Rapture Storyline

History of Rapture
A city was built at the bottom of the sea somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean on November 5, 1946. The city's founder, Andrew Ryan, called it Rapture. It was designed to be an ideal utopia; so that art, industry, and science would go about undisturbed by interventions from governments and other social agencies. Rapture was designed to be entirely self-supporting, with all of its electricity, food production, water purification and defense systems powered by undersea volcanic openings. Rapture's population numbered several thousand at its peak during the early 1950's, composed of those people Ryan viewed as the "best examples" of mankind.

Sometime between 1949 and 1951, Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum happened to be wandering around the fisheries of Rapture, and noticed that an individual who had his hands paralyzed in the war was playing catch. After inquiring as to the reason behind the revival of his hands, the man told her that he was bitten by a sea slug. Tenenbaum asked the man for the sea slug, knowing that she had discovered something amazing, and began to search for a benefactor who would fund her research.

Tenenbaum was scoffed at by all of the other scientists in Rapture, until she found a man named Frank Fontaine, an individual that had a distinguished name in Neptune's Bounty. He agreed to fund Tenenbaum's research and development as long as he was able to profit from the findings in the end. He funded her research using the profits he had acquired from his smuggling ring (objects from the surface are illegal in Rapture), and her research began taking off. She quickly found that a substance the sea slugs secreted acted a lot like stem cells, and she was able to manipulate DNA entirely. She was able to "bend the double-helix", cure diseases, and give organisms amazing powers. Due to the substance being a "rebirth" for humanity, they dubbed the substance "ADAM".

It was shortly after the discovery of ADAM when they had their next breakthrough: If the slug was implanted into a host, it would produce twenty to thirty times the original amount of ADAM. Presumably they tried to insert the slug into the stomachs of various other test subjects, but only one subject seemed to work well with the slug: little girls. After this discovery, they started to implant the slugs into little girls, which they dubbed "Little Sisters". Once they were able to produce ADAM in a massive scale, the selling of gene tonics and plasmids (developed by Yi Suchong) went mainstream, selling them to any individual that could afford them. These tonics and plasmids allowed individuals to do superhuman things, such as create fire at their fingertips (Incinerate!), release a swarm of bees from their arms (Insect Swarm), or increase muscle tissue and moving speed (SportBoost). Originally, Andrew Ryan enjoyed the success of Frank Fontaine, citing him as a prime example of the type of individual that should be inhabiting Rapture.

A few years passed, and Andrew Ryan began suspecting Fontaine of various crimes, ranging from smuggling to murder. A full-scale genetic arms race broke out between Ryan and Fontaine, as Fontaine's monopoly on ADAM threatened the current social structure. Andrew Ryan then attempted to arrest Fontaine; but Fontaine decided that he himself wanted to go down "guns blazing" and faked his death during the shootout in late 1958. After this, Andrew Ryan assumed control of Fontaine Futuristics, and began to produce plasmids and tonics within his own company, Ryan Industries. There was a lot of unrest with the public during the upcoming months, which lead up to the 1959 New Year's Eve Riots, where the lower-class and disenfranchised citizens who supported Fontaine attacked various key locations in the city that were run by the upper-class population. This event is the first large-scale battle of Rapture's Civil War. It was around this time that another individual, Atlas, appeared as a leader and supporter of the common man, working with the individuals who had taken residence in Fontaine's Home for the Poor.

Throughout 1959, a full-scale decline of Rapture took place, with many large battles occurring between the armies of Andrew Ryan and Atlas. Early 1959 also marked the creation of Big Daddies; heavily genetically modified individuals whose bodies were grafted into armored diver's suits and were tasked primarily with Rapture's structural maintenance and escort of the Little Sisters. Little Sisters would need to be able to travel safely around the city and extract the ADAM from the corpses left in the wake of the civil war, to be brought back to Ryan Industries. It was also during 1959 that Andrew Ryan began enacting all of his various laws, limiting the movement of the population, locking dissenters up in Apollo Square, shutting down the Bathysphere network, and putting the death penalty in place for anyone who broke these laws. The civil war ensued until the individuals who became insane from ADAM abuse started killing off all of the sane inhabitants of Rapture, and Andrew Ryan began to introduce a type of "pheromone" into the air, which reacted with the ADAM, allowing him to have slight mental control over the inhabitants. Once Ryan had complete control of the city, Atlas went into hiding, and the insane Splicers roamed the streets of Rapture on the search for more ADAM.

