Atlantean Monarchy

**Dev. Status** | Conceptual

The Atlantean Monarchy is a fanfaction designed by AstralXYZ, who was inspired to do so by the sight of all the fanfactions popping up.

#### Atlantean Forces Rundown

Playstyle: Amphibious assaults - the Atlanteans are well-versed in the art of naval warfare, and practically all their units are built to be amphibious. Land or sea doesn't matter to them - they fight equally well on both, although some of their units are better suited to naval battles.

Advantages: Practically all units are amphibious, a lot of multirole units, exceptionally good on water, good support units. Powerful late game units like the Bahamut and Tiamat.

Disadvantages: Most units have weak armour and hence usually must rely on support abilities in order to win a direct engagement. Cannot access Tier 3 without building a second Aquapolis. Late-game units are slow, very expensive, hard to build, and limited. Some units are incapable of damaging infantry without crushing them.

Strategies: The Atlanteans need time to gain momentum before they can win - they're not particularly good at early-game rushing because of their fragile units, until they gain access to their heavier units like the Valkyrie. Formations are very important to the Atlanteans - Valkyries are really meant to tank damage for the weaker units, and thus must be in front of a formation or else your units will go down quickly. Until you unlock and build the Bahamut and Tiamat Battlecruisers, Valkyries are invaluable in an Atlantean fleet.

The Laevatein Aerofortress also MUST be supported by other units, since it's not very well-off in the armour department and will go down much faster compared to the airships fielded by other factions. The Laevatein's Swarm ability allows it to avoid taking a lot of damage by launching cannon fodder at enemies, but it's unable to deal with other fighters effectively. A massed fighter attack will quickly take one out, although enough Daedali on hand will counter airspams before they can even reach the Laevatein.

As for their Assassination Mode target, the Enigma, it can decimate enemy ground forces attempting to besiege it and is capable of slowly repairing hull damage over time, but the flechette missiles deal very little damage and are better used to take down masses of weak air units with their AoE. The deadzone behind the Enigma is one of its weaknesses as well, and it's easily flanked by other units - even the basic MBTs of other factions - because of its painfully slow movement and turning speed. It can't just barrel into an enemy position head-on because of that, and must be supported by other units.

## Background

Contrary to the name, the Atlanteans are not actually Atlanteans - they only adopted the name.

### Origin

The origins of the Atlantean Monarchy date back to the mid-16th century, when underwater technology was starting to emerge. Unknown to the public, a certain Italian chemist called Edgardo Pisano had managed to develop a compound that could *recycle* carbon dioxide into oxygen. Deeming it too valuable to announce, he instead left the compound in his laboratory. At the same time, Francesca Lucchini, an artist with a love for water had just set up her own workshop - by chance, right beside the chemist's laboratory.

Lucchini was actually a member of a secret religious society that worshipped water as a source of life, explaining her love for water. As a female artist, she was also under heavy discrimination at the time, although her artistic ability did shut a few critics up. Excelling in water-based painting, she became renowned for her artwork, which often depicted scenes with at least some form of water in them - apparently intended as a religious offering.

However, she fell from her prime when her workshop was set on fire, destroying many of her precious creations. It is generally thought that the fire was started by some other artists, jealous of her. Fleeing to Pisano's house for help to at least save some of her artwork, Pisano was initially hesitant, but he tried to help nevertheless. Running into the burning workshop, he scooped up the closest art piece he could get his hands on and made his escape as the workshop collapsed behind him.

It just happened that the art piece Pisano had taken was one of a human diving underwater with a barrel attached to his back and a pipe going to his mouth - a crude diving device so to speak. Intrigued by the concept, he began working with Lucchini to create a working prototype of the device. Lucchini herself decided to give up her art to help Pisano - she'd only get attacked more like that if she continued, she reasoned. The only problem was in the technical sense - neither of them had the technical ability to create a device sophisticated enough to replicate the effects that Lucchini had envisioned the diving apparatus to have.

However, Lucchini herself did have a friend or two that was better off in the engineering department. Recruiting a member of her society, an engineer known as Ludovico Mazzanti, they began making progress with a crude system that allowed people to breathe underwater for a short period of time, but was too hard to dive with owing to its buoyancy. Nonetheless, the trio persevered, trying different designs.

