What if Academy City existed?

One day, while walking about no doubt, I started thinking about Academy City, and what it would be like if it were real. After a while, I realized it would be perfect for the wiki and decided to think more deeply about it.
After months of procrastination, light reading, and thinking…this is what I have managed to produce.
It should be noted that it’s meant to be more ‘fun’ than ‘serious,’ so I didn’t go out of my way to research how everything would go down…relying mostly on what I already knew.
Spoilers on this article will not be hidden. It is recommend you go through the series before reading, but it is not required.
The first part is dedicated to the foundation of Academy City, which I tried to make plausible. It’s written in a slightly different style, because it isn’t immediately concerned with the effects of the City. The third part is written in a similar style to the first.

Here are a list of things I kept in consideration while developing the scenario. All of these are kept to a single sentence, but with explanatory notes attached to them if you want more elaboration.

• Magic will not be considered within the scenario, only the ‘science’ side.
  • Explanation: This restriction was born of two different ideas: 1. - The scenario should focus on Academy City, rather than the Toaru project as a whole . 2. - Magic is far too complex a variable for a scenario such as this. The worldbuilding of the Toaru project can be looked at on its own, and I don’t have to think about how magic would affect all of human history.
• The state of the city, as we see it in the main series, should be maintained.
  • Explanation: Basically all the stories we have from the Toaru series take place in current year of that universe. For the scenario, I decided to consider the state of Academy City in current year, as that’s the most sensible choice. However, this also means that all the technology Academy City is shown to have should be considered. This also applies to the Espers. Everything except that related to the Magic side is allowed.
• Characters of the series will be considered in the scenario, provided they aren’t related to magic.
  • Explanation: This was decided very early on, just so I could more easily predict what could happen. It also makes for a slightly more interesting scenario.
  • Kamijou Touma: Putting it bluntly: he is weird. I mean this both regarding the scenario and the main series. I found that after reading, his power isn’t related to science or magic, so he should theoretically still be around. However, Kamijou is more involved with Magic than Science, so I have no idea how much his first adventure with Index affected him as a protagonist. This was a much bigger issue early on, when I couldn’t figure out how much Kamijou would affect the stuff I chose to focus on, but I have since learned he couldn’t affect most of it anyway. He’s more important to the ‘story,’ so I’ll leave it at this note.
  • Aleister Crowley: This character failing to be present is a pretty big issue, as he’s canonically the founder of Academy City. To deal with this issue, I created the character of ‘Lester Foully.’ Foully’s personality is superficially similar to Crowley’s, but it doesn’t go deeper than that. Foully is the only character I created for this scenario.

Following the Second World War, a British soldier, named Lester Foully, stationed in Japan decided to settle in the lands. Using his wealth and cunning, he successfully bought a big chunk of Western Tokyo, where he built a number of schools and research institutions. Foully also founded a business to manage all the land.
As the Japanese economy recovered, Lester Foully and his assets contributed to what would be known as the Japanese Economic Miracle.
Foully later took advantage of the growing power of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. In exchange for his support, the LDP would grant his corporation exclusive contracts and privileges. As the years pass, the land under his control became virtually tax free. His research institutions are virtually unmatched country-wide. However, Lester Foully was still unsatisfied.
During the 1980s, Lester Foully had successfully developed a guaranteed method to produce ‘Espers’ - superpowered humans. As soon as this occurs, he attempts to intensify research into the Espers, but finds the limitations of the law vexing.
Foully first considers bribing officials again, as he had before. However, he quickly realizes that a far better opportunity would soon appear.
The Japanese Asset Price Bubble bursts, leading to the Lost Decade and undermining the 1955 system, which previously granted Foully incredible power. As the economy stagnates, and the LDP continually fails to revive it, Lester Foully approaches the government with a proposition:
He requests the government grant his corporation even more privileges within the area of western Tokyo that he specifies. He specifically requests that his corporation become an autonomous territory of Japan, where the law would be somewhat different. To support his proposal, he points to the Disney territory within Florida and the various ‘science cities’ within Japan. Foully envisions a City of Science, unhinged by the suffocating law of Japan. The City would, as he claims, advance science in a way that will aide economic growth.
The Japanese government rejects his proposal, seeing it as ridiculous and unthinkable. A few years later, and in the wake of several other failed attempts at reviving the economy, the Japanese government approaches Foully again, and they accept his proposal.
The land of western Tokyo is ceded to Lester Foully and his Board of Directors.

