- I, the marked first-chosen, wrote this log as true to her words as possible. Mark yourselves with red and join the war.— The Scarlet-Marked sign-off in the first City of Sinopia
post.
City of Sinopia is a blog that, within the story, is compiled and put online by a scattered group called the Scarlet-Marked. The protagonist, Red, logs her experiences wrestling with the Eldritch Abomination within, known as 'The Red Cap'.
While the blog primarily focuses on Red's story, the highlights are the Ironic Nursery Tunes that crop up in posts from time to time; each one focuses on one of the Fears and can be found on the tumblr page.
Tropes displayed in City of Sinopia:
- Anachronic Order: Due to the story's framing device, there are times when logs are out-of-order; in some cases, Red's logs are put online by the Scarlet-Marked after Red, herself, gets her hands on a computer...or, later on, Red's logs will reveal insight as to what Robin posts days earlier.
- Anti-Hero: Red starts out this way, due to questionable morals and being less-than-pure. As time goes on and the Red Cap awakens more, she crosses right over into Villain Protagonist territory.
- All Women Are Lustful: A great deal of the Scarlet-Marked referred to are women.
- Casual Kink: Not surprising - one of the requirements to be Marked is being viewed as a sexual deviant.
- Creepy Child: Jack.
- Dominatrix: Red (in Eldritch mode) shows shades of being this.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Razzie. Although, since there are hints that he might be the Black Dog, he might not be so innocent, himself.
- Imaginary Love Triangle: It's implied that Russ seems to think he's a competitor for Robin's affections. That's not so much the case.
- Living Aphrodisiac: The Red Cap, obviously.
- My Girl Is a Slut: Red seems to push for this, with Robin, since the more sex people have, the more power-high she feels.
- Pun: Several pop up - Blood Vessels, for example. The title itself is a play on 'City of Sin': 'Sinopia' is a shade of red, akin to the color of dried blood.
- Rape as Backstory: It's revealed that, pre-puberty, Red was raped by a Blood Vessel. This was what primed her to become the Red Cap, later on.
- The Resenter: Russ is plainly this, to Red.
- Resurrective Immortality: Sometimes, Razzie gets killed. Not to worry, though, he typically comes back in a few days or so.
- Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: Given the Red Cap's nature, this one seems like a given.
- Sleeps with Everyone but You: Due to Robin being an unused Blood Vessel, Red refuses to sleep with Robin.
