Atlantis

Atlantis

Atlantis was the ancient home of the Numenor located in the center of the Atlantic ocean, a few miles north of Ulthuan.

Originally an island of Elves, these same Elves began bringing large numbers of slaves from France, and these slaves would eventually co-mingle with the Elves to create a hybrid human elf race called the Numenorians. The Numenorians would eventually found one of the largest Empires in the history of the World, and control vast tracts of land. The island of Atlantis would eventually be destroyed by the Pantheon following their coruption, and releasing of the Soul of Malekor. This destruction would bring an end to the first home of the Numeron, and begin a transition for the major power towards Europe. Following the destruction of the island only the great Mountain of the Pantheon remained and hidden from the rest of the world including their Titan Masters they remained isolated with only themselves. This isolation eventually led to several members of the Pantheone founding a new set of ideals in which they believed that they were correct in their teachings but it had been the Numenorians that had failed. In order to sucede they believed they would need some race that had more of the gumption to remain true to their values while at the same time accepting dark powers without being corupted. They used their vast powers to search the world for such a thing but begin to dispair that nothing like this existed until they came across the Murloc. A diverse race of Aqautic beings they discovered the Murloc and used their powers to lure several of the Murloc leaders into following the lead of the Pantheon. Under this the Pantheon have used the Murloc to build a massive Palace around the Mountain and from here the Pantheon rule over the Murloc.

Geography

Númenor was a rather large island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

The island itself was in the shape of a 5-point star, each point having its own unique geological and physical features. Each point, therefore, was considered a separate region of Númenor and had separate names:

• Forostar (Northlands)

• Andustar (Westlands)

• Hyarnustar (Southwestlands)

• Hyarrostar (Southeastlands)

• Orrostar (Eastlands)

• Mittalmar (Inlands)

The island had a mountain in the center known as Meneltarma. Meneltarma was the highest location on the entire island and was considered sacred by the Númenóreans as the home to the Pantheon .

Only the Emperor's of Númenor were allowed to speak on the summit. It was said that on a clear day, Tol Eressëa, an island on the outer shores of Valinor, could be seen from the summit. Meneltarma itself was a tall mountain in the centre of the island (in the region of Mittalmar) that, when translated, means Pillar of the Heavens. The lower slopes of the mountain were gentle and grass-covered; however, near the summit the slopes became more vertical and could not be ascended easily. The kings later built a spiraling road to the peak, beginning at the southern tip of the mountain and winding up to the lip of the summit in the north. The summit, however, was unique in that it was flattened and somewhat depressed, and was said to be able to "contain a great multitude". It was considered the most sacred spot of Númenor; no one ever set foot there and nothing was ever built there throughout the entire history of the island.

The island itself was tilted southward and a little westward; the southern coasts were all steep sea cliffs.

History

Early History

The Island of Atlantis was first founded by Elves from the island of Ulthuan . For a time the island was completely controlled and lived on by only Elves, but this all changed with the coming of Man in Europe . With man there were many Elves on Atlantis who felt that there were some jobs that the humans could be doing instead of the Elves. Most of these jobs was the mining of the Numenor mineral which had become quite popular on Ulthuan and beyond.

The Rise of the Numenorians

The First of the Numenorians I remember when the first of your people started showing up. The Cult of Pleasure used your ancestors as sex slaves with Elven males. You were created in some ways by the tricks and menipulation of Chaos.

