[* rachel *]

ISLE OF SILLMORE

first and foremost, this is the most expensive realty in the country. there are relatively few houses on the island and they all have enormous grounds. it's an incredibly clean and organised place with lots of greenery and pavements and streetlights. i'm not sure what actual place to compare it to, but, from what i know and i've never been to the us, it's kind of like the hamptons.

there is a small harbour on the island and that is basically the only way you could get on. sure, there are beaches all around it - it's an island, that's fairly obvious, but the only one you could physically dock in is the harbour. it's very tidy and not at all dockland-ish. people would get very cross if it were, so there are many yachts anchored there and a luxury ferry carries those who do not go by private means.

the town on the island is also small and is basically a couple of neat little houses. a post office, a grocer's, a cafe, a bookshop/coffee-shop some other shops. it's very very tidy. everything is always spotless and people milling about look like something out of a small town story scene, you know, with people leaning out of the windows going, "JOLLY NICE DAY."

social life on sillmore is very important as most of the social butterflies live there. there are constantly balls, concerts, parties. it's hectic to think that on such a small, worthless piece of land so much is actually taking place.

now for what you really want to know:

WHO LIVES THERE all crowleyan officials and some optimus - if they're really lucky
HOW DID THEY GET THERE they were friends with elizabeth, simple as that. when a family dies out or something then their house is given to another family by the ministry, since technically they have ownership of the island. or, well, elizabeth does.
WHO ELSE the people in the town, obviously would also live there and the servants of the big houses. i'd think that there'd be many of those.

ISLE OF STRALIZIA.

the island is the exact opposite of sillmore. it's dingy, very very ugly with lots of block like buildings and nothing really nice about it. there is a harbour that you have to go into to get on the island, this is much more strictly controlled then on sillmore. you physically CANNOT get on - it isn't a practicality thing. there are charms in place that stop you from entering/exiting.

anyway, the town is small and all warehouses and blocks (literally - blocks) of flats. there's a couple of stores - like a grocery one and stuff. the people who live here work on the island, which in itself means that they aren't very high up in society. also, the stralizia housing is free for anyone who gets a job there, so a lot of down-and-outs go work on the island for free room.

the only half decent place on the whole godforsaken island is the slave auction ground, and that really depends on whether you're buying or being bought. it's the town square, so people are always milling about. it is an expensive pastime, owning a slave, but a lot of people put up with it. tough life but someone has to do it. yeah. right.

the extradition camp is kind of like, aushwitz? yes. that would be a good description.

the prison is reminiscent of alcatraz in the days when it was open, crossed with azkaban in the books.

as for the maculosus housing, it's sort of like nazi concentration camp barracks crossed with the barracks from 'of mice and men' (by john steinbeck).

that's all i can tell you about it.

WHO LIVES THERE the prisoners, most maculosus and security.
HOW DID THEY GET THERE the prisoners were brought there, the maculosus were born there - and have no chance of leaving unless they are sold as slaves and security came there for free room and board.
WHO ELSE people buying slaves, mostly. the scientists who experiment on muggles and other creatures.

[* rachel *]

DUMTAXAT

it's a massive, massive school, not as grand as hogwarts, so no secret passages or anything of the sort but it's absolutely gigantic. the building was adapted from an old country house but added to. it wasn't as big to start off with so there are plenty of misfit looking extensions all over the place and the style varies drastically from different parts of the building.

for instance, the original house, built in the 1980's was a sort of rip off of times long gone - even in those far away days. when elizabeth recruited the house for academic purposes, the extensions are in a fairly modern, clean style typical of the early 2000's. the house looks like a badly made puzzle, really, and it is by no means a masterpiece of modern architecture.

the grounds are moderate sized, or were to begin with. due to the extensions, the greenhouse and all other sections now occupying the grounds, there's just a small park type thing with a lawn and a few trees on the sides. they do not have enough space to have a quidditch field, but they definitely have a mini-field at the sidelines which many people waste valuable hours playing on.

the atmosphere's nice and relaxed and despite the general ugliness of the place, people really do enjoy it and don't really mind that it isn't the world's Most Beautiful. it certainly isn't.

NEQUAM

if dumtaxat can be considered ugly, nequam is grotesque. it's a large, grey cement building with peeling paint in the few places where they bother to paint. it looks, as we would probably say, like your stereotypical public school, only that the students there study magic.

surprisingly, although the school is far less prestigious than dumtaxat, it was luckier with the amount of grounds. there is a quidditch pitch and a garden as well. the garden isn't all that fancy simply because the care taker doesn't have the time to make it look like a botanical garden, but there are a few flower-beds and a lawn. it's minimalism at its finest, so proud nequam kids will tell you.

being a day school, there aren't always people milling about, only during the day. they are gone at night which makes it less important for there to be finery. after all, the kids will go home, thank god, right?