Jack Arrives at Rapture (BioShock)
Jack, a passenger on a commercial aircraft flying over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, reads a letter attached to a gift from home that begins "Dear Jack, would you kindly not open until..." (with the rest of the letter obstructed, it is later revealed the whole content of the letter during Andrew Ryan's speech at his office. It says: "To Jack, with love from Mom & Dad. Would you kindly not open until 63° 2° N, 29° 55° W"). The plane mysteriously crashes, and Jack "awakes" from a kind of blackout to find himself underwater. He is surrounded by sinking debris from the crash, as well as lost belongings from the passengers. As Jack surfaces, he swims for the only structure in sight: a lighthouse shining brightly among the dark night sky and ocean. It serves as the above-surface entry point into Rapture, a grand underwater metropolis.

After Jack enters the lighthouse (where appropriately, an instrumental version of the French song "La Mer" is playing, whose lyrics include: "Somewhere beyond the sea, he's watching for me..."), he descends into the ocean city using a bathysphere, as the history of Rapture is told through a prerecorded film narrative by Andrew Ryan, the city's founder. Upon arrival, a man awaits Jack's exit from the bathysphere, but is killed by a grotesque figure that is apparently insane. A man calling himself Atlas comes in over a shortwave radio inside the bathysphere, asking Jack "Would you kindly pick up that shortwave radio?" Atlas also informs Jack that he wants to keep him alive. After leaving the bathysphere and moving to safety, Atlas reveals that he has been cut off from his family by splicers; mutated citizens of Rapture that have either gone insane or answer to Andrew Ryan. Atlas believes that Jack is his only hope in reuniting with his wife and child, and tells Jack to find his way into Neptune's Bounty where his family is secretly waiting in a submarine.

Jack explores the way into Rapture with the guidance of Atlas until he discovers a Gatherer's Garden vending machine containing hypodermic needles. When Jack injects himself with one, Atlas tells Jack that his genetic code is being rewritten, and in a spasm of pain, Jack falls from a ledge and is knocked unconscious. After awakening, Jack continues on through the city, learning about the various traps, enemies, and resources, until he is discovered by Andrew Ryan, who communicates with the player over a television. Ryan believes that Jack is either an agent of the KGB or CIA, and he boasts to Jack of being invulnerable to the government influences of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America. The entrance to Neptune's Bounty is sealed off by a security alert, and Atlas tells Jack of an alternative route through the Medical Pavilion.

Medical Pavilion and the Security Lockdown
Jack escapes Ryan's henchmen to Rapture's medical complex, the Medical Pavilion, and continues to learn about Rapture and encounter its inhabitants. Throughout the game, Jack picks up audio diary recordings that reveal small pieces of the plot by themselves, but clear up significant mysteries when considered in full context. Throughout his journey through Rapture, Jack encounters various sorts of Splicers. Jack also experiences brief moments of psychic hallucinations in which he can see ghost figures walking about, talking, and interacting with each other. According to advertisements throughout the city, these hallucinations are a side effect of gene splicing oneself.

Through various recordings and hallucinations, Jack learns of Dr. Yi Suchong (a doctor whose involvement with plasmids, as well as his true role in the story, gets revealed later) and Dr. J.S. Steinman (a plastic surgeon who unlocked ADAM's cosmetic potential). Atlas informs Jack that Steinman has lost his sense of reality due to over-splicing, and is in pursuit of enforcing cosmetic perfection at any cost. In order for Jack to proceed, Steinman must be killed, as he has the key to override the security lockdown, which will enable Jack access to the bathysphere to Neptune's Bounty.

