Raptureedit

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An image of Jack looking down on Rapture, from the BioShock Launch Trailer.
One of the many examples of Rapture's once lavish and elaborate exterior architecture.
"I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question: Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor. No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God. No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone. I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture. A city where the artist would not fear the censor. Where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality. Where the great would not be constrained by the small. And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well."
―Andrew Ryan

Rapture is a massive underwater city created by Andrew Ryan to escape from the political, social, and religious anxiety of a post-World War II world. It was officially opened to citizens on November 5, 1946 and finished in late 1951. It is located at 63° 2' N, 29° 55' W, which places it at about two hundred sixty-nine miles west of Iceland's capital, Reykjavik.

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[edit] Overview

Rapture's rumored location.

Built by Andrew Ryan, Rapture sits at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, a metropolis of massive Art Deco-styled[1] buildings connected by a network of glass tunnels and a Bathysphere system, appearing to be the size of Manhattan New York, New York. The city is completely self-sustaining, and all of its electricity, food, water and air purification and defense system are powered by the volcanic vents in Hephaestus. Rapture is intentionally isolated from the world, and the only way to access it seems to be bathyspheres taken down from the lighthouse perched on an island above.

In terms of its philosophical underpinnings, Rapture can best be described as a "gulch," a term derived from Galt's Gulch in the Ayn Rand[2] novel Atlas Shrugged[3]. A "gulch" is a localized underground economic and social community of freedom-minded individuals and differs from a commune in that it is uniquely freedom-focused, and so upholds individual and property rights rather than operating by the rules of a collective community.


[edit] Rapture's Goal

"No Gods or Kings. Only Man."

Andrew Ryan probably named his city after the goal he set in mind: To create a paradise free from all the people he saw as "parasites", a place of true rapture.

The original goal of Rapture was to create a capitalist society free of religion and government, where any citizen could achieve for his or her own gain, rather than for the altruistic fulfillment of the wants of others. The "world's best and brightest" were granted freedom of will and choice in Rapture, unrestrained by government, religion and similar established institutions. Instead of abiding by the morally idyllic restrictions imposed by these institutions, values such as logic and scientific reason were to guide the inhabitants in their pursuit of achievement.

However, the would-be utopia had its problems. In Rapture's purely capitalistic society, with no social programs whatsoever, everything within the city was privately owned and came with a price. This included the city's food, health care, sanitation, and even its oxygen supply. There were few, if any, defined norms for businesses and labor, allowing unscrupulous business practices (such as overpriced vending products) to flourish.

This system alienated Rapture's less fortunate citizens, who began to resent Ryan as naive and elitist. Andrew Ryan's hostility to "parasites" and his paranoia of these poorer citizens led to the downfall of his self, as well as his city. His edict that the outside world never be permitted to learn of Rapture's existence enabled a man named Frank Fontaine to build his criminal empire through smuggling. Unlike the capitalistic Ryan, the former mobster could not be satisfied by mere material wealth - he wanted Rapture to be subject to his dominion. Fontaine would go on to start a civil war that sealed Rapture's doom, under the alias Atlas.

[edit] Transportation

The tower which houses one of the ways to Rapture.

Transportation within Rapture is provided by Rapture Metro, a connected bathysphere system, which consists of spherical pressurized capsules, through which citizens could access most areas of the city. Part of Rapture Metro is the bathysphere inside the remote lighthouse in the North Atlantic, which is Rapture's only entrance from the outside. Another mode of transportation within Rapture is the Atlantic Express, a pressurized rail system for moving larger number of citizens. Other areas of Rapture are connected through bulkhead doors. Areas within some levels are connected by glass tunnels: smaller ones for pedestrians; larger ones for tramways of a rail system between the areas of Olympus Heights and Apollo Square.

[edit] Science

Ryan believed that scientific achievement in the world was being restricted by "petty morality," so he ensured that the inhabitants of Rapture could explore paths of inquiry previously deemed too immoral or controversial to follow. Some scientific breakthroughs were in robotics, bringing about an advanced automated security system; others in biology, where developments advanced in the restoration of life, both in plants (the Lazarus Vector) and humans (the Vita-Chamber). There were also some technological advancements regarding items that were created before it was commercially availible on the surface, such as portable audio recording devices (approx 5 years earlier) and automatic doors (8 years earlier at the most).

