MotF 146: Atlantis Reborn

[Upvoteanthology]

MotF 146: Atlantis Reborn

The Challenge
Make a map expanding on the world of Atlantis (yes, it's meant to be broad ).

The Restrictions
There are no restrictions on when your PoD or map may be set. Fantasy, sci-fi, and future maps are allowed, but blatantly implausible (ASB) maps are not. However, for this particular contest, some ASB is allowed.

If you're not sure whether your idea meets the criteria of this challenge, please feel free to PM me or comment in the main thread. Sometimes it isn't as clear as I intend it to be.

Please try to keep images posted in this thread a reasonable size - feel free to post a smaller version of your image and provide link to a full-size version if you want to.

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The entry period for this round shall end when the voting thread is posted on Sunday, December 18th.

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THIS THREAD IS FOR ENTRIES ONLY.

Any discussion must take place in the main thread. If you post anything other than a map entry (or a description accompanying a map entry) in this thread then you will be asked to delete the post. If you refuse to delete the post, post something that is clearly disruptive or malicious, or post spam then you may be disqualified from entering in this round of MotF and you may be reported to the board's moderators.

Remember to vote on the previous MotF round!​

 

[Steve Brinson]

On December 11, 2006, the SFS Atlantis, a Columbia-class transport shuttle operated by the United States Air and Space Force, crashed while en route to deliver supplies to Gustavo Hernandez Lunar Base. The cause of the accident is not certain, even today, but the Norris Commission concluded that a combination of an error in the craft's error-checking software, coupled with damage to the RK-4 cable during assembly and the failure of several supporting struts during takeoff, led to flight engineer Leonard Hayakawa erroneously opening several LOX valves, which led to an onboard fire. However, many conspiracy theorists blame rogue Naval or English sabotage. The crash claimed the lives of all 12 crewmembers, including pilot Greg Cortez, the third American to land on Mimas, and payload specialist Ma Anyang, the first Sartanese astronaut. It was, and remains, the deadliest peacetime space accident ever. In addition, the left auxiliary fuel tank landed outside Stevensville, Salt Lake, and exploded on contact with the ground, killing three, and one person was killed in a traffic accident in Jefferson caused by a piece of debris.

Spoiler: Never Forget

Karen Archer (medical specialist)
Antoine Beauchamp (payload specialist)
Greg Cortez (pilot)
María de la Torre (communications specialist)
Leonard Hayakawa (flight engineer)
Jerry Jenkins (tactical specialist)
Ma Anyang (payload specialist)
Mark Martin (nuclear technician)
Murphy Porter (radio astronomer)
Sarah Robinson (security officer)
Perry Thomson (selenogeologist)
Devon Yates (visual analyst)
...
Richard Andrews (doctor)
Natalie Andrews (programmer)
Bryan Andrews (five-year-old)
Patricia Redding (paralegal)

The incident caused an immediate shutdown of all Columbia-class resupply flights, with all resupply being made by mass driver until mid-2008. Many Progressives, including 2008 nominee Governor Ross Watkins, called for a drastic scaledown of American activity in deep space, including the cancellation of the planned Shawnee Trail group of bases, but control of the Moon was deemed too high a cost to risk. Instead, President Leland of the People's Party declared that "steps would be taken" to make lunar bases more self-sufficient and less dependent on Earth. As of 2016, resupply flight frequency has been reduced by a factor of four.

T+00:00:00 Atlantis takes off from Russellfield Aerodrome. (0)
T+00:02:33 Hayakawa, based on inaccurate data, opens valves C2 through C5. (1)
T+00:03:02 The main fuel tank catches fire, followed shortly by everything except crew compartments. (2)
T+00:03:29 The left auxiliary tank disconnects from Atlantis. (3)
T+00:03:40 Range Safety Officer Norman Kelly makes the decision to scuttle the shuttle from Mission Control in Porciuncula.
T+00:04:14 The main spine of the spacecraft catastrophically fails, leading to the immediate deaths of all crew except Cortez, de la Torre, and Hayakawa. Several fragments of hull rain over northwestern Jefferson. (4)
T+00:04:22 A SIP order is sent out for the portions of Dakota and Shoshone underneath the flight path.
T+00:04:28 Cortez, de la Torre, and Hayakawa attempt to use the RES pod to escape. However, damage sustained led to all three burning up during reentry over Cass County, Jefferson. (5)
T+00:04:37 Three Athena-Six missiles are launched from Fred Ortiz Aerodrome in northwestern Platte to take Atlantis down.
T+00:05:01 The warheads hit their mark, destroying the Atlantis over Vance County, Shoshone. Remaining debris lands in the salmon oval over the next minute. (6)

 

[KuboCaskett]

So by world of Atlantis, you mean the 2001 Disney animated film right?