When Steinman is killed and the key is taken, Jack encounters a short battle on the way to override the security lockdown. A few Splicers are fighting a Big Daddy. The Big Daddy is finally killed by a large explosion, and a single Splicer is cornering the now unguarded Little Sister. Before Jack can intervene, Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum bursts upon the scene, and dispatches the Splicer with her pistol. Seeing that Jack is not a crazed Splicer, she informs him that she was heavily involved with the design of the Little Sisters, and that the Little Sisters possess ADAM. But regretful of what she has done, Tenenbaum tells Jack that he should have mercy on them, as they are still young girls. Atlas chimes in over the radio, telling Jack that he needs ADAM in order to survive Rapture, as it will make him stronger. Atlas says that the Sisters are no longer human girls, but monsters; the clear choice is to kill the Little Sister to obtain all the ADAM she has. Tenenbaum once again advises, saying that if Jack must have ADAM, there is an alternative choice to killing the Little Sister: using a plasmid that will safely remove the sea slug. This will spare the girl's life, but only yield half the amount of ADAM she has. As further incentive, Tenenbaum offers future gifts that will compensate Jack for the ADAM he loses in saving the girls. Caught between the opposing counsel of Atlas and Tenenbaum, Jack is faced with a choice.

Neptune's Bounty and the Smuggler's Hideout
From the bathysphere, Jack arrives at Neptune's Bounty, Rapture's main dock and fishery. Atlas tells Jack to make his way down to Fontaine Fisheries, where he meets Peach Wilkins. Even with the word of Atlas, Wilkins refuses Jack passage to the Fisheries; he believes Jack may be a an agent of Frank Fontaine sent to kill him for his disloyalty. Although, regardless of the news around Rapture, he does not believe Fontaine was killed, and thinks him alive. Wilkins eventually agrees to allow Jack passage based on one condition: Jack must bring him photos of Spider Splicers taken with a special biological Research Camera. As Jack explores Neptune's Bounty and takes the required photos, he learns through audio recordings about the discovery of ADAM, how Frank Fontaine founded a smuggling ring which funded Tenenbaum and ADAM research lateron, how Fontaine's dominance over the ADAM market is changing Rapture's social structure, how Andrew Ryan and Sullivan tried to bust the smuggling ring, and how Peach Wilkins began his involvement in smuggling for Fontaine, though he was torn between taking sides in order to save himself. Jack returns with the required photos, and Wilkins allows him access to the Fisheries as long as he gives up his weapons. Once Jack enters unarmed with conventional weapons, Wilkins and his Splicer smugglers ambush Jack, as he still believes him to be an agent of Fontaine. Through clever use of his plasmids, Jack defeats Wilkins and his smugglers, and finds the weapons that were taken from him.

After killing Wilkins, Atlas informs Jack that he is very close to the Smuggler's Hideout, where his family remains locked in a submarine, cut off by Ryan's Splicers. Exploring Fontaine Fisheries, Jack discovers the hidden pathway to the hideout. Ryan informs him over the shortwave radio not to help Atlas, or he will learn what it means to truly be his enemy. Jack arrives at the control room overlooking the dock with the submarine, and activates a switch that allows Atlas to arrive at the dock as well. As Atlas approaches the submarine, Ryan's Splicers begin swarming the dock area. Ryan's voice comes over the radio and taunts Jack, telling him that Atlas and his family will be killed, while he helplessly remains in the locked in the control room. Atlas, using his pistol, fights off the Splicers long enough to escape. But Ryan triggers explosives that destroy the submarine. Infuriated at Ryan's sadistic decision to destroy his family, Atlas tells Jack to get out and get to Arcadia.