In the end, what took the cake was one of the late Leonardo Da Vinci's designs. Although Mazzanti never really agreed to the idea because of Da Vinci's (Order-orchestrated) failure at engineering, the other two were rather keen on the idea. Stealing Da Vinci's Atlantic Codex, the trio found designs of underwater apparatus in it and decided to work from there. At the same time, Pisano had perfected his Permafrost compound - a compound that when mixed into water, caused it to freeze and become unmeltable, unlike normal ice.

Now the problem was that the trio did not have access to suitable materials to build Da Vinci's underwater breathing apparatus with. However, Pisano quickly found a way around the problem - by using Permafrost instead of metal in the major parts, they could reproduce a system that worked in the same way. However, Permafrost could not withstand the high pressure caused by engineering tools, so the system couldn't be made using those tools. This was where Lucchini came back into the picture - her artistic ability allowed her to simply carve the parts out of Permafrost with incredible precision.

The operational test (with a dog) was a failure though - the test subject still didn't survive long enough underwater. It was only at this point that Pisano remembered the recycler compound he had developed years ago - and it took Mazzanti only a few hours to rework Da Vinci's design to incorporate the compound into the system, unknowingly bypassing all the doctoring the Order did on the design. The end result was a success - the dog managed to stay alive for a much longer time. It wasn't long before the trio expanded into much larger designs utilizing similar systems.

The religious society Lucchini and Mazzanti belonged to pioneered the technology in complete secrecy after the death of the trio. Only a hundred years later, the group went out to the open sea in ships and began a massive construction effort - underwater, they used a more refined version of Pisano's Permafrost compound to quite simply freeze sea water into underwater structures. Working from there, they brought in machinery - everything a small city would need, together with some pumps. A large dome structure soon started to form, and the pumps were built into the dome. After it was complete, all sea water inside was drained out and a large vat of the recycler compound was placed in the very middle of the dome, creating a habitable environment.

A mass migration soon occured, all members of the society moving into the dome. Taking to calling themselves Atlanteans, the pioneers set up a small city inside the dome, living by feeding off fish and other sea creatures - whatever they could find underwater. A crude monarchic ruling system was formed around the ruling leader of the society called the Duke, who set up permanent residence inside the city-domes in an effort to stay pure, untainted by surface culture. The later, more radical generations completely eschewed the surface world - instead opting to stay underwater for similar reasons. Eventually, they completely forgot about the existence of the surface world.

More city-domes were later built, getting progressively bigger and more advanced using Atlantean technology. The first city-dome was even dismantled after several hundred years to make room for a bigger one, one that eventually became Randgriz, the capital city-dome. It was the first one to be tethered to the seabed instead of being built on it, allowing it to surface if the rulers ever deemed it necessary. Later city-domes were built in similar fashion. Underwater mining was also practiced by the later generations, allowing them to get raw materials to create some things that just simply couldn't be made from Permafrost, which had become an extremely vital part of Atlantean life.

### Culture

Inheriting the artistic sense of the older Italians, the Atlanteans have a very advanced culture - their art style is refined and ornate, and they also place a high emphasis on music and religion. The standard form of art in the Monarchy is Permafrost sculpting, somewhat equivalent to marble sculpting, but harder to work with owing to the fragility of Permafrost created through uncontrolled Permafrosting. Eventually Permafrosting was truly perfected to the point that Permafrost could easily withstand the force of a bullet smashing into it - much stronger than even iron and steel. Randgriz was the first city-dome to incorporate this perfected Permafrost in its design - and later city-domes followed suit. When this perfected Permafrost was introduced to the public, the Monarchy experienced a sudden burst of newer sculptures - some total replicas of older, more fragile sculptures.

Atlanteans hold morals in the highest of regards - almost all Atlanteans are polite and disciplined. This put them at odds against some of the more... 'barbaric' countries after their emergence from their isolated underwater life. They respect the more cultured people, and in some cases, advanced people. Their general affinity towards water also means that they are highly protective of the oceans of the world - anybody messing with the oceans is messing with the Atlanteans.

### Architecture

Atlantean architecture is heavily inspired by their art, and is generally elegant, curved and smooth. These architectural design concepts are also brought over to their vehicles after they were developed, unknowingly making them a lot more streamlined. Sharing themes from the Renaissance era that the Monarchy originated in, the Atlanteans pay extreme attention to detail in everything they do - it wouldn't be entirely untrue to say that all the people of the Monarchy are perfectionists.

