Welcome to Gaia! ::

Story

The story begins in a futuristic domed city called Romdo, built to protect its citizens after a global ecological disaster. In this utopia, humans and androids (AutoReivs) coexist with each other peacefully under a total management system. A series of murders committed by berserk robots (infected with the Cogito virus) started to jeopardize the delicate balance of the social order. Behind the scenes, the government is conducting secret experiments on a mysterious humanoid lifeform called Proxy, which is believed to hold the key to the survival of mankind.

Re-l is assigned to investigate some of the murders with her AutoReiv partner Iggy. She encounters a cogito infected AutoReiv as well as a fast and flexible monster. She later learns that the monster was a Proxy.

In an interview, Dai Sato describes the project:

It is set in the future. A group of robots become infected with something called the Kojiro [sic] virus, and become aware of their own existence. So these robots, which had been tools of humans, decide to go on an adventure to search for themselves. They have to decide whether the virus that infected them created their identity, or whether they gained their identity through their travels. This question is meant to represent our own debate over whether we become who we are because of our environment, or because of things that are inherent in us. The robots are all named after philosophers: Derrida and Lacan and Hussard [sic].

– Dai Sato

Key Terms

Geography

* Planetary Ecological Disaster: The proximate cause of this disaster was rapid climate change due to the "cascading release of Methane hydrate," probably caused by the melting of the Siberian Tundra, itself caused by Global Warming. The disaster was not sudden: mankind had time to prepare the Boomerang Star (to evacuate the planet), as well as the Proxy Project (to regenerate mankind on Earth). During or shortly after the evacuation, starvation and drought killed 85% of the human population; sea levels rose due to the melting of polar caps, restructuring continental boundaries. Either as a result of negative climate feedback or environmental manipulation by the Proxies, earth entered an ice age and a Nuclear Winter scenario that froze the oceans and eventually killed off nearly 100% of Earth's fauna and a large percentage of Earth's flora. It is likely that this climate change was the work of the Proxies themselves, as it is unlikely that even the total disruption of current weather patterns could lead to an ice age in which the earth's oceans would freeze and the sky become permanently swathed in cloud (particularly when it is revealed that the Proxies need the cloud cover to survive). Furthermore, it is likely that the cloud cover was designed specifically to lock the methane back into hydrates and otherwise cool the planet.
* Romdo Dome City: Alternatively spelled "Romdeau," this Dome is the centerpiece of the action for the first few episodes of the series. It is specifically stated in episode 22 that Romdeau was created by Ergo Proxy, but that he later abandoned Romdeau (leaving it in the care of Re-l's grandfather), presumably to be with Monad in Mosko.
* The Commune
* Mosko Dome City: Possibly a Dome city built around the present-day city of Moscow, Mosko is a Dome that was attacked and destroyed by Romdeau. It is also claimed as the dome of origin of Vincent Law, though given his status as an unreliable narrator due to his faulty memories, this is not necessarily fact. It was probably the domain of Monad Proxy before she was abducted by Romdeau. The wreckage of several Romdeau AutoReivs (security AutoReivs which carry a human rider) suggests that Mosko was not destroyed by long-range bombardment but by conventional attack (the long range bombardment by the Rapture, initiated by Raoul Creed, came later). Mosko is also home to a chamber in which Monad Proxy left the memories of Ergo Proxy encoded upon the walls, as well as a duplicate pendant that might have been Monad's, in the care of the AutoReiv called Amnesia. Though Raoul Creed's attack on Mosko was outwardly an attempt to prevent Ergo Proxy from coming to grips with his past, it is revealed later that Ergo Proxy instigated the destruction of Mosko Dome in order to take revenge upon (and wipe out) humanity.
* Asura Dome City: The Dome City created by Kazkis Proxy and (possibly) ruled over jointly from two towers by Kazkis Proxy and Senekis Proxy. Kazkis can be quoted in episode nine: "If Asura is the sun, Haros is the moon." Asura's residents were killed by the Knights.
* Halos Dome City: What little is known about Halos (also spelled Haros or Haroth) is that its citizens were "left behind" following the deep space exodus of Project Boomerang. From there, they descended into warfare and chaos, only to be utterly annihilated by Senekis. Halos and Asura were at one point a single city. Also, it is revealed in Episode 8 that Halos used its WombSys facility to produce additional soldiers, despite the absence of Senekis Proxy.
* Ophelia Dome City
* Smile Land
* Abandoned Dome City
* Dome City Ruins
* City Lights Bookstore
* Regent's Throne Room
* Proxy One's Blue Sky Room

