Setting (Read Only)

Despite the widespread devastation caused by the end of the First Age, the city of Atlantis survived largely intact and the vast majority of the damage has since be rebuilt. Atlantis is located almost 60 miles from the coast, near the northern border of Poseidonea. It is this land’s major port, sitting on the banks of the vast Canal of Poseidon. This canal is several hundred miles long, 400 yards wide, and lined with polished marble. Constructed during the height of the First Age and built to both irrigate the lush surrounding farmland and to allow ships to travel from the ocean to the city of Atlantis and Lake Llyn Llyon, it in fact connects Lake Llyn Llyon to the sea. The canal was constructed so that fresh water from the lake flows into the sea, the water remaining fresh and pure until it is less than a half mile from the sea. Also, the flow of the canal runs opposite to the prevailing winds—unpowered ships can sail upriver and float down river with no need for either oars or crystal matrices.

With a diameter of 12 miles and a population nearing one million, the city of Atlantis remains the largest known city and one of the wonders of the world. It inspires awe in all who gaze upon it. The city’s vril pyramid is easily visible from many miles away. The center of the city is a circular hill 1,000 yards in diameter and 400 feet high. At the pinnacle of this hill is the pyramid of Poseidon, which serves as the primary and most sacred temple of the city.

Made from beautifully carves blocks of brilliant white marble, this vril pyramid is 600 feet across at the base and 400 feet tall. Although orichalcum is only needed to focus the crystal matrices inside the pyramid, as a show of grandeur, the walls of the pyramid are inlaid with stylized waves and sun-bursts of orichalcum, while the pyramid is surmounted by a brilliant white vril-powered light that can be seen for up to 50 miles away. The lower portion of the hill is invisible to outsiders because the entire hill is surrounded by a 40-foot marble wall inlaid with a repeating wave design of orichalcum. Here, the royal family, high priests and the nacaals perform the most sacred ceremonies out of view of the common people. On eight festival days a year, the gates to this island open and the populace is free to pay their respects to Poseidon in the grandest of his temples.

All of the city’s major structures are built of finely-hewn blocks of stone. In the tradition of First Age Atlantis, the circular city walls (and certain of the most important government buildings) were plated with various metals: the outer wall with brass, the second wall with tin, and the inner wall with copper and orichalcum (a magical metal resembling copper, created by Atlantean alchemists). These structures shine with reflected sunlight during the day, and glisten even on moonlit and starry nights.

The rest of the city is equally impressive - the central island is surrounded by a canal 200 yards wide, known as the inner or Royal Harbor. This canal is connected to both outer canals by three canals that are each 50 yards wide. The inner harbor serves as the docks for the royal barge and is in turn surrounded by a ring of land 400 yards wide known as the Royal District. Here, the royal family lives in an elaborate palace. In addition, this ring of land contains elaborate gardens as well as the dwellings of the nacaals, high priests, and the most important nobles. In addition, this ring of the city has palaces for each of the nine members of the Royal Council - the rulers of the other 9 kingdoms of Atlantis. The Royal District is only open to authorized visitors and the three bridges across the Royal Harbor are each guarded by half a dozen of the bravest and most well-equipped warriors in the kingdom, armed with flame spears or crystal swords. This region is also surrounded by a stone wall 20 feet high that is inlaid with brilliantly polished silver and tin. This wall is surrounded by another canal, 400 yards wide, that serves as a harbor for the specialized vessels used by scholars and wizards, as well as where the vessels of the heroes of the kingdom are allowed to dock during Sea Day, the most important festival of Poseidon.

Known as the second or Heroes Harbor, this harbor connects to the outermost harbor by four radial canals each 50 yards wide. The Heroes Harbor is surrounded by a ring of land 600 yards wide known as the Garden District. To celebrate the fact that it is home to the finest crafters in Atlantis, this ring of the city is surrounded by a stone wall 10 feet high that is inlaid with the finest steel. Here are the embassies of foreign lands, the dwellings of courtiers, as well as the most renowned scholars, wizards, magical technicians, and priests, who all teach at the Atlantean University located here. There are also gardens open to all visitors, as well as a public library, and an art gallery. Both are associated with the university, where the most promising young priests, wizards, magic-technicians, and scholars of the kingdom are trained. Anyone, including foreigners, may come and go from this ring of land during daylight hours. However, only residents and their guests may come and go at night. Also, all of the bridges to this portion of the city are well-guarded both day and night - these guards are also prepared to react to any threats anywhere in this ring of the city.

