Mak

The City State of Mak, somewhere well to the west of Ape City and Delphi, was according to legend founded by a human, but became home to both humans and apes by the era of the Lawgiver.

Around 2657, forces from Mak rescued survivors from the ape/human Red Creek settlement, which had been destroyed by the army from the human city state of Delphi, including the chimp child Alaya and the human child Sullivan, both of whom were adopted by the Lawgiver. He attempted to integrate humans fully into Mak society by enrolling Sullivan in the otherwise exclusively ape school. The armies of Mak, Ape City and elsewhere overran Delphi around 2660, ending their independence. Some humans, like Bako and Chaika, took refuge in the human ghetto of Mak, called Southtown but nicknamed 'Skintown'. The central point of Mak was a huge metal tower known as the City Tree, which housed the governing council.

In 2670 the Lawgiver delivered a lesson to an assembly of ape and human children, possibly in Mak, but by 2680 the communities had still failed to integrate. Chaika, one of the new generation of mute humans, killed the Lawgiver with a weapon supplied by the cult leader Brother Kale, sparking off a crackdown by Alaya's ape forces on Skintown. Those humans that did not escape were interned in 'Retraining Camps' and Alaya abducted and raised 'Mayor' Sullivan's mute son Julian. The city was renamed The Ape Republic of Mak.

Around 2680, Brother Kale manipulated a coup against Alaya followed by an ape civil war. At the same time Sullivan's exiled humans attacked, hoping to regain their former homes. All put their differences aside to defend Mak from the invading army of the Great Khan but were killed in the process. Kale's followers then detonated a nuclear bomb, destroying themselves, the Great Khan and the city of Mak.

Notes

• Writer Daryl Gregory said that Mak "is not Ape City, but a larger metropolis somewhere west of New York - the apes have become the upper class, and the humans largely stick to a ghetto called 'Skintown'." "If Ape City is New York, then this is Chicago." A map in the possession of Nix showed Ape City, Delphy and Mak. By aligning this map over a modern map of the north-eastern United States, and assuming that Ape City is close to New York City and that Delphy corresponds roughly with Philadelphia, Mak is positioned somewhere in the area of Pittsburgh or possibly Akron.

Appearances

• Planet of the Apes (BOOM! Studios)