultralism and tolerance at all, straying from its solid Christian foundation.
* In the Creator/HPLovecraft story "The Doom that Came to Sarnath", a group of colonists which founded the titular city razed the nearby lake city of Ib and the exterminated the FishPeople who had lived there for thousands of years simply because they were ugly to look at, retaining only an idol of the lizard god that they had worshiped, Bokrug, as loot. Exactly one-thousand years later, at the peak of Sarnath's prosperity, Bokrug rose from the lake and completely levelled Sarnath, leaving only the idol unharmed.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The ancient Eldar both embody and subvert this trope. Their glittering, technologically dazzling civilization once dominated the galaxy, but their descent into jaded excess and hedonism led directly to the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh and their near-obliteration during the Fall. The heartlands of the civilization are now the warp-tainted hellholes known as the Crone Worlds, swallowed up by the Eye of Terror that the Fall ripped into the fabric of realspace. However, the one part of pre-fall Eldar civilization that survived and prospered was the dark city of Comorragh - the Eldar's worst den of vice, iniquity and depravity. It survived because it was safely concealed from prying eyes in a pocket universe between the dimensions, and is now the home base for the Dark Eldar, who continue to celebrate and indulge in the kind of vileness that brought their civilization low in the first place. [[MeaningfulName And if you still don't get it]], Commorragh used to have a sister city named Satom.

* No-Name City/Rumson in ''Theatre/PaintYourWagon'' is founded as a ShiningCity, but falls into vice and debauchery once the Fandango girls come to town. In the 5th Avenue Theatre's adaptation, it gets [[BoltOfDivineRetribution destroyed by a thunderstorm]] at the show's climax.

* 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 Kingdom of Zeal in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. Ruled by magic-using mage-supremacists, it eventually gets knocked out of the sky because [[EvilIsNotAToy drawing your power from something that will destroy the planet when it wakes up is not a wise decision]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Pathologic}}'' features a Soiled City in a Steppe. Depending on the ending you end up with, this trope is more or less relevant.

* ''VideoGame/BioShock''
** Rapture in [[VideoGame/BioShock1 the first game]] was by all appearances a highly successful attempt to create an [[UsefulNotes/{{Objectivism}} objectivist]] haven where the [[TheSparkOfGenius brightest]] and [[SelfMadeMan boldest]] of humanity could thrive [[TheUnfettered unfettered]] from the WretchedHive - at least until the [[DidntThinkThisThrough people who moved to the bottom of the ocean to do whatever they wanted]] turned on each other. The city has been torn apart by a war between Ryan and Atlas, and the only ones left are [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke insane splicers]] only interested in finding more ADAM, and a few remaining individuals [[SoleSurvivingScientist trying to undo what was done]], [[CrazySurvivalist too crazy to leave]], [[TheStarscream trying to take over the ruins]] or holed up in private sanctums [[TheyCalledMeMad doing things even Rapture's]] [[SerialKiller loose laws frowned upon]] in private playgrounds or just [[DancingInTheRuins enjoying the show]].
** Interestingly, ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' seems to imply that the vast majority of the city actually survived as a functional society for as long as several years after the events of the first game. Most of Rapture [[ScrewTheWarWerePartying simply didn't give a damn]], being largely populated by ApatheticCitizens only caring about their own interests and keeping the BreadAndCircuses going. Some even [[WarForFunAndProfit find their fortune selling]] [[MechaMooks security systems]] and personal bodyguards to deal with the splicer problem spilling over from the nasty business in [[TheCityNarrows THAT part of Rapture]] and catering to [[GlamorousWartimeSinger those seeking distraction]].
** 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?
* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' universe in general is this. Capitalists vs Communists got so out of hand that both sides became extremist caricatures ruled by deluded conspiracies and the world got nuked over real good.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'': In the decades preceding the game, the Pitt, formerly the industrial giant Pittsburgh, was a lawless PollutedWasteland inhabited by rape gangs, raiders, slavers, and various horrific mutants. Upon discovering the city, Lyons' chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel initiated the Scourge, which wiped out most of the population except for a few unmutated children who were placed into initiate training, one of which was Paladin Kodiak. After being left for dead in an explosion and rescued by scavengers, [[TinTyrant Paladin Ashur]] became the leader of the city.
** Nipton from ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' was populated by gamblers, thieves and prostitutes, until the Legion laid waste to the town and executed or enslaved the residents.
* 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 artifical 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.
* ''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.