Lester Foully, as the Chairman of the Board, alongside his Board of Directors, reform their corporation into a pseudo-state. The Board of Directors, with the Chairman on top, is now the supreme authority within Western Tokyo…second to the Japanese government.
Although the police and other services continue to operate within this territory, the Board of Directors establish their own security force. Their primary concern at this time is to guard the property of the Board.
To supplement the existing schools and research institutions, Lester Foully begins constructing more. Unsatisfied with just that, he begins sending invitations to relevant individuals. Soon enough, businesses, scientists, engineers, researchers, and more begin flooding into the city. These schools and research institutions led to the origin of a nickname - ‘Academy City.'
Due to the limited space within the city, the Board of Directors begin heavily investing into methods to increase territory, primarily into Skyscrapers and Geofronts^A). This allows them to make more efficient use of their territory. The Board quickly realizes they can make a hefty profit over the ‘construction of land.’ Whenever a skyscraper or geofront finished construction, the Board would sell the space. The Board would then use the profits to build more ‘land’ and to invest into more research.
At this point, the city is already benefitting from rapid innovation. Lester Foully takes advantage of this technology to make himself younger.
In the 2000s, the Chairman of the Board officially begins the Esper Development Program, establishing it as the standard curriculum. The first Espers were to be children^B).
The ‘First Generation’ of Espers is born. Among them is a particularly promising one, his ability is dubbed ‘Accelerator.’ The Espers prove to be alluring for researchers, who see unlimited potential in their abilities.
As the First Generation grows in power, the Japanese government finds it harder to control them. Unofficially, their officials and police begin shunting more and more work onto the teachers and private security. In turn, these people grow more experienced with Espers. At this point in time, Japan’s presence within the city is minimal, limited to emergency services and the occasional bureaucrat.
The growth in power of the Espers contribute to rising instability within the city. As a result, the Japanese government urges the Board of Directors to increase security. The Board establishes an ID system to keep track of Espers and they start installing cameras. To somewhat restrict travel in and out of the city, they establish a few border control offices, staffed by their security forces.

An Esper with the ability ‘Accelerator’ ‘awakens,’ and the Japanese government finds it has no way of dealing with him. Accelerator is found to be so overwhelmingly powerful that nothing can hurt him. As the Japanese government retreat, many other Espers within the city take advantage of the chaos to cause some mischief.
Eventually, Accelerator is ‘pacified’ by the combined efforts of the city’s private security and teachers^C). The remaining Espers are similarly ‘pacified.’ The Chairman of the board sees this as another opportunity to increase his power.

In a meeting with the Japanese government, he manages to convince them that the City’s organizations are more capable of handling the Espers. In fact, he argues, the Japanese Government is at fault for not giving the city more freedom to exert control over their territory. The Japanese government, staffed by members of the LDP, who remember the failures of the Lost Decade, agree with the Chairman.
The Japanese government fully withdraws from the City, leaving the Board of Directors alone. The City adopts ‘Academy City’ as their official name.
Academy City, now de-facto independent, begins tightening security. They construct a massive wall on their border, restricting travel to and from the City. Patrols along the border now occur on a daily basis.
Surveillance is increased significantly. A Board member commented ‘Cameras should be installed in such frequency that it is impossible for an individual to be outside the view of at least three cameras at any time.’ Alongside the increase in cameras, Academy City launches three spy satellites into orbit. At all times, the City is observed by at least one. The Board, and specifically the Chairman, begin monitoring wired and wireless communications. Practically all communications are monitored as a result. The ID system is extended to all the residents of the city.
The Chairman relies on the technology of Academy City again, and chooses to turn himself into the ‘central computer’ of the City, entering a tube. Becoming the core of the surveillance system. Some board members dub him ‘The Immortal Madman of Academy City.’ This name, alongside the Chairman himself, becomes the core of several urban legends.
This massive increase in security necessitated an expansion in manpower. Academy City thus seeks out and hires ex-soldiers, ex-police, mercenaries, and the like to increase their security. To avoid suspicion, most of these are hired as teachers.
As the line between ‘teacher’ and ‘policeman’ is blurred, the City establish a new organization, reformed from their mess of security entities, which they name ‘Anti-Skill.’ This organization would be made up of ‘volunteer’ teachers, who would act as the police force and de-facto military. The remnants of the various security forces are then reformed into private security firms^D) and ‘Hound Dog’ - a secret unit that answers only to the Chairman.
The Espers became another security concern, especially many of the vigilantes, who would use their powers to suppress criminals. They realize that they can kill two birds with one stone. The vigilantes would be accepted as another security force within the city, which would help pacify the remaining Espers. Thus, ‘Judgment’ was founded. Quickly, they become a natural counter-balance to Anti-Skill.
The City quickly finds they have issues supplying enough electricity to keep the City running. They thus separate the City from Japan’s energy grid, creating their own. Underground, they build several nuclear reactors, which now power the city. In later years, they would build wind turbines on the surface, to trick outsiders into thinking they rely mostly on renewables.
Academy City thus settles into a comfortable position, bringing us to ‘Current Year.’

