Atlantean High-Fantasy

[Scribble]

I've been working on an idea for a setting for quite a while now, one which focuses on the oceanic city-state of Atlantis and the neighboring countries in a high-fantasy interpretation of the Ancient Mediterranean. While it would definately fit the mold as magic-centric "high fantasy", it would also be much, much grimer than other settings in the genre might be. I have the rough framework for the three main nations worked out, but I was wondering if anyone here might be able to give me some sort of input as to the specifics of each.

Atlantis - the absolute dominant naval power in the known world, the island city-state of Atlantis is built upon three things; war, slaves, and magic. It's people are far more affluent, learned, and cosmopolitan than their neighbors, the massive underclass of slaves freeing the upper-crust from having to do any real work and giving them plenty of time for more scholarly and cultured pursuits. Almost all Atlanteans have some magical abilities, and many spend their lives studying the arcane in hopes of joining the Magocracy that rules the city-state or becoming a war-sorcerer in the Atlantean military. Though by far not the most, they are also a fairly religous people, giving frequent offering and sacrifices to their two cheif deities; Father Dagon and Mother Hydra.

Hellas - the loose republic of bickering city-states to the north, the people of Hellas are governed by their philosopher-kings, taken from the most intelligent among them and supported by a military class comprised of those citizens chosen in childhood to be the strongest and fittest. The Hellenics prize wisdom, learning, and arete as their cheif virtues and constantly pursue perfection and excellence in all their undertakings. Like the Atlanteans, they are also expansionist and ambitious, and the two nations frequently come into conflict over collonial claims and rights to various trade-routes.

Kemet - religous with a fervor unmatched with any of their rivals, Kemet is a desert kingdom built upon the black soil of their precious Iteru, the river which provides them with enough choice farmland to support a population larger than Hellas and Atlantis combined, an army of truly mind-boggling scale, and an entire priestly class that governs the nation. The Kemeti people, though poor and uneducated by foreign standards, make up for these shortcomings with an incredible, pervasive religous zeal, as well as physiques that easily outmatch those of most outsiders. While they hardly have a navy to speak of, the sheer size of their army and the talent of their warrior-priests make them foes not to be taken lightly.

In addition to the three nations, I have the outline of a magic system based loosely on ten different schools, though the implementation and mythology behind it various between the three nations.

Death
Fate
Forces
Life
Matter
Mind
Primos
Space
Spirit
Time

Input or suggestions of any sort would be much-appreciated.

[Llum]

Atlantis - the absolute dominant naval power in the known world, the island city-state of Atlantis is built upon three things; war, slaves, and magic. It's people are far more affluent, learned, and cosmopolitan than their neighbors, the massive underclass of slaves freeing the upper-crust from having to do any real work and giving them plenty of time for more scholarly and cultured pursuits. Almost all Atlanteans have some magical abilities, and many spend their lives studying the arcane in hopes of joining the Magocracy that rules the city-state or becoming a war-sorcerer in the Atlantean military. Though by far not the most, they are also a fairly religous people, giving frequent offering and sacrifices to their two cheif deities; Father Dagon and Mother Hydra.

Kemet - religous with a fervor unmatched with any of their rivals, Kemet is a desert kingdom built upon the black soil of their precious Iteru, the river which provides them with enough choice farmland to support a population larger than Hellas and Atlantis combined, an army of truly mind-boggling scale, and an entire priestly class that governs the nation. The Kemeti people, though poor and uneducated by foreign standards, make up for these shortcomings with an incredible, pervasive religous zeal, as well as physiques that easily outmatch those of most outsiders. While they hardly have a navy to speak of, the sheer size of their army and the talent of their warrior-priests make them foes not to be taken lightly.[/quote]

Since they seem to have a large and powerful enough army to swamp the other nations, is there any specific reason they have not? Are they less ambitious and colonial? Do they simply lack enough shipping power to move their armies?

[LordVreeg]

mediterranean, right?

So the Atlanteans are in the middle, somewhat analogous to the Minoans?

[Scribble]

So the Atlanteans are in the middle, somewhat analogous to the Minoans?

Actually, I was envisioning them as being more a blend of Greek and Canaanite cultures, for what it's worth.

[Xeviat]

I think Vreeg meant geographically.

I really like this. Since Llum asked my initial questions, I'll ask the crunchy ones: Do you have a system in mind for playing this setting? What is your goal (setting for your group, setting to publish online, setting for novels, just a hobby)?

Are you going to keep the rest of the Earth the same? Or are you simplifying things down to these three nations? I could see barbarians occupying the rest of the land-mass.

[Superfluous Crow]

Nice to see Philosopher kings in a setting :D pretty cool concept.
Also, exactly what does the school of primos deal with? And space for that matter.
Are time school sorcerers capable of time travelling, or are you just thinking slow/stop time? Also you seem to lack a divination school even if I'd imagine ancient cultures like these to be pretty interested in something like that.

[Scribble]

Interesting write up. Is there any kind of mythos-influence to Atlantis? Mainly I'm asking because of the name of their gods, who are mythos characters iirc. Perhaps their magic is derived from these? How does magic work? Is it all ritual? Is it something innate? Do you have to have a talent for it?

For the Atlanteans, they believe that magic is something that comes from the stars and planets as opposed to the sea, which they see as the source of the rest of creation. It requires some natural talent to use, but individual practicioners tend to make use of different methods; a highly kinesthetic sorcerer might favor lots of involved gestuculation and movement, while a more intellectual one might prefer memorized rotes or written phrases.

And as for their Gods, they keep magic and religion as two seperate entities and those who seek to draw anything more than the barest of conclusions between the two are viewed much the same way as someone who tries to connect God and science might be now.

The Hellas pursue perfection in everything so is there a specific reason that magic isn't mentioned? It's implied that magic is learned through study, so why do they seem to lack magic? Are they the most technologically advanced country?

That was my fault. They are less magic-centric than the Atlanteans, viewing it more as a form of "applied metaphysics" than an arcane art. They are much more focused on traditional sciences like chemistry and mathematics, though they often incorporate these scientific priciples into their philosophy-magic. Their pursuit of excellence is based on the old Greek tradition of arete; it doesn't mean that they are necessarily perfect and everything they undertake, simply that they always strive to be.

[blockquote]Since they seem to have a large and powerful enough army to swamp the other nations, is there any specific reason they have not? Are they less ambitious and colonial? Do they simply lack enough shipping power to move their armies?

Compared to the navies of Atlantis and Hellas, the former of which incorporates ships as large as the ten-banked deceres, their navy, which consists mostly of boats woven from reeds, simply does not compare. They are not nearly as expansionist, prefering to create massive works glorfying their Gods and Pharoah instead of establishing a wider empire. Technologically-speaking, they are the least avanced, but their magic is still on-par with that of the Atlanteans; because theirs is derived from their Gods and must be channeled by educated priests, it is far more epic than the secular Atlantean-equivalent.

[LD]

Hm. The magic system is based on ten schools; are each activated differently? You seem to imply that with this statement:

>>That was my fault. They are less magic-centric than the Atlanteans, viewing it more as a form of "applied metaphysics" than an arcane art. They are much more focused on traditional sciences like chemistry and mathematics, though they often incorporate these scientific priciples into their philosophy-magic. Their pursuit of excellence is based on the old Greek tradition of arete; it doesn't mean that they are necessarily perfect and everything they undertake, simply that they always strive to be.

I would be interested in seeing how this plays out both mechanics-wise and in terms of game-reality-wise.