The Garden District is surrounded by a canal 1,800 feet wide, that also serves as the city’s primary harbor. Known as the Great Harbor, this is where vessels owned by wealthy merchants and daring heroes dock and unload wealth and wonders from across the seas. The Grand Canal connects the Great Harbor with the Canal of Poseidon. This canal is 100 yards wide and 30 yards deep and is filled with bustling ship traffic at every hour of the day. Large crystal vril-lights line the Grand Canal, allowing sailors to maneuver their vessels into or out of port at any hour of the day or night. Many ships use these lights to allow them to be loaded and in the Grand Canal by day break, and a few exceptionally diligent captains take pride in always being in the Canal of Poseidon and on their way to the ocean before dawn breaks. Three wide, bustling bridges across the Great Harbor link the outer city to the Garden District.

Beyond the Great Harbor, lies the bulk of the city. The city extends another four and a half miles to the outer wall, a thick, 10 foot high wall of polished marble that marks the official boundary of the city. This wall is wide enough for guards to patrol and is fitted with three dozen pyramid-powered vril cannon, the largest number surviving in a single location. Along the edge of the Great Harbor are the warehouses and ports facilities, as well as the dwellings of most of the Tritons who live in Atlantis. In addition to Tritons who visit the greatest city in the world, Atlantis is home to more than 2,500 Tritons who have decided to make it their home. Most of these Tritons work on the docks as both fishers and shipwrights. Atlantis also contains large populations of elves, druas, dwarves, aesir, centaurs, and andamen (primarily Taurans and Anubim), as well as numbers of both nethermen and goblins. In addition to being the largest, Atlantis is also the most cosmopolitan city in the world. Here, numerous races live alongside one another in peace and harmony. However, Atlantis is not an egalitarian paradise - the vast majority of goblins and andamen in this city are slaves or servants and almost all the taurans and nethermen are bodyguards, slaves, or indentured gladiators. Atlantis is a city where wealth and status are exceptionally important.

The region immediately surrounding the docks primarily contain the dwellings of dockworkers and hostels for poor- and working-class visitors, like sailors, itinerant peddlers, and journeymen crafters. Known as the wharf district, this portion of the city is old and much of it is somewhat shoddily maintained. There are stories that some of the hostels have not been repaired since the end of the First Age. Known for all manner of petty crime, including theft, burglary, and muggings, it is also home to a number of infamous gambling dens and saloons with back rooms where patrons can partake of all manner of illicit intoxicants. There are stories of poor travelers, vagrants, and others who will not be missed vanishing from their beds in the night or being abducted off of the night-time streets and sold as galley slaves for foreign ships. Unfortunately, these stories are true, although such abductions are not as common as many rumors indicate.

The Warders are the primary reason the Wharf District is kept from becoming a deadly pest-hole of vice and crime instead of merely a seedy and somewhat dangerous portion of the city. Warders are the well-armed Atlantean police force, patrolling the streets both day and night. Although Warders in the Wharf District spend most of their time patrolling the warehouses to prevent anyone from stealing the valuables stored there, they also patrol the streets of this district, and ruthlessly hunt down murderers, arsonists, and anyone who does anything that significantly disrupts commerce. Although few investigate the petty thefts and the other minor crimes that are endemic here, some Warders have grown to know the residents and do their best to help out anyone attempting to make an honest living.

Just outside of the Wharf District lies the wide circular street unofficially known as the Boulevard of Dreams. This wide, busy ley line road carries pedestrians, carts, and other vehicles to and from the docks and separates the Wharf District from the portion of the city known as the Silver Ring – the residences of the merchant princes, minor nobles and other worthies who are wealthy and powerful, but lack sufficient status to live in the Garden District. Both because they live so close to the poverty of the Wharf District and almost all of them long to live in the splendid isolation of the Garden District, residents of the Silver Ring are widely consider to be the most competitive and ruthless merchants and courtiers in the entire nation. Although many are honorable people, the Atlantean news-sheets are always full of rumors of complex betrayals, trade wars, and occasionally murder plots among the residents of the Silver Ring and at least some of the rumors and lies printed there contain a grain of truth.