Hexicon City

**Hexicon City** is a landlocked city-state and enclave within California, USA. It is the main setting of *S.I.N.K or Swim* and its various spin-off stories.

It is widely coined as "The Smartest City on Earth" due to it being established purely for the sake of scientific advancement. The city is shaped like a hexagon and consists of 20 sectors, each serving a different purpose. It is said to be decades ahead of the rest of the world, though it also has multiple areas of research instated globally to strengthen international relations, which are acknowledged as "Hexiposts" and are considered part of the state - Hexicon law applies to that area regardless of the country it is actually in. There are multiple Hexiposts around the world, but the majority can be found in Asia, including the 3 most highly populated ones in The Philippines, Singapore, and Japan.

## General Information

### Location and Area

Hexicon City is located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is the biggest city in Silicon Valley, thanks to the mass proliferation of high-tech companies and businesses. It runs mostly on electric, solar, and wind energy. The climate is that of the Bay Area.

### Government and Politics

Hexicon is run by a Board of Directors, though they remain anonymous and instead disguise themselves as a corporate entity called Hexicorp. Hexicorp is the main driving force of the city and holds absolute power regarding laws and policies. This is to ensure the instant dissolution of illegal experiments or research into topics considered inhumane by societal standards.

### Population and Demographics

Hexicon City has a population of around 1.6 million people. The city is immensely culturally and ethnically diverse, due to its vast array of international connections. The city is said to be around 33% white (European, Australian, Canadian, etc), 38% Asian (East, South, Southeast, etc), 14% black, and 12% Latino. The other 3% make up miscellaneous ethnicities such as Native Americans. It is also said to have a sizeable ratio between those under and over the age of 25. In fact, 60% of the population is under the age of 25 and 40% are under the age of 18, due to the city's educational reputation and it being more well-versed at accommodating those who are not official citizens. The amount of Unsealed individuals who are born in Hexicon is said to be around 22%, but grouping those with foreign Unsealed raises the total number to 35%.

### International Affairs

Due to Hexicon's technological advancements, countries around the world have agreements with the city to implement controlled extension sections in its own grounds called Hexiposts. Hexiposts function similar to embassies, but Hexicon law applies to them instead of the law of the country it is housed in. Hexiposts provide leeway for many international hopefuls looking to study or work in Hexicon. Anyone looking to work at a Hexipost immediately undergoes a process of obtaining dual-citizenship with Hexicon and the home country in accordance with that country's citizenship laws. Hexicon's leniency when it comes to immigration as a result of its need for attracting minds around the globe to study and contribute to it has made it one of the most desirable places on Earth to move to among international circles.

Hexiposts are also the reason for S.I.N.K's abundance of international agents, as they act as unintentional feeding grounds for talented individuals for S.I.N.K to take interest in; as they're the main protectors (albeit secret ones) of Hexicon, they have eyes and ears to the ground everywhere. Hexiposts are inadvertently responsible for the recruitment of some of the organization's top agents, including but not limited to Satori Yakuzawa, Soo-Jin Pyon, Alistaire MacFarland, Azhar Ankireddi, and Aires Krier Luxenberg.

##### Full List of Hexipost Locations

* Toronto, Ontario, Canada
* Quezon City, The Philippines
* London, England
* Tokyo, Japan
* San Juan, Puerto Rico
* Seoul, South Korea
* Saint Petersburg, Russia
* Singapore, Singapore
* Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
* Ayr, Scotland
* Bangalore, India
* Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana
* Berlin, Germany
* Shenzhen, China
* Athens, Greece
* Keelung City, Taiwan
* Cairo, Egypt
* Melbourne, Australia
* Auckland, New Zealand
* Eindhoven, The Netherlands
* Karachi, Pakistan
* Santiago, Chile
* Rome, Italy
* Antarctica

### Security and Defense

As Hexicon City's technology is far ahead of its time, and thus more attractive to those looking to use it for causing harm, it is notoriously hard to enter the city especially if you are not an already registered citizen.

## History

While magic had been around for quite some time, magicians had mainly kept to themselves, refusing to share their abilities due to the mass chaos it had the potential to ensue. However, this all changed in the advent of World War II. Unfortunately, a lot of magicians were very supportive of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime and his eugenicist theories, believing that his idea of creating a master race could also increase the power of magic, and that a perfect race of people using magic could only make perfect magic, which allowed them to finally be able to reveal their powers to the greater population. Many other magicians were vehemently opposed to this as they saw the Nazi regime for the evil that it was and the multiversal threat it could become should magic ever fall into its grasp. This led to an underground World War between magicians alongside the one that raged amongst ordinary people. Like World War II, the magical cabals of Germany, Italy, and Japan fought against the ones in the UK, the USSR, and the USA. Several of these magicians even served under Hitler and Mussolini themselves, concealing their status as magicians and giving them trusted advice and plans that served both wars.

However, everything changed come the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A select group of magicians, later coined "The Left Hand of God" by Hexicon historians, were shocked and intrigued by the amount of destruction that could be caused by science and technology. Coming to the conclusion that science and magic were essentially one and the same, the Left Hand decided to create a controlled area where they could study and master science, in order to find a way to combine it with magic and attain ultimate power for mankind.

The United States was unanimously selected by the Left Hand as the best place to create this new controlled area, as their immense capitalistic structure ensured it could be affordable and beneficial to the country to create, and it was one of the few countries that were not in political disarray following the war and instead in an economic boom, which was all the more incentive to choose it. The Left Hand began involving themselves in political office and running for big offices to get the area made. Hexicon City was chosen as the name as a reference to the word "hex", insinuating the magic origins of the city. California was chosen as the state to build it due to it being a technological epicenter and its large population. However, after aggressive campaigning from the Left Hand, it was established as a city-state, meaning it ran on its own government rather than California's.

## Hexicon Underworld

The Hexicon Underworld is the general all-encompassing term for the individuals, organizations, factions, and companies who operate solely or partly within the criminal underground in Hexicon City. These can consist of Unsealed, magicians, or normal people, and reaches all the way to even the highest levels of government. It is often engaged in illegal enterprises such as assassination, dealing of illegal substances, human experimentation, sabotage, espionage, and weapons smuggling. However, not all members of the Underworld participate in these transgressions. Many of them are mainly tasked to protect assets of the city due to the vast technological advancement resulting in a lessened ability to defend them. Members of the Underworld are hired to protect important items, locations, and authority figures all across Hexicon just as much as they are hired to steal, invade, or assassinate them.

The magical sector of the Underworld is essentially a government in and of itself, mainly ruled by the Sorcerer's Society. Due to the need to protect the truth of magical incentive being the reason for Hexicon's founding, magicians are strictly forbidden from using their powers in areas where the public can witness. Because of this need for secrecy, every single magician regardless of age, gender, race, origin, class, or authoritative status can be considered a member of the Hexicon Underworld.