Twisted

"The city of novelty" ___ Motto

Twisted is the main setting of Coloring Book. It is a cultured and borderline dystopian theme park of a city where organized street crime and gang culture first began. The city was the prime petri dish for the Comb’s immigration laws of the 370s and 80s. The location remains as a living metaphor for the illusion of the melting pot. All of the cultures of the world supposedly had equal power and influence over the neighborhoods and districts of the city but the mixture resulted in the creation of classes and borders forever repeating the tradition of separation among human kind. Twisted was known for its shifting climate, hyper diversity, avante garde architecture and its unusual level of youth crime.

The Comb’s cities
When the social classes separated and the bellums were created, the world agreed that there needed to be a neutral zone between the nations. The zone was to be a port for trading but most importantly it was going to act as a sort of waiting room for the populations of different social classes to stay in while they waited for their turn to be transferred to another bellum. In the early days, people did not anticipate the kind of system, they were building and this resulted in the creation of an entire territory completely made up of attractions and entertainment centers. Cities and districts were created for the purpose of temporary comfort and enjoyment while the people staying in them waited for their turn to transfer to their desired bellum. The culture of the comb became one of fast hope but endless delusion. Entire generations passed before most names were called. In the process the very philosophy of separation was lost because a salad bowl had formed in the middle of the world. This culture of people ended up belonging to a plastic assimilation of consumption and pleasure. The regimes and movements that followed showed just how far that ideology could be pushed.

Doog’s Regime
In terms of government, the Comb acted upon the territories that belonged to the particular bellums. There were locations that were supposedly claimed by bellum leadership but in the long run there became a large number of sectors that were considered beyond the law. This eventually resulted in the senators and mayors of given counties and cities to gain an almost absolute power. During the 320s and 30s Twisted belonged to a stretch of deserted attractions that were created during the early years of leisure. Other cities that once belonged to this region were Sketch, Drop, Sickle, Jayden and Plum. The pink county was a fairly powerful territory of Jhoven origin. The senator of this county, Pen Doog, came into totalitarian power and ordered that the region be revived as a gift to her five children to be. Twisted was revived as a plaything for her first and only son Coop Cutch. The senator died after Cutch turned five and the family fell out of power shortly after. During this time, fascism was something that only existed in very small towns and villages, as democracy and capitalism was taking over the major territories. Cutch was one of the few who had total authoritarian control over a city the size of twisted, and he started to rule at the age of seven.

The tyranny of Cutch II
During the rule of Cutch I, the city of twisted was almost completely inhabited by wealthy tourists who stayed only to visit and then left after a short time. Cutch I was mostly manipulated by his family to innovate more luxurious attractions and hotspots. The city was little more than a cash cow for the washed out family to cash in on. Over a long period of time there was a migration of former slaves and financial disadvantaged immigrants from the Chiven bellum. The majority of these immigrants were homeless for generations and lived off the petty jobs that the luxurious attractions of the city had to offer. It was only after Cutch’s daughter was born that a stable economy and infrastructure was created. Most of the economic reform was due to Cutch’s brother, Stil, who had taken advantage of his daughter’s condition to come to power. After Cutch died and his daughter grew into her teen years, she had grown up being brainwashed by her uncle and became a megalomaniacal genius. Twisted was booming due to industrialization and everything Cutch II did, pushed forth for the economy’s wellbeing and nothing else. This was where led was introduced into the city. Cutch II was responsible for the introduction of lead based products pushed forth to replace other metals to save money and time.

Cutch III and the baby acts of 367
Cutch III came into power when he turned 18 and by this time he had very little immediate family left. Most of his government was made up with inexperienced childhood friends and acquaintances who mostly wanted to goof off and take advantage of the power. Under the shadow of his quant leadership, independent institutions and agencies took care of the city’s wellbeing for him. Unlike his friends, Cutch, though immature, did not enjoy the idea of absolute power. He wanted people to have the freedom to express themselves and to take care of themselves as well. Though not a tyrant per say, Cutch did little for the community he led. He spent most of his time and money overseeing the construction of buildings and sculptures with extravagant designs. Many of the key geographical elements and structures of the city were ridiculous and bizarre forms of architecture. This accompanied by the Mayor’s taste in alternative forms of music and art helped influence a cultural and philosophical movement called hugoism, which would end up completely shaping the aesthetics and foundation of the city.

After a few decades into this rule a wave of economic decline began to set a toll on Twisted. The city fell into decline due to increased amounts of spending and most of the industrial companies go bankrupt. As time passes, the working class slowly fall into a state of depression. In between the years of depression a unique form of petty crime begins to terrorize the city. A sort of phenomenon begins where children start to run away from their families. The city starts to see bizarre acts of violence in bands of young runaway and homeless children. Children as little as four begin grouping together to steal, attack, and vandalize. It comes to a point where 67% of all crime in the city is caused by someone under the age of 18. Most historians blame this phenomenon on a crack that was found along the side of Jude at the darkest and most south eastern part of the city. It is likely that most of the children in the beginning had come from the lawless slum of the Chiven bellum. Cutch’s totalitarian regime decided to release a number of impractical and questionable laws in response to the crime rate. Most of the laws included the construction and stationing of animatronic dolls to act as scarecrows for children, scrap vehicles reconstructed to look like monsters made to chase and scare away children and a series of anti-child propaganda to help raise awareness on the situation. The laws were not heavily enforced by Cutch’s regime, but a good number of private companies and institutions began to form various underground organizations with the prime motivation on cutting down on the crime and mischief. Cutch was clearly too immature to understand the magnitude of his actions. He grew into adulthood and gained a sort of celebrity status with the city’s population, supporting free speech and personal expression, no matter how extreme or offensive.

The Baby act of 387
The 380s took an odd turn for juvenile delinquency. By this point, the city already shunned and oppressed many distinct groups of people based around the incidents of the 360s. The Chiven class was the primary subject of ridicule and under this oppression a new set of subcultures grew in the rusty impoverished parts of the city. A set of cultural movements gave rise to a codified retaliation towards the establishment. Hop, Slizz and Drop were among some of the most popular genres in terms of lifestyle. Youth crime had plateaued by this time and it had become a sort of codifying signature to the city’s name, a sort of tradition that didn’t do enough harm to be a crisis. This was of course, until Cutch’s congress released the baby act of 387, which demanded a treaty between all of the bellums. The law asked for all of the children with the worst records of misconduct and crime to be shipped and delivered to the city, with exemption to the waiting list. The law claimed to be a form of international rehabilitation, but most of the city saw it as a plan to turn Twisted and nearly all of the Comb’s counties into a dumping ground for the world’s youngest and most destructive hoodlums.