### Advancement and Technology

The golden age of the Atlantean Monarchy came about in the 18th century, after they accidentally discovered oil in the seabed during a mining operation. The Monarchy's best minds quickly discovered ways to refine the oil, and established underwater platforms to extract and refine crude oil. This discovery allowed them to bypass coal - which the world was still using at the time - as fuel for vehicles, which were developed soon after. Permafrost's unmeltable property allowed it to be used in vehicle engines - it wouldn't melt, even at temperatures exceeding 400 degrees Celsius. The discovery of electricity followed soon after, and electrolysis after that.

Soon, large electrolysis plants were established underwater, electrolysing water into oxygen and hydrogen. Hydrogen was put to use as propellant in place of oil, which quickly became obsolete. The Atlantean method of refining the electrolysed hydrogen managed to create the perfect fuel - efficient, safe and easy to obtain (in Atlantean terms) - unlike the surface world's attempts with hydrogen decades later. In a way, the Atlanteans were more advanced than the surface world. The early 20th century saw the invention of the water manipulation technology that the Atlanteans are renowned for now, and also Sonic technology based on research done on dolphins and whales. Supercondensers were also developed around that period of time.

Atlantean vehicles of the time were generally submarines, with a few land vehicles that could be used inside the city-domes. The land vehicles were generally boats with hulls coated in Permafrost - as the Atlanteans discovered, Permafrost was slippery enough to be used to make hulls for vehicles that could quite simply slide around on land. Jet engines utilizing hydrogen as a fuel were implemented on the vehicles to allow them to move, sparking the development of the Atlantean automotive industry. Submarines as a rule were never permitted to go too close to the surface - this rule was relaxed much later after the Monarchy was forced to emerge from the water.

### Military

The Atlanteans' encounters with submarines from the surface convinced them to create a military of their own to defend themselves against any possible attacks from *outsiders*. Although the older submarines generally weren't efficient enough to detect the Atlantean city-domes, the Sonic technology pioneered by the Atlanteans allowed them to develop a countermeasure against the sonar technology employed by submarines from the surface, which they easily recognized because they used sonar technology themselves. Requiring large amounts of power to function, Sonic Disruptors could interfere with sonar operation to create the illusion that whatever was supposed to be there wasn't there. Due to the high power costs, Sonic Disruptors were only installed in city-domes.

Atlanteans were required to undergo military training at the age of 17 after the first encounter with surface submarines, to allow them to have a basic grasp of fighting when it came down to it. Firearms were developed, using hydrogen in place of gunpowder for guns. Of course, Atlanteans were also trained in melee combat and endurance - the Grendan city-dome was later built specifically to train them. Every adult Atlantean nowadays has at least 4 years of Militia training under his or her belt, and as such are generally stronger and more well-built than most people on the surface.

The construction of the Magara city-dome in the early 20th century marked the true beginning of the militiarization of the Monarchy - the fortress city-dome was built to defend the Monarchy against any incoming invasion. Construction was finished in record time - several years, and it was armed with the latest weaponry the Monarchy had to offer.

### Emergence

The fatal attack that claimed the lives of the leaders of the Monarchy occured in early July, 1969. Details of the attack are not clear, but what is known is that the attack was instigated by purple robots, according to survivors. The attack broke the outer and inner shell of the Parum Royal City-Dome where the Duke of the Monarchy and his wife were residing at the time, causing sea water to flood into the dome and dealing irreparable damage to the dome, killing the Duke in the process. By chance, his daughter, Cordelia gi Randgriz was in the Randgriz City-Dome at the moment and was saved from the attack. The Parum City-Dome was lost in the attack, shocking all the Atlantean citizens.

Another attack by the same robots several days later damaged the outer shell of the Magara City-Dome, almost flooding it. The damage was quickly repaired, and the attack was driven back by the Royal Guard Corps residing in the dome. The damage was done though, and Magara was taken out of action due to damage to its hydrogen fuel cells that would take months to repair. Duchess Cordelia gi Randgriz, ascending to the throne after her father's death, made the decision for the Atlantean Monarchy to surface with the advice of the military generals, and personally flipped the switch to cut the tethers tying down the Randgriz City-Dome to the seabed.

