Rapture

"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-WWII world. It was officially christened on November 5, 1946. It is located at 63° 2' N, 29° 55' W (which would place it at about 259 miles South West of Iceland's capital, Reykjavik).

Overview
Built by Andrew Ryan, Rapture sits at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, a completely self-sustaining metropolis of massive buildings connected by a network of glass tunnels and a Bathysphere system. The city is completely self-sustainable, and all of its electricity, food, water and air purification and defense system are powered by the underwater 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 novel Atlas Shrugged. A "gulch" is a localized, underground economic and social community of freedom-minded individuals and differs from a utopia or a commune in that it is uniquely freedom-focused, and so upholds individual and property rights rather than operating by the rules of community property.

Rapture's Goal
The original goal of Rapture was to create a society free of God and government, where any citizen could achieve for his or herself, rather than for others' benefits. The "world's best and brightest" were mainly granted freedom of will and choice; they were unrestrained by government, religious organizations, or any other established institutions. Instead of these conventional forms of restriction, topics such as logic, science and reason were to guide the inhabitants. However, the would-be utopia had its problems. In Rapture's purely capitalistic society, completely devoid of any and all socialist programs, everything from health care to public restrooms and even the city's oxygen supply was privately owned and so came with a price tag. There were few, if any, standards for business and labor, allowing unscrupulous business practices to flourish. This system alienated Rapture's less fortunate citizens, who began to resent Ryan as naive and elitist. Furthermore, Ryan's paranoia and xenophobia led to the downfall of his city. His one edict—that the outside world never be permitted to learn of Rapture—enabled a former member of the Mafia named Frank Fontaine to build a criminal empire through smuggling. Unlike the idealistic Ryan, the former mobster could not be satisfied by mere material wealth—he desired domination. A civil war later ensued that reduced Rapture's splendor to ruins.

Transportation
Transportation within Rapture is provided by a connected Bathysphere system, which consist of small spherical submarines. There is only one entrance to Rapture, which is around in a remote lighthouse above the Atlantic Ocean. A number of railway systems exist which you use to reach each new area in the game. Other times you use Bathyspheres are in the beginning when you enter Rapture, and in the end when you either escape with the Little Sisters, or when you unleash your Splicer army beyond Rapture. Read the story section for more information on how you end the story.

Science
With science being unrestricted by, according to Ryan, "petty morality," inhabitants of Rapture could explore paths previously deemed immoral or too controversial to follow. One of the major breakthroughs achieved in Rapture was the creation of Plasmids, from ADAM, a substance created by a deep sea species of slug. Essentially, processed ADAM created stem cells in its host which allowed new genetic material to be "spliced" into the DNA of the host. However, drawbacks were later encountered by excessive splicing (mainly during and after the civil war) among common citizens of Rapture, such as cellular mutation involving permanent brain and physical damage.

Beginning of the End
On December 31, 1958, a massive riot of the working class citizens was led by Atlas upon higher class locations, such as the Kashmir Restaurant. This action was most likely done not just to begin a civil war in Rapture, but possibly to intimidate Ryan's administration as well. Despite prior conflicts with Fontaine's corrupt smuggling and plasmid industry, this blow definitively marked the end of Rapture as a functioning society. Although leading the working class, Fontaine's plasmids were used on both sides of the war.

Explorable Areas
During your journey through Rapture, you will explore the following areas.
 * Arcadia - Garden and Arboretum
 * Apollo Square - Transportation Hub and Fontaine Stronghold
 * Farmer's Market - Main Marketplace
 * Fort Frolic - Arts and Entertainment District
 * Hephaestus - Power Production Facility
 * Medical Pavilion - Main Medical Institution
 * Neptune's Bounty - Fishing Wharf
 * Olympus Heights - Hotels and Rooms
 * Point Prometheus - "Birthplace" of the Big Daddies and Little Sisters
 * Rapture Central Control - Andrew Ryan's Last Stand
 * Smuggler's Hideout - Fontaine's "Other Business'"