Atlantis.
Oh Atlantis, where did you go....
According to me, Atlantis went nowhere. It is still perched atop the mid-Atlantic ridge. Two major areas linked by a narrow neck of land. Four major cities with several largish towns and villages scattered around the rest of the land.
While not large, the land abounds in natural resources. Wood, Iron, Coal, Gold and Gems, all add to the legend of Atlantis being a rich land.
So, how do I wipe out the original occupants and then have the land being fought over and colonised by the major colonial powers till it can gain independence in the early 1800's?
The original Atlanteans were supposed to be an advanced peoples compared to the rest of the known world of the times. So smart people make mistakes when they try things just a little too advanced. My thought is that the Atlantean scientists are delving into all sorts of advanced 'technologies'. One of these was to improve agriculture production. Which went wrong. What they produced was a violent plague that wiped out all mamalian life on Atlantis. The plague was so virulent that it remained dormant/active for thousands of years. All visitors to Atlantis up to the early 1600's would catch the plague and die. The land had an evil reputation and was shunned.
The Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog, knowing of the evil reputation, landed three sheep (2 ewes and a ram) and a pair of goats on Atlantis, sailed to the Azores where he watered ship, then returned to Atlantis to see what had happened to the livestock landed. Sailing close inshore the sheep were spotted alive and seemingly healthy. Hartog left Atlantis and went out to Australia. A year or so later on his return trip to Holland, Hartog called int at Atlantis to see what had transpired, it was found that the three sheep had increased to eight, and the goats had also been populous. Armed with this knowledge, Hartog returned to Holland where an expedition was organised to fully explore Atlantis and claim it on behalf of the Dutch Crown. What the expedition found was a land lush in bird and insect life, trees and other flora bloomed. Mounds of decayed and rubble strewn towns and cities spoke of a once great nation. A few stone collumns hinted at once great buildings and palaces that were no more. Sifting through the rubble unearthed many fabulous items and the Dutch explorers went home very wealthy. A find like this was kept secret for about 10 minutes, and every brigand and freebooter headed for Atlantis hoping to make their fortune.
Thus starts the modern age of Atlantis. Glossing over the next 150 years, colonists from Holland, France, Spain and England all land and claim pieces of Atlantis. Wars are fought between colonists. One of the outcomes of the Battle of Trafalgar was to rid Atlantis of the French and Spanish presence, leaving the British in control. The British reigned over Atlantis for over a hundred years from 1710 until 1823 when an Atlantean Government was formed by disaffected colonists that take over with a popular revolt. The US was quick to recognise the new Government and other European powers followed suit, being happy to see Britain lose control of another piece of Empire.
As the industrial revolution kicks off , Atlantis is in a prime position to take advantage of the new technologies and keep to the Atlantean tradition of being leaders of technology. All of the requirements for being a rich land were in place. The Atlanteans knew that the only way to keep their sovereignty was to ensure that any attacker would take such losses as to make Atlantis not worth the huge expenditure that would be required to take it over. Backed with defense pacts with the US, France and eventually Britain, Atlantis was left alone to grow strong and populous.
Military spending was kept high through the late 1800's and early 1900's. Atlantis' involvement in WW1 was minimal, and was mainly in production support of the Allies. Atlantis declined to send troops to Europe. A token force of ships were sent to aid the Allies, these being split between the Channel, North Sea and Mediterrannean theaters. Atlantean strength was in its Navy (and later airforce) with the Army being enough to fight and defend the homeland.
Post-WW1, Atlantis was made a signatory to the Washington and future Naval Treaties. Like France and Italy there was some wiggle room in the Atlanteans tonnage allocations that would allow Atlantis to build new ships in the 1930's. Unlike a lot of countries Atlantis was not badly affected by the Great Depression. Atlantis had also remained relatively unscathed from the flu epidemic of the early 1920's. Atlantis had enforced a strict policy of quarantine which helped to stop the spread of the disease.
With the outbreak of War in 1939, Atlantis was in a prime position to guard the central Atlantic. Its patrol bombers and cruisers made life miserable for the Germans. Hunting groups were formed to search out and destroy the raiders. Atlantean escort groups made a huge difference to the Convoy system.
Hyperion was the shipbuilding and industrial centre of Atlantis. It eclipsed the Capital, Olympus, in size during the Industrial age. Olympus had always been the capital and the names of the largest cities were kept as per the original Atlantean names. The smaller towns and villages were named after original Atlantean places where these names could be found. Most smaller population centers had been put in place to guard the trade routes between cities and to guard the gem and gold mines.
The largest portion of the population of modern Atlantis were British, with good sized portions of Dutch, French and Spanish to make up a cosmopolitan society.
If any of the backstory sounds too much like bullshit. Too bad. It is what it is.
Yes the map comes from good old Civ 3. I still have fun playing that game.
On to the ships. The hulls are by Heuhen, with his kind permission. The artillery will be mainly French origin. The superstructure and radars will be a mixture.
![[ img ]](https://www.dropbox.com/s/34qh8rtg2r9l78v/Atlantis-World.png?dl=1)
![[ img ]](https://www.dropbox.com/s/kkd1lchhc9168dd/Atlantis.PNG?dl=1)
![[ img ]](https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6vuv10au41g7f7/BB_AWS_Olympia_1944.PNG?dl=1)
love the backstory
(to me, actually the best part of the series, despite all the limitations)
![[ img ]](https://www.dropbox.com/s/kcskr5ruz39n1r2/CD_AWS_Artemis-1896.png?dl=1)
![[ img ]](https://www.dropbox.com/s/70ueesltmovmnma/CL_AWS_Sapphire-1899.png?dl=1)
![[ img ]](https://www.dropbox.com/s/krz61t7g7rsad78/BB_AWS_Hyperion-1902.png?dl=1)
![[ img ]](https://www.dropbox.com/s/2g0yr4ay58jwi0h/CL_AWS_Sword-1904.png?dl=1)