City of Spies: Difference between revisions
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If all the world's spies seem to work in the city a [[Spy Drama]] is set in, it's a [[City of Adventure]].
Not to be confused with ''[[City of Villains]]''.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Roanapur, in ''[[Black Lagoon]]'', has a fair number of spies running around in addition to all the criminals.
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* Boktor (capital of Drasnia) and Mal Zeth (capital of the Mallorean Empire) in ''[[The Belgariad]]''. Drasnia tops it all, being a ''country'' of spies. Spies are its chief export (that and reindeer).
* King's Landing in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', though to a lesser extent than some of the other examples on this page, does have a large number of spies for different factions.
*[[Alan Furst]] in his Night Soldiers series hops from city to city. The favorite seems to be Paris.
* In the [[Blackford Oakes Series]] this happens. Berlin is notably like this in ''The Story of Henri Tod''.
* Academy City in ''[[A Certain Magical Index]]'' is the world leader in scientific research and development, being the sole location in which espers (psychics) are made. Naturally, it's filled with spies from every other major faction.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* If you were to believe ''[[Burn Notice]]'', Miami is full of spies and retired spies.
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* The Village in ''[[The Prisoner]].'' All the inhabitants are forcibly retired spies.
* Berlin in ''[[Pan Am]]''. Of course as the series is set in the '60s, during the Cold War, as noted below this is [[Truth in Television]].
* [[Covert Affairs]] often spends time in legendary spy cities like Munich, Istanbul, or Hong Kong but less is made of their sinister reputation then might be and sometimes you get the impression that the whole world is a city of spies.
== [[Real Life]] ==
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** Lampshaded in all conceivable versions of ''[[Casino Royale]]'' by Bond girl Vesper Lynd.
* Lisbon ([[World War Two]])
**Lisbon was the easiest place for the Allies to land spies, and the go to place for any refugee wanting out of Europe. Thus everyone wanted to know what was going on there.
**The famous con-man-with-a-heart-of-gold Dusan Popov operated here in the famous "double-cross" deception operation. In so doing he not only got decorated by the British(his real employers)but [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|by the Germans.]]
* [[Washington DC]] ([[Cold War]], present)
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120305112614/https://www.graylinedc.com/tours/information.asp?p=1&tid=2 You can even take tours.]
** The opening video on the National Spy Museum tour estimates that DC has more spies per capita than any other city on the planet.
** Which causes problems when selecting areas for dead drops or covert meetings between spies and their [[The Handler|handlers]]. Because thousands of spies have been working in cities like Washington and Moscow for over half a century, there's very few 'ideal' locations that haven't been used before. In theory a security service could stake out these places permanently and have a good chance of catching a spy in the act.
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* Iga, Japan (Feudal ages): It's where ninjas originated and where most of them lived during the feudal ages in Japan. It became so independent of the rest of Japan that it became a de-facto city state until 1581, when it was destroyed.
* Prague seems to be the setting of many tales of espionage and intrigue across several genres.
* Shanghai in [[World War 2]] and just before was justly famed as a [[Wretched Hive|city of wickedness.]] It was also a city of spies. It was an island of something like stability amid the chaos in the hinterland where there was not only [[We ARE Struggling Together|general warlordism]] but a three way war between the Nationalists, Communists, and Japanese. Refugees too poured in from-wherever-sometimes from the other side of the world, depending on who had lost what whim of political violence. Not to mention the Taipans(merchant princes in Asia) of Chinese and foreign citizenship, and the crime lords and the various political loyalties or lack thereof of all of these. And the just plain hired guns who would do anything for a buck. Strategically it was a place for Great Powers to have a finger in for various reasons, notably just keeping an eye on what was going on in China, but sometimes for some other reasons. Germans for instance found it a handy place to coordinate their network watching maritime traffic, a decent enough priority just on the principle of the thing and an urgent one when any troops and munitions that went through the Indian Ocean had a good chance of being intended as a friendly gift to the Afrika Korps.
*One that is remembered little despite it's effect on history is Leopaldville in the Belgian Congo. It was the center of the competition to get control of the local uranium lode in World War 2.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
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* ''Top Secret'', adventure "Operation: Sprechenhaltestelle''. The setting is a small neutral European town full of spies.
* Al Amarja, the Mediterranean [[Banana Republic]] ''[[Over the Edge]]'' is based in, is crammed to the rafters with weirdness of every description. The multiple espionage agencies fighting each other in the back alleys is one of the most mundane aspects of the setting.
* Every player character in ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' is required to be a member of at least one secret society, and most NPCs are part of one as well. Given that the characters are supposed to be hunting down secret society members, [[Flock of Wolves|this can get ugly]].
* Columbia in ''[[Crimson Skies]]''.
* The 'newly created international city of [[Meaningful Name|Espiona]]' in the board game ''Spy Ring''.
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