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.

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.

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.

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.