The World of Atlantis

The World of Atlantis is a book series created by Flarlandian merman writer Richard Oxham, Hopelandian merman writer Kofi Jones and Michillian human writer Darren Watterson. First published in 2005, it started off as a trilogy before becoming a series in its own right.
The first book became a bestseller in Kofi's native Hopeland, and became an international one a few years later. The series has been translated into 42 languages so far.
==Concept==
Richard Oxham has been interested in creating a setting for a distant planet inhabited by merpeople after seeing the ill-fated sci-fi-infused Flarlandian television series The Cora Chronicles in 1999. Contact was settled with a Hopelandian fan of the show, who turned out to be Kofi Jones, in 2000, on an internet board. Richard met Darren in 2001 after attending the release celebration of his first book in the Tannon and Kraheer series which helped influence TWoA. He accepted the idea to Darren, saying that "it was the closest thing I [Richard] ever had to meeting a celebrity" and quickly told Kofi about the news. Richard invited Kofi to become a part of the writing team in October 2001.
The writing process started in October 2003 and ended in November 2004. There were hundreds of revisions, almost on a daily basis, in order to give the book mass popularity, which it attained upon releasing in May 2005.
==Premise==
The premise is already set in the first book of the series: Dr. Richard Loveford, a Hopelandian scientist, tries to find a way to teleport from one coordonate to the other. Unbeknownst to him, partly due to the fact that he did not program the teleporting pod easily, he discovers an entire world full of merpeople. He now wants to examine the world and tries to win awards, but the Atlanteans are infuriated.
In later installments of the series, more of Atlantis' past is known, including claims that there was a limited human civilization that ended up in all humans living in Atlantis at the time becoming merpeople at the time of King Triton's birth.
==Lore==
The lore was set up when Kofi joined the team. To add up for the fantasy factor, the planet of Atlantis is unlike other fictional planets of the same name in terms of axial tilt and rotation. A day runs for 24 hours and five minutes and a year runs for 335 days, with years being divided in eleven months of thirty days and a bonus twelfth month of five days.
The current year is 1474. The years are counted from the birth of King Triton, here set as the king of much of the world. It is known that his birth created the race in Atlantis. For more information on the backstory of Atlantis and most of the characters in the series, see timeline of The World of Atlantis.
The population consists almost entirely of merpeople and meranimals. In recent centuries, there have been some land animals and humans, mostly Naran people who came to examine it. The merpeople view them as "artificial".
The seven countries on land seem to be loosely inspired on countries from Nara, and these include elements from the countries of the team:
*New Harchakobor (Flarland, a collection of trade kingdoms)
*Land of Despair (Michillies)
*Republic of Senya (eastern Hopeland)
*Rhetundan Commonwealth (western Hopeland)
*Cora (parts of the Ashtalaic countries inspired by loose irredentism)
*Apatos (Hellenia)
*Shutokai (Orience, Ishigaki and Lenapore)
Languages:
*New Harchakobor: English and Hayastelari
*Land of Despair: English and Gaelic
*Senya: English, Spanish, Twi, many Nagarian languages
*Rhetundan Commonwealth: English, Rhetundan, many Polynesian languages
*Cora: Ashtalaian, Jaherian, Hayastelari, Omdalian, Jeznogorian, Vydorian, many other indigenous languages
*Apatos: Greek
*Shutokai: Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tangwan, Tagalog, Tamil, Malay, English
Culturally there are some parallels: New Harchakobor and Cora seem to have a culture inspired by Flarlandian culture, especially the local merculture. Senya and Rhetundo being divided into separate countries is an allusion to old cultural divides, with Senya being a hub for the black merpeople and the Rhetundan Commonwealth serving as a parallel for Polynesian culture. Senya incorporates a part of Bulungi known as Freedonia (not related to the Bulungian country of the same name), inspired loosely by Kofi's Akan bloodlines. Equally, the Land of Despair is based on the Michillies, taking some elements of Northulia and the New Michillies, Apatos being the hub of the local Greek civilization and Shutokai being the Eastern civilization. The fact that it contains elements of Lenapore is because of the fact that Lenapore is one of Darren's favorite countries and is also known for having lots of merpeople. Lenapore makes up for the Lasgras of Atlantis.
