americanwizarding: Circle’s Corner, Washington D.C. While the Bureau Offices for the Nine Agen

americanwizarding:

Circle’s Corner, Washington D.C.

While the Bureau Offices for the Nine Agencies are spread out across the territories of the  AWC, the central governance for the Confederation has never been far removed from its muggle counterparts. This is due, in part, to the need for the authorities of Congress to keep careful tabs on the doings of their muggle counterparts, and also for the purely practical purposes of geographic accessibility. In the early days of the AWC the location that came to be known as the District of Columbia was central to the main population located up and down the eastern coast. As the magical population spread westward, its largest and most influential population remained in those eastern states. So it was that a shadow community grew alongside the burgeoning community in the District of Columbia, and in time came to be known as Circle’s Corner.

Hidden by the careful geometric patterns used to design the District, the government of the AWC managed to secret its centers of power throughout the city. Those who know how to navigate the slantwise streets and their arcane patterns will find themselves on hidden roads leading to the great, black marble buildings that house the Congress, the Congressional President’s Manor, the Courts of the High Wizengamot, and a host of smaller buildings that host the offices of various committees and local departmental representatives. The original residential district for most wizards wanting to live in the capital was originally located to the north west of the city, located beside a creek known as Slash Run in the brick-making area. When the muggle community began expanding after their civil war, the wizarding community had to work diligently to disguise its presence and maintain its privacy. The construction of a traffic-circle in 1871 provided them the perfect means of doing so, as circles are the most potent form for warping and confining space.

Circle’s Corner is modernly a small neighborhood located off what is currently known as Dupont Circle in the north-western region of the District of Columbia. For those who know the secrets of stars, wind, and sea, the path to the neighborhood is apparent from the center-most point of the circle. The Corner, as it is colloquially called, is largely constructed in an italianate style, and while many of the original structures were large, private homes, they have largely been broken down into smaller flats and town houses. Circle’s Corner mostly houses those witches and wizards working for the AWC in a federal capacity, but is also a popular destination for those hoping to see the Smithsonian and the great monuments of wizarding America, constructed in the secret spaces of the capital. Despite being the heart of a city, Circle’s Corner is best defined by its broad thoroughfares, tree-lined boulevards, and open parks.

Of course, the wedging of a whole community into what is the next best thing to the Zero-degree of a traffic-circle has some upsetting effects on the landscape around it, and both the TRT and DSO must always be on their guard to ensure the leakage of space doesn’t cause too many traffic problems at the heart of the nation’s capital.