Now that we’ve dealt with the foundation of Academy City, we can move onto the good stuff. What is Academy City like in current year and how does it affect the rest of the world?

As a result of their isolation, unofficially starting in the 2000s, the culture of the City is lagged behind the rest of Japan. I’m guessing it’s roughly a decade behind, with a lot of 90s and early 2000s Japanese culture surviving in the City.
Social media will not have any presence within the City^E). This is partially a result of the lagged culture, but mostly due to the mass surveillance. The people living in Academy City would have a subtle disgust of things such as social media, where their personal information is up-for-grabs - as a result of the surveillance^F). Instead, anonymous forums, similar to 2channel and 4chan, will be far more popular^G). However, while they will be more popular, they still won’t be all that popular. Digital communication would probably be limited to emailing, texting, and phoning^H). The internet will overall have a lesser presence within the City, being limited to ‘databases’ of information.
One unintended side-effect of the lack of social media would be that the people of Academy City will have better mental health, compared to those outside the city. As they’d prefer communicating face-to-face, they’d spend far more time socializing, which would have an overall positive effect on their mental well-being. The people of Academy City would be seen as more sociable than those outside of it, and this ‘sociable’ attitude may spread to the immediate vicinity of Academy City^I).
Another consequence of the mass surveillance would be an incredibly low crime rate. Petty crime just wouldn’t exist within the City^J). The few who try to commit crime would be caught almost immediately.
Academy City would do all in their power to restrain the Espers. What should be noted first is that this task is not as difficult as it appears. While we don’t know how many Espers there are in total, there are probably ≈700,000 Espers that are Level 1 or above, meaning there aren’t all that many high-level Espers. More specifically, however, the City will restrain the Espers in the following ways:

• Anti-Skill
  • This organization possesses military grade equipment, including tanks and aircraft, and they receive military training. Anti-Skill is also specifically trained to handle Espers and, since it’s made up of teachers, there’s a personal connection to the Espers.
• Judgment
  • This organization is composed of Espers who receive training most Espers don’t. Since they’re composed of Espers, they may be better at dealing with their peers.
• Skill-Out
  • While arguably the weakest of the things restraining the Espers, especially the highest levels, they can be dangerous in large numbers. Skill-Out(‘s main group) also has surprisingly intelligent leadership, making them more dangerous than your average street thug.
• Other Espers
  • Since Espers look like regular people, there’s no way to tell visually what someone’s level is, or what their power is. This would add an uncertainty which would make Espers more hesitant to use their powers in public. Essentially: ‘Do you really want to risk doing something bad when there could be a Level 3 nearby?’^K)
  • The highest levelled Espers, the Level 5s, are the largest deterrent, and if you met one, you would probably shit yourself. However, this also makes them the hardest to control. Fortunately, most of the Level 5s seem to be ‘chill’^L) and they don’t like each-other, so they’re unlikely to band together to do anything. The Level 5s, despite their immense power, also aren’t immortal and they can be hurt, it’s just difficult to do so. Most of them will still be cautious.
• Surveillance
  • Any dictator would envy the scale of the surveillance in Academy City. It would be hard to get away with anything in this City.
• Culture
  • Espers would be taught to restrain themselves; not to use their powers without good reason. The general Japanese attitude of conformity and manners would help here. Finally, there are a lot of prestigious schools in the City, which have high expectations relating to good behavior.