Biology

* Proxy: There exist 300 Proxies, as revealed in Episode 15, and it is stated in the series that the Proxies created the Domes, one Dome per Proxy. The Proxies were made by the "Creators" in what was known as the "Proxy Project", for the purpose of regenerating human life after the Earth's surface was ravaged by the cascading release of methane hydrate, a possible alternative energy source to petroleum and nuclear energy. Within the Domes, it seems as if a Proxy's presence is necessary both to power an electromagnetic "shield" which protects the Dome, but also for the life-giving Wombsys system to work. In episode 18, Raoul claims that humanity needs to "change into beings who have no need for gods;" it is possible he is referring to Proxies. It is also stated that Monad Proxy was abducted from Moscow Dome by Romdeau during Romdeau's invasion. Each Proxy is also an "Emissary:" in Episode 9, it is stated that Kazkis Proxy is the Emissary of Sunlight. Senekis Proxy is the Emissary of Moonlight and Ergo Proxy is the Emissary of Death. Ergo Proxy is also Proxy One. Interestingly, in Episode 9, Kazkis Proxy states that he, like Vincent Law, was haunted by his Proxy alter-ego, suggesting that Proxies might have originally been created in man's image. Lastly: Amrita Cells are intended to die with the coming of blue sky (it is possible that they are fatally susceptible to sunlight), but somehow, through his defeat of the immortal Ergo Proxy, Vincent was able to survive as a Proxy despite the coming of the sun, disregarding the Pulse of Awakening. In Episode 23, Ergo Proxy is quoted as saying that the Pulse of Awakening begins with internal changes, suggesting that before the Pulse of Awakening, Proxies are NOT vulnerable to sunlight. If this is in fact the case, and if Ergo Proxy's words on greeting Vincent Law following his decision to leave Monad II in the skies above Romdeau are true (that Vincent somehow disregarded the Pulse of Awakening), the implication is that Vincent survived as Ergo Proxy because he managed to return to the original state in which Proxies are not vulnerable to sunlight. It is unclear as to whether he intends to support or oppose humanity as it rises from the ashes: he mentions that he intends to face the future with Re-l and Pino, implying that he will somehow cut the arriving humans out of the equation, "punishing the Creators" in accordance with the wishes of Ergo Proxy.
* Pulse of Awakening: The end of the Proxy Project. The Proxy Destruction Program that begins with the revival of mankind. It is stated in Episode 15 that Proxies are the single largest obstacle to the revival of mankind, implying that as mankind "awakens," the Proxies will die; this is confirmed in Episode 23 by Ergo Proxy himself, and by Daedalus, who says that Amrita Cells cannot live under blue sky. This correlates with Raoul Creed's monologue in episode 18, suggesting that the removal of Proxy overseers is necessary for the growth of mankind. Somehow, by defeating Ergo Proxy, Vincent Law no longer heeds the Pulse of Awakening.
* Amrita Cell: Proxy bodies are composed of Amrita Cells, and isolated Amrita Cells tend to resonate in the presence of a Proxy; Proxies also tend to respond to the presence of Amrita Cells. Though described as "immortal cells," Amrita Cells can be killed by FP Ray bullets (invented by Daedalus as an improvised weapon system against Proxies). As such, Amrita Cells are not truly immortal, though they quickly regenerate from conventional damage and are confirmed (in a brief snapshot of Daedalus' report in episode 2) to be capable of bypassing the Hayflick Limit. FP Rays are the only known method by which a Proxy can be dispatched (with the exception of death at the hands of another Proxy), though FP Rays are not foolproof: Ergo Proxy demonstrated that a Proxy can survive the dose of FP Rays by isolating and removing the infected area (having been shot in the arm by an FP Ray bullet, Ergo Proxy survived by ripping off the arm and regenerating a new one). An infusion of Amrita Cells saved Re-l Mayer's life following her exposure to infectious or toxic elements outside Romdeau. Amrita Cells cannot live under blue sky (indicating that sunlight kills them).
* WombSys: To populate the Domes, a central chamber in each Dome is dedicated to a ring of iron wombs, which appear to be feminine AutoReivs with grotesquely swollen abdominal regions that open into fleshy cavities. Humans are born from these domes, though it is suggested in Episode 15 that the first generation (created either by humans, Proxies, or WombSys) was sterile. These figures appear to be held in suspended animation behind transparent partitions. In Episode 15, it is stated that WombSys was necessary because it took longer to heal the planet than planned.
* Underground Mutants: A small clan of troglodyte humanoids encountered in episode 17. Ancient, battered artifacts such as a piano adorn the outer chambers of their underground habitat, but further inside, the air becomes toxic to humans. A brief glimpse of the inner chambers reveal a pillar adorned with glowing green patches, which is never explained but potentially the source of the toxic gasses, or perhaps an ancient machine. The mutants themselves cannot survive outside of their toxic environment. The dominant theory is that these mutants were once human, retreating into the cave warren as a defense against the environmental disaster that froze the planet's oceans. Though large quantities of the toxin are dangerous to humans, the troglodyte humans were apparently exposed to it in small enough quantities that they were able to adapt to it. However, since the cavern complex was utterly barren of plant and obvious animal life, it is unclear as to how these mutant humanoid survived long enough to adapt to their toxic environment.
* Original Humans
* Human Replicants
* Infection - The World of Death

