Soiled City on a Hill: Difference between revisions

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A city or civilization that is destroyed after growing so [[We Have Become Complacent|complacent]], hubris-laden, and/or [[Wretched Hive|corrupt]] that it is [[It Is Beyond Saving|beyond redemption]]. Usually the agent of destruction is [[Bolt of Divine Retribution|divine retribution]] or [[The Scourge of God|a scourge of God]] but also can be the result of [[Call It Karma|Karmic justice]], [[Gaia's Vengeance|nature's revenge]], [[Knight Templar|Knights Templar]], or even [[Hanlon's Razor|human]] [[Finagle's Law|error]].
 
Often, the Soiled City was once a [[Shining City]] or [[Utopia]] but, [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|humans being who they are]], it fell victim to arrogance and [[Seven Deadly Sins|moral degeneration]]. In fact, before destruction, the Soiled City can still look like a [[Shining City]] even though by then [[Crap Saccharine World|it's really nothing more than a whited sepulcher with a shiny gleaming exterior concealing the rot and vileness within]].
 
Almost always a [[Wretched Hive]]. Can also be a [[City Noir]]. The opposite or (as mentioned previously) the corrupted version of the [[Shining City]]. This trope often overlaps with [[And Man Grew Proud]] and is used as [[An Aesop]]. The [[Shadowland]] of [[Arcadia]] and the [[Ghibli Hills]]; many a [[Farm Boy]] who went expecting the Shining City was lucky to escape with his life, if at all.