After being restrained, Academy city will advertise the Espers as the ideal/perfect humans. Well-behaved, well-educated, powerful. This view may form naturally, but whether it does or not, the City will promote it. This would be as an attempt to convince the rest of the world that Espers, and Academy City by extension, aren’t dangerous. This would contradict with Academy City’s militarization, which they would attempt to downplay as much as possible.

Academy City’s economy would be the most advanced in the entire world, due to the technological superiority. Unintentionally, the City would suffer from the Galápagos Syndrome - due to how advanced their technology is, the products and services they develop can’t actually spread to the outside world until it becomes equally advanced. This unintentional limitation means innovations would spread to the outside world slowly.
Due to its limited territory, Academy City would have to import resources to support itself…however, I believe that at this point in time, they’d be able to produce quite a few resources themselves. Those being:

• Food
  • Academy City most definitely has the tech to construct hydroponic farms and produce synthetic meat. Combined with their knowledge of genetic modification, which they almost certainly posses, means they can produce a staggering amount of food^M).
  • If Academy City produces a surplus, they can export it to Japan. As Japan imports a large amount of food, the City would make them less dependent on those imports.
• Energy
  • Academy City definitely produces their own energy and they most definitely have good batteries^N;O). Any surplus they have can be exported in the form of batteries.
• Oil
  • Oil can be produced synthetically and it’s possible Academy City could have perfected these methods.
  • This would have massive international repercussions, but I’ll leave that for later.
• Clothing
  • Robots to automate clothing production are currently being developed, and since Academy City is 20 years ahead of everyone else, I’ll assume they have these. Depending on how advanced the robots are, they might be capable of producing high-quality luxury clothing in large quantities.
  • The only issue here is regarding the resources clothing is made of (wool, linen, silk, cotton). Cotton and linen are plant-based, and Academy City’s hydroponic farms means they have the capability to produce these domestically. Wool and Silk are slightly more complicated, but Academy City can probably synthesize these as well^P;Q).

Despite this, Academy City would still be reliant on some resources, mostly those they can’t grow or synthesize. Rare earth metals would be the most important of these resources, which will eternally vex the City. In this case, their investment in the Space Elevator Endymion makes a lot of sense^R). If the Elevator works out, they might be able to start asteroid mining, which would get rid of their one issue. Considering Endymion functions in the main series, I’m going to guess this works out. So this dependence on imports is temporary.
Academy City would have a fully automated industry. I don’t think this is too big of a stretch. This would make them an industrial power-house. One of my original assumptions was that, due to the lack of space, a ‘ring’ would form around Academy City where the industry would be automated…I don’t believe that anymore. Academy City, despite how it looks, doesn’t actually lack territory, since they can expand near-infinitely up (skyscrapers) or down (geofronts) and thanks to the Space Elevator, they have far more possibilities. Instead, small pockets of automated industries may exist within Japan, but I find that unlikely as well.
Everything in this section should tell you that Academy City is essentially living in post-scarcity, while the rest of the world is stuck in the modern day. This is built on a lot of assumptions, but I don’t think it’s too big of a stretch.