Robotics

* Entourage AutoReiv: Entourage AutoReiv's are designed to help, and in some cases, protect it's Master in various ways. In the case of Re-l Mayer, her Entourage AutoReiv called "Iggy" analysed crime scenes with her, worked as her personal driver, contacted the Bureaus of Romdeau as necessary and altough not explicitly stated, was also her personal bodyguard. Entourage AutoReiv's are to accompany one person only, and as such, an Entourage which has lost its Master is considered obsolete and is eventually disposed of. Entourage AutoReiv's are humanoid in appearance, but lack distinct facial features, with the exception of coloring and some minor model differences. They are usually taller than most humans.
* Companion AutoReiv: As their name would suggest, Companion AutoReiv's are made for humans who need them for a number of reasons; They can be used to replace a lost child or to be a child to people that can't have children of their own, or to simply accompany and serve humans in any way needed. Their skills are usually geared towards household chores, such as making food, cleaning and taking care of existing children in the family. Due to their status as companions for humans, they are usually very humanlike, possessing a wide range of facial expressions and an outside appearance of a human.
* Armed AutoReivs: Armed AutoReiv's are a part of the police and paramilitary forces of Romdeau. Their purpose is to keep order in the city. They are seen with and without a human operator; Human operator is used to monitor and if necessary, take control of the AutoReiv in situations that require it, such as pursuits of specific suspects or other complicated tasks. Armed AutoReiv's are usually much bigger than humans, about the size of an average car, though much smaller variations are also shown to exist.
* Knights: Basically a variant of the Armed AutoReiv's used in Asura Dome City. Kazkis Proxy created and controlled them and with them, tried to kill off the remaining humans in Senekis Tower.
* Cogito Virus: A computer virus by which AutoReivs become self-aware, similar in nature to the concept of rampancy in the Marathon Trilogy series of computer games. Effects of self-awareness differ between individual AutoReivs for reasons unknown: Pino, for example, was self-aware for the majority of her screen-time, but she never attempted to harm anyone. Iggy, too, was purportedly self-aware for some time, but he only attacked other humans after suffering the equivalent of a mental breakdown (proximate cause for this breakdown was Re-l Mayer's rejection of him). As such, it is possible that the presence of Re-l Mayer as Iggy's raison d'etre kept Iggy stable. Under other circumstances, infected AutoReivs become immediately violent, such as the skirmish in Daedalus' lab when Re-l was "killed" by two AutoReivs that had been intentionally infected with the virus and had become highly aggressive (episode 07). Different theories exist to account for these discrepancies: multiple versions of the Cogito Virus might exist; or the virus might affect different AutoReivs in different ways, depending on their background and programming. It is possible that the Cogito Virus is distributed and/or controlled by Proxies: AutoReivs of all kinds exhibit odd behavior (prayerful postures, attacks on humans) in the presence of both Monad and Ergo Proxy. Indeed, following a close encounter with Monad Proxy in the Romdeau Shopping Mall, Pino appeared suddenly stricken by the same prayerful pose that afflicted other AutoRaves throughout the series; shortly thereafter, AutoRave engineers were instructed to hunt her down, citing Cogito infection as their motive. Of course, it is also mentioned in Episode 15 that the Cogito Virus is a potential offshot of the Boomerang Project.
* Turing Application
* Hippocampal File

