“This is a story about heroes. Those who aspire to be heroes, then, are useless.”
Academy city: The place where science became indistinguishable from the realm of fantastic. The land which had reduced the fantastical into mundane, everyday life, where the technological level has reached 30 years beyond what the rest of the world is capable of.
A region west of Tokyo that functions as its own microstate. As the name might suggest, Academy city houses many institutes of learning, from kindergarten to university level, the majority of the people living there being students and their instructors. One could compare academy city, then, to a “school of 2.3 million students”, in addition to researchers, teachers, and other such academics.
Through the application of the Power Curriculum Program, students of Academy City are able to transcend their mortal selves and enter into the realm of manga protagonists or superhero, though 60% of these students are powerless nobodies incapable of bending a single spoon; Useless level 0s. But there are those who train and hone their personal reality to such a degree that it imposed as a rule on the world itself; level 5s. These students coexist and train themselves to improve academically, athletically, and to improve their Esper level.
… But beyond the boundaries of the scientific lies the realm of the “unscientific”. The belief that in a power higher than the mortal world itself, outside of what science is able to observe.
Miracles.
Divine Blessings.
Or, more aptly, Magic, and the magicians or sorcerers who are capable of using them. “To give those without power, power”. The “unobservable” given shape through archaic and occult methods. Magic is a complex system of arts, disciplines, and traditions that are firmly grounded in laws and knowledge that are wholly unknown and beyond the grasp of human sciences, which sought to manipulate and distort certain aspects of reality.
In the moonlit world, there are those who wish to see the end of science and embrace faith once more, though this seems to be a minority in the grander scale of things. However, vocal minorities have the power to mobilize the masses. The empty vessel makes the loudest sound. Most individuals understand that such a conflict would bring about the near extinction of man, and thusly, attempt their best to avoid such rash actions through diplomatic ties and espionage.
There are some, however, whose grudge surpasses this will of humanity.
Fragmented politically, various factions within Academy City have begun moving to take power for themselves. Within the vacuum, various powerful people, level-wise or politically, have begun to take prominence, even to the extent that organizations like Anti-Skill and Judgement are unable to quell flash mobs of students battling other students.
However, this does not mean that the city has fallen to lawlessness. Even still, the students of Academy City are mostly unaffected by these changes, going to school with little knowledge of the backdrop of Academy City’s Dark Side. Anti-Skill and Judgement are doing their best to gain the upper hand in this situation and enforce the status quo to dissenters. Though many claim that the rise of these factions is dubious in nature, others welcome the change to ensure security in the city.
More pressing than either of these is the issue of those outside the city. With the loosening of restraints, various groups from the superpowers of the world wish to obtain the secrets of academy city and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. This is to speak nothing of the Mage Associations of the world, whom of which are watching those of the science side destroy themselves with a fervent glee.
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