Arcadia and Fort Frolic
Jack makes his way through a smuggling passage to Arcadia, Rapture's counterpart to New York City's Central Park and the supplier of the city's oxygen. Jack sees several posters of Atlas; Atlas reveals that 'you might hear things about me, see my name about. Think what you will. There was a time when I cared about politics, but it's just an excuse men use to kill one another. I'm done with all that. I just want to see the sunlight again'. Atlas tells Jack to head toward the bathysphere to exit the area, and as he heads toward his destination, Andrew Ryan releases a chemical into the air of Arcadia. All vegetation in the area is extinguished, and an automatic security lockdown is initiated; all of Arcadia's doors have been closed and sealed to conserve the remaining oxygen. Jack makes his way to Arcadia's research laboratories, where he is introduced to Professor Julie Langford over the intercom. She is the scientist who helped Ryan create the vegetation in Arcadia. Atlas and Langford are both equally dismayed at this stunning turn of events; without Arcadia's plants and trees, Rapture will only have a limited source of oxygen. Langford tells Jack that there is only one option available to reverse the damage done. Suddenly, Ryan's voice sounds over the shortwave radio reminding Langford of her work contract, as he releases a poison gas into her office that kills her. From her last two audio recordings, Jack learns the required information for the creation of the Lazarus Vector, which is a chemical designed to revive dead plant life. Jack locates the remaining necessary components to invent the Lazarus Vector, and releases it into the air of Arcadia. With the source of oxygen restored and the sealed doors now open, Jack has access to the bathysphere.

Jack enters into Fort Frolic, Rapture's central entertainment complex. Jack travels through the main walkway to the bathysphere, where he is suddenly denied access. Atlas's voice on the shortwave radio fades out, and is replaced by the voice of "Rapture's most beloved artist", Sander Cohen. Cohen remarks that he has blocked all radio transmissions from others, and that Jack's worthiness will be tested before he can have access to the bathysphere. Jack defeats the group of Splicers sent by Cohen as a test, and then is invited into Fort Frolic's Atrium area. Cohen then charges Jack with the task of helping him with his quadtych/masterpiece, which involves Jack taking photos of four of Cohen's former disciples, who have rebelled against him. Jack returns with the required photos, and completes Cohen's quadtych. Cohen then appears in person to to appreciate his masterpiece firsthand, and congratulates Jack by saying the way to Ryan is clear. Atlas comes in over the radio and implores Jack to leave using the bathysphere, so he can deal with Ryan.

Hephaestus and Rapture Central Control
At Hephaestus, Rapture's power production facility, Atlas informs Jack that Ryan has the genetic ey of Rapture. If Jack can get his hands on that, they can leave this hellhole. Jack battles through to the entrance to Ryan's office, only to find that it is sealed shut by an electromagnetic defense mechanism. He finds his way into the workshops, where he learns through audio recordings of a plot to dismantle Ryan's defense and assassinate him. Jack also learns of the device that was being assembled to destroy Ryan's defense. Unfortunately, the assembly of the EMP bomb was stopped mid-process, as Kyburz was killed by Ryan's Splicers before it could be completed. Jack obtains the remaining components, builds the EMP bomb, and detonates it, allowing his advance to Ryan's office. Before he enters, Ryan taunts both Jack and Atlas, saying that even without physical defenses, he will not be defeated.

Upon entering Rapture Central Control, Ryan's voice sounds over the shortwave radio.

"Even in a book of lies, sometimes you find truth. There is indeed a season for all things, and now that I see you flesh-to-flesh and blood-to-blood, I know I cannot raise my hand against you. But know this: you are my greatest disappointment. Does your master hear me!? Atlas! You can kill me, but you will never have my city! My strength is not in steel and fire, that is what the parasites will never understand. A season for all things! A time to live and a time to die, a time to build, AND A TIME TO DESTROY!"

At the end of his dialogue, Ryan activates Rapture's self-destruct mechanism, sending Atlas into a panic. With the urging of Atlas, Jack quickly travels to the room just outside of Ryan's office. There he finds a number of newspaper clippings and other papers attached to the wall, with the words "Would You Kindly" written in large over them. Jack also finds audio recordings and pictures of familiar people. Upon examination, it is revealed that Jack is the illegitimate son of Andrew Ryan and Jasmine Jolene. Jolene sold him as an embryo to Fontaine Futuristics, where he was genetically engineered and enhanced by Bridgette Tenenbaum and Yi Suchong, and conditioned to respond to the activation phrase, "Would you kindly".

Jack at last moves into the foyer of Ryan's office, only to find him casually putting golf balls behind a reinforced glass window.

