Atlantis

### Residents

King Orin, Queen Mera, Prince Ar'Jeron, Princess Andrina, Garth ta'Idyl, Tula zin'Marius, Kaldur'ahm, Lorena Marquez, La'gaan, Topo, Dolphin, Cerdian, Deep Blue, Letifos, Lori Lemaris, Ulla Paske, Nuidis Vulko, Koryak, Sheeva, Blubber

## History

The Kingdom of Atlantis is generally considered to be the oldest known surviving civilization on Earth, having been founded by Poseidon in pre-historical times before the overthrow of the Titans as a staging point. The island it was built upon was rich in magical energy and would disappear from the mortal world at dusk, only to reappear elsewhere in the world with the coming dawn. After the overthrow of the Titans, Poseidon used this island as a private retreat from the wars of mankind and often brought great mortals to dwell on the island when they too grew tired of the affairs of the world. The oldest Atlanteans were average humans but through many generations of living, working, and breeding alongside mystical beings such as gods and nymphs; even the common people became able to harness sorcery in simple ways and their society became an idyllic utopia based on the use of magical energy.

While it flourished, Atlantis was a great civilization and with Poseidon's blessing it was ruled by a sorcerer-monarch whose own trident (modeled after Poseidon's) wielded immense mystical power. For generations, the great white island of Atlantis was home to the most powerful, wisest, beautiful, and benevolent kings and queens, advised by the Great Conclave of Lords.

Atlantis' first great era of peace and prosperity came during the reign of Calculha. To Calculha and his queen Majiestra were born two sons, Ahri'ahn and Garn. Majiestra was a student of the dark forces, and in seeking power, she stole the Twelve Crystals of the Zodiac, which were keyed to the twelve magical nodes that allowed the Crown and Conclave to control the island's magical field, affecting not only the island's dimensional shifting but also its weather. To save Atlantis from his mother's machinations, Ahri'ahn sacrificed himself. Ahri'ahn's soul was crystallized as pure magical energy and by order of Calculha, the crystal was kept as a centerpiece at the Atlantean Academy of Magic for generations.

As the world's magic waned, as part of a natural cycle, Atlanteans feared losing the power and privilege their paradise offered them. Atlantean sorcerers focused their powers together and tried to find a solution, devising an engine which would leech magical power from other dimensions and worlds. When the engine was completed, the sorcerers went against the orders of Crown and Conclave to wait for further study and performed the activation ritual. Despite an intense shockwave that rocked the magical academy and cracked the crystal of Ahri'ahn, the engine seemed successful. Relieved at the success, many Atlanteans celebrated extensively. Nearly ten months later, a young Atlantean commoner was born which the sorcerers claimed carried the essence from the soul of Ahri'ahn's crystal. Hearing this news about their son, the parents named him Arion.

The kingdom of Atlantis held onto its prosperity for several decades after that. A quarter-century after the activation of the engine, the young King D'Tulluh sat on the throne and seeing himself as a revolutionary, appointed many other young nobles to positions of great power, including Arion who he named Lord High Mage. Realizing that the engine was showing signs of wearing down, Arion tried to use his position to get the magisters to dial back their magical studies and appeal to the king to scale back on Atlantis' reliance of magic, but even though he was successful in convincing D'Tulluh, Arion's policies were constantly blocked by the Conclave who felt their new king and his adviser were too inexperienced and overly cautious.

When the engine ceased to function, causing a massive backlash of magical energies that killed one in a dozen people on the island, Arion pleaded with the Conclave and King to not allow the engine to be reactivated. D'Tulluh was swayed by Arion's pleas but the Conclave was not. In the middle of the night, the engine was reactivated and attempts were made on the lives of D'Tulluh and Arion by summoned demonic assassins. Arion survived due to the intervention of his lover Lady Chian, Captain of the Atlantean Royal Guard, but D'Tulluh was not so lucky. Convinced that Atlantis was doomed, Arion and Chian fled to the docks and escaped on a boat at the first light of morning.

