Blix

Blix (Originally: Blixe-du-Sud. Also: South Blix, L'Île de Blixe, L'Îles, Blix, Soleil) is the largest city and urban area in the world. Blix serves as the provincial capital of Quad-Blix. As a global power city, Blix exerts its influence on essentially every aspect of global society on Earth from entertainment and culture, to politics and finance. Blix was founded in 1813 by Ronald Kay Blix as the City of Blix, capital of the nation of Blix. It remained capital for one month, until New London became the capital. Located in the Delta de la Berri, the city is mostly situated on South Blix Island, but also has substantive populations on West Blix Island, Scorch Island, Bridge Island, and Rocket Island.

As a major administrative, shipping, and trading city, Blix grew in importance in the early 20th century due to its strong and diverse culture, trade and recognition of its favourable port location and economic potential. The city then flourished as a centre of commerce between both sides of the Atlantic, and became a primary financial hub of the North Atlantic region in the 1920s. However, with the Great Depression of the mainland in 1959, trade was limited and the city's global influence declined. In the late 1990s and 2000s, the economic reforms introduced by Ryan Rowling resulted in an intense re-development of the city, aiding the return of finance and foreign investment to the city.

The city and its metropolitan area constitute the premier gateway for immigration to Blix, and as many as 870 languages are spoken in Blix, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. Blix is home to more than 208.2 million residents born outside the PDRD, the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world. In 2016, the bi-provinical Urban Blix Area produced a gross metropolitan product (GMP) of nearly US$18.1 trillion. If the UBA were a country, it would have the second highest GDP in the world.

The city proper has a population of 304 million. The Urban Blix Area (UBA), has a population of over 500 million. The Blixian Peninsula, which is anchored by South Blix, is estimated to be at over 710 million people. Blix is divided into four parts: (West to East) Westly, Northly (also Louplieu), Equatorian, and Westly (sometimes known as Murphson). Further, these parts are divided into fifty boroughs ranging from 170,000 to 30 million people.

Many districts and landmarks in Blix are well known, and the city received a record 360 million tourists in 2016, hosting five of the world's ten most visited tourist attractions in 2013. Several sources have ranked Blix as the most photographed city in the world. Appalachio, iconic as the world's "heart," is the brightly illuminated hub of the city, and home to the world's busiest pedestrian intersections, and a major center of the world's entertainment industry. The names of many of the city's bridges, skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Anchored by Follyhall in the West Appa District of Marci Square, Blix has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial center of the world. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the Urban Blix Underground (UBU) is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 9303 stations in operation Over 1320 colleges and universities are located in Blix, including Blix University (BU), one of the most prestigious universities in the world, the University of South Blix (USB), the Provincial University of Quad Blix in Blix (PUQaB), City University Blix (CityB), Bernard University, Dumezweni University, Marci Square University, and many others.

Since the MonoBlix ascendency and the secession of Delongo, Blix has become a showcase city of President Katie Lee's national government. The Nockley Tower has become a symbol of the city, and is a world symbol of the PDRD and its ideals of equity and peace. In the 21st century, Blix has emerged as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance, and environmental sustainability, and as a symbol of freedom and cultural diversity.

History
L'Île de Blixe was first settled by the First Nation of Episkeewulise, which had a thriving community on the island until it was attacked in the Newland Crusades of King Buster. King Buster systematically killed all of the Episkeewulise nation, and settled the nation with a royal cottaging staff, and a royal family settled there: Lord Dorchester and his family. The family returned to Rupertland during the Rewelcoming of Newland under King Patrick in 1712.

In 1813, Ronald Kay Blix settled on the island with several thousands Oilfolk, Mindonians, and British. His settlement had a substantial number of French and English speakers, with smaller Spanish and Portuguese communities. The settlement was originally named Blix, but later Marci Ann Blix suggested the name Blixe-du-Sud, so as to avoid the attraction of the British seeking to possibly expand. This was translated into South Blix in English.

Interestingly, following the death of Ronald Kay Blix in 1864, the city experienced an incredible rise of he number of French speakers. In fact, from 1878 to 1942, French was the lingua franca of the city, whereas before RKB's death, on average only 40% of the city spoke French. However, since 1942, English has been the most common bridge language between the highly diverse residents of the city. The French community left its mark all over Blix, most visibly with the Soleil Boulevard, and with the Blixian accent. French is currently experiencing an incredible and unexpected resurgence in Blix, along with in Nouvelle Montréal.