One of the major breakthroughs achieved in Rapture was the discovery of ADAM, unstable stem cells from a species of sea slug, and this led to the creation of plasmids and gene tonics. Essentially, ADAM allowed a user to splice new genetic material into the user's DNA, enhancing health and intellect, and even giving superpowers. However, ADAM was soon found to cause physical and mental damage as more of the user's native cells were replaced by unstable stem cells. The need for ADAM became an addiction, which became more pronounced by excessive splicing, mainly during and after Rapture's civil war.

[edit] Beginning of the End

On December 31 1958, a massive working-class riot, led by Atlas, occurred in upper-class locations (such as the Kashmir Restaurant). This sparked a civil war between Atlas and Andrew Ryan. This was mainly due to the addictive need for ADAM in most of the city's residents. During the 1959 New Year's Eve Riots, traditional ballistic weapons and plasmids were used on both sides. The major conflict lasted about four months, but the violence continued to break apart the society of Rapture. In the multiplayer mode of BioShock 2 the player gets to participate in the warfare that caused the fall of Rapture. In the end, almost all of the sane population of the city was killed by Splicers, or committed suicide, and ordered society in Rapture came to an end.

[edit] Religions

Beliefs in Rapture that many Splicers follow:

  • The Rapture Family - Everyone owes each other a sense of unity and brotherhood. This is the most recent cult to have appeared in Rapture, having been created and promoted by Sofia Lamb and Father Wales.
  • The Great Chain - Belief in self-interest and free markets that unite the people. This is more of a philosophy than a religion, as it is a belief promoted by Andrew Ryan who is a staunch atheist.
  • Christianity - Belief in the Christian God and Christ as the savior of humanity. This is more of an underground cult in Rapture, as it is officially banned. This ban has somewhat backfired, giving rise to religious fanaticism (as shown by the Waders Splicer type).
  • Atheism - Belief that deities do not exist. This is the official religious stance imposed by Andrew Ryan.
  • The Saturnine Cult- elements of paganism and nature worship. According to Julie Langford, worshippers of this cult drink human blood as well as cups full of Plasmids (most likely raw ADAM). They also believe they have been "touched" by the ancient gods.

[edit] Items

Main article: Items

Items in Rapture that helped the player during the game:

[edit] Businesses

Main article: Businesses

Companies that were founded in ads or posters around Rapture:

[edit] Explorable Areas

Main article: Locations

During the journey through BioShock, the player will explore the following areas of Rapture.

[edit] Other Areas

Areas that were either removed from the final game or have yet to be explored in BioShock 2

[edit] Trivia

  • The names of a majority of the locations in Rapture are inspired by gods and locations from ancient Greek, Roman and Biblical culture.
  • Although contact with the surface was forbidden, the surface bathysphere was not disabled (although still under genetic lock). Jack and Orrin Oscar Lutwidge were able to enter Rapture via this method.
  • Much of the external architecture of Rapture was inspired by the work of Hugh Ferriss[4], who created perspective drawing of New York buildings in the early 1900s.[5]
  • The bathysphere lighthouse tower bears a striking resemblance to the Lighthouse of Alexandria[6], one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
  • The main lobby of the bathysphere lighthouse is almost identical to that of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California.[7]
  • Rapture is similar to the mythical lost city of Atlantis[8] in many respects. Both of them are underwater cities isolated from the rest of the known world, and their inhabitants were able to master technology far more advanced that what had been discovered on the surface. Both became plagued with corruption, which led to their ruin.
  • The name Rapture is inspired by the biblical term, meaning an event in which the faithful will be take to heaven.[9]

[edit] References

  1. ↑ Art Deco on Wikipedia
  2. ↑ Ayn Rand on Wikipedia
  3. ↑ Atlas Shrugged on Wikipedia
  4. ↑ Hugh Ferriss on Wikipedia
  5. ↑ BioShock 2 Q & A: "It's More Personal This Time", IGN interview with Hogarth De La Plante by Michael Thomsen, IGN.com
  6. ↑ Lighthouse of Alexandria on Wikipedia
  7. ↑ Griffith Observatory on Wikipedia
  8. ↑ Atlantis on Wikipedia
  9. ↑ Rapture on Wikipedia
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