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Tartaros

The Central Management Bureau, more commonly referred to as Aegis in the manga, is the political organization that runs the city-state of Olympus. The CMB has two Lower Houses: the Legistlative House (or just the "Legislature"), and the Administrative House (a.k.a. the "Administration Bureau," not to be confused with the former General Administration Agency).


In addition, at one point it had an Uper House known as the Council of Seven Elders, and a decision making AI supercomputer known as Gaia. After 2131, the Upper House was dissolved.

Although the Central Management Bureau, like any government, occupies a certain number of decentralized federal buildings, the organization is largely located in the Tartaros arcology, itself at the center of the state capitol, Gaia City.

The Lower Houses (2120s-onwards)[]

Legislative House[]

Organization[]

The House has at least one hundred political seats, though it's not clear how the members are elected or what territories/ridings/districts they serve, beyond the fact their combined jurisdictions would ultimately be within the island limits of Olympus. In the manga, the legislative members are mostly human, but can include Bioroids as well. The cabinet of MLAs (members of the legislative assembly, the correct real-world term for such politicians, but not one used in Appleseed) vote on motions tabled to them either by the upper house of Seven Elders, the Administrative Director (e.g. Deputy Prime Minister), or the Director (Prime Minister in the movie trilogy).


Veto power[]

Although MLAs have a certain level of decision making power regarding these motions, they can at any time be overruled by the upper house or Gaia. Athena Areios, in both her roles as Administrative Director, and later as Prime Minister, has also exerted veto power over the lower houses on several occasions, a seemingly unconstitutional action, though she's never been challenged during these instances, usually because it's apparent her wisdom, and impartiality, is greater at that time than anyone else's. Famous examples of Athena exercising veto power include halting the discussion of Project Elpis (a human mind-control/biological engineering motion, tabled by the upper house in Prometheus Unbound, a concept so divisive it almost began a riot within the Legislative House), and ordering the isolation of Tartaros and D-Tank (technically illegal to begin with, but even more controversial since she requested ES.W.A.T. assistance, and not Olympus Regular Army support, in the movie Appleseed (2004)).


Administrative House[]

Organization[]

Less is made apparent to readers/viewers of Appleseed about the nature of the Administrative House. It doesn't appear to have a cabinet per se, or the means to consider motions or proposals, so it would seem that this House is really just the headquarters for the CMB's various politicians (or "politicos", as Deunan refers to them as, with disdain). Both Athena and Nike have their offices here (as seen in both installments of the movie trilogy), as does Hitomi (we presume). ES.W.A.T. appears to operate a liaison branch within the building, occasionally staffed by Commander Lance himself. The Administrative House likely interfaces with the Olympus Planning Bureau, essentially the city-works commission.


The Upper House (2120s-2131)[]

Organization[]

The Council of Seven Elders alone constituted the CMB's Upper House. Like most traditional parliaments, this governing body exercised final approval or disapproval power over any motions or laws, but, differed in that the Upper House could table their own motions and present them to the Lower House for discussion and consideration, as they did when proposing Project Elpis. Most real-world parliaments that have an Upper House (not all do) lack this top-down approach [citation needed].


The Upper House was not only a figurative term, but a literal one. As seen in Appleseed (2004), the building that the Elders occupied, along with the user-interface for the Gaia supercomputer, was actually located at a higher elevation on the Tartaros arcology, on the backside of the heliostat (solar panel) facade, facing north. The Lower Houses, along with the Conference Hall, appear to be located below the arch of the heliostats, facing south towards the Atlantic Ocean.


Dissolution[]

Following the death of the Seven Elders in 2131, it was decided by Athena and the Lower House that the former Upper House was too much of a liability to support, especially given how the Elders had abused their power and exercised manipulation over Gaia, something that was supposedly technically impossible to do. Therefore, replacements for the seven were not sought and the Upper House was quickly dissolved afterwards. The Legislative House then became the sole governing body. Gaia was retained as an integral part of the Central Management Bureau, but it's use appears to be diminished, with access granted to a larger audience of politicians.

Links and Trivia[]

  • The mantra and vision for the Olympus Planning Bureau, with regards to their construction and operation of the city, is "Structural Complexity, and Operational Simplicity, Achieves a Greater State of Humanity."


  • Tartaros Conference Hall

    The Tartaros Conference Hall

    The Central Management Bureau, as one of the last democratic governments left on Earth, is under constant threat of destruction, either by terrorists or other organized adversaries. As such, the Tartaros arcology where the government is based, is one of the most heavily fortified places on the planet. The Tartaros Conference Hall, an elongated building with strong similarities to London's Crystal Palace, features thick bulletproof windows that are nearly impenetrable by even direct impact by aircraft or large projectiles, and likely biological or chemical substances.
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