“I remember when the first of your people started showing up. The Cult of Pleasure used your ancestors as sex slaves with Elven males. You were created in some ways by the tricks and manipulation of Chaos.” — Fingon Feanor The first Numenorians would begin to rise within the region of France during the decades that followed the arrival of the first Elven colonists led by Malekith Aestarion. During this time colonizing and building in western France these earlu Elven warriors and builders were isolated from Ulthuan while they built and fought leading to much interminging between the male Elves and native Franks creating the foundation of the Numenorians. Due to the growing influence of the Cult of Pleasure on Ulthuan the High Elves were engaging in an increasingly dangerous amount of questionable moral decisions and the slave trade was just one of them. The Elves under the leadership of Morathi would begin bringing a large number of Frankish women to the mineral rich island of Atlantis where they became slaves for the Elven male garrison of miners there creating more Numenorians. As the women created this underclass of half Elves this increasingly numerous next generations would be used to mine the very valuable Numeron mineral that was abundant on the island. This mineral would be so intertwined in these early slaves that they began to be called the Numenorians which in Elvish meant those of the Night Stone. As the years went by though the intermingling of the Elves and these slaves begin to create a large subsect of the population that became ever longer in life. These children were at first murdered or taken to Ulthuan to live as Elves, but soon as their numbers increased too much they found it impossible to stop, and it wasn't long after this began to happen that the violence and rebelling began. The Elves in France would attempt to uplift these half Elves now known as Numenorians into the dominent human client state in France in order to support their expansion in France but found the Numenorians unable to hold the line, and under the order of the current Phoenix King Caledor Elwe II. they were withdrawn from France and sent in their entirety to the island of Atlantis to join the second group of Numenorians. Open Rebellion “We are no longer your slaves. We are one step from taking this island, and once we do you will understand our true worth.” — Elros Amendil It wasn't until the rise of Elros Amendil that the Numenorians began to get the idea of taking the island over completely. Elros Amendil the son of Nilaeth Windrunner of whom was a prominent member of the Windrunner Family used his mothers influence to finance the arming of his forces and using this power he rose quickly in the ranks of the Atlantians of whom were already becoming too much for the overstretched Elves to handle. After many years of fighting it was Elros and his forces that gained control of the capital city of the Kingdom of Atlantis and it was this act that finally forced the Atmer Empire to direct their attention to the Numenorian issue with Pheonix King Tethlis Finarfin rallying a large army and sailing to Atlantis. At the Battle of Ninandamos the forces of Elros Amendil would be secretly joined by the noble titans Woglinde and Ares of whom gathered to them hundreds of their personal forces and tipped the battle leading to the death of Tethlis Finarfin and after Tethlis's son was taken prisoner during the battle he would be forced to sign a peace treaty with the Numenorians of whom were also given their independence. Having been given their freedom through blood Elros would officially break from the Atmer Empire when he founded the Empire of Numeron and proclaimed that they would take over the mantle of power left behind by the Atmer Empire. Rise of the Pantheon “This is our chance to make a real difference Ares. We can change the world.” — Poseidan It would be Poseidan that would join with Ares and Woglinde in assisting the early Numenorians in their rise, and during this time Poseidan came to befriend Elros Amendil the first Emperor of Numeron and this led to him becoming instrumental in the creation of the Atlantian Pantheon which he believed would save the Numenorian people and make them the true power of the Earth. It would be Indus would join the forces of Ares following the death of Mindus and imprisonment of Erbag and would use his abilities to fashion the shield that would protect the Numenorian Pantheon from the affects of coruption and other illnesses making them all but immortal.

Empire of Numeron

Under Elros Amendil the Empire grew quickly and founded cities on the entire island of Atlantis. During this time they began constructing boats, and they sent these boats throughout the world, and traded with far flung places. Above this they begin their first colonies in the areas that became eventually Carthage, and Umbar. In these two spots they founded large ports that they used to trade and control the trade in the regions of Northern Africanas, and Central Europe.

Along with controlling trade these colonies established the first of the ethnic group that would come to dominate the region in the Atlantians.

This expansion would only increase with the coming involvement of the Pantheon.

The Titans creating the Pantheon

The Empire of Numeron

Main Article :Empire of Numeron

The Noble Titans saw that humans were potentially the future and so they wanted to uplift the Atlanteans to a new level of growth. In order to do this they sent some of their number to Atlantis and trained eight men and women of Atlantis in their powers. These Numenor became near gods in their power, and the members of the Empire of Numeron began worshipping them as living gods. This was exactly what the Titans had wanted, and they watched as the Pantheon guided the Numeron morally while the Emperor expanded them physically.

Fall of Atlantis

The Fall of Atlantis You meddled in the affairs of the mortals. This is the consequence.