 

[CourageousLife]

(Note: I do not own or claim to own any of the work produced by Harry Turtledove.)
This TL actually diverges from Turtledove's 'Atlantis' timeline, whose original POD is somewhere 85,000,000 years in the past, where the east coast of OTL North America breaks off and forms it's own mini-continent (much akin to OTL's New Zealand). This being said, this scenario diverges during the French and Spanish War of Turtledove's TL. In 'Opening Atlantis', the British successfully defeat the French and Spanish in several theaters, including the Atlantean theater. This results in France ceding its territory in Atlantis to Britain. These territories would later rebel and form the 'United States of Atlantis,' purchasing Spanish territory in the south as well so that the USA controlled the entire mini-continent.

In this scenario, the French and Spanish War is fought to a stalemate. While Britain and their Prussian allies are technically the winners, less territory is exchanged. This results in France maintaining its hold on its Atlantean colony.

Flash forward to the mid-1900's. Europe has reached a tipping point and lines are being drawn. The Allies, (Britain, Germany, and Moscow) are facing down the Entente (France, Italy, and Austria-Hungary). For the second time in history, Europe has sparked another global conflict.

In Atlantis, the full effect of the war is not felt right away. French Atlantis begins building up their military forces to assist their motherland. Though the United States has a 'special relationship' with Britain and has much more Anglo-German leanings, the Consuls both assure the nation that they will do everything in their power to keep the US from war.

This all changed on May 7, 1942. French airships launched a surprise attack across the mouth of the Stour River (OTL Potomac River) into southern Freetown, the southernmost state in the Union that shared a name with its capital city. The airships bombed the Blackpool Naval Yard, where a sizable portion of the United States' Atlantic fleet was stationed. Three Hannover-class battleships, two Avalon-class battleships, two Destroyers, and thee cruisers, as well as numerous other smaller ships were damaged or sunk.

This attack shifted the attitude of the nation dramatically. The next day, Consuls Richard Andrews and Micah Praeger called an emergency Senate session to request an immediate declaration of war against France. They received it, after a moving speech by Praeger, with resounding applause.

The Atlantean Theater ignited with several skirmishes across the Erdre and Stour rivers, mostly ending in favor of France. As France pushed into Germany in Europe, French Atlantis surged north into the United States, quickly taking all of Freetown and much territory in the surrounding states. The 'high water mark' sat west of New Hastings, and north of Honker's Mill and Horsham. By this time, the Atlantean army had fully mobilized and stalled the French advance. From July to December of 1943, the front remained at the 'high water mark,' hampered by trenches, mountains, and foul weather.

Relief for the Atlanteans came in the winter of 1943-1944. General Josiah Radcliff, commander of the Army of the United States, launched a winter campaign into Freetown and successfully took back the city-proper and most of the state. While French troops were diverted away from the western front, Commanders Harem Knox and Carl Hand took back New Grinstead and crossed the Erdre to liberate the southwestern corner of the country. The French Atlanteans sent requests for more troops and supplies to their mother country, but France was finding itself slowly encircled on land and water by Britain and Germany and was unable to send more support.

With the United States-proper liberated, Radcliff launched an attack against the French capital of Cosquer, burning most of it completely to the ground. Most in the US saw this as retaliation for the May 7th attack. He then moved his troops into the interior of French Atlantis, aimed for the fort-city of Nouveau Redon. By this time, the other Allied Powers had enough troops and supplies to send fleets to aid the US. Sailing east from Terranova was an Ontarian fleet under Admiral John Wilme, and west from Britain was another fleet commanded by Winston Endicott. While Radcliff struck down the Loire River in the interior of the continent, Wilme assaulted the major French port of New Marseille and Endicott shelled St. Denis and the Banks.

As Britain and Germany closed in on Paris in Europe, Radcliff continued chasing the remnants of the French Atlantean government. He finally tracked them down in a small village on the banks of the Loire. Radcliff forced the Governor-General of French Atlantis to surrender in the early part of 1946.

