World of 2138

The World of 2138 refers to the name of the world in which the main protagonist of Overlord, Suzuki Satoru, or commonly known Ainz Ooal Gown originated from. The setting takes place in the real world but a hundred years into the far future.

Environment
In the World of 2138, the world has become a desolate dystopia in which the environment has become uninhabitable for humans. The surface of the Earth has become hopelessly polluted, the sky hidden behind black smog. The air is so contaminated that it is necessary to wear a breath masking when traveling outside. Humanity was forced to inhabit vast arcologies. Due to the hazardous environment, all produce needed to feed the populace had to be cultivated in domes. The price of food was expensive, with fresh produce being only affordable to the wealthy over the poor.

Politics
The World of 2138 was regulated by huge conglomerates. At the end of the twenty-first century, the structure of the world had begun to decline. It was by the twenty-second century did the collapse of the old order coincided with the collapse of the primary sector industries due to advanced environmental destruction. The lack of resources caused widespread discontent and riots. Ironically, the rich conglomerates were the cause of the environmental collapse, who at the same time launched a coup d'etat on the government institutions, replacing the politicians as the reigning powers of the world.

Under the new regime, the conglomerates altered various laws to make them favorable for the conglomerates' objectives while at the expense of the people in exchange. As a result of that, the employees were treated poorly and the loss of human life happens to be disregarded. However, those under the yoke of the conglomerates could not revolt, as going against the economic blocs would mean they would be unable to survive. The arcologies were created as independent states in which the surviving populace lived under the conglomerates' rule.

Moreover, there was the conflict that started last year between the 2nd European Arcology and the 3rd European Arcology reportedly mentions by a Japanese news anchor. There were even news regarding the three mega corporations in the capital known as Neo Kyoto, an unknown individual or group arrested for the sale of illegal cyberware in Neo Kyoto Hachijo, and so on.

Education
After the conglomerate takeover of world politics, the economic blocs dismantled the compulsory education system. Tuition had to be paid in order to attend school, even at elementary level. This measure was instituted by the conglomerates to rob the working class of opportunities. Parents would work themselves to death, ignoring their health just to scrap enough money to provide their children a chance at getting themselves a decent job. Once student graduated elementary school, they possessed a bare minimum of knowledge, but enough to get a job under one of the conglomerates.

Society
Leisure life in the arcologies was dull, after being worked under harsh conditions by the conglomerates, the people had very little to look forward to.

People such as Suzuki Satoru had to wear an air filtering mask along with goggles to protect themselves from being contaminated by outside air while moving afoot. However, the clothes worn will still be affected through the polluted atmosphere.

As the environment outside the arcologies had effectively collapsed, outdoor sports were a thing of the past. Even in-door sports was difficult to obtain and costly, out of reach for the poor.

The only means of escape from the hopeless reality of the world was through virtual games and DMMORGs such as YGGDRASIL.

Technology
There are technological tools used in this world such as the unknown helmet used by Suzuki Satoru included a system that would automatically record everything which went on in the virtual world. As an aside, it would retain footage for a month, automatically deleting it after that. Naturally, a lot of people would want to avoid wearing that kind of helmet since its an indicator of giving up one’s privacy.

However, most if not almost everyone had the unknown helmet on them was because it is not only mandated by computer laws, but also to protect people at the same time. The neural nano-interface was a human brain augmentation which allowed it to function as a supercomputer — a super high-performance personal computer. It was essential for daily life, but sometimes they were used in crimes as well.

In particular, hackers would use the brains of others as a springboard to commit crimes. Because of that, helmets like these could prove one’s innocence, even if the wearer was implicated in a crime. One could say this was the safety net of the computing world. In contrast, not having one of these greatly increased the chances that one might be charged when involved in a crime, so only a handful of people chose not to wear them.

On the other hand, the person wearing this unknown helmet needs to replenish nano-machines before engaging in a game as YGGDRASIL. To start off, this can actually be done through a syringe with enough quantity of cerebral nano-machines infused on the person using it.

Trivia

 * An Overlord Special pertaining to the World of 2138 was released with volume three of the manga series.
 * The parents of players like Momonga and Ulbert Alain Odle had came across similar circumstances due to overworking or work related and they ended up dying soon after.
 * This World of 2138 plus Suzuki Satoru's day-to-day leisure seems to bear resemblance to the crisis in modern China with its own pollution, where people have to wear a mask for protection.