Atlantean

Legends say that when Homo Sapiens evolved from the earlier species of humans and learnt to use magic, they used magic to built great cities and forge a grand empire that controlled the lost continent of Atlantis, the Mediterranean Sea and far into the Middle East and Africa. Through the use of magic, they enacted massive barriers along the northern borders of their empire to keep the glaciers away. From their biggest city, Atlantis, they were called Atlanteans. When the Atlantean Empire fell, it took almost everything with it. Cities disappeared, magical and scientific knowledge was lost and humans went back to living in tribal societies. However, many scholars say that there is at least one thing that wasn't lost from the atlantean times, an instintcual understanding and appreciation of magic, an understanding of its limitations and dangers. Some people say that the atlantean civilization fell because their didn't understand whose limitations and dangers and went to far with magic.

You don't understand how huge this is! This helmet looks exactly how the legends describe atlantean helmets! It's the proof! The Atlanteans were real!

— An archaeologist after finding first ever atlantean helmet

Society of Magic

According to the legends Atlanteans used magic everywhere. It is said that walls of their buildings were held by magic alone. All that magical energy was coming from the radiant stone, a huge magical crystal located at the top of each city's central tower.

It is said that all Atlanteans were magic users and most of them was able to do extraordinary magical feats without any training. They were just innately gifted with abilities that modern humans must learn.

Caste System

Atlantean society was divided into four main castes: the nobility, the priests, the warriors and the peasants. Each of this castes had their own internal divisions. Moving up or down between the castes was possible, but very hard.

Nobility

Nobility was the highest caste among the Atlanteans. They were the rulers and generals of the empire. The king and his family sat at the top of this caste with the rest of the nobility below them. Officially, all nobles were equal but in practice, a noble's wealth decided their position in the caste and access to the king.

Priests

Below the nobility were the priests. Though priests could marry and have kids, most of the priests came from other castes. Most often, the youngest children of nobles were sent to become priests. Also, many people who wanted to repent for their mistakes were choosing the path of a priest.

Warriors

The warriors made up the bulk of the Atlantean armies. They were people who trained in using a sword, spear, bow and magic since their childhood and swore to defend the kingdom until their death. Vast majority of warriors came from families with a long history of military service. Many of those families gathered wealth equal or bigger than that of the nobility.

Peasants

Peasants were the common people of the kingdom. Despite the caste's name, they weren't only farmers. Among the peasant caste were farmers, craftsmen, merchants and many other inhabitants of smaller and bigger settlements.

Greed and Downfall

According to the legends, Atlanteans had an insatiable lust for power. They were ready to use any means necessary to get it and have more of it. They lusted for power in every aspect of their lives, magical and non-magical.

The Shattering

It is said that the Shattering, a cataclysm that brought the end of the Atlantean Empire, was a result of atlantean mages experimenting with pure magical energy in hopes of achieving immortality. To be able to channel enough power, they tapped into the radiant stone of Atlantis and connected with the radiant stone network. What the mages tried to do was too much for the stones and they exploded. As the result, all atlantean cities were destroyed and the contient of Atlantis, which was hit the most, sunk into the ocean.

View of magical explosions detroying their homes made people fear magic. Since then humans never have used magic on such a scale that the Atlanteans used it. Legends passed from generation to generation warn about the destructive nature of being too greedy with magic.

Encompassed species

• Human

Related Reading

Work in Progress