The Atlantiad

Atlantis was discovered by a man of an unknown name. I and many others have sought to find his true identity, but we know only what he accomplished. He, thinking himself a crafter of the greatest societies (and I could not disagree), called for the wisest politicians to travel by boat halfway to the island. He would then personally convey them the rest of the way.

The wise politicians invited to the island did not enjoy the societies of the other lands. They wrote in treatises the hubristic downfalls of many civilisations, and of their want to make one better than all others. The citadel was established and inhabited by the First Great Atlantean Council.

More people were invited halfway to Atlantis. When the discoverer took them the final way, they became workers or soldiers. The former to till the lands for crops and breed livestock for meat or other goods, the latter to protect the island and enforce laws that the Council passed. Children were had within the Council, though the members chose not to know who each child belonged to as to not incur biased familial treatment.

The Conciliar offspring were put through testing to determine their place in the great island. If they showed good knowledge of the land and how to treat it, they became workers; if they showed good strength, they became soldiers; if they showed great wisdom and virtue, they became members of the Council.

All of this occurred in the newly established city of Atlantopolis. As described in texts by members of the Council, it was just as beautiful then as it is now. Mudbricks carved with images of the waves and the gods, roads paved with perfectly symmetrical slabs, marketplaces bustling with workers giving their food to passerby.

After the genesis of societal expansion was complete, expeditioners were sent outwards to find other islands in which to conquer and grow cities in. These were found, as fertile and naturalistically stunning as Atlantis. Many citizens of Atlantopolis flocked to these new islands and a single Council member was sent with them.

To combat the challenge of overseas communication, the Council member Sophia gave a speech known forevermore as The Postulation of Automata. Here, she suggested that workers construct large, lumbering men of bronze with voices louder than thunderclaps to shout across the sea messages to the other islands. The Council unanimously agreed, and the Great Atlantean Automata Workshop was established.

After the communication automata, other types of automata were created, smaller and able to move about. They served the Council as slaves, assisted the workers on the fields, and stood with the soldiers as security and law enforcement. They were efficient at each; a quick, uncomplaining and completely obedient band of bronze men were introduced to Atlantis.

Once all nearby islands had been discovered, charted, and conquered, with mighty military strength by both humans and automata, the Great and Fertile Atlantean Empire was officially recognised.

The beginning of the Empire was marked by the rearranging of automata. All those who were assisting the workers instead were redirected to serve as soldiers for the army or slaves for the Council. The workers during this time struggled to feed themselves, as they had become reliant on the automata, but managed, especially by helping one another.

The Council eventually convened to discuss the state of the Empire. They concluded that no further “fortification against shadows” was to be done. I believe it is by the planting of a spy in the Council that led to the sudden militant invasion of the citadel. Human soldiers and automata alike slaughtered the members of the Council that day, taking their place as leaders of the Empire.

Excerpt from Ages of Atlantis Volume One, written by Nireus under the rule of the Second Great Atlantean Council