VITALS
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EARTH LOCATION:
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South of the Azores
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FORMER NAME:
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None (Island is man-made)
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CAPITAL:
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Gaia City
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POPULATION:
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Tens of millions to hundreds of millions
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INDUSTRY:
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High tech, cybernetics
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POLITICAL SYSTEM:
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Parliamentary
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Olympus is an island located in the South Atlantic between the Azores and Canary archipelagos. Featured in every manga and anime installment of the Appleseed franchise, it is neighboured elsewhere in the world by a few other organized countries like Imperial Americana (former USA), Poseidon (an expanded, non-contiguous Japan), and the Republic of Munma (a large Middle-Eastern theocracy). All of these other societies are not completely democratic in nature, unlike Olympus, which features an elected parliament.
It's population comprises fifty percent Bioroid, with the remaining half normal humans, the large majority which have immigrated into the society from their old war-torn nations. Etinically, the state is highly multicultural. It hosts the diminished successor to the United Nations (in the form of its government, the Central Management Bureau), as well as ES.W.A.T. and the O.R.A., a paramilitary and military which could be viewed as replacements to NATO.
Background[]
History[]
Although there isn't a clear date given to when Olympus was founded, presumably its construction began early in the 2100s, prior to the outbreak of even the Third World War, and continued uninterrupted despite the renewed conflicts in Asia, embodied in the Fourth World War. Located upon a manufactured island, it may have taken close to a century to form the land mass that would ultimately plateau slightly above the waters of the South Atlantic, housing the metropolis of Olympus on its north-western quarter, and several other smaller cities, like Suiten City on the coastal cape of Kitasuiten on the eastern side of the island.
Political System[]
Olympus is ruled by a Prime Minister, who presides over an elected cabinet of members in the Legislative House, itself located in Tartaros. Public input and interaction is provided through a social interfacing supercomputer known as Gaia, which communicates with the government in real time. For more on the island's rulership, check out the article entitled "Central Management Bureau".
World Relations[]
Relations with the rest of the planet's few states are quite positive, and Olympus prides itself in being frequently chosen as a venue city for international delegations and peace-treaties. In the past it has been instrumental in brokering ceasefire agreements between other warring countries, and forming global security pacts, such as the unification of the world's communications satellites, in the aim of reducing terrorism. It responds to requests for social assistance from outside societies, and willingly provides security backup by loaning out ES.W.A.T. troops to global hotspots whenever necessary, memorably liberating EU political hostages being held in Prague, as seen in the movie Ex Machina.
Leadership[]
Only two Prime Ministers have led the country since it's inception, with current leadership provided by Athena Areios, a first-generation Bioroid. If you'd like to know more about her, have a look at her biography page.
Geography[]
The Island of Olympus is about the size of England, with a landmass that is similar in outline to Africa, only much smaller. Several unoccupied smaller islands lie to the south of the main island. While the land is quite level and flat, four mountains were created, and feature names such as Ryuken and Makuu (in the north), as well as Shinbe and Kururu (in the south).
Civic Organization[]
Olympus City[]
Olympus is a port city, located on the north western tip of the island, with the capital district Gaia City facing south,Tartaros very close to the ocean's edge. An expansive highway network leads to and from this core, with a major autoroute ending right underneath Tataros, built just to accommodate the large number of civil servants
who work in the arcology. Most of the freeways circulate around the city as well, but ultimately lead to the dense suburbs.
There appears to by many commercial districts, but most are retained in the expansive core of the city, while residential occupancy is distributed evenly throughout the island. There isn't a single centralized "downtown" as such, but a variety of busy commercial cores dotted throughout the city. There are industrial areas as well, though we only get a brief glimpse of one, where Colonel Hades of the O.R.A. concealed his Landmate garage in a subterranean warehouse (seen in Appleseed (2004)) but the exact location isn't made clear.
Gaia City[]
Similar to how London has it's district of Westminster, more or less considered the real downtown, and home to some of the most iconic buildings that personify the city, Olympus has Gaia City, where the Central Management Bureau is located, as well as the Tartaros and Daidalos arcologies. This is also the official state capitol. Like Washington D.C., it also has a small residential and commercial population.
Other cities[]
Also located on the Island of Olympus are the cities of Akatendai, Anemos, Suiten, Kirin, and Kanihama. Suiten, located in the district/country of Suiten Hama, appears to be unique in assuming partial independence from the Central Management Bureau, and has its own small government.
Architecture[]
Fitting for such a large city, Olympus seems to consist of a variety of architectural styles, most of which are
semi-throwbacks to the 1980s. Most buildings appear to fit the definition of structural expressionism, while a few others are postmodern in design. As mentioned, Tartaros and Daidalos, would be considered arcologies.
Whatever style the buildings are, they adhere to a common colour scheme that uses a lot of white and aquamarine, any other colours mostly being shades of green, purple, or blue. There's more than a passing resemblance to other futurist cities that have appeared in unrelated fiction, such as the City of Atlantica from the early Need For Speed videogame franchise, and even the unnamed, gleaming white city from Mirror's Edge. At nighttime, the cityscape is illuminated in various shades of brilliant light, not unlike Shanghai of our era. Fireworks and laserlight shows fill the skies at night to further complete the image.
Transportation[]
The Island of Olympus is domestically served by multiple railways, some of which feature levitation trains, and an expansive highway network. International travel is facilitated by the OAS Airport, just north of Gaia City.
Social Organization[]
Employment[]
Clean industry and bioscience appear to be two primary sources of employment in the city. Dirty industry is rarely seen in the movie, more or less a halmark of the fallen human societies left in ruins outside the city's boundaries and in the mainlands of the globe. Heavy industry, such as the production of aircraft and weapons, is outsourced to industrial states like Poseidon. The public service is expansive and provides careers and incomes to many.
A word from Shirow Masamune[]
On Olympus, reprinted from the graphical encyclopedia Appleseed ID.
- "To tell you the truth, it doesn't really matter where Olympus is on Earth, as long as it's Olympus. But since there would undoubtedly be a few problems involved in placing a new nation in territory already owned by someone else, I decided to put it somewhere between the Azores and the Canary Islands. I'm really not certain what the climate and so forth would be like, as this story takes place after a major war, and there must have been a lot of climatic changes around the world as a result. The massive crater you can see in China is the result of a giant meteor that struck the earth in 1999; most of the other craters on the earth's surface have turned into lakes. The lake bottoms are covered with a layer of radiation absorbing nanomachines. I know some people might question the ability of anything to absorb radiation, but in this case I can only say that this is science fiction, after all (perhaps only fiction, for that matter). In other words, it's best that you don't ask."
- "I decided not to render the Southern Hemisphere in much detail. The environment in the Southern Hemisphere was heavily damaged by the war in the north, and it still suffers heavily from droughts and so forth. It has been very slow to recover as a result. It's supported largely by Asia."
- "Among nations in Southern Africa and Central America, power struggles have intensified with wars and the appearance of military forces. There is as of yet, however, no single dominating power in the region. The Republic of South Africa I won't get into here. Several nations in these areas have successfully made the transition to democracy, but struggle under the twin burdens of pollution and material shortages."
Links and Trivia[]
- Early in the 2004 episode of Appleseed, Nike mentions that Olympus is a walled city, which would suggest it's neighbours on the island may be less than friendly.
- The Appleseed: ID encyclopedia declares Hitomi's house to be located south of Olympus, though the 2004 movie shows that she also owns a guesthouse to the west of the downtown core, where Deunan Knute spends her first night on the island.
- Volume two of the manga, Prometheus Unbound suggests that privately owned land is hard to come by on the island.