 

[Rosella]

Well, unfortunately I was unable to finish the Earth map in time, so all we get is Atlantis itself... she is a nice world, though.

The Great Crown of Atuladdiz

Atlantis is a world wracked by instability. Just a couple hundred years ago, she suddenly appeared in orbit around the larger world of Earth. The world-spanning empire of Atuladdiz was separated from their limited orbital presence, and the emperor ordered an- as admitted on his deathbed, irrational- attack on Earth. New spacefaring ships were built, both to damage Earth's cities and to invade her nations. A few of these established limited colonies, which died out rapidly when it turned out the Atlantians couldn't eat most of Earth's crops. A small population of the blue-skinned, almost noseless Atlantian people lives in the Earth region of China's newest Han-ruled dynasty, the Sui dynasty; where they mostly live as government officials in the city of Luoyang; eating nutritious, delicious rice.

Now, though, with waters and temperatures on both worlds rising, the coastal empires are collapsing. The Sui see doom in their future, and even the great Atuladdiz empire fears there may not be enough high land to survive. The last emperor had ordered the nation to build gigantic ships in order to escape to Earth, and now his second daughter sees opportunity on the planet below. China's rice is still being grown, and she still has radio contact with the descendants of the third and seventh Great Militias, now fearing for their future in- now worryingly coastal- Luoyang. Soon, the ships remaining- one toppled, all of her atmosphere-piercing mass slamming into the sea below, and another was launched and promptly fell out of orbit and into the crust of the Great Ocean- but five of the empire-wrecking ships still stand in launch condition. Before the revolutionaries take the capital, she seeks to launch all of them, and to conquer the beautiful, land-covered planet they now orbit.

The revolutionaries have taken much of the planet's landmass outside of the crop continent and the seat of the empire; in fact, the only large land they don't have a foothold in are the polar continents- twin icy lands whose melting has helped the crop continent flourish and, of course, breed yet more resistance to the empress' rule. Now, though, the revolutionaries simply vie for the great ships- four around the capital, one on a rapidly-dying volcanic isle, and one- secret even to the Empress- just out of their reach near the coast of the rapidly-rising Tadil Lake; and when they reach Earth... they have a movement to spread.

 

[SRegan]

Everyone's interpreted the challenge in such creative ways Anyway, enjoy a bog-standard generic Atlantis.

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Many great and wonderful deeds are recorded of your state in our histories. But one of them exceeds all the rest in greatness and valour. For these histories tell of a mighty power which unprovoked made an expedition against the whole of Europe and Asia, and to which your city put an end.

This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable; and there was an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Heracles; the island was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which surrounded the true ocean; for this sea which is within the Straits of Heracles is only a harbor, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a boundless continent.

Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. This vast power, gathered into one, endeavored to subdue at a blow our country and yours and the whole of the region within the straits; and then, Solon, your country shone forth, in the excellence of her virtue and strength, among all mankind.

She was pre-eminent in courage and military skill, and was the leader of the Hellenes. And when the rest fell off from her, being compelled to stand alone, after having undergone the very extremity of danger, she defeated and triumphed over the invaders, and preserved from slavery those who were not yet subjugated, and generously liberated all the rest of us who dwell within the pillars.

But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island.

Plato, Timaeus and Critias

One of the things that struck me reading Plato's description is that the chief feature of it is not the island but World War 0.5; the attempted conquest of the entire known world by a mysterious sea power. That connected in my mind to the Bronze Age Collapse and the enigmatic Sea Peoples (I later learned conspiracists have made the same connection) and set about creating an atlas (heh) type map depicting the furthest extent of Atlantean control, prior to being pushed back by Hellenic and Egyptian forces.

In my imagining, the invasion (or rather, mass settlement with military force) happens because Atlantis is sinking; the waves of migration and conquest destablise the delicate web of trade in the Mediterranean in the 18th and 19th centuries BC, leading to the Collapse. The Atlanteans are recorded in Egyptian records as the Sherden (literally means 'sea people' - in reality identified with, variously, Anatolians, Syrians, Philistines, Sardinians, or Etruscans).

Atlantis here was gradually flooded over a period of around 300 years (from 1465BC), with a final sequence of devasting earthquakes from 1175 to 1165 finally sinking the island, together with the remaining infrastructure supporting the invasion. Around 1.3 million Atlanteans were left in the Mediterranean and were gradually integrated (with a lot of bad feeling) into the societies they had tried to conquer, leaving behind lots of loan-words (the derivation of which is listed by our linguists today as 'unknown') and flood myths.

