Atlanteans
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The Atlanteans were once an advanced civilization of seafarers, alchemists, and mystics, consisting of several kingdoms and city-states on and around the ancient continent of Atlantis.
History
According to Atlantean accounts of history, the first inhabitants of Atlantis were "autochthon": the humans fashioned from clay by the Titan Prometheus, and breathed to life by Athena. It was for them that Prometheus stole fire (variously described as an analogy for technology, magic, and free will), the crime for which Zeus punished him to be chained and eaten alive for eternity. While some autochthons remained in the shadow of Mount Olympus under the reign of Prometheus' brother Epimetheus, and his Zeus-given wife Pandora, others spread outwards across Greece and beyond, becoming the ancestors of the innately magical Homo Magi. One group of autochthon settlers travelled west, encountering another brother of Prometheus, Atlas, similarly condemned to eternal punishment by Zeus to carry the weight of the sky upon his shoulders. Hearing the fate of his brother, Atlas directed the settlers towards a large and pristine island surrounded by ocean, beyond (he hoped) the reach of Zeus. In gratitude, the settlers named their new home and the ocean that surrounded it after their benefactor: Atlantis, and the Atlantic Ocean.
The Atlanteans trace their lineage back to a single common ancestor: Cleito a daughter of those early autochthon settlers, whose love affair with the sea - or more specifically Poseidon - bore, according to legend, five sets of twins. The eldest of these was Atlan, whom the ancient Atlanteans appointed their King: he established the city-state of Poseidonis in honour of his father, and divided the rest of his dominion between his brothers. Over time, Atlantean influence spread, spanning the ocean from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, and as far north as the North Sea, and Atlan's brothers and allies became kings in their own right. One of the first to emerge was the island kingdom of Tritonis, joined later by the Mediterranean Orionis, and the distant colonies of Kerys and Xebel. Atlantis forged alliances with other inhabitants of the Atlantic Ocean as well, such as the Nereids and Oceanids, and the Telchines of Rhodos: once the revered blacksmiths and artisans to the Titans, since driven from their surface home to the depths of the oceans. From the Telchines, the Atlanteans learned science and alchemy, and with it involved into an advanced civilization well ahead of its time: a civilization so advanced that it made the Gods deeply nervous.
Sources disagree on the cause of Atlantis' downfall. Some blame Atlantean hubris, and a thirst for power that ultimately destroyed them. Some blame the jealousy of the gods, turning on a people who they feared were growing too powerful. Some place the blame on Orionis, and on King Orin, the brother of Atlan who ruled there, and turned away from the traditional reverence of Poseidon and the sea in favour of a cult of Helios: some even go so far as to cite a growing madness that sparked a series of civil wars. Others insist upon the total innocence of the Atlanteans, describing the sinking of Atlantis as collateral damage from the same Deluge that Zeus unleashed against Deucalion and the other autochthons of mainland Greece. What is clear is that the sinking of Atlantis was no natural disaster, affecting not only the continent of Atlantis itself, but also her colonies and cities across the Atlantic, and almost all evidence of her impact on history.
Though destroyed and disappeared, the Atlanteans did not cease to exist. In Poseidonis, King Atlan used the power granted to him as Waterbearer to shield and protect his city, concealing it beneath the ocean from gods and mortals alike, and transforming his subjects to thrive in their new circumstances, into the High-Born Atlanteans of today. Other cities survived in other ways: the citizens of Tritonis were transformed by their patron Triton into the merfolk now known as the Fishermen; the Telchines - now known as the Brine - burrowed deeper into the protective safety of the sea floor; while in Xebel, the Lords of Order and Lords of Chaos are considered responsible for the schism between the Atlantean-like High-Born, and the cursed and feral creatures known as the Trench.
Society
Physiology
Technology
