Where is this place? On the west coast of The American Colonial Republic. Hell’s Half ACRe, to some. The Republic, for short. The Rip, for even shorter.

Hyopolis is the fastest growing city in the country, and the third largest after New York and Philadelphia, the nation’s capital. Why is it spelled wrong? you ask them. “It ain’t,” they’ll tell you. “The goddamn Meckers can’t spell.” The educated might tell you that the name comes from the Greek and refers to the bringer of beauty. Others will let you know just how much horseshit they think that is. Those people are generally of Spanish descent and not wrong. The aboriginal peoples will just look at you with patient perplexity, wondering how anyone could be so stupid.

And now Hyopolis is home of the Warthogs Football Association. That’s soccer, to some. It’s also home to magical monsters and beasts, ghosts, wizards, wolf people, manticores, trolls, hell-badgers, yales, krokottas, mugawomps, and giant rats. Garden City is well known for its gnome enclave. But that doesn’t really give you the flavor of the place — rotten. Fetid. Toxic. Corrupt. All of the cops are crooked. All of the crooks are twisted, filthy, and murderous. The subways are functional. It’s not like they’re completely incompetent.