Yeah, I know, it's Greek. ^_^; Contrary to the sound of the name, however, the Atlantean civilization predates the height of ancient Greece. The name was chosen to reflect a sort of larger than life fantasy culture, similar to names like Shangri-La. For our game purposes, it's safe to assume the name Atlantis is the one adopted by Greeks who will discover the sunken remains of the magical continent far in the future. ^_- The same way we pretend everyone speaks some variation of English for the common tongue.

In terms of landmass size, Atlantis is fairly small. But considering it as one massive city with smaller branch off cities - much like the US eastern seaboard has become one sort of condensed urban area - it's HUGE. The central island possibly has a specific name, but to most Atlantean folk, it is simply the mainland, and a good portion of this is taken up by the capital city. Between cities are neatly kept stone-paved roads, and the relatively small amount of rural land is carefully farmed. This mainland was also the first piece to be raised into the sky by the Enlightened Ones. Smaller islands either broke apart because of weaknesses in the earth or were brought later on.

Spreading farther out are many smaller surrounding islands - some almost half the size of the mainland itself, some as tiny as a single, cramped village. Due to the instability of teleportation among moving bodies (the whole of Atlantis is constantly in motion), the smaller islands are connected by magically constructed suspension bridges. They have about a bazillion enchantments on them, to keep them not only stable, but to keep travellers from being harmed by the shifting of huge chunks of earth connected by tiny strings. ^_^; It is a most greivous offense against the kingdom to tamper with the royal roads and bridges, almost as bad as tampering with the teleportation sites. Some of the satellite islands have earned reputations in Atlantean culture in their own right - many universities and academies have been established away from the capital, for example - but others are sort of "fringe" outliers of society, where magically limited folk have banded together in their own communities to escape living in city slums. This is a hard option, however, as it's no small task to farm the land manually, especially for people who have grown far from the traditional ways of their Earthbound cousins. Oh, and let's not forget the occasional rich hermit or misanthropic noble will take up entire (albeit quite small) islands as their estates to cut themselves off from mainstream society.

In terms of climate, Atlantis is almost always year-round mild, sunny weather. The crops are maintained through magically summoned weather changes that may be only as big as one single orchard. The only place any truly dangerous weather occurs is juuuust on the borders of the continent, where the barriers that keep the freezing, high-velocity winds of the upper atmosphere at bay are weakest. Now, mind you, this doesn't mean it doesn't EVER rain or get cloudy in the Kingdom of magic, the repeated forcing of weather patterns into what Atlanteans deem pleasant habitually causes a Mother Nature backlash. Often times they simply leave the fouled-up weather in the wake of the continent's floating path, but sometimes it's unavoidable that they get caught in their own weather-mess. ^_^; The weather-mages are only human, after all, and sadly, there's a lot more time devoted to learning how to manipulate weather than there is to studying why it behaves like it does, predicting it. But hey, it's better than being assaulted by icy cold and not having enough air to breathe properly. ^_^

The title "Kingdom of Magic" is actually a bit of a misnomer. While Atlantis is under the rule of a King, the throne can just as easily be passed on to a Queen. The right to rule is passed on to the most direct descendant of the first King's bloodline. While this is the only technical requirement, there is also the unwritten law, that whoever is in power must also be an extremely formidable mage to protect their right to rule. Several monarchs in Atlantean history have deliberately surrendered the crown once they became so old that they could not make full use of their powers any longer, thus avoiding the threat of assassination, rebellion, and so on. So it's the most direct descendant who's *capable* of bearing the weight of the crown, in essence. ^_^

Now, as if this wasn't reason enough for kings, queens and nobles to be edging around one another in endless circles of intrigue (as we all know they do, magical or not), the monarch is permitted, while in power, to exercise a right that is *sort* of akin to polygamy. If you're familiar with the Chinese Emperors, this is a bit similar. Bear with me here. Because a King or Queen is no longer merely their own person, but a sort of personification of the nation, they are fully expected to marry their one actual spouse for the benefit of alliances, bloodlines, producing heirs, what have you. Basically for the good of Atlantis. Now, *love*, on the other hand, or at least companionship, is a totally different matter. Royals can and do have consorts for their romantic companionship, and these individuals do actually hold a fair bit of sway in the political system, they're recognized members of the court and everything - and any children resulting from these pairings can be in the line of succession because of their royal blood. (Ever seen Dune? How Paul was the son of the Duke and his concubine, but he was still in line to inherit the house? Yeah. ^_^) This practice is not seen outside the immediate royal circle (well, not with legally *recognized* consorts, anyway) because only the ruling family is considered to be bound entirely to the nation when arranging marriages. Any children directly descended from the King and Queen outrank their half-siblings and are preferable to be next in line for the throne. Though it's not exactly an equal deal, it's an inescapable fact that once a royal couple is wed, the production of a true Heir becomes important to keep internal conflicts over the throne under control, so the Queen has some expectations put upon her to have a child with the King at some point in her life (depending on which advisors you're talking about, it can be the day after the coronation that they'll start in with the badgering o_O). And much like those ancient China days, having multiple possible heirs can cause some serious strife when you get ambitious half-royal children, but no one ever said Atlantis had perfected a foolproof government organization. ^_- The monarchy is supreme over all other governing bodies, and nothing outside a total overthrow can ever force them into any behaviors they don't wish to concede to.