In all likelihood, the vast majority of people won’t think of Academy City as an independent entity, and I believe a large chunk of them wouldn’t even know it exists^S). This is due to the unusual way they’ve gained independence, and because Japan probably doesn’t realize they’re independent either.
However, the rest of the world will be aware of the Espers, who they will view dismissively at first. Skeptics will talk about how Espers must be scientifically impossible, so only the conspiracy theorists and crazies will believe in them at first. This will change as the number of Espers grow and especially after the Accelerator Crisis, which would raise the question of ‘If Espers don’t exist, why was the JSDF put on high alert to deal with a high-level Esper?'
The world will start to fear the Espers, with Academy City, through Japan, trying to downplay their danger. The City’s attempts to control the Espers will eventually lead to a positive image within Japan, with children dreaming of becoming Espers. For the rest of the world however, the fear will slowly start getting replaced by another feeling: envy.
The Espers will have an air of mystery to them. After all, it’s more than a little strange when a group of superhumans suddenly appear all at once and for seemingly no reason. On top of that, Academy City keeps the development process secret.
Three particular groups will focus their attention on Academy City, those being the skeptics, conspiracy theorists, and nerds. The skeptics will focus on the Espers, attempting to travel to the City directly to confirm their existence. The conspiracy theorists will start to view Academy City, or Tokyo, as the ‘Roswell of Japan’ minus flying saucers^T;U). The nerds will find the city bizarre and wonderful to focus on, perhaps debating whether it counts as a country or not. Eventually, these groups will start digging deeper and deeper into the mysteries surrounding Academy City^V), realizing at some point that the City is more terrifying than they could imagine. The groups will eventually coalesce and perhaps even develop some kind of organization. Unlike most of the world, they won’t envy the City, rather, they will be utterly terrified of it, knowing more than most what it’s capable of.
The world’s envy of Academy City will continue growing as time goes on. This will be for various reasons. The first, and biggest of these, would be their technological superiority. As most of the tech will be isolated within the City, the rest of the world would start to believe Academy City is hoarding the technology for themselves, refusing to share^W). The second biggest factor would be the Espers. The world would see it as deeply unfair that a few ‘chosen’ individuals get access to such power while the rest of the world doesn’t^X). They’ll also resent the City’s secrecy regarding the development, which will especially vex the United States, Russia, and China, who will be trying (and failing) to make their own Espers.
Academy City’s resources, and economy in general, would be an additional source of resentment. The City seemingly has the capability to produce any resource they choose, except for a few. Additionally, they have a fully-automated industry, allowing them to outproduce and under-sell everyone with any product. The single City has already made Japan less dependent on imports, so it’s only a matter of time before they start exporting, perhaps they’ve already started exporting clothing, which is notoriously difficult to automate. If this is the case, the economies of South-East Asia have probably crashed. Oil would be a big one as well - Japan is ranked 4th internationally in daily oil consumption¹⁾, and Academy City can produce their own oil, which they can export to Japan. This would lessen Japan’s dependence on oil imports, and would terrify the oil producing countries while making all non-oil producing countries envy Japan. If Academy City can ‘feed’ Japan’s resource requirements as well, it would become the most powerful nation on Earth. The final source of envy would be the Space Elevator Endymion, which will piss off everyone in the Space industry…in multiple ways. From their perspective, Japan built a space elevator ‘just because’…and in a place not suited for a space elevator.
The world’s envy of Academy City will eventually eclipse their fear of it, and it will rapidly grow out of control. As Academy City is a symbol of scientific progress, science would be targeted by association, leading to the formation of a global anti-science movement. Scientists will start to feel unsafe outside of Japan, forcing many of them to flee there. Japan would benefit by gaining a lot of experienced scientists. Ironically, this would fuel the envy more, leading to a vicious cycle. On top of this, the countries of the world will start intentionally antagonizing Japan and attacking it in various ways, such as by cancelling trade deals. This would naturally force Japan to rely more on Academy City, which would isolate it from the rest of the world.

Over the years, Academy City has faced many crises, most of which were swept under the rug by the City’s administration, evading the eyes of Japanese authorities. However, while Academy City had been keeping track of the world’s envy, preparing for any possible attack, they had forgotten about the envious people living inside the City. Skill-Out, composed of Level 0s, had been growing in size and power…and Academy City had neglected their internal security.

