The current situation in Bassopolis
So, Bassopolis is in shambles. Why? Some necessary context is that it's the capital city of a country called the Bassenlands, and that the Bassenlands have just come out of a war (The War), and are still dealing with the aftermath of The Plague. The previous capital, Bassenville, was bombed towards the end of the war, and so the previously fairly median merchant town of Bassopolis had a sudden influx of refugees. The current population is around 400, 000 people, most of whom live in poverty, or just above it.
Bassopolis is on the west coast of the Bassenlands, at the mouth of the River Bas. Historically, it has been a fishing village. It is now the seat of the Basslandic Parliament. It was also subject to the bombing, but didn't suffer nearly as much as Bassenville.
But that's not all! It is also the home base of everyone's favourite evil government department, The Inquisitorium. And that means that the whole city is on the verge of being a surveillance state. this means that freedom of speech is unofficially limited and nothing is really private. They are always present in the background of the narrative, more of a force of nature than a faction or group of characters. Their influence over the Parliament is slowly growing, and their team of spies and informers is spread in every area of life.
The biggest obstacle in the Inquisitorium's way is DoSA, the Department of Supernatural Affairs. Their rivalry stems from a fumdamental idealogical difference about magic -- DoSA wants to utilise magic for progression, to defend against natural disasters and some of the various more dangerous magical phenomena in the world. The Inquisitorium wants to stamp out people who are born with innate magical abilities, seeing them as a dangerous force. The divide between the departments only deepened with the Purge of the Enterwiven, an attempted genocide of an eco-spiritual group indigenious to the banks and forests around the River Bas. Although DoSA attempted to legally fight the Purge, the Inquisitorium simply refused to play by the rules, finding other ways to root out their opponents.
Bassopolis, the city as a whole, is dealing with overcrowding, poverty, a corrupt government, a failing economy and widespread trauma for recent events. Though there are a few optimists trying to find diamonds amongst the ashes, the tensions of the city serve as the backdrop for the vast majority of the main cast, almost a character in itself.