News Files - Atlanteans
The Atlanteans are a genetic offshoot of mainstream homo sapiens called homo mermanus, who by as yet unknown means acquired various bodily attributes enabling them to live indefinitely beneath the sea. The name "Atlantean" is derived from the ancient civilisation of Atlantis that sank beneath the sea in 9611 BCE.
There are about three million Atlanteans in the world today, an extremely small figure when compared to the surface human population of approximately eight billion. About three hundred thousand live in Poseidonis, the capital of the Kingdom of Atlantis, and another three hundred thousand live in Tha-Korr, the capital of the Principality of Atlantis. Others live in the thirty plus other enclaves from pole to pole. Millennia ago, the Atlantean population divided and there was a sizeable emigration to the southern hemisphere.
Most Atlanteans live in cities on the ocean floor. Because there can be no fire under water, Atlantean cities are constructed with an elaborate network of domes that can be filled with pockets of air. They have the capacity to forge steel, burn fossil fuel for energy, and isolate or mix chemicals. Over the centuries, the Atlanteans developed technologies far more advanced than their surface counterparts.
Biology, chemistry, and physics are highly valued sciences. Medicine has become progressive, with pharmaceutical drugs and complex surgeries commonplace under the water. Systems of mass communication and mass transit have been developed. With this technology, Atlanteans built their first warships at the outbreak of the Succession Wars. When submerged, Atlanteans communicate telepathically. A more varied spoken language is possible when a domed pocket of air.