Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Microstory 1663: Origin of Atlantis

Universe Prime is vast, both in space, and across time. I could tell you any number of stories from this universe, and most of them don’t even take place on Earth. Why don’t I stick with what you’re a little more familiar with, though? More specifically, I think I’ll discuss Atlantis, since that is where all the interesting things happen. You’ve probably heard of the sunken island from one story, or another. Different storytellers have different interpretations of it, but there are a few key commonalities. It was an advanced island that sank into the ocean. Sometimes its residents survived, and sometimes not. The truth is that the island did indeed sink, and not only did the people survive, but they sank it on purpose. It all started when a group of scientists from the Composite Universe found themselves stranded in a strange new world. An experiment of theirs didn’t go wrong; it went too right. It was too powerful, and the range was too wide. They made a new home here, but did not want to live a primitive lifestyle, like all the native inhabitants. They still wanted to use their technology, and explore science, so they decided to colonize an island that was surprisingly equidistant from the land masses that would come to be known as Greenland, Iceland, and Ireland—around 690 miles, in your terms. In the beginning, things were fine, as they were far enough away from civilization to avoid interfering with their development, but it didn’t last. Visitors started to come from the mainlands. It was on accident at first, but then when they returned home with stories of the wonders of Atlantis, more came, hoping to see the truth. The Atlantians attempted to prevent any further problems. They distorted the celestial sphere from nearby waters, so it was difficult to navigate, but people still happened upon them. The tried to hide their technology underneath a façade of primitivism. But that was tiresome. They needed a permanent solution. Thus the sinking.

The Atlantians figured that, if any of the natives witnessed their island sinking, they would have been amazed, but they wouldn’t have attempted to investigate it. They certainly wouldn’t have been able to dive down that deep. It legitimately looked like the island was destroyed, so it all should have ended there. Of course, it prompted superstitions, but in the end, the world’s development was not too dramatically altered. They already had plenty of stories about magic, and that would not change for centuries. Meanwhile, the Atlantians kept a watchful eye on the surface of the planet. People were still occasionally finding themselves there from elsewhere, be it the other universe, or just some other planet in Prime. If you were stranded, Atlantis was your best hope of finding a way home. They eventually discovered a way to reach out to their world of origin, but they were now mostly the descendants of those original scientists, so they considered Atlantis their home. Only a few ever chose to leave, including newcomers, many of whom saw Atlantis as a great place to start over. Those that stayed continued to advance technologically, but never ventured outside of their bubble, except to bring in someone new. The island fell completely into the realm of myth, which was their intention all along. It was a pretty diverse crowd of witches, transhumans, regular humans, vampires, aliens, and even a few androids. Since their population was relatively small, even over time, they were able to maintain a fair democracy, and managed to avoid many of the hardships that other civilizations experience from their infancy.

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