Vehicles

* AHT
* U4
* Centzon Totochtin: This vessel, which looks like a high-tech sailboat capable of hovering over land or water by means unknown, enables Vincent Law to make his journey to Mosko in search of his past. It appears to derive its propulsion (but not its lift) entirely from wind: episode 16 depicts Vincent, Re-l, and Pino stranded and waiting for the wind to start. The Centzon Totochtin can support a crew of two (being an AutoReiv, Pino does not need to eat) for what appears to be a week or two. Other features include emergency harpoon anchors for tight turns and quick stops. Originally the property of Hoody, the commune elder.
* The Boomerang Star: This planetary evacuation ship was "the last tool constructed by mankind on earth" (though the Boomerang Star was built in geostationary orbit), built to escape the upcoming Planetary Ecological Disaster. It was also stated in Episode 15 that its builders were in such a hurry that "not everyone" made it aboard. Just as the ship's name implies that it might return someday (training boomerangs return to the thrower if thrown correctly), mankind returns to earth at the very end of Episode 23.
* Light Railway
* Underground railway system

Weapon

* FP Ray: A special type of bullet capable of disrupting Proxy biology. Aside from the impact of the projectile, FP Rays are harmless to humans.
* Rapture: An ancient hydrogen bomb and associated missile delivery system (possibly an ICBM). Used by Raul Creed to destroy the remains of Mosko prior to the arrival of Vincent Law.
* "Regular Service"
* AutoReiv Disposal Unit Issued Firearm
* Re-L's Shotgun

Politics

* Raison d'être
* Regent
* Administrative Bureau
* Citizen Security Bureau
* Citizen Intelligence Bureau
* Immigration Bureau
* Division of Health and Wellfare
* Sanitation Bureau
* AutoReiv Control Division (AutoReiv Disposal Unit)
* Temporary Immigrant Sector
* Citizen Residential Sector
* Project ADW

The Creators

* Proxy Project: A project created by humans to regenerate humankind on Earth following the planetary ecological disaster. Though not explicitly detailed, it can be assumed that each of 300 Proxies was to create and supervise a dome city in which WombSys would gradually produce the minimum human population necessary to restore the planet. A brief monologue in Episode 15 about initial biological failures due to "lack of data storage capacity" for data relevant to the creation of life suggests that the Proxies might have been created as a kind of living gene memory bank to supervise the creation of humanity (and, possibly, other life forms) through WombSys (the importance of memory is a recurring theme in Ergo Proxy). The next phase of the project is unclear, though it is explicitly stated in Episode 15 that the Proxies are the greatest obstacle to the Awakening of mankind, just as it is explicitly stated in Episode 23 that, following the performance of their duty, the Proxy Destruction Program begins, entailing "changes within (their) body:" a sensitivity to sunlight (blue sky) that is ultimately fatal. However, it is clear from Kazkis Proxy that some Proxies might have had their own ideas about humanity: Kazkis Proxy believed the humans of Haroth had no reason to live or even a reason to die -- it is implied that he waged war against them for this reason (perhaps with assistance from Senekis Proxy).
* Boomerang Project
* Proxy One's Revenge: By manipulating Raul Creed's emotions, Proxy One caused at least one missile launch, decimating several Dome Cities. In his view, humanity had destroyed the planet and then fled, leaving Proxies to resurrect the world and subsequently die off when the clouds parted. Enraged at this injustice, Proxy One sought to wipe out humanity by instigating warfare and nuclear missile launches, and while he was ultimately unsuccessful, it is possible that only Re-l Mayer and Vincent Law remain (the proverbial Adam and Eve). Though Ergo Proxy was defeated by Vincent Law and his plans to wipe out humanity foiled, Ergo proxy found some solace in the fact that Vincent would (somehow) survive the coming of sunlight with his Amrita Cells intact: in short, despite the coming of the sun, Vincent Law remains Ergo Proxy, the Proxy of Death.
* Proxy Pendant

Notes

* The following characters are all named after philosophers: Husserl, Kristeva, Derrida, Berkeley, Deleuze and Guattari.

