Rapture.
It was supposed to be the gateway to the pinnacle of the human spirit.
A wondrous place where any man or woman could make of themselves what they wished, and made of their home what they wanted.
Load of bullshit, it all was.
That bastard, Andrew Ryan, promised us so much when we all made our way down to those depths. Even in the Bathyspheres, I knew something didn't seem right. Of course, everything seemed like Paradise at first. Business prospered like noone had ever anticipated, families grew new moralities, and it really seemed as if the world could start all over again. Yeah, in the beginning...it was beautiful. But then, after a few weeks of adjustment to the new conditions, Ryan and some bloke named Fontaine came out, introducing these things they called "plasmids". Fate be fucked if I could tell you what exactly they were, but we were told that they were supposed to help us "improve" ourselves...
Naturally, everybody was hesitant at first. But with Ryan's smirking face enticing them on, everybody, including myself, fell into the market. It was amazing, what we could do with the plasmids. Didn't have a light for your smoke? Snap your fingers, and a flame o' your pleasing size just appears, like that. Can't get your television to work? Just shoot a spit of electricity at it, and there ya go. Got a bunch of no-goods on your tail? Mesmerize some Big Daddy, and he'll take care of 'em for you.
Ah, yeah. The "Big Daddies". Fuckin' monsters, they were. They were just showing up all of a sudden, stompin' around the place with no real agenda - no real agenda until the Little Sisters show up, with their hideous syringes and demon eyes. The Big Daddies protect the Little Sisters, and if you ever so much as touch one of those girls without their consent, you'll be dead before the Daddy lets you hit the ground. The very sound of their approaching - the thud of their feet and their hellish moan, and the evil pitch of the Sisters' voices - clenches your heart with fear, I don't care what kind of man or woman you are.
And o'course, there's much more to Rapture than all that. Much more...the place's a veritable ocean of secrets itself. I don't much care to go further into that at the moment though. Have to get to the business of getting outta this hellhole.