Geography
Blix is situated in the Delta de la Berri, where the Rivère Berri meets the Blixian Strait, which carries it to the Atlantic Ocean. The city is mostly situated on South Blix Island, but also has substantive populations on West Blix Island, Scorch Island, Bridge Island, and Rocket Island. The southern portion of the city directly faces the Atlantic, so mostly the northern portion of the island developed significant trade. The island is located quite far from the "Delongo Base," which has posed substantial engineering problems to Blix, which was not connected to the mainland until after WWI via three bridges stopping in West Blix and Lord's Island. Nearly 3/4 of the bridges connecting Blix to the base use Lord's Island. Without the island, a bridge wouldn't have been possible for at least a few more decades. The first bridge, the Blix Bridge, was an engineering marvel, and earned Blixians their reputation for building incredible bridges. In the 1980s, the wish of Marci Ann Blix that the square boundary roads be extended perpendicularly to connect to East Blix was granted. These were the first bridges connected Blix to the base without stopping on any islands. Since then, only five more have opened (two in Knottip, one in Hockley, one in Kingsfort, and in 2016 one opened in Grand Laurier, connecting to Jala).

Cityscape
The city has a remarkably diverse range of cityscapes, from the smoggy and extremely high-density residential clusters of the Lorx and the Northwestern Marci Square, to the modern glass skyscrapers of Beckerham, Manlieu, and Seng Keng, to the classical dense, but low skylines of Blix Heights, and Murphson.



Parks
Blix has many parks, notably including the New China Park, Equatorian Park, Parc de la Pyramide, and Guard Green. On West Blix Island, the Fields constitute their largest park, and the largest in the city.

Highway Infrastructure
Blix has an extensive network of highways, mostly constructed during the GBD to create jobs. These highways are quite congested. All bridges and tunnels are owned and operated by the Blix Port Authority, a federal entity responsible for regional, national, and international transportation in the UBA.
 * Queen Victoria Way Route 1 (Rochester Blvd.)
 * Trans-Delongo 120 (Ennui Ave.)
 * King George Way Route K1
 * Raphener Expressway
 * East Delongo Corridor (Hwy 87)
 * Oilman-Blix (Hwy 0)
 * Trans-Canada (Hwy 59)
 * New York City-South Matewood International Highway (Hwy 2207)
 * Hwy 1 (Welcome St.)

Traffic
Blix experiences major rush hours within the city, and the entire Urban Blix Area. The common rush hours are 6AM-10AM and 4PM-7PM, on Fridays and Saturdays 9PM-1AM can also be fairly busy. The most congested road is easily Interruption St., which has gone under major lane expansions several times over the past decade.

Public Transportation
Public transportation is managed by the Blix Port Authority, a federal entity responsible for regional, national, and international transportation in the Urban Blix Area, including in the parts of the UBA in the province of Vue Baie.

Urban Blix Underground
The Urban Blix Underground (or more commonly the 'UBU,' 'SBU,' or even just the underground,' is the largest and busiest underground rail system in the world. It was created in 1934, and has since partnered with Express to create more trains and routes. The entire island is connected to the underground, and extensive connections have also been made with the entire UBA.

Buses
The city has a massive bus network within the suburbs and the urban districts. Users of the buses enjoy relatively low rates, in comparison to other bus networks.

The Central Blix Port Authority Bus Terminal (CPABT), located in Appalachio, is the largest bus terminal in the world. The CBPABT uses a tunnel connecting to Marci East to avoid congesting Soleil Blvd. and Ohtahlay. The tunnel contains four lanes, two for traffic and two for bus layover/parking (this has alleviated the need for a Marci Square bus depot). The Marci East Bridge, connecting Marci Square and East Blix has two bus lanes, one in each direction. These bus lanes are monitored by Blix Port Authority at the East Blix bridge entrance in order to coordinate bus arrivals and gates with the CBPABT.

Express
Blix has also been a large advocate for the national express underground rail system. The underground primarily exists below the urban sewer network, and is rarely seen in the suburbs due to the loudness of the trains. But, with the urbanization causing more to move into condos, more and more citizens are using the express regularly as an alternative to the very busy highways and roads, and the expensive airplane tickets.

Express has also increasingly been used for inner-city transport, as a faster alternative to the Urban Blix Underground, because it allows for quicker transport in the very large city. No other Delongonian city has seen this increase because the benefits of quickness do not exist, except perhaps in South Matewood. The UBA has also seen massive numbers of commuters taking the express instead of the roads.

Air
The UBA is served by several large airports, owned by the Delongonian Air Authority and operated by the Blix Port Authority. The Marci Ann Blix International Airport is located in the Blixian borough of Upeast and is the largest airport on South Blix Island. The Ronald Kay Blix International Airport is the world's busiest airport by passenger volume, and is located on West Blix Island. The Blix Xi Gao-Dion International Airport, opening in 2020, is meant to serve the Off-Island portions of the UBA, especially North Blix and Jala. These three airports are connected by the circular UBU AIRPORT rapid transit service.

Boroughs
Blix is divided up into 52 boroughs. Following is a list of them, and their populations in 2020.