Under Komaba Ritoku, Skill-Out stages an uprising. Their aim is to disable the communication and surveillance system to target Espers and, if possible, to take control of major parts of the City. They successfully disable the system, leading to incredible chaos as dark-side organizations, previously shackled by the surveillance system, also rebel. Criminals also quickly take advantage of the chaos. Skill-Out begins taking control of various areas.
Academy City rapidly deploys Anti-Skill, Judgment, various loyal Espers, and whatever dark-side organizations remained loyal to put down the uprising. They managed to maintain control of various areas, including the Windowless building and the border wall.
The Japanese government learns of the uprising in Academy City. They’re told that the rebels possess weaponry and some Espers have chosen to fight as well. In response, the JSDF is sent to the City.
In the meantime, Skill-Out’s advance was successfully halted by the City’s forces, leading to a stalemate. Skill-Out starts raiding armories, stealing the weaponry, armor, and vehicles for themselves. Academy City’s forces start preparing for a counter-attack.
JSDF troops reach the City’s wall. They request entry at the various entryways, but the Anti-Skill guards refuse, stating ‘Academy City will deal with its own issues, there’s no need to involve another government.’ The officers report this to their superiors and the Japanese government is left shocked. As a result, the JSDF troops simply sit around outside the walls, in a glaring contest with Anti-Skill.
Academy City restores the communication and surveillance system, allowing them to reorganize properly. They begin the counter-attack, and Skill-Out is pushed back.
Japanese officials demand to meet with the Board of Directors, additionally demanding for them to allow the JSDF into the City. Some members of the Board agree to meet with the officials, while the rest refuse. They also unanimously refuse to allow the JSDF into the City. During the meeting, the Board members refuse to answer any questions. The meeting ends when the Board leaves, not having answered a single question. The Japanese officials are livid.
Komaba Ritoku, satisfied with what he’s accomplished, orders a retreat, giving up most of Skill-Out’s territorial gains. He swears to try again in the future.
Academy City retakes their territory and mop up any remaining criminals, but Skill-Out remains^Y) and they’ve lost track of many dark-side individuals.

The Japanese government orders the JSDF to forcefully enter the City. The JGSDF fortify outside of the entryways, threatening to fire at the entryways if they refuse entry. The JASDF sends fighter aircraft to fly over the City.
In response, Anti-Skill deploy their own troops. The entryways open to reveal advanced tanks and mechs. Parts of the wall and the ground in front of it opens up to reveal turrets. Academy City’s own fighters intercept the JASDF fighters. They also deploy their unmanned attack helicopters. In an instant, the JSDF can tell they’re vastly outmatched, and choose to retreat. Anti-Skill’s commander is puzzled when he hears this, as they hadn’t even finished deploying their first wave.
Finally realizing the technological disparity, the Japanese government is frozen in terror. They consider mobilizing the JSDF and the police to prepare for an Academy City invasion. However, a representative of the Board of Directors appears requesting a meeting between the City and Japan.
The meeting is attended by all high-ranking members of the Japanese government as well as every member of the Board of Directors, bar the Chairman, who sent a representative in his place. The Board of Directors at first simply request a return to the previous status quo, but the Chairman’s representative relays his demands: The Japanese government would grant Academy City even more privileges, and access to their military assets and intelligence. The members of the Board instantaneously support the Chairman’s request, abandoning their previous desire for the status quo. It’s clear that many of them are nervous, with a few even sweating. Begrudgingly, the Japanese government accepts these demands and the meeting ends. The government is deeply ashamed of what has happened, and they all understand they’ll fail to be re-elected. However, what destroyed their self-esteem the most was the incredible confidence of the Chairman of the Board. This is arguably one of the most important meetings in the history of Academy City…and he didn’t appear there personally. Not only that, but he went against the wishes of the Board of Directors to demand more, and once these demands were presented, the Board instantly supported them - not a single voice of opposition. Unknowingly, they had helped cultivate a monster…and then they let it loose.

Academy City is by this point the most powerful and disruptive entity on the planet. If they choose to, they can crash an economy by simply smuggling their goods into it.
The rest of the world’s envy had been boiling for a long time by this point, and China decides to get bold. They choose to block all exports of rare earth metals to Japan and establish a blockade to prevent any imports. This blockade is unofficially joined by other east-asian states.
Academy City relies on imports of rare earth metals, as they still haven’t established their asteroid mining operations, this negatively affects them. To deal with the situation, the Chairman of the Board, Lester foully, chooses to send a military force to break the blockade. Overnight, the entire Chinese navy ceases to exist. Not satisfied, Academy City bombs several coastal Chinese military bases. China ends the trade war, and promises to export rare earth metals to Academy City.
The rest of the world is shocked and deeply angered by this. With their envy and resentment finally reaching a breaking point, a coordinated war begins against Academy City (and Japan). It’s time for World War 3!^Z)
The war is relatively short, and incredibly one-sided. Academy City has achieved victory. They’ve fully taken control of Japan, becoming the de-facto capital. The rest of the world is crippled: economies destroyed and militarily de-clawed; utterly incapable of taking any action against Academy City.
Academy City launches its first asteroid mining operation, signaling the beginning of the space age.