Several hours after dawn, as the Conclave announced the murder of King D'Tulluh at the hands of Arion and Chian, a rift opened in the sky over Atlantis. The Conclave told the citizens not to be concerned, but most took this as a sign of the Conclave having doomed Atlantis. Former friends of Arion in the magical academy began to study means to avert catastrophe and studied the rift, which grew larger and larger over the course of weeks, causing the waters to become fierce and wild, preventing ships from departing. Children became ill, crops failed, livestock died, and magic had its potency muted. Perhaps most successful in escaping was Priestess Citrina and her followers who made a deal with the Lords of Chaos to allow her to open a small rift to another world.

Then, just a month after it appeared, there came the calamity, the rift exploded forth with immense energy which overloaded the engine, causing it to explode. The center of the massive island disappeared immediately as the six surviving districts which had surrounded the central district found themselves each in a different location, separated and quickly sinking. The explosion had left plenty of mystical residue on the island, which some mages used to erect protective domes and others opened portals to new lands, and even those unable to affect magic found the residual power change their bodies in response to their emotional distress, altering their bodies to survive the devastation.

The city center would eventually reappear, devoid of Atlanteans and its buildings overgrown with vegetation, and transformed into an archipelago bearing a sinister entrance to the Underworld which the gods named Doom's Doorway. Claimed by the gods, these islands were named Themyscira and would eventually become home to a new civilization.

The six surviving districts adapted to life under the sea. Many appointed themselves new monarchs and pursued a more narrow focus on magic. The kingdoms which came out of this were:

* Atlantis, off the coast of Africa, capital city: Poseidonis.
* Frad on'Bern, in the Indian Ocean, capital city: Shayeris.
* Lemuria, Northeast of Japan, capital city: Shamballah.
* Venturia, in the Mediterranean Sea, capital city: Tritonis.
* Aurania, off the coast of Ireland, capital city: Thierna na'Oge.
* Xebel, in the Bermuda Triangle, capital city: Challa betNalla.

A seventh kingdom known as Meropis was also created. Its denizens were the occupants of the city center and were hardest hit by the calamity. Their great city center slowly sank into a deep dark chasm and the magic which protected them became mutated by the darkness of the ocean around them, this essence pollution slowly turned all its citizens into feral beings who shunned the light.

During the Manhattaning, the explosion that decimated Los Angeles caused California's already volatile fault lines to quake for months after the detonation. One of the worst earthquakes happened in San Diego County of the United States and in Tijuana, Mexico in 1987. A good chunk of the coastline vanished under the sea and tidal waves from offshore. Some estimates are as high as a tenth of San Diego county's population of 2.7 million in 1987 were lost to the devastation and destruction. About two hundred people survived thanks to the meta-gene which gave the ability to breath under water. They set a village called Sub-Diego.

Those that could pass for human would venture onto shore to gather what the community needed at first, but eventually they became self-sufficient — especially after Atlantis discovered this little community and Atlanna offered them a place in Atlantean society.

Eventually, Atlantis would make use of their little community of Sub-Diego. When Atlantis made contact with the United Nations, they revealed they had built a visitor's center for drylanders and an outreach center for any metahumans with aquatic adaptations to make use of. Nowadays, the city is sort of an artificial island and resort destination. A third of it is above the waves and another third of it utilizes the breathable water technology to allow humans and Atlanteans to cohabitate.

## Trivia and Notes

### Trivia

* Circe studied magic in Atlantis before it sunk.
* Arion would later become a forefather of the Society under the name Vicomte Jean-Simon Giscard D'Arion.
* Themyscira can appear at the same locations of different Atlantean kingdoms.

## Links and References

* Appearances of Atlantis
* Location Gallery: Atlantis

1. ↑ Earth-27 101: The History of Atlantis
2. ↑ Network Files: Lorena Marquez