The remaining functional City-Domes surfaced one by one in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and were quickly tethered together with Permafrost struts to avoid drifting apart from one another. Thus, the existence of the Monarchy was revealed to the world.

### Territory

Atlanteans live in massive city-domes, with sizes each on par of that of the Syndicate's Atlantis Sprawl. Each city-dome has a specialized role in the Monarchy, with Grendan being the birthplace of most of the Atlanteans' frontline soldiers, and Zuellni taking in all the young, artistic minds of the Monarchy to guide them and give them the chance to express their talent. The city-domes and the sea around them are regarded as Atlantean territory.

Atlanteans welcome everyone into their city-domes, but of course, they do heavy screening to prevent any form of weaponry from getting into them and disrupting the peace. Because the Atlanteans are so unfamiliar with the surface world, they frequently conduct patrols around their waters just in case someone tries to attack them. The patrols are ordered to peacefully turn back any unarmed ships, but they shoot on sight if an armed ship approaches.

Several Atlantean floating bases have been dispatched around the world to gather information, as the Atlanteans are rather behind in that sense. These floating bases are equipped with the best sensors the Atlanteans have to offer and are, though not as large as the Imperial floating fortresses, each capable of supporting two battlegroups of Atlantean ships. So far, there is one floating base in each major ocean, floating just outside the waters of other countries, silently monitoring them.

Current active city-domes:

- Randgriz, Capital City-Dome

- Zuellni, Academic City-Dome

- Grendan, Military City-Dome

- Regios, Scientific City-Dome

- Fouzen, Resource City-Dome

Lost or out-of-action city-domes:

- Parum, Royal City-Dome. Damaged beyond repair in an attack by purple robots. Now lies at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean.

- Magara, Fortress City-Dome. Only city-dome designed to be highly mobile and heavily armed - a veritable fortress in its own right. Heavily damaged by purple robots, but undergoing repairs on the surface.

## Gameplay Mechanics

### Build System

The main building in an Atlantean base is the Aquapolis, a large dome-shaped building. Unlike other factions, the Atlanteans build large, mobile factories from the Aquapolis, which need to deploy in order to start producing units. These factories are capable of deploying on either land or sea - they have two factories for light and heavy units, along with a similarly mobile Training Centre, which trains Atlantean infantry. Only the factories and the Training Centre are mobile - all other buildings and defenses must be built in a build radius around the Aquapolis or an Aquapolis Foundation. To build more Aquapoleis, an existing Aquapolis must build a Terraformer, which can permanently deploy into an Aquapolis Foundation. The Aquapolis Foundation provides a small build radius but does nothing else. It can then be upgraded into an actual Aquapolis.

Of particular note is the ability of most Atlantean structures to generate a small trickle of funds when built or deployed on water by harvesting resources from the water. The Electrolysis Plant is a dedicated building built to take advantage of this, although it eats up a lot of energy and can only be built on water.

### Power System

Atlanteans use two types of power plants - Wave Farms and Solar Furnaces - to generate power. Wave Farms are built on water and Solar Furnaces on land. Both generate the same amount of power as other factions' standard power plants, but have different special abilities. Wave Farms are capable of sinking below the waves at a moment's notice, rendering them undetectable to most enemy units while halving power output, while Solar Furnaces double as defenses, capable of slashing their output by half to direct sunlight to a Solar Convergence Ray instead, which deals heavy damage to vehicles.

### Tech System

Atlantean generals can obtain higher levels of clearance to build units by building Communication Arrays on hardpoints on their Aquapoleis. Aquapoleis have a limited amount of hardpoints available. The Hailstorm Bringer offensive superweapon and Permafrost Bomb support superweapon are also buildable on hardpoints once Tier 3 is reached, necessitating the construction of multiple Aquapoleis in order to fully unlock the Atlantean tech tree and the superweapons themselves.

### Notable Technology

#### Permafrost

Most of the Atlantean vehicles have hulls coated in Permafrost, which is a type of ice that never ever melts. With this Permafrost coating, Atlantean vehicles are capable of crashing onto land and practically sliding on the ground with the help of additional thrusters to move around. Atlantean Ice Cannons also fire Permafrost rounds as they are harder than normal ice rounds. Permafrost technology also allows Atlanteans to reshape their ice any way they want - more often than none into vehicle hulls.