"The assassin has overcome my final defense, and has come to murder me. In the end, what separates a man from a slave? Money? Power? No. A man chooses, a slave obeys. You think you have memories - a farm, a family, an airplane, a crash, and then this place. Was there really a family? Did that airplane crash, or was it hijacked, forced down. Forced down by something less than a man, something bred to sleepwalk through life, until they are activated by a simple phrase, spoken by their kindly master. Was a man sent to kill, or a slave? A man chooses, a slave obeys. Come in."

Ryan moves toward the door of his office, and Jack follows. As the doors open, Jack meets Andrew Ryan face to face, and he enters.

"Stop, would you kindly? (Jack reacts instantly, and obeys the command involuntarily) "Would you kindly". Powerful phrase. Familiar phrase? (Jack experiences a cascade of memories of Atlas ordering him around with the phrase, "Would you kindly") Sit, would you kindly? (Jack obeys) Stand, would you kindly? (Jack obeys) Run! Stop! Turn. (Jack obeys) A man chooses, a slave obeys. (Ryan hands Jack his golf club) Kill! (Jack obeys, striking him with the club) A man chooses! (Jack strikes again) A slave obeys! (Jack strikes again) OBEY! (Jack kills Ryan with a final, deadly attack)"

Atlas's voice comes back over the shortwave radio. He orders Jack once again with the phrase, "would you kindly", to take Ryan's genetic key to Rapture from his body, put it into the central control terminal. Jack obeys, and the self-destruct is averted. Atlas compliments Jack's work, and then breaks into a maniacal laughter, revealing he is actually Frank Fontaine. He derides Jack as a genetically-conditioned slave, and tells him even though he performed well, he never mixes business with friendship. Fontaine sends security bots to kill Jack, but he evades them with the assistance of "rescued" Little Sisters. They lead Jack through a crawlspace, but it gives way under him, causing him to fall through and get knocked unconscious.

Olympus Heights and Point Prometheus
Jack awakes in Tenenbaum's Safe House in the Olympus Heights, Rapture's luxury living and retail establishments. It is where rescued Little Sisters stay in sanctuary, and Bridgette Tenenbaum resides. Tenenbaum informs Jack that she has removed some of the mental conditioning that allow Fontaine to control him. Though, she also says that Frank Fontaine can pull some very unpleasant strings, and that Jack should explore Suchong's apartment in the Mercury Suites complex, since Suchong designed his mind. On the way through the Olympus Heights sewer network, Frank Fountaine's voice sounds over the shortwave radio, responding to Jack's alliance with Tenenbaum. Fontaine tries to order him to get himself killed with the phrase "would you kindly", but seeing that Jack no longer responds to it, Fontaine uses another phrase to which Jack is conditioned to respond to. After he utters Code Yellow, Jack experiences a moment of intense pain, and Fontaine explains that his heart is now on a slow and painful course of eventually stopping. Jack quickly finds his way to Suchong's apartment, where he discovers through an audio recording that there is an antidote to his genetic conditioning, but there is no trace of the antidote itself. Jack, with Tenenbaum's help, finds the first part of Lot 192 when he raids Fontaine's apartment, and the second part of Lot 192 in Suchong's clinic in the Artemis Suites. Jack is now free from Fontaine's control, and Fontaine breaks into a rage upon learning of this fact. Fontaine tells Jack that "laying all his chips on Mother Goose" isn't wise, since he's been double-crossed before. But at the counsel of Tenenbaum, Jack heads to Point Prometheus to confront Fontaine.