“Many years ago you begged me to save your people. You offered any manner of gift if I was to save you from the Beasts of the forest. I saved your people from death and for your survival the cost was the purity of another. Your forest shall forever be pure, but in return the purity of another must be sacrificed.” — Unknown Spirit of the Wood It was during the rise of the Empire of Numeron and the expansion of the Pantheon that an event would occur that no one could foresee. While they grew their power and the Pantheon continued their noble works among the people of Numeron, the people of Numeron were coming close to the arrival of the Woses of whom had been tricked by the Chaos God Melekor. When they arrived at the island they were met by the spirit again, and the spirit asked them to take the seed to the top of the tallest mountain on the island. The spirit said that once this was done, they were to once again secretly leave the island and return to Drueden Forest. The Woses once again agreed, and traveled to the top of the tallest mountain and at its peak they left the device within the mighty Palace of the Pantheon and while it looked differently to everyone it continued to look like a seed to them. With the seed planted they listened one last time to the spirit and when the the spirit told them to leave quickly they without question left the island. The Woses were the unknowing pawns of Malekor and when they arrived on the island they gave the spirit of Malekor to the Pantheon in the form of a giant case of which appeared different to everyone who looked at it, and the Pantheon believing this to be a gift from the Titans and thus began using this device. The devise was a corrupting influence on the Pantheon as that was the purpose of its making by Malekor. The Pantheon became obsessed in a very short amount of years of the use of the soul of Malekor, and the continued use of this device would amplify the Pantheon's bad morality and all but eliminate what made them special for the Empire of Numeron. With the corruption of the Pantheon the situation was made worse when they begin releasing the energies of the soul of Malekor to the people of Atlantis. The use of the soul of Malekor became like a drug for many amongst the Numenor and it spawned a sub section of the society that became obsessed with the use of Magi. The Warning “This is going to be our legacy Zeus...Why don't you just finish them and completely side with Chaos. You betray our ideals every single time you force us to play by different rules then they do.” — Ares Years went by of this release of the corupting energies before the intervention of the Titan Hermes, Ares, and Artemis would eliminate the coruption in the Pantheon and destroy the Soul of Malekor device. Ares, Hermes, and Artemis attempted to reorganize the Pantheon but were immediatly discovered by Zeus of whom came to the Earth briefly alongside Posiedon and forced the three wayward Titans to return to the Fade. Retreating once more from Atlantis following the condemnation of Zues the departure of the three Titans would leave the now uncorupted Pantheon to their own devices and they came to a swift conclusion based on their directive that they needed to destroy the Island of Atlantis and destroy the coruption they had wrought on the world. First the Pantheon decided to begin to warn all those who remained true to the Numeron way of life that the island was going to be cleansed of the unfaithful, and the Emperor at the time was a loyalist and he was the first one warned of the coming appocalapse. He attempted for days to convinse the Pantheon that there were other ways, but in the end the Pantheon rejected this and told the Emperor that he should leave as quickly as possible. “I didn't know how the Pantheon would destroy the island, and I prayed it would be swift deaths for my brothers and sisters.” — Emperor Maxiam Graingrave III. The Emperor gathered to him all those in his cabinet that he knew to be loyal, and began giving them directives to gather other loyalists, and bring them to the port cities. Those obsessed with Magi were too preoccupied to see what was happening and thus they didn't notice as the loyalists pushed the Magi obsessed Numenor out of the port cities. With the port cities taken over, they loyalists began building massive ships, and they gathered huge resources and numbers to them. The moment a ship was completed it was sent out, and the loyalists were swiftly sheltered to the ports of their European holds. These first holds were at the areas of Gondor , Dol Amroth and Umbar , and for this reason we see the most Atlantean looking architecture in Gondor and Dol Amroth. After months of this the loyalist Emperor left the island on the final ship and watched the island of Atlantis disappear in the horizon. With the only Numenorians who the Pantheon felt deserving of survival now off the island the Pantheon of the Empire of Numeron enacted their vengeance on the remaining Numereons. Destruction of Atlantis “You see now Ares what you have done. You have interfered where you should not have interfered and now the world pays the price. Look at the people die. Watch the cost of your defiance.” — Zeus The Pantheon begin summoning a spell which they would use to summon the Kraken, which was a creature they had created using the soul of Malekor. The Titans in this moment became fully involved and begged the Pantheon to change their mind and reject the power of the soul of Malekor. Many of the Pantheon were swayed by this but in the end their greed from the soul was too much and they summoned the Kraken. For two years the Kraken attacked the cities of Atlantis, before finnally destorying the pillars beneath the island that held it afloat. With the island sunk the only area that survived was the mountain of Meneltarma and on the mountains sat the Pantheon, who watched the island they had helped build sink beneath the ocean.