I was then left with the difficulty of identifying the Atlanteans with a present-day civilisation; after umming and ahing about Semites I opted to go with the Berbers, in whose language 'Atla' means 'mountain' (supplying an interesting suggestion for the derivation of 'Italia'), and who would be the obvious candidates to have settled Atlantis in the first place, around 3000BC. A slight anachronism - 'Amazigh' (which I have tweaked into 'Atamazegh' to furnish a fictional root for both 'Atlantis' and 'Amazon') derives from 'i-Mazigh-en', or 'freemen', and wasn't employed until long after this time period.

The Atlanteans used weapons of arsenical bronze; their signature weapon was a wide, triangular-shaped thrusting sword called the farissa (which became the Berber Flyssa). They were noted for their characteristic helms, which bore two horns; officers having a solar disk of polished bronze between the horns. Their religion initially centred on the worship of a female embodiment of nature, however, her sun-god consort Wanaka gradually became more prominent until he became the primary deity of Atlantean civilisation. Wanaka eventually became Poseidon, whose name in Greek derives from 'Earth-shaker' ('Enosichthon'); his cult in Greece arose as a movement of 'penitent' Atlanteans and was quickly adopted by jubilant Hellenes.

A few Atlanteans made their way to the 'whole of the opposite continent that surrounded the true ocean', enslaving the Mexica, who knew them as the Azteca Chicomoztoca. The stories of the Azteca Chicomoztoca's origins gradually became transferred to their slave people, who, after gradually absorbing their masters, vaguely remembered a homeland called Aztlan.

The last substantial descendent population of Atlantis was the Guanches of the Canary Islands, albeit they are descendents of a group who attempted to return to Atlantis 200 years after the Fall. Guatimac is the last surviving idol of Wanaka; the broadly T or cross-shaped shape of Wanaka's idols influenced Adyghe's Tha which became the Norse Thor.

The Atlantean homelands were below sea level until around the first century BC, when an earthquake raised the Azores (which were Atlantis's mountain tops) above sea level. Joshua Vander Berg's (IOTL almost certainly hallucinated or fabricated) horse statue, which still exists but is overgrown, was the last seen relic of Atlantean civilisation.

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Full size version

 

[Rubberduck3y6]

The 10th December 1895 would go down in history as one of the most destructive days in the history of not only Silverland, but of Europe as a whole.

At 23:26 on the evening of 9th December, seismologists working from a lab in Bergheim, Norland detected an unexpected tremor originating 50 miles off the coast in the north German Sea. Another jump in activity followed 23 minutes later. A few hours later, monitoring stations further down the Norlandic coast and across the sea in Pictland reported a drop in the local sea level. Trawlers working out in the sea also radioed in descriptions of a great swell moving southwards towards Silverland. Then, at 04:58 it struck. A massive wall of water hit the northern coast of Frysland island, inundating crops, woodland and turning houses into rafts of floating debris in a matter of minutes. Water rushed up the Natal River, reaching the provincial capital Klausburg at 05:04. The greatwave had now crossed the Silver Sea and reached the mainland, bringing with it continued devastation as town after town, city after city along the coast was hit by the sea's power.

Much of the coastal provinces of Meerland, Zilvedal and Vestvolke were flooded, with the water reaching inland to Hougland and Batava, leaving only Rynmark in the far south untouched. The greatest impact though was on Oesteland, with over two-thirds of the province underwater. The capital city Danstad saw all but its highest rooftops submerged, with the city's historic heart completely destroyed.

The international response to the disaster, by far the largest in peacetime Europe, was unprecedented with donations following in from around the world. People in countries with historic ties to Silverland such as Christsland, Southland and New Meerland were particularly generous as many still had relatives in the "Old Country". Military personnel from neighbouring Sachsland, Lutecky and Belgary were deployed to help with the cleanup operation while Romanian, Espanic and Turcian schoolchildren filled shoeboxes for their Silverian counterparts, many of whom had been orphaned by the wave.

It is estimated that of a pre-Greatwave population of 32 million, 2 million lost their lives on the day of the disaster, while a further 8 million were displaced. The economic damage has been estimated at Fl. 7 billion. The damage wrought by the wave was so great that some land was permanently lost to the sea while others were rendered unusable due to pollution and salt poisoning for many decades afterwards.