Fabletown

Fabletown is the clandestine community of "Fables" resident in New York in the Fables comic book universe. It exists in two locations, one being Bullfinch Street in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and the other on a large farm, protected with magical spells that repel non-Fables (generally referred to as Mundanes, or, informally, "Mundys") in upstate New York State.

The New York City Fabletown is restricted to Fables who are, or can pass as, normal humans. Non-human-looking Fables are restricted to the "Farm," which is resented by many of them, as they feel that, regardless of the Farm's comforts and large size, to quote Posey of the Three Little Pigs, "it is a prison, because we aren't allowed to leave!"

While Fabletown is run, ostensibly, along democratic lines, in practice many of the same people have stayed in office for centuries, at least until recently. The longtime mayor was Old King Cole, who delegated much of his work to his assistant, first Ichabod Crane, and after Crane's resignation to avoid charges of sexual harassment, Snow White. The sheriff of Fabletown was The Big Bad Wolf, now known as Bigby Wolf, who had acquired the ability to assume human form. Bigby was hampered in his work by the agreement that had made him part of the Fable community; many of the less-human Fables had suffered his predations in the "Homelands," and one part of the compromise that was struck to allow him to join the others in the New World was that he should never, ever be allowed on the Farm under any circumstances whatsoever.

Cole was eventually ousted by the manipulations of Prince Charming. Charming wanted the job of Mayor because he saw only the perks of high office and not the responsibilities, which led him to make some rash campaign promises, particularly with respect to providing free glamour spells to non-human Fables, allowing them to pass as human and so be able to leave the Farm. Unfortunately, he neglected to consult with Frau Totenkinder and the other resident magic-users before making this promise, leaving him in an uncomfortable position when they informed him that they were already close to the limit of what could be managed and that there was no way that they could mass-produce the spells as he had unwisely promised. His inability to live up to these promises has led to frequent calls for his resignation,but he remains in office for the time being. Neither Snow nor Bigby were willing to work alongside the new Mayor; both resigned, with Bigby going into self-imposed exile and Snow moving to the Farm to look after their children. Charming has appointed Beauty and the Beast to take their places as Deputy Mayor and Sheriff respectively. Both are settling into their roles and even Charming seems to be finally learning that there are consequences to his actions (something several centuries of privilege and living on the kindness of others had failed to teach him).

Fabletown predates the British acquisition of New York, and has always been kept deeply secret from the mundane authorities. It has its own system of laws, including capital punishment or imprisonment at hard labor on the Farm for criminal Fables, or those who reveal their true nature to Mundanes.