And right on the heels of yesterday's
biome post, my Atlantis now has a political map of the ten kingdoms--or at least as they are just prior to The Fall. I'll get to them more in-depth when I actually get into my lorebuilding project, but for now a very brief rundown:
All of Atlantis takes on a Mediterranean bronze age vibe, borrowing from Mycenaean, Minoan, Hittite, and Babylonian sources (albit with a classical/late Antiquity level of technology and a fair helping of functional magic). However, each kingdom has its own distinct flavor. (Note: While I borrow heavily from multiple cultural sources all around the world, this is not to say that Atlantis is the source of all civilizations in this timeline. It's not; Atlantis falls around 10,000 BCE, which is several thousand years before Sumer and Egypt. While some threads of continuity may be present in the earlier Near Eastern and Mesoamerican civs, Atlantis is not responsible for, say, Japan, even though I use Shinto elements.)
RED: Atlantis proper. Atlantis Classic, if you will. It's the reigning kingdom, the one who tells the others what to do, even though technically there's a council of ten (it's very Athenean in its outlook). The classic ringed city sits at the mouth of the central river at the head of the great plain. Easily the most technologically and magically advanced, in regards to culture and society it borrows elements from Rome, Byzantium, and medieval China, while the state religion feels like what would happen if you took classical mythology and smashed it into both Hinduism and Shinto, allowing for a very fluid and quasi-animistic faith. This is the third time Atlantis has 'brought order and civilization' to its brethren with its highly trained legions and battlemages, and unknown to them, it will be the last.
PURPLE: Lentii. It used to be Atlantis's sister kingdom (as per Plato, the ten kingdoms are paired in two) until the end of the Great War a few hundred years ago ended in the destruction of Lemuria/Kumari Kandam/Sundaland/whatever you want to call it and ushered in a bit of a warring states/dark age period in Atlantis. Since then refugees have been trickling first into overseas Atlantean colonies and then to Lentii herself--sort of playing the role of medieval Anatolia. Since then the native Atlantean culture has taken a backseat to the incoming Lumerian survivor culture--a blend of Tibet, various Indian and SE Asian cultures, and classical Persia. Their religion tends to be somewhat Buddhist/Taoist.
YELLOW: Ayswan. A temperate/cold and rocky scrubland desert houses the great Egypt analogue (with bits of Assyrian), now in a long state of decline. It was once Atlantis' rival for power on the island, now it is one of the weaker kingdoms. Canyons dominate the south, pine scrubland dominate the north, and in the center the great river flows, giving life.
BLUE: Ikartok. Several hundred years ago, between the first and second Atlantean empires, the raiders from Hyperborea began raiding the northern coasts. Raiding eventually turned to settlement which turned to conquest and before you know it oops you've got Inuit-Vikings with Celtic undertones rampaging across the ice and pine forests with armored war mammoths. They bring their own Inuit/Celtic animistic religion, though Atlantis has been doing its best to syncronize the two.
ORANGE: Ishantu. This is the steppe and horses reign (there is a reason the Greeks will one day see Poseidon as the lord of horses). A mix of Plains Indians and Mongols, the Ishanti tribes have been thorns in the side of the more urbanized nations for millennia, and they've been kept from completely overrunning the place only by the existence of the central mountain range. They've since been (mostly) laid low by the empire and forced into a singular 'kingdom' that they are ill-fits for. Atlantis has been continuing to try and civilize them by building cities and colonizing--the results have been mixed.
GREY: Hwai. High up in the central mountain range and in the central ashlands sit numerous citadels, both on top of the mountains and inside. Traditionally each one was an independent citystate, but the empire doesn't give a crap about that and has unified them under a single banner. They have elements of Hebrew, Phoenician--and as of late, more and more Lumerian, including their religion, giving rise to numerous isolated monasteries.
GREEN: Aztlan. One of the earlier waves of people to the island continent (a bit before written language) were those coming from Central America. As their civilization built up, they eventually became the kingdom that spearheaded Atlantean conquest of their ancestral home. Traditional Atlantean Mycenaean/Minoan clashes with every Mesoamerican civ (and the Hopi for good measure) under the sun (heh). Unique to the southern temperate rainforests here are a relic species of terror birds, having evolved into something a bit more...well, dinosaur-ish, with bright plumage. And yes, they get ridden into battle.
BROWN/BRONZE/WHATEVER THAT COLOR IS: Ithika. Aztlan's poorer, more rural cousin. Most the region is swamp, and most of the settlements here are smaller than in the north. The Mesoamerican theme gets complimented with a bit of Polynesian and Louisiana Bayou.
CYAN: Atheos. The quintessential 'Greek' kingdom, full of seaside city-states, rolling hills, and brilliant white beaches.
MAROON: Nawar. The southern islands become more arid the further south and the closer to Africa one gets (remember, the Sahara hasn't completely greened up just yet). The isolated city-states here take on a more Moroccan/Berber appearance, but without forgoing the traditional Atlantean feel.
Atlantis' empire once stretched across Central America and the Mediterranean, until the Great War with its rival Lemuria fatally weakened the Second Empire. Now on the rise again, Atlantis seeks to reassert power over its wayward empire, by any means necessary. But her colonies are not the only threats: Atlantis shares its world with a handful of other advanced powers: the Neo-Mu colonies in South America (the seven golden cities), the remnants of Lemuria's empire in the Middle East and Africa (including the rising power of Rutas along the East African coast), the ever-present threat of the Hyperborean kingdoms in North America and Doggerland, the Empire of China (currently run by the would-be immortals who will one day be known as The Three Sovereigns), and the mysterious empire of Thule, said to lie somewhere beyond the icesheets in Asia.