The works of Rapture!

[ANDREW RYAN]

Rapture's Goal

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 flaws. 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 service) 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.

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 world. 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.

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 they were commercially available on the surface, such as portable audio recording devices (approx. five years earlier), automatic doors (eight years earlier at the most) and vocal biometric security.

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.