Post Destruction

Following the destruction of the island only the great Mountain of the Pantheon remained and hidden from the rest of the world including their Titan Masters they remained isolated with only themselves. This isolation eventually led to several members of the Pantheone founding a new set of ideals in which they believed that they were correct in their teachings but it had been the Numenorians that had failed. In order to sucede they believed they would need some race that had more of the gumption to remain true to their values while at the same time accepting dark powers without being corupted. They used their vast powers to search the world for such a thing but begin to dispair that nothing like this existed until they came across the Murloc.

Murloc

A diverse race of Aqautic beings they discovered the Murloc and used their powers to lure several of the Murloc leaders into following the lead of the Pantheon. Under this the Pantheon have used the Murloc to build a massive Palace around the Mountain and from here the Pantheon rule over the Murloc.

Culture

The population of Númenor chiefly consisted of Edain, mostly descendants from the House of Hador; although before the Shadow fell on the island the westernmost cities such as Andúnië contained a small population of Elves because of the frequent visits from Tol Eressëa. They were known as the Númenóreans, or rather, Kings among Men.

The Númenóreans were extremely skilled in arts and craft, with the forging of weapons and armour; but the Númenóreans were not warmongers, hence the chief art on the island became that of ship-building and sea-craft. The Númenóreans became great mariners, exploring the world in all directions save for the westward, where the Ban of the Valar was in force. They often traveled to the shores of Middle-earth, teaching the men there the art and craft, and introduced farming as to improve their everyday lives.

The Númenóreans, too, became skilled in the art of husbandry, breeding great horses that roamed across the open plains in Mittalmar. Although they were a peaceful people, their weapons, armour, and horse-riding skills could not be contested anywhere else in Arda, save for the Valar.

There also was a small number of Drúedain living in Númenor, who, considered as Edain, accompanied their friends of the House of Haleth to Númenor. They were only few in number and dreaded the sea. They became uneasy when Tar-Aldarion started his great travels and urged him not to go, seeing the mischief to come. They did not succeed and one after another they took ships towards Middle-earth, saying, that "the Great Isle no longer feels sure under our feet, and we wish to return tho the lands whence we came". The last of them left when Sauron was brought to Númenor.

Plant Life

Númenor contained many species of plants that could be found nowhere else in Middle-earth, for many of them were given to the Númenóreans from the Valar in Aman. Most important of these was the White Tree that dwelt in the King's Palace at Armenelos. A seedling from it was later planted in in the Court of the Fountain in Minas Tirith, Gondor.

The other parts of Númenor contained many types of plants, many unique to each of the promontories of the island. Andustar contained great forests of beech and birch at the higher ground, and oak and elm forests are lower altitudes.

The greatest delight of the Númenóreans, however, were the trees given to them by the Eldar. They grew mostly in the Western portion, Andustar. They are often remembered in song and lore, and few have flowered east of Númenor.

Oiolairë Lairelossë Nessamelda Vardarianna Taniquelassë Yavannamírë Because of the diversity of wildlife in Andustar, that region was soon called Nisimaldar, or the Fragrant Trees. Also only in Andustar could the Golden Tree be found, Malinornë.

In Hyarrostar grew the tree Laurinquë, which the Númenóreans loved because of their flowers. They believed that it came from the Great Tree of Valinor