Aeropa is a location visited in The Lost Frontier. A seemingly innocuous and well-meaning city, it was ruled by the hospitable Duke Skyheed and his more austere counterpart, Chancellor Ruskin. The city is located along the Brink, though its geography and locus is difficult to determine. Its society comes off as sophisticated and dignified, which corresponds with its classical architecture and elegant aesthetic.
However, Jak would eventually find himself at odds with the Aeropans soon after interacting with the Sky Pirates, a band of pirates led by the Aeropan rebel and former commander, Phoenix. Aeropa had a not-so-secret Dark Warrior Program developing, and unlike Haven City's program, succeeded in producing a mass army, which was made up entirely of Aeropan citizens. Their military also consisted of a robust aviation corps, including a fledgling Navy that served as either the successor to or branch of the Aeropan Air Force. The city's leadership and population ultimately met its fate, however, and its future remains unknown.
Before The Lost Frontier: Little is known of Aeropa's history. For some time before Jak, Daxter, and Keira's arrival to the Brink, Aeropa had been losing a terrible war against an unspecified threat. Skyheed, the city's ruling Duke, thus put Commander Phoenix of the Aeropan Air Forcesin charge of a secret weapons program, which the Commander later discovered to be the Dark Warrior Program. When he realized what they were doing, Phoenix attempted to stop the program, though Skyheed refused.[1] Presumably near the same time, the chief scientist of the program, Tym, had built war bots in an unsuccessful attempt to take back theprogram's facility by force, unbeknownst to Phoenix. When Phoenix rebelled against the Aeropans, he kidnapped Tym as to hide his work from the Aeropans (and presumably to prevent any further progress). During the scuffle, Tym took a blow to the head, inflicting amnesia, and Phoenix marooned him on Brink Island.[1]
Contact with mainlanders: Jak and Daxter first visiting Aeropa. At some point Aeropa's war ceased, presumably to the city's victory as it appeared peaceful and in-tact when Jak visited there. However, ever since the Aeropans started looking for the eco core, Phoenix and his band of rebel pirates increased their attacks on them, according to Skyheed,[2] and the two factions were described as being in constant war with each other.[3] One particular battle took place over Brink Island, wherein several Sky Raider-piloting pirates ambushed the Aeropan ACSBehemoth. Jak decided to help the Aeropans by shooting down the pirates, as he just had a scuffle with them resulting in the crash-landing of their ship. Skyheed thereafter took Jak, along with Daxter and Keira, back to Aeropa, saying any enemy of the Sky Pirates is his ally.[2]
Once there, Skyheed told Jak and Keira about the eco seeker: a special device said to point to any major source of eco. Keira requested that she borrow it to study it, and Skyheed agreed on the condition that Jak could prove he could protect the seeker by beating the Danger Course, though they could only keep it for a week.[4] On Jak and Daxter's way back to the sanctum after beating the course, Daxter fell into a manhole, landing him in Aeropa's sewers. While searching about for Jak, Daxter was unexpectedly doused with loads of dark eco waste, turning him into Dark Daxter. The twice-over mutated ottsel then explored the sewers, before finally making his way back to Jak.
The duo then arrived back at the sanctum along with Keira to meet Skyheed and Ruskin. Just after Skyheed tossed the seeker to Keira, Phoenix swooped in and snatched the seeker out of her hands. Keira impulsively leapt toward the pirate's plane in pursuit of the seeker, but was pulled in and taken away by Phoenix. Jak thus promptly chased after him.
War with the Sky Pirates: The sky chase and subsequent interactions with the pirates led Jak to allying himself with them, as he eventually discovered Aeropa's Dark Warrior Program, thanks to the help of their new friend Tym as well as Phoenix's revelation of his past.
While the Sky Pirates: Activities attracted the detection of the Aeropans, it was too late as both Skyheed's Dark Warrior Program and the new Aeropan Navy were in full swing. Every Aeropan citizen was now infected with dark eco,[1] and with a robust military on his hands, Skyheed began engaging the pirates in several battles before the war was taken back to Aeropa, after Skyheed gained access to the eco core. One particular battle followed a surprise siege on Far Drop, during which the Aeropans executed aggressive air strikes with attack planes and attempted strike Far Drop with a large dark eco weapon. The siege resulted in several casualties, including people close to Phoenix.[5] Jak, Daxter, Keira, and the all the freedom fighters Phoenix could command thus laid siege on Aeropa in retaliation via a warp gate at the Aeropan barracks, the access code of which was secretly communicated to them[5] by Ruskin, who felt the program had gone too far.[6]
The attack on Aeropa ended with a boss fight between Jak and Skyheed, who had now transformed himself into a dark eco giant with the help of the eco core. Skyheed killed Ruskin after learning of his betrayal, but failed to best Jak, and was forced to escape in a personal attack plane. After going in circles, forcing Jak to withdraw from the chase, Skyheed retreated to the ACS Behemoth, where he set course for the eco core. Phoenix eventually sacrificed himself by ramming the Phantom Blade into the Behemoth, also killing Skyheed and presumably whoever was on board.[7] The consequences inflicted upon Aeropa, aside from war-torn cosmetics, are unknown, as any following leadership was never implied.
Aeropa has a very small and fairly simple layout. It appears to be built into a mountain-like structure, as indicated by both its map as well as the fact that its streets are frequently broken up with stair cases of varying lengths (some very short and some very continuous). However, it could also be held up entirely by Precursor architecture, as indicated by early concept art, not unlike other Brink locations. It is also possible that it is a combination of both, as Brink Island featured hollow mountains exposing Precursor pillar-construction. However, it is ultimately difficult to determine with any certainty, as one never observes it from the outside.
Aeropa is very high class in aesthetic, with towering, classical architecture, accented with a plenitude of trees, shrubbery, and other flora. Its streets are so short and narrow that vehicular transportation is not utilized, also resulting in the rather open placement of cafe tables, street benches, and large vases. The streets are lined mostly with decorative fences and lamp posts, and many of them peer out into the horizon.
Aeropa has certain structural places of note. The first is the hangar, which Jak once used to park and repair his Hellcat. The courtyard in front of the hangar also offers some introductory scenery to the city. Just around the corner is theDanger Course, an elaborate gun range-like facility dedicated to the practice of arms fire and agility (similar to the gun course in Haven City). North of the Danger Course, or around the leftmost corner, is a relief system from the sewers, which can be used by Daxter to gain access to the area (see § Aeropa sewers below).
Across from the sewers area is where Keira stands when you visit the first time, and can be approached to exchange dark eco for eco skills. The stairway behind her leads to a courtyard with access points to the rest of the city, and is indicated with a large imprint of Aeropa's crest on the ground. The southern door leads to a large hall lined with statues and flags of Aeropa, at the end of which is a small room with the warp gate connected to the barracks. The northern gate leads to the eco seeker sanctum, entailing a few flights of long stairs that end in a small street block with a water fountain at the center.
North west of the central courtyard is a makeshift path used by Jak to reach the palace, though this path was only exposed after being bomb-struck by a pirate plane during the siege. During this particular time in the game, this is the only path of travel available as other entrances have been blocked off. Along this rather elaborate passage, Jak encounters various facilities, buildings, and special rooms, including a large area with several dark eco silos, as well as a room just preceding the palace in which Jak encountered the hyper mutant. Most notably, however, is the weapons control room, just preceding the hyper mutant stage. This very powerful and strange device was capable of rescinding Jak's weapon use. The palace itself was not featured very prominently, though it was the stage of the boss fight against Skyheed.