• The scenario is a bit pessimistic near the end. I do also realize that Academy City is incredibly over-powered, but that’s what happens when you have technology that’s 20-30 years ahead of the entire world.
  • For comparison, imagine if a country had WW2-era weapons and vehicles at the start of the First World War. The disparity would be insane. They wouldn’t just have tanks, but also planes, bombers, more advanced artillery, motorized infantry, automatic weapons, radar, greater code-breaking, antibiotics, and far more.
• I realized recently that the existence of Skill-Out doesn’t connect to the low crime rate thing. I then realized I forgot to include my reasoning, so I’ll quickly put it here before I fix it for real:
  • Skill-Out is something of an inevitability when considering the number of Level 0s and the ‘hierarchy’ surrounding the levels. In the main series, they get around the surveillance system by exploiting easy loopholes, such as covering their territory with cloth to hide from the satellites. I’d assume that this world’s Skill-Out will have similar tricks. Naturally, the crime rate will inevitably increase after a time, but I can’t say how much.
  • Another particular of the crime would be that criminals (the smart ones) will start purposefully avoiding areas with cameras in them. It’s even possible they’ll mark down every camera location in the city.
• I realized recently that there is another potential possible origin for Judgment. Judgment could have been formed through a unification of various school Disciplinary committees across Academy City, with Academy City granting this unified entity more power/responsibilities at some point. This appears to be the origin of Judgment in the main series, although it’s almost impossible to tell.
• Minor Scenario things:
  • Cloning of humans is currently illegal in a lot of countries. I’m assuming that Academy City’s technological progress would make it illegal internationally however, not that that’ll stop Academy City.
  • Academy City’s government would be vaguely corporate. It’s possible that rather than ‘bureaucrats’ you would have ‘managers.’ Which is preferable: bureaucrats, or mid-level management?
  • The group composed of skeptics, conspiracy theorists, and nerds (which I’ve taken to calling ‘The Academics’) will likely learn there are unethical things happening in the City. They’ll also realize that Academy City is complicit by choosing not to do anything when they clearly have the power to.
  • There’s a possibility Academy City will suffer from a sort-of ‘monitoring over-stimulation.’ Basically, Academy City will be monitoring too much for the surveillance to be effective most of the time. How effective the surveillance system is in the main series isn’t actually clear, nor how it works. It’s possible Academy City employs staff to monitor things, or they rely on some kind of AI. However, I find it unlikely Academy City can get enough people to maintain their massive system, which makes its effectiveness questionable. I’ll keep what I said about crime being lower, as people will be less likely to commit crime if a camera is present, regardless of its functionality.
    • It should be noted here that Aleister Crowley is functionally the entire surveillance system in the main series, and he is probably capable of monitoring everything at once. However, he doesn’t actually seem to care about crime in the city, so, realistically, he doesn’t affect the effectiveness of the system at all.
    • Of course, if people realize that not all of the cameras are effective, their behavior will change. Unfortunately, I don’t know at what point people would become ‘bold,’ nor how many cameras would actually be effective. So this is a known unknown.
    • Levels 3 or above would be more individualistic, whilst Level 2s and below would be more collectivist. This would be strongest among the Level 0s. Kamijou Touma would be an outlier among Level 0s.
  • The United States is mentioned as a country that tries to create their own Espers because they’re one in the main series. It’s said that MK Ultra was an attempt to create Espers. Yes.
  • I realized that Academy City could do something that’s pretty small, but hilarious. If Academy City can produce luxury clothing at lower prices than anyone else, they can simply choose to sell it at the same-ish prices as ‘regular’ luxury clothing, just at slightly lower prices. By doing this, their profit margins would be insane, and they’d still be able to out-compete everyone else.
• Events:
  • This bit is for minor stuff regarding events that occur within the main series.
  • I believe that anything that’s exclusively or mostly science-side will happen, but there are a few exceptions:
    • I don’t know if the Tree Diagram will be destroyed or not. Probably not, as it’s destroyed by Index, by accident. But this has pretty massive repercussions.
      • The Level 6 shift project might not end. Alternatively, it does, but the details are different somehow. Perhaps Kamijou de-legitimizes it somehow, who knows.