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Originally conceived by: Steve
Virtue | The Eagle (The Mind Prevails) | Atlantea is a tremendous repository of knowledge and lore. Every magelord is a great sorcerous intellect. |
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Fault | The Fool, reversed (Lack of Connection) | The magelords live in their towers in abject fear of each other. They have nothing to do with the fisher-folk, either. |
Fate | The Hermit (Wisdom vs. Isolation) | Either the magelords must attain true wisdom or eventually all their knowledge will be lost. |
Usurper | Ivory Tower Rising from the Sea | Symbolizing the ascendance of air over water, the two vital elements in Atlantea. |
Imports |
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Exports |
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Tall towers of ivory stone rise from the World Ocean, created when some catastrophic magical holocaust inundated an ancient archipelago. In these towers, magi, sorcerers, witches and warlocks study ancient volumes of forgotten lore rescued from the depths; trying to tease meaning from the brine-damaged parchments. Each tower is but the pinnacle of an ancient hill flooded by the waters. A mage will take over an empty tower or force another out of his or hers in order to plunder the lost libraries below. They cast mighty spells to drive out the waters and explore chambers deep under the waves. They usually live alone; relying on magically created or summoned servants to tend their needs.
Contact between magi is vanishingly rare, each distrusting the others. Likewise between the nomad fisherfolk who roam the seas in flotillas of ramshackle fishing smacks. Other life is fecund. There are floating islands created by communal echinoderm rafts teeming with unusual and exotic flora and fauna but which are too fragile for humans to walk on. The fisherfolk also alternately war and trade with sentient octopoids that ironically bring far more esoteric items to the surface than the magi find. Sometimes these things find their way to the magi, usually they get traded abroad. Thus artifacts find their way deep into shadow but the manuals for these artifacts molder in some sorcerer's library.
Technology: no mechanical device works reliably unless powered and maintained by magic.
Magic: very powerful and subtle, especially that connected with Air and Water.