The Argent City

*"Welcome to the City, where gods run nightclubs, goblins hire out as mercs, sorcerers work their magic, the Fae hold court over every neighborhood…and humanity is blissfully ignorant of it all."*

The Argent City is an urban fantasy setting created by Vaughn R. Demont (also writing as Charles Equus). The city itself is implied to be similar to New York City, but is more of a Northeastern American city. The city was written with a structure borrowing from works and essays by urban sociologist Richard Florida, as well as other research on city planning.

### Summary

Formerly five separate independent townships, Allora, Destry Bay, Beckettsville, Gr*ü*nstadt, and St. Benedict united in 1922 to be simply known as the Unified City, though citizens and media refer to is as the Argent City. The current Mayor of the Unified City is Dr. Carolyn Graves, PhD (D-Beckettsville).

### Geography

The Argent City's western border is made up by the North River, named for William North, not the compass direction, and is bordered to the south by Destry Bay, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean. The northern border connects to various exurbs and bedroom communities for the middle class. The eastern border of the city largely comprises of former farmland and industrial parks.

###### Topography

The topography of the Argent City is generally flat, which aided urban and industrial development and hastened the unifying of the five cities. The land closer to the river and bay are understandably softer, supporting tunnels for mass transit for the boroughs of Allora, Destry Bay, and Gr*ü*nstadt, while tunneling proved cost prohibitive for Beckettsville and St. Benedict, resulting in rail transit being elevated.

###### Seismic Stability

The Argent City has sound tectonic activity, save a minor fault line that runs under the north section of Allora, below Victory Stadium, that, similar to the fault line under Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington, can be agitated by particularly raucous noise when the Argent City Gryphons are playing.

### Climate

As the Argent City is a coastal, northeastern American city and thus possesses a humid continental climate, giving it hot and humid summers and cool and mild winters. Due to climate change, weather systems have increased the severity of weather systems, temperature swings, and allergen propagation. Thunderstorms, once a common occurrence, have fallen off in recent years, though unconfirmed reports of localized electrical storms have risen. Weather events such as blizzards have become more common to an almost annual occurrence. Tornadoes are incredibly rare, though an unconfirmed report of a tornado touching down on Victory Tower has become urban legend.

### Demographics

###### Population

As of the most recent census, the Argent City has 3,790,552 resident citizens. The population is 52% Caucasian-American, 14% Latinx-American, 12% African-American, 10% Asian-American, 6% Middle Eastern-American, 4% Indigenous-American, and 2% other racial populations. The median age is 34.2 years

###### Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

11.6% of citizens of the Unified City self-identify as gay, bisexual, lesbian, and pansexual. 0.03% self-identify as asexual. The gender ratios of the Argent City are 53.97% female, 45.83% male, and 0.2% self-identifying as transgender, intersex, non-binary, or third gender.

###### Religion

According to the most recent census, 43% of residents of the Unified City identify as Christian, with 54% reporting as Roman Catholic, 20% as Lutheran, 19% as Baptist, 4% identifying as Anglican, and 3% reporting as other Christian denominations. 28% of citizens reported as unaffiliated with any organized religion. 14% of citizens identify as Jewish, 5% as Muslim, 4% as Hindu, 2% as Buddhist, 1% as Shinto, 0.5% as athiest, and the remaining 2.5% identifying as other faiths.

###### Education

The Argent City's literary rate is reported at 99.79%, with multiple programs instituted to encourage literacy development, with the city's government pushing their goal of "10 Years to 100% Literacy". The Unified City School District boasts of a 93% high school graduation rate, with 46% of citizens possessing at least a 2-year degree. Institutes include Allora University, Destry Tech, Gr*ü*nstadt International School, and Beckettsville Community College.

###### Employment

The Unified City Department of Labor reports a 5.7% unemployment rate. Employment is reported at 48% service, 43% professional, 7% creative, and 2% freelance/self-employed. Minimum wage is set at $15 per hour, with average wage rate at $17.14 an hour. The average income for an individual is $33,904 per year, with an average income of $66,838 a year per household.

###### Professional Field Ratios

Among professionals, the Department of Labor reports 29% in Business and Finance, 22% in tech and/or biotech, 10% in Education, 9% in Medical and Pharmaceutical, 8% in Law and Public Policy, 6% in Architecture and Engineering, 5% in Communications, 4% in Community and Social Services, 3% in Arts, Culture, and Entertainment, 1% in Government, and the remaining 3% in other professional fields.

### Mythic Population

Referred to as the Kingdom of Rainbows by the Fae, there has been no formal census for the city's total mythic population. It is reported that the majority of sapient mythics in the Argent City are Fae. followed by the vampires and lycanthropes, respectively. The equid population is unable to be measured accurately, as the overwhelming majority dwell within Arcadia and its annex the Palace of Wisdom. A smaller hybrid population of human-Fae is confirmed as existing, but any efforts to census the population have proven unsuccessful. The Keth population is infinitesimally small, with only two verified as taking residence in the Argent City.