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BioShock Infinite
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BioShock Infinite
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===Setting=== [[File:Bioshock-infinite-columbia.jpg|left|thumb|''BioShock Infinite'' takes place on the steampunk air-city of Columbia.]] The primary setting of ''BioShock Infinite'' is a city suspended in the air by giant blimps and balloons, called "Columbia", named in homage of the [[Columbia (name)|'female personification']] of the United States. Unlike the secret development of the underwater city of [[Rapture (BioShock)|Rapture]], Columbia was built and launched in 1900 by the American government to much fanfare and publicity. The city was meant to symbolize the ideas of exceptionalism; the reveal trailer for the game alludes to the [[World's Columbian Exposition|1893 Worlds Fair]] which is historically considered to be the emergence of American exceptionalism. On the surface, ''Columbia'' appeared to be designed as a floating 'Worlds Fair' that could travel across the globe; however, some time after its launch but before the game's events, the city was revealed to be a well-armed battleship, and became involved in an "international incident". The city was disavowed by the United States government, and the location of the city was soon lost to everyone else. As a result of the city's isolation, a civil war eventually broke out on Columbia between different factions of citizens, each trying to seize control of the city from the powers-that-be. At the time of the game's events, only two main factions remain. One are the remnants of those retaining power over the city, whose spokesperson is an ultranationalist politician named Saltonstall. The powers-that-be seek to keep Columbia purely for American citizens, denying foreigners the same privileges as its citizens. The other group is the Vox Populi (Latin for "voice of the people"), a rag-tag resistance group opposed to the ultra-nationalists. The Vox Populi is formed from several factions with similar ideologies that fought to seize control and restore the rights of Columbia citizenship to all. However, years of war and struggle have driven the Vox Populi to fight the powers-that-be solely out of blind hatred, resulting in more violent and brutal methods and leading to sub-factions in the group. Like Rapture, Columbia is considered a failed [[utopia]], but with signs present suggesting a [[theocracy|theocratic]] government taking control at some point, and similar racial-purification concepts such as [[Nazism]], [[jingoism]], and [[xenophobia]]. One of the items in the press packages for the game included a tag that would purportedly be worn by immigrants aboard Columbia, requiring those of non-European descent to list out numerous details, including religious affiliation and data relating to [[eugenics]]; another item was a Columbia propaganda poster that warned "We must all be vigilant to ensure the purity of our people". Columbia has been compared to a cross between [[steampunk]] (including similarities to ''[[wikipedia:Gulliver's Travels|Gulliver's Travels]]'', ''[[w:c:Laputa:_Castle_in_the_Sky|Castle in the Sky]]'', and ''[[w:c:steampunk:Steamboy|Steamboy]]'') and the ''Star Wars'' [[Bespin]] cloud city, as well as the airships of ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' settings, though Irrational's [[Ken Levine]] has compared the weaponized city to the [[Death Star]].
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