Westly Quarter
Population: 37,567,643

Quarter Capital: New Kensington

Largest Borough: Seng Keng

Historically New Kensington and Huffington have been the largest and most important boroughs of the quarter, but today Sengkeng is by far the quarter's greatest economic and cultural centre, rivalling Marci Square and Manlieu as Blixian interests. The Westly Quarter government is known for pushing through the West Connector project, despite major concerns from the West borough, which was mostly demolished, and from the Northly Quarter. The Westly Quarter is the smallest on-island quarter in land and population. It contains some of the most and least wealthy boroughs in the city.

Northly Quarter
Population: 86,705,580

Quarter Capital and Largest Borough: Marci Square

All the boroughs of the Northly Quarter have stayed the same since 1828. Formerly all areas in the Quarter outside of Marci Square were part of the White Wall borough, but after the Civil War this was amended and White Wall was divided into 9 boroughs, including White Wall. Marci Square is the largest borough and capital of the city.

Equatorial Quarter
Population: 86,494,437

Quarter Capital: Blix Heights

Largest Borough: Equatorian

Blix Heights has always played an important role in Blixian politics, and after the Civil War, Ronald Kay Blix moved here. Today Manlieu is the economic and cultural centre of the quarter, with The Lorx also becoming a major cultural centre. Hachioji is also developing quickly. Equatorian is the capital and largest borough, but is mostly residential. The Equatorian Park is the largest park in the city of Blix.

Until 1921, all of the quarter was either part of Equatorian or Blix Heights. In 1921, several parts split off, and then in the 1930s some more split off.

Eastly Quarter/New Orient
Population: 82,791,444

Quarter Capital and Largest Borough: Murphson

Murphson has dominated this quarter, in governance and in population. It is the most different from the other quarters, and the only quarter to have some suburbia in it.

Until the late 1940s, the quarter was largely poor and industrial, drawing workers from the area and Equatorial quarter. Indeed, the area only had three boroughs (Upeast, Downeast, and Easttip) created in 1853 because there were no boroughs there and RKB wanted the whole island divided up. In the 1950s Elijah Murphson, a prominent ex-American industrialist lobbied the Blix City Hall to create more boroughs because the three were very mismanaged and large. They made the south part of Upeast (present day Murphson) a new borough called Murphson, and the area was ruled with authoritarian might. Murphson called for the total destruction of most of the borough, and by the 1960s the area was redeveloped into dense suburbia. Today these homes are the only suburban homes on the island, and so are tremendously expensive.

Islands and West Blix
Population: 22,540,896 (2020)

Quarter Capital and Largest Borough: West Blix

Rocket Island voted to join the City of Blix in 1912, with Bridge Island voting to do the same in 1919. There were several renewed efforts for Scorch Island to join the City of Blix as part of an effort to make the entire Berri Archipelago part of the city. These efforts were not successful until 1984. In 2014 West Blix voted to merge with South Blix, finally fulfilling RKB's wish to have the cities merge into one.

Language
Data from the 2013 Census. On average, each Blixian is able to speak 3.02 languages. English is by far the most used language, but Mandarin is rapidly growing in South Blix. In 2017, 83.4% of Blixians reported that their primary language spoken at home was not English, but at work 63.1% of Blixians reported they mostly speak English. English has become the primary lingua franca between Blixians, followed by Mandarin and Arabic.

Until the 1920s, only English and French could be commonly heard on the streets if Delongo. In fact, from 1878 to 1942, French was the most spoken language in Blix. Today, the French community has moved north to Vue Baie, and what is left is mostly second-language French speakers from local schools. The French community left its mark on Blix, with its famous street: Soleil Boulevard (or Sun Boulevard). Without the French, it is doubtful that Blix would have built such a successful nightlife.

Population
All estimates are via Stats.del. 1- The jump from 300 to over 70,000 has sparked much controversy. RKB managed to get many people from the nation of Blix to come to Blix City, and also Europeans from Oilman, also, perhaps the largest factor is that in 1819, RKB traveled to England to raise awareness of the new nation. New trading routes were opened with Britain, and many immigrants came to Blix City.

2- At this point, the Great Blix Depression begins. The population goes down steadily, but not rapidly as many citizens cannot afford to leave.

3- At this point, the Great Blix Depression ends. The BRM as a whole rapidly begins to grow in population, South Blix in particular.

Education
See: Education in South Blix

Twin/friendship cities

 * Ritz (1891)
 * Jala, QB (2004)
 * Rupertland City (2010)
 * London (1920)
 * Paris (1920)
 * New York (2015)
 * Montréal (1962)
 * Beijing (1988)
 * Tokyo (1926)
 * Shanghai (1973)
 * Delhi (1973)
 * Istanbul (2013)
 * Algiers (1937)
 * Mexico City (1946)
 * Seoul (1952)