Currently, Atlantis is under the rule of King Sanjar and Queen Parvani who were married only relatively recently (say 5 to 10 years ago). The King is the one descended from the royal line this time 'round, the Queen is from another extremely prominent noble family. Both most likely have had love affairs outside of their union, and they each have had children before they married one another, mostly attributed to the fact that they were not wed until they were into their late 30s.

As for the rest of the government, there is *some* loosely organized democracy in the lower levels, though it's far from Utopian. Noble families are usually appointed provinces to look after, though if they're not keeping up with their duties, the monarch can pull them from power and put someone else in their place. Individual cities and towns, however, have their own assemblies of lawmakers that actually do the detailed work, keep the books, run the courts, etc. Think of it as Federal, State and local governments - each tier ruling over the other, but the lowest rank can appeal to the highest if they think the middleman is being unfair. ^_^; Seats in the local assemblies often get passed down family lines informally, though anyone who presents themselves as educated, magically talented enough, and more or less from the societal upper crust can run for a position. ^_^ Elections vary from city to city, but usually it's every 4 to 8 years, with all adult citizens of a certain education level permitted to vote if they so wish. Everyone smooshes into the local gathering hall and a show of hands is taken, it's not a very discreet or formalized affair. ^_-

Because this is a magic society, and status, wealth and so on are pretty much determined by magic, it's safe to assume there are laws, written and unwritten, to regulate said magic. Now, this does not mean there's a whole lot of shame associated with most types of magic - quite the contrary. The realms of acceptable powers extend far and wide, and often delve into some pretty scary areas. Invasive telepathy, weather magic that fouls up nature, summoning up big nasty creatures, tampering with the very essence living things - as long as you are capable enough to keep these things under control, then more power to you, says Atlantis as a whole. There are only two real, confirmed kinds of no-no magic, although others may exist in rumor - blood magic and necromancy. This is not to say they don't exist and it's not to say that people do not seek them out, but in public, you'd do well to frown on them both and say you would *never* have anything to do with them. ^_^;

Blood magic is just that - using a person's blood as the spell component for enslavement, harming, or killing that person. Think of it as a cousin to voo-doo, sans doll. ^_^; Because the mage who has the person's blood can inflict their ill intent from hiding, or from a great distance - anywhere else in the world, basically - and the victim has little or no chance of defending themselves, even with great magical power at their disposal, it's considered cowardly and just downright *evil*.

Necromancy is anything to do with the undead, the spirits of the dead, or fouling up anyone's transition from life to death. Not to be confused with healing someone who's near death, this would be more along the lines of causing someone's soul to go astray on its way out, forcing them into ghost status, things like that. The Atlanteans have no qualms with extending their natural lives, or even cheating death when they think they can get away with it, but by forcing someone into undead-limbo land, a mage has put something worse than death on them, and that, my friends, is e-ville.

Apart from magic, there are other unique societal rules. This *is* a pre-Judeo-Christian society, and though it's almost entirely fantasy in nature, and more advanced than anything the real world had at the time. ^_- There is very little distinction in terms of expectations, education, and work practices for men and women - opportunities in life are almost entirely dependent on magical proficiency and social status (money usually following close on the heels of the other two). There is a rather distinct stratification of classes - basically between the nobility and everyone else. Though nobles do interact with the middle classes on a daily basis, there is still the unseen line, neither is expected to deal with the other as an equal. However, families are not locked in position as noble or middle class, or even as low class, though they tend to stay around the same levels - powerful mages can emerge from the slums and rise in status if they play their cards right, and shamefully inept mages can come from noble clans. An Atlantean's appointment as governor, royal advisor, or even outstanding performance as an academic can earn someone a noble title. On the other hand, noble families unable to keep control of their duties can fall from grace, losing their status through the general consensus of the rest of high society or through being ousted by rivals.

Because of their long isolation from their earthbound brethren, and their belief that they've overcome nature where others did not, the Enlightened Ones have a collective aversion to behavior that is "beneath" them - too much manual labor, any rituals considered primitive, are discouraged by mainstream society. The old religions of the Earthbound clans have more or less been eliminated, and even in terms of history books, they are barely touched upon (or the Earthbounds in general for that matter). New religious or spiritual followings have emerged since then, but no singular faith has ever taken hold, and there is no state religion. Many Atlanteans feel that they are sufficiently advanced in knowledge and power that they don't need the help of gods. Apart from ancient religious custom, there's an aversion to too much physical labor - doing things manually when one has the magical means to do so can be considered demeaning to the greatness of Atlantean advancement when taken too far. Any ''throwback'' groups trying to revive simpler culture or denouncing dependence on magic are brought under the harshest scrutiny - individuals who exhibit such feelings are usually shunned by their fellow Atlanteans to a slightly lesser degree.

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