* On the Arabian Peninsula, there was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iram_of_the_Pillars Iram of the Pillars]]--the "Atlantis of the Sands". In Islamic legend, Iram of the Pillars (also known as Ubar) was a city of untold riches that was buried under the desert sands as punishment for defying God. Long thought to be a myth, satellite photos and recent archeological excavations have indicated such a city probably existed until around 300 AD--about 300 years before the birth of UsefulNotes/TheProphetMuhammad, i.e. long enough for it to become the stuff of legend.

* 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 explaination 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 of the area, which was spared from the destruction). Said "divine punishment" killed more than 5,000 people to hit a single one...

* [[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 an 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 (a.k.a. [[{{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]]. 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.

[[TheGreatFlood Water]] or [[TheGreatFire fire]] are common means of a Soiled City's destruction.

This is a city or civilization that is destroyed after growing so [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent complacent]], [[LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair hubris-laden]], and/or [[WretchedHive corrupt]] that it is [[ItIsBeyondSaving beyond redemption]]. Usually the agent of destruction is [[BoltOfDivineRetribution divine retribution]] or [[TheScourgeOfGod a scourge of God]] but also can be the result of [[CallItKarma karmic justice]], [[GaiasVengeance nature's revenge]], [[KnightTemplar Knights Templar]], or even [[HanlonsRazor human]] [[FinaglesLaw error]].

[[TheGreatFlood Water]] is a common means of the Soiled City's destruction.

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

* 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.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': Valyria. It was the greatest civilization in the Known World, but it was built on the backs of millions of slaves, most of whom it acquired through its territorial expansions. Many people [[NostalgiaFilter tend to forget this part]] and mourn Valyria after its downfall during the Doom, but Tyrion Lannister, reflecting on its history, opines that Valyria was an empire built on fire and blood, and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard it reaped what it sowed]].

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' fanfic ''Fanfic/TheLastGreatTimeWar'' shows Gallifrey becoming this as the Time War progresses.
* In the backstory of the [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/207616/moonlight-palaver Palaververse]], Antlertis was a decadent ancient society responsible for most of the modern world's ills, which was seemingly destroyed by cosmic entities that the ruling mage-lords tried to bind to their will.

* 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 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 she 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.

* ''Pathologic'' features a Soiled City in a Steppe. Depending on the ending you end up with, this trope is more or less relevant.

* ''Film/SodomAndGomorrah'': The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are so vile and corrupt that Lot is told Jehovah has decided they must be destroyed before the sun sets. Lot is only just able to lead the Hebrews and the cities' freed slaves out of the city gates before lightning storms, earthquakes, and fiery explosions reduce the cities and their inhabitants to dust.

* Kirkwall from VideoGame/DragonAgeII, best summed up by Varric;

** Also, as revealed in the ''Trespasser'' DLC of VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition, [[spoiler:Arlathan. By the time Fen'Harel destroyed it, the magical city of immortal elves had a populace willing to murder each other over what shade of paint to trim the roof with.]]

* In ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'', [[{{Dystopia}} Neo Arcadia]] has become this by the time of the fourth game, with Weil having taken over after the death of X and the Four Guardians, and is ultimately [[spoiler: reduced to a crater by Craft when he uses Ragnarok]].

* [[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 an 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 (a.k.a. [[{{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]]. 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.

* ''Film/SodomAndGomorrah'' has, well, Sodom and Gomorrah. The cities are so vile and corrupt that Lot is told Jehovah has decided they must be destroyed before the sun sets. Lot is only just able to lead the Hebrews and the cities' freed slaves out of the city gates before lightning storms, earthquakes, and fiery explosions reduce the cities and their inhabitants to dust.