The Silver City of the Second Age. Located on the island of Koste, Atlantis covered approximately 30 square miles at its maximum extent. At its peak, around 300 PCE, Atlantis was home to over one thousand thousand residents. In its time, Atlantis was known for its fine metalwork, accurate orreries, and the development of human-powered flight. Today, it is known mainly for sinking.
History
Established in 2822 PCE by Calas Teref, Atlantis represents the earliest example of the planned community. Most of the island was cleared and devoted to agriculture, while the city was located in the geographical center of the island atop an underground aquifer. This was the source of the Atlanteans' water for the first three hundred years of the city's existence, until a simple desalinization method was developed by Augene Tensa and the undercity was hollowed out for transportation routes.
Atlanteans enjoyed the benefits of an extremely sophisticated water control system, as well as a civic obsession with sanitation. One legend jokes that Atlantis was flooded because everyone in the city had decided to bathe on the same night. The truth is more sinister.
Atlantis had a high migration rate both in and out during its 2500-year history. The city was a trading hub between Kush and Mu, and jade, silver, and human ivory passed through the city in great quantities. The diversity of goods was matched by the diversity of its denizens. A single evacuee ship which crashed off the Horn was, when exhumed, found to contain the bodies of natives of every continent.
The city's increasing prosperity and renown, however, masked a dark underside. As one of the most stratified civilizations in history, civil unrest was common and often brutally quashed. Slaves and the lowborn were intentionally kept chronically malnourished, and maternal and infant mortality rates approached eight in ten. A constant supply of new labor was essential for the city, and so Atlantean naval exploits often resulted in the forcible kidnap and enslavement of entire communities. Disposal of bodies became a problem in Atlantis' later years, and evidence that crematoria one hundred cubits in length began to be built in the late 280s presents a disturbing picture of classical Atlantean culture.
Collapse
Many theories have been advanced explaining Atlantis' collapse. Only one is correct.