#### Magna-drives

Magna-drives are thrusters developed by the Atlanteans that use magnetism to push water behind a craft, generating forward movement. Unfortunately, they are only usable in the water, but they run almost completely silent.

#### Supercondensers

Special condensers that can temporarily condense a large amount of water out of air. This allows Atlantean Ice Cannons to operate on land without the need to go back to sea to scoop up water for usage as ammunition. This also means that Permafrost rounds formed from supercondensed water will evaporate after a while, denying anybody from simply picking up an intact Permafrost round and reverse-engineering the technology.

#### Sonic Weaponry

By adjusting various parameters in the output of a sound wave, Atlanteans are able to use sound as a weapon - projecting a beam of sound that can literally blow enemies away. Atlantean Sonic weapons have longer range over and in water, and are particularly destructive against submarines and buildings. Sonic weaponry is also the only kind of weaponry that can shatter Permafrozen targets in one hit. Do note that not all Sonic Cannons are able to target submarines. For safety reasons, Sonic weaponry is calibrated for a ultrahigh frequency that is inaudible to human ears and harmless to humans. Hence, Sonic Cannons are completely ineffective against infantry.

#### Water Manipulation

Atlanteans are able to manipulate water by using a special form of static electricity, which, through variation of output, can either increase or decrease the attraction and bonding power of water several times over. This technology is used extensively in Atlantean vehicles and in the creation of Permafrost coatings for ships, since it allows water to be shaped down to the finest detail before being Permafrozen.

#### Aqua Wing System (AWS)

Some Atlantean aircraft are capable of using an Aqua Wing System for flight. This system works by combining the Atlantean water manipulation and supercondenser technologies with a field of energy that is attracted to water. The result is water seemingly materializing out of thin air in the shape of large wings - a very impressive sight to behold. Atlantean aircraft utilizing this system do not have physical wings, and the AWS is only effective at low altitudes although it grants a high level of mobility and the ability to stay hovering in one place like a helicopter. If combined with a Permafrost Generator, an AWS is also capable of firing ice shards from its wings to devastate large areas of land.

### Advanced Weapon Terminology

#### Multi-Layered Permafrost (MLP) round

These rounds are the Atlanteans' equivalent of an armour-piercing round - by layering Permafrost in front of a normal Permafrost round, the layers break and split on impact without the actual round suffering any loss of velocity. Still, as this technology is still relatively new, MLP rounds are ineffective against heavy armour which is far too thick to penetrate and are merely given to infantry to defend themselves against light armour.

#### Accelerated Launch Ice Cannon (ALIC)

ALICs somewhat resemble Syndicate railguns as the basic operating principle is the same - firing penetrating rounds using magnetism. However, since ice is unable to conduct electricity, Permafrost rounds couldn't actually be fired from a railgun. So instead, Professor Theimer devised a system in which Permafrost rounds were shaped AROUND a metal core, and changed the frame to a coil instead of two rails - hence, ALICs are not railguns, but rather coilguns, but they still fire projectiles at superhigh velocities, enough to penetrate multiple targets. ALICs are best used firing MLP rounds, as their high firing velocities help overcome the inability of MLP rounds to penetrate heavy armour when fired from a normal gun.

#### Aurora Cannon

Possibly the only energy weapon used by the Atlanteans, the Aurora Cannon uses water as a focusing medium and amplifier for a ray of light, creating a kaleidoscopic beam of energy that rips through anything in its way. Unfortunately, Aurora Cannons are also rather new to the Atlantean arsenal and are still being perfected and are thus not in widespread use. The biggest version currently in use is only on Bahamuts.

### Atlantean Super Units

Units that fall into this category are the Megalodon Striker Submarine, Bahamut and Tiamat Battlecruisers, Antares AWS Interceptor and the Laevatein Aerofortress. These units are the pride of the Atlantean forces, but are notoriously hard to build - and very expensive. Properly used, these units can easily turn the tide of a battle clean around with their superior abilities. A Command Hub needs to be built on the battlefield before these units can be deployed to battle - they take orders only from the Duchess herself, and need the Command Hub to relay the orders. With the exception of the Antares, all the super units have unit limits imposed on them - 2 of each Battlecruiser can be built, while the Megalodon and Laevatein are limited to one each.