All governments are kingdoms and all laws are dictated by their respective kings.
Sports are barely practiced, yet competitive swimming, also known as speed swimming, is popular. Music here is aesthetically based on East Sondrian music.
The 14th Century was a turning point because technology was now at Naran levels. Electricity was discovered in 1390, though print was developed in 1360 using old methods. Radio was tested in 1410 in Senya and television in 1422 in the same country. The internet was introduced in the late-1440s, although using two systems: the internet above and the interwet underwater, with the interwet acting as a sort-of intranet for underwater people. Television is a popular kind of media, with some television programs being inspired (without even known) on Naran programming. Television series and soap operas are popular, to the extent that by the early-1380s a series based on Home and Away became popular.
It is known that there is some sort of divide between the people on the surface world and the people underwater. Hundreds of underwater kingdoms are known to exist, with Atlantis proper being the largest of them all and the residence of King Triton. Humans step on the Atlantean waters and become merpeople. There seems to be an antidote.
==Characters==
===Nara===
*Dr. Richard Loveford: the man who discovered Atlantis at his own personal laboratory. His travels to Atlantis result in him being confused, particularly at the culture and calendar. His primary mission is to discover Atlantis and share his findings with the scientific world, yet avoiding pressure from the Hopelandian government.
===Underwater world===
*King Triton: King of Atlantis (the kingdom) and also the most powerful merman in the world.
===Senya===
*AJ: Senyan scientist and also the smartest.
*Weto: Hakki merman.
===Land of Despair===
===Rhetundo===
===New Harchakobor===
*Qormaran: Neoharchakoborian businessman.
===Apotos===
===Shutokai===
*Nasghedamus: King of Shutokai and sentry of the Lasgra people.
==Titles==
===Two Worlds (2005)===
Hidden somewhere in central Hopeland is a laboratory testing inter-planetary teleportation. Dr. Richard Loveford suddenly discovers that the portal takes him to another world, Atlantis, where the same thing was being tested resulting in the Atlantean discovery of Nara. Social barriers are broken and the titular two words are shocked about its discovery.
===A Deadly Somersault (2007)===
Dr. Richard Loveford is trying to find a cure. It is known that it is hidden in the depths of the Kingdom of Atlantis.
===The Dragon of Shutokai (2009)===
Initially intended to be the last in the trilogy, in 2008 the team decided to expand it to a full series of nearly bi-yearly books. The book is set in Shutokai and the team is investigating whether or not the merdragon, the Water Breather, is known to fly, technically impossible for mercreatures.
===A Tangled Web (2011)===
The fourth title and the first one not to feature Darren Watterson as one of the writers, as he was busy working with Tannon and Kraheer and Sisyphean, both of which would be getting television adaptations soon. The Senyan and Hopelandian citizens, after years of spying in secrecy, have been leaked by the press. The Hopelandian government decides to give Richard a week in prison and his facility under governmental investigation. However, even the government was puzzled at the teleportation device and the strange forms of Atlantean government - will there be a truce?
===Valuable Treaure (2013)===
The main kings have found treasure from a captain who seemed to have lived before the birth of King Triton. Dr. Richard Loveford is involved and talks about the treasure in a lecture he made at Albany University.
==Adaptations==
===Video games===
In 2008, a video game was released by 1Life in Hopeland and parts of South Sierra. In the game, the player controls Dr. Richard Loveford in Senya trying to investigate the discovery of Atlantis - a plot based loosely on the first film.
===Television===
*A television series known as Atlanteans premiered in August 2018 on the OK Network where Kofi Jones serves as executive producer.
===External links===
Detailed information can be found on Nara Wiki's sister wiki about TWoA.