* The society can be based on Plato's ideal guardian society with philosopher rulers and information control.

* Monad Proxy's name comes from the word 'monad' as being the first origin of all things and in gnosticism, refers to the "god which begets lesser gods"

* The character Pino and her name is thought to be a play-on of the story of Pinocchio - her experiences with Re-l and Vincent are similar to Pinocchio's journey to become a real person. It also pays homage to Pinoco from the manga Blackjack. Pino's character was partially inspired by Pinoco.

* The Cogito Virus refers to Descartes' "Cogito ergo sum," which means "I think, therefore I am."

* Inside Regent Donov Mayer's chamber, the statue of two reclining figures on the right is based on Michelangelo's Night and Day statue placed above Giuliano di Piero de' Medici's sarcophagus in Medici Chapel, Florence. In the show, the female figure (Night) represents the voice of Lacan and the male figure (Day) the voice of Husserl. The statue on the left is based on Michelangelo's Twilight and Dawn stature placed above the sarcophagus of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici in Medici Chapel. In the show, the female figure (Dawn) represents the voice of Derrida and the male figure (Twilight) the voice of Berkeley.

* The robots (AutoReivs) in the show are installed with a Turing Application program that can be switched on and off, allowing normal human-like conversation between humans and robots. This is named after Alan Turing, who proposed the Turing test as a test of AI sentience.

* Daedalus and the death of Re-l 2 refer to the Greek myth of Daedalus and his son Icarus, who died after he had flown too close to the sun.

Introduction text

There are three different resources identified and used for the snippets of text shown in the introduction/opening sequence that starts on episode 3:

* The poem introduced in the beginning of the series, written by Michelangelo.
* Several pieces of text and graphics taken from the ancient text called Landnámabók (mostly from the title page).
* A piece of text [citation needed] (source unknown) word-for-word as:

The century of how many is a futuristic stories from now. People who lived there were given the history of mankind as follows, saying that "As for the environment of the earth, the large discharge of Metanhaidorad that was called burning iced happened in old times in century how many now, and it changed suddenly, a lot of living things died out and thus, the ancestor we of human races who had survived came to live only in the bubble dome

Bubble dome "Romud". It is an ideal city that is called utopia that repeats production and consumption. An advanced making to the network advanced, and people seemed to be satisfied with going by a multipurpose robot from which Ortorab was called by the system of maintenance, the life-support of the reached infrastructure, and the complete social security in this society where everything had been managed in an orderly manner if it gave neither crime nor an antisocial molecule. ... and it peeped at the problem on falling birthrate ...

However the event that causes the accident to the order happens several years ago. Another bubble dome "Mosque" collapses, and a lot of shelter immigrants have flowed in "Romud". The event brought different sense of values to "Romud" and gave birth to rich and poor and the class difference, and the dissatisfaction that came there smoked in the underground formed dangerous culture, and was becoming a breeding ground for crime.

Another big social issues had been generated in in such and Romud. It is existence of the virus program of the mystery of awaking the clinging ego in the artificial intelligence of Ortorab. Violated Ortorab did not follow man and caused a serious trouble frequently to the virus that was called alias "Cogito".

It begins to appear though people who have dissatisfaction in the dome are small number of people thus. Nobody said putting to practice and the person who gave up, "You should finish one's life in a peaceful dome though it was tedious" was most though they were all driven by the desire that it wanted to go out of here. Because it was taught that the external world was the world of the death to which the monster strolled and the infectious disease was furious for the Romud citizens.

"Metanhaidorad" is probably a Japanese phonetic rendering of methane hydrate, also called methane clathrate or methane ice.