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{{trope}}
[[File:
A city or civilization that is destroyed after growing so [[We Have Become Complacent|complacent]],
Often, the Soiled City was once a [[Shining City]] or [[Utopia]] but, [[Humans Are
▲A city or civilization that is destroyed after growing so [[We Have Become Complacent|complacent]], [[And Man Grew Proud|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]], [[Gaias Vengeance|nature's revenge]], [[Knight Templar|Knights Templar]], or even [[Hanlons Razor|human]] [[Finagles Law|error]].
▲Often, the Soiled City was once a [[Shining City]] or [[Utopia]] but, [[Humans Are Bastards|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.
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[[The Great Flood|Water]] is a common means of the Soiled City's destruction.
The name refers to [
Compare with [[After the End]], [[Cataclysm Backstory]], [[Look
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== [[Film]] ==
* In ''[[Batman Begins]]'', there's [[Knight Templar|the League of Shadows]] which is a secret ancient organization that takes upon itself to destroy societies and cities that, according to their standards, have become too corrupt and decadent. ("The League of Shadows has been a check against human corruption for thousands of years. We sacked Rome. Loaded trade ships with plague rats. Burned London to the ground. Every time a civilization reaches the pinnacle of its decadence, we return to restore the balance.") Next on their list: Gotham City.
* No Name City in the film version of ''[[
* Coruscant in the [[Star Wars]] 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.
== [[Literature]] ==
* [
* [[Andre Norton]]'s "Operation Time Search".
* The city of Brussels, Belgium, appears this way in retrospect to Marlow in ''[[Heart of Darkness]]''.
* The Emerald City in ''[[Wicked (
* The Thran Empire, particularly the city of Halcyon, that served as [[Precursors]] to the main setting for [[Magic:
* Charn from ''[[The
== [[
* In [[The Bible]], there's, of course, Sodom and Gomorrah. The destruction of these cities is the subject of the 1852 painting by John Martin that's the image for this page.
** The world before [[The Great Flood]] qualifies.
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* In the [[Mahabharata]], the city of Dwaraka (a.k.a., Dvārakā) sinks into the ocean after becoming corrupt.
* [[Atlantis]] became one of these before it sank into the sea.
* [
* The medieval city of [
* In [[The Book of Mormon (
** More broadly, the Nephite and Jaredite nations near the end of them. They did pretty deplorable things at the end.
==
* The eponymous city of [[Kurt Weill]]'s and [[
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''[[Phantasy Star II]]'', {{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 ''[[
* Kirkwall from [[Dragon Age II]], best summed up by Varric;
{{quote|
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Ba Sing Se, capital of the Earth Kingdom, was once the greatest city in the ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' world. But over time, thanks to [[Evil Chancellor]] Long Feng and his [[Secret Police]], it has degenerated into an Orwellian dystopia where [[Brainwashing]] abounds, poor people are kept in segregated neighborhoods, and people are forbidden to even mention the war that's been raging outside the city for a hundred years. And just when Long Feng was arrested and things were starting to look up, {{spoiler|Princess Azula of the Fire Nation infiltrated Ba Sing Se, got the [[Secret Police]] on her side, and finally captured the city and the entire Earth Kingdom.}}
* [[The Empire]] of Thundera in
== [[Real Life]] ==
* On the Arabian Peninsula, there was [
* [
* The low-lying Dutch city of [
* 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.
* [[Imperial Russia]] as a whole. Contrary to popular opinion, it fell not because of Commies but because of too much income inequality and injustice. The Commies were merely the most successfull of the many shards of the empire.
** [[The New Russia]] is approaching the late-Imperial level of decadence and injustice amazingly fast. [[It
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:The City]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
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