Upon Jack's surfacing in the bathysphere for Point Prometheus, the location where Big Daddies and Little Sisters are made, Fontaine is sighted in the room outside the bathysphere chamber. Fontaine taunts him and challenges him to a duel if he follows, all the while he is showing off his remarkable strength and power from splicing. Tenenbaum over the shortwave radio urges Jack to follow him, and Fontaine retreats to the Proving Grounds while sealing the door and destroying the switch. Tenenbaum tells Jack that the only way he can get access to and through the Proving Grounds is to have a Little Sister go through the small passage at the bottom of all the doors, and open them from the other side. Tenenbaum explains that the only way for the Little Sisters to trust and follow Jack is if they think he is a Big Daddy. With Tenenbaum's guidance, Jack finds and equips himself with a Big Daddy suit, has his voice surgically altered, and has himself doused in pheromones to fool the Little Sisters into thinking that he is a Big Daddy. Jack makes his way to the Proving Grounds, and now has to escort a Little Sister while she goes through the training course for ADAM gathering. After fending of multiple Splicer attacks, Jack arrives at the elevator to the room where Fontaine resides. Tenenbaum cautions Jack to prepare himself for a large battle, and that he needs to take the ADAM extraction needle from the Little Sister as that is the only way to defeat Fontaine

Confrontation with Fontaine
As the elevator carries Jack toward his destination, Frank Fontaine announces their short history. When Jack emerges from the elevator, he finds a Fontaine strapped to a metal device with several large tubes of ADAM pulsing straight into his body, and that is no longer recognizably human. He is roughly twice the height of a normal human being and possesses fiery, icy, and electric skin, as well as many deadly plasmid attacks. Jack battles Fontaine, attacking and damaging him constantly, repeatedly forcing Fontaine to teleport back to his ADAM injection device for stronger splicing. As Fontaine splices, Jack repeatedly drains his ADAM by attacking him with the ADAM extraction needle. Fontaine beats Jack to the ground while ranting about what has happened. Fortunately, Fontaine is weakened from the loss of so much ADAM, allowing Little Sisters emerging from their vents to swarm him. The Little Sisters pounce him, repeatedly stabbing Fontaine with ADAM extraction needles, supposedly killing him.

What happened to Jack after Fontaine's supposed death is unknown at this point. Two versions of the story persist, though both are strikingly different. In one account, it is said that Jack refuses the Key to Rapture after passing out, forsaking the city as a lost cause. He journeys with a group of Little Sisters to the surface, where they are offered the opportunity to live their own lives among the rest of human civilization. This is the "good" ending; it occurs if Jack saved all the Little Sisters. In the "bad" ending it is said that Jack is overcome with his need for ADAM, harvesting the Little Sisters that defeated Fontaine, and takes the Key to Rapture to usurp the city's resources for his own cause. Unsatisfied still, he forms his own army of Splicers in preparation for a conquest of the surface. This is the ending after Harvesting some of the Little sisters. Both of these can be considered canon as Tenenbaum escapes with some Little Sisters had the player recieved the "bad" ending, while Jack and Tenenbaum bring the Little sisters up to the surface for the "good" ending. Both give an opportunity for one of them to return to Rapture as the Big Sister.

Rise of the Big Sister (BioShock 2)
Whether Jack harvested or saved the Little Sisters, at some point in time he left Rapture and Tenenbaum soon followed with the remaining Little Sisters. The removal of Little Sisters would however have a chaotic effect on the remaining citizens of Rapture. Without the Little Sisters to recycle the ADAM from the corpses littering the city, ADAM became even more rare and the Splicers more violent, insane and monstrous due to severe ADAM withdrawal. However, the city eventually stabilized, itself and a new balance emerged.

A young woman came down from the surface. This woman once was a Little Sister, and she wants Rapture the way she remembers it. However, she's too old to function as a Little Sister now, so she attempts to turn herself into a Big Daddy, but only partly succeeds. Instead of a Big Daddy, she becomes the Big Sister who has enhanced plasmid powers and wears a diving suit similar to a Big Daddy. Taking the late Andrew Ryan's place, she rises above the Splicers and becomes the top predator of the city, but one thing is still missing in Rapture: the Little Sisters. With Ryan Industries and Fontaine Futuristics out of commission, no one is making new ones, so Big Sister is left with no choice but to go out into the world and kidnap girls all over the coast to make into new Little Sisters. Soon Rapture returns to the state she remembered it in and for three years, no one disturbs it. Dr. Tenenbaum then awakens The First Big Daddy, though for what purpose is unknown at this time. It is speculated that it is for the purpose of rescuing the kidnapped Little Sisters.