Atlantean players must decide between using more conventional forces or using the super units - the more risky path being using the super units as they must save up credits to build them with. Even with the super units on the field, victory is not guaranteed, as the super units themselves still have their shortcomings. Plus, should the Command Hub be destroyed, all super units excluding Antari will be unable to accept orders - they will still defend themselves, but they will not move or respond to orders until a new Command Hub comes online.

## Defenses

Note: Most Atlantean defenses may be built either independently, or on hardpoints. They are more durable when built on hardpoints, especially hardpoints on Aquapoleis.

 File:IconMonarchy.png | **Aurora Relay Tower** | These large towers are standalone-only defenses that are equipped with twin Aurora Cannons to engage either land or air targets... considering an Aurora-armed unit is charging it. If need be, a relay can be set up so that one charged tower can charge another one in a far-off location.

## Units

### Infantry

 File:IconMonarchy.png | **Aqua** | Aqua is the Atlantean commando, capable of slowly coating anything in front of her with Permafrost using a prototype portable Permafrost Generator. This has the same effect as being frozen - anything affected will gradually slow down. Aqua can shatter Permafrozen targets in one hit using twin Sonic Cannons built into her armoured suit. Note that both attacks hit in a line in front of her. Aqua will also instantly kill any infantry short of another well-trained commando with the flechette guns built into her suit. She can also walk on water by using the Permafrost Generator to freeze the water under her feet.

### Light and Medium Vehicles

Note: All Atlantean vehicles are amphibious, although some need to have their secondaries activated to become amphibious.

### Heavy Vehicles

Note: All Atlantean heavy vehicles are either Tier 2 or Tier 3.

 File:IconMonarchy.png | **Gaius AWS Cruiser** | The Gaius was developed after the success of the Daedalus, largely due to its ability to take to the air at a moment's notice. Like the Daedalus, the Gaius can engage its AWS to fly, but its heavier weight means that it's slower than the Daedalus. Armed with a pair of 180mm Sonic Howitzers, the Gaius is effective against buildings at long range and can fire over walls. In the air, the Gaius can drop Sonic Bombs on ground targets.

### Aircraft

 File:IconMonarchy.png | **Clarity Prism AWS Carrier** | This unique support gunship is unarmed, but has an ability that allows it to release Permafrost prisms into the air around it. These prisms will bounce Aurora beams in a limited radius around them, but blanketing an entire map with them can allow you to quite literally control the map. It does take time to fabricate new prisms, but they remain in the air indefinitely until shot down. Aurora beams can be bounced into the aerial prisms by friendly Aurora-armed units firing at an Aurora Relay Tower. Only land vehicles are targetable due to targeting issues, and only two Clarities are allowed to be on the field at any given time. Also, the Command Relay Node is required to build Clarities although it isn't a super unit.

### Super Units

Note: All super units except for the Antares are built from the Gargantia Hangar.

 File:IconMonarchy.png | **Laevatein Aerofortress** | A gigantic airship that works as both a flying aircraft carrier and a mobile fortress, the Laevatein is the largest aircraft in the Atlantean Arsenal. Carrying the same Shard Drones as the Tidebringer, only in greater numbers together with two arrays of anti-ground Ice Cannons, it can decimate an enemy ground attack force by itself, although its armour is very fragile for an airship and it is slow. As such, it must rely on escorts to be truly effective. Only one Laevatein may be built by any general.

### Special Units

 File:IconMonarchy.png | **Enigma Hyper Dreadnought** | This humongous dreadnought is quite possibly the single largest ship in the world - a hulking mass of Permafrost and metal capable of flattening anything getting in its way. As the Atlantean VIP unit, the Enigma is extremely heavily-armed, carrying six Aurora Cannons and two large racks of anti-air flechette missile launchers. An ordinary Permafrost hull would crack if used on land on a ship of this scale, so the Enigma uses massive quad Permafrost treads to crawl along when its on the ground, remelding the treads into its hull as it goes into the water. Its secondary allows it to fire all weapons in a deadly yet beautiful Aurora Dance, although it overloads the Enigma's power generators and forces it to completely shut down for half a minute. As a tradeoff for its immense armament, the Enigma is extremely slow and very vulnerable to ground attacks from the rear.

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