There is no place in particular that's based on anywhere in particular. Everything is multicultural - take Kruvaria, for example, which is simply described as a city of arts. That can be anything - the only person we have taking advantage of that so far is fishy, and all the stuff her characters create is going to have a really obvious real-world cultural influence, but that doesn't mean that Kruvaria itself is going to be an entire city built on black culture - it's a melting pot, like all of Evertrue. I, personally, don't like applying real-world cultural influences to fantasy world because I feel like if you're going to do that, you should just make it the real world to begin with, then add magic. I prefer my fantasy worlds to be mixing pots of all different things, some with influence from real-world cultures and some completely unique.
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, the isolated town of Eastway Bluff, high in the mountains and right on the edge of the border between Evertrue and lands that don't matter, began to develop something of a mean streak. Petty crimes were rising and the guards, in their reports to King Guillaume, the great-grandfather of our current ruler King Phillippe, expressed their concern that something sinister might be brewing. Guillaume declared that the guards in Eastway were to be doubled and that he expected them to be stricter in order to get the city under control.
After these orders were issues, the guards were doubled, but before the month was up, more than half of the newly-posted guard had been murdered in what was then the most gruesome and rapid string of murders in Evertrue's non-wartime history. The guards, their captain, and the King could not determine whether it was a single serial killer's work, an organized crime syndicate of some sort, or just several unlinked murders by townsfolk who didn't like their illegal activities being stopped.
Over the next decade or so, all of Guillaume's attempts to retake the city were met with resistance. Dispatched guards vanished, turned up murdered, or became corrupt. Attempts to clean up the city by providing citizens with nice things - parks, decorations, upscale shops - were flat-out ignored. The crime strings never seemed to spread, however, and it was Guillaume's wife, Queen Thèrésa, who may have figured out what the problem was. Late one night, while the couple engaged in pillow talk and Guillaume relayed to her the gist of the most recent report on Eastway activity, Thèrésa commented to him, "It's as if the city itself is working against you."
Guillaume realized, after hearing his wife's wise words, that maybe there was something deeper at work here. It had been eleven years of tirelessly working away at the city - losing countless men, creating hundreds of widows and bastardizing children - and maybe, just maybe, it was time to declare Eastway Bluff a lost cause.
The captain withdrew most of his men from the city. Those who remained were the ones who had really taken to life in Eastway, either those who had found themselves entangled in the crime scene or those who were absolutely determined to continue fighting the crime.
Guillaume's son and grandson both launched new attempts when they took over the throne, but both quickly realized what had stopped their predecessors. When Phillippe's father lay on his deathbed and wrote out final instructions - the most important things that he didn't want his son to have to figure out on his own - for Phillippe, he explained that something dark was at work in Eastway Bluff and that, while it always looked like he didn't care about it on the paperwork, the truth was that Eastway Bluff was a lost cause.
Most organized crime and major crimes stay in Eastway Bluff, not spreading to other cities. The guards in the city are either corrupt or fighting a losing battle. The captain no longer delivers reports on the city to Phillippe and Clarice. Clarice has no idea how bad things are there. She's only been Queen for four years and if it weren't for the fact that Phillippe is sick, her position as Queen would basically just be a position as royal heir-producer. So Clarice's horrified reaction to what happened in Sapphire City is more than justified, even given what happens in Eastway Bluff on a day-to-day basis.
As for the lizard assassin, I personally like the idea of some innocent lizard person being arrested for a crime he didn't commit, but I know Clarice won't convict a man unless they're 100% certain and it doesn't seem like Diodora and Allora to make that kind of mistake.
