Fantasy Atlantis [Lore]

[Quantum Leek]

Main | OOC | Characters ​

 

[Quantum Leek]

The Modern Civilization
A Memoir by Emmett Ira Lockridge
​

This is London, 1865, with all her people pouring through the thick fog. On the surface, we tend not to notice the everyday things; we pass the steam engines puffing on the tracks, walk under dirigibles in the sky without ever looking up at them, read the time from mechanical clocks and watches, ride in carriages alongside the steam-powered automobiles, and never once does the average man truly think about what he sees.

I was the same way, for most of my life.

These mechanical things, powered by heat and coal are just another part of life in the city. New machines are born like people--though much less frequently, it seems--and eventually adopted into the world and used like any other. I never really considered where they came from; If asked, I likely would have said that some highly intelligent person must have built them and shared the idea until many other people had built them and owned them. The reality, I discovered, is a lot more complicated.

My employer is Archibald Ainsworth. His name is notable in most places in the city; it could be recognized at a posh ball, or in darker, dirtier parts of town--in squalid little pubs where men and women sit with their patch top hats pushed together, muttering and arguing over paper with diagrams and figures drawn up. Most people don't travel between both. They're either in London or they're in that other world that looks an awful lot like London but isn't quite the same.

This was the world that I discovered when I went to work for Mr Ainsworth.

Did you know that, underneath the surface, underneath all the functioning machinery of this great city, there exists an entire web of people working to keep it oiled and moving? I'm not talking about the working class--they do their part, of course, but that's not what I mean--I'm talking about the inventing class. You've probably seen them before. They are most everywhere. But either your gaze never lingered or, if they drew attention, you dismissed them as mad. After all, who could possibly build a submersible that would be capable of probing the darkest depths of the ocean floor? Who would believe them, if they claimed to? So you walk passed that woman in the square, the man on the street corner with miniaturized watches that chime the time--so small they could fit on your wrist. And perhaps, in ten years time, you see the same machine again, only this time it spreads everywhere until everyone you know has one. But you never think back to that man on the corner.

The fact is that there are thousands of them--the inventors, the engineers, the scientists. They are the people who think of the ideas, who make the machines we use every day. And when you've found them it's like stepping into a whole other world.

 

[Quantum Leek]

[Atlantis Lore Placeholder]​

 

[Quantum Leek]

Atlantis: Exploration Timeline​

Prologue

Scene 1: Introductory sequence. All characters convene at the edge of the Thames, where Archibald keeps his submersible. Introductions are made in some cases and reunions in other. Scene concludes with all characters going aboard so the expedition can begin.​

Act 1

Tone: cheerful and upbeat, potentially humorous but generally full of good-natured interactions.

This act sees the submersible travelling, primarily at or near the surface of the ocean, to the purported location of Atlantis before the eventual dive. There may be a few (likely brief) scenes to showcase interactions between characters and how they behave (on their own and toward the others) before the voyage has truly gotten under way. The act ends with the last glimpse of sunlight as the submersible dives into the Atlantic in search of the sunken island.

[Suggestions for specific scenes welcomed]​

Act 2

Tone shifts to darker and more tense. Tension continues to grow throughout.

At the beginning of the second act the characters have their first taste of danger and are woken from their cheerfully adventurous outlook to the dark reality they inhabit: they could all very easily die without ever finding the sunken island; they could never see the sun again, breathe fresh air again, nor see their families. Cramped in tight quarters with seven other people, it would be very easy for them to blame each other as tempers rise and morale falls.

Current scene ideas include:

• Getting lost
• Food shortage
• Encounter with Leviathan
• Damaged submersible requires repairs which can't be done while submerged; despite being deep in the ocean, they appear to find an island, which they surface at for repairs.
• Trouble on the island (potential pathogen or questiona

[More suggestions welcome]
​

Act 3

[To-be Edited as we get closer. This will include the ultimate discovery of Atlantis and the people who still inhabit the "sunken" island]​

 

[Quantum Leek]

7 September 1865​

A has had another of his absurd ideas, and I'm becoming increasingly concerned that this one will not fall through. He heard a symposium speaker at the university, who claims to have located the mythical island of Atlantis. It has been three days and he hasn't stopped talking about it. If it keeps up any longer I'll run out of excuses not to put together the team he wants.

A group of treasure hunters to find a fantasy island? Ridiculous. But A never takes no for an answer.

9 September 1865​

Had a row with A. There are things we can wait out and weather the storm until he gets over them. It seems the search for Atlantis is not one of them. I will put together this group he wants. He's asked for some people by name, and others by occupation. Those will take more effort. He has also volunteered me as the pilot of his submersible. While that might be the best choice, given that I've piloted the blasted thing most, it would have been nice to have a choice.

In addition to myself, A, and this scholar he picked up, he has asked for:

An Engineer (Miss Durand)
A Doctor (V)
An Explorer
A Journalist
A Cartographer

I have some ideas for the last three. It's just a matter of convincing everyone to go along with this mad idea.

10 September 1865​

Miss Durand seems keen on the idea. She is just as mad as A. At least it is one name off my list.

15 September 1865​

V is notoriously difficult to meet with. To be perfectly honest I would rather not. He is unnerving. Instead I have left word with him detailing A's (admittedly vague) plans. I expect he will respond one way or the other; he isn't the sort to leave a chap hanging in the open.

The name Gogarty appears frequently in the papers. There are two of them, both capable journalists. I have dug through many old articles in the past week to decide and have concluded that she should be our first choice. Requested a meeting with the bait of a 'story of a lifetime.' I must be going mad myself if I believe we'll find anything besides fish and kelp.

Sent a telegram to L; she is out of the country and could take a week to respond, but I will have tried. There is no better cartographer to have along.

16 September 1865​

Met with G&G and was actually passed by for the latter. His wife must be wiser than he, if she doesn't want to come. Or perhaps he's wiser in that she had to convince him. Either way, it's one more name off the list; he has agreed to chronicle the trip first-hand, come what may.

I recalled an explorer by the name of Shelton who came to dinner some years ago and, having no other leads on that front, looked into his current whereabouts. It seems he has retired back to England. He also has a book to his credit. It is quite good. I am to see him in person, but the venture may take a couple days, as he is well outside of London. A might well die in my absence.

Wishful thinking.

18 September 1865​

A is still alive, miraculously, but I do believe I am going mad. Sitting in S's mountain abode and explaining the purpose of this to-be expedition, for a moment I almost believed we would find something. The most effective salesman believes in his product but, truth be told, I rather thought I would have done a better job talking people out of this than into it. That doesn't seem to have worked. S has agreed to come along.

We are one telegram away from a full crew. There is such finality in that. It nearly feels complete.

20 September 1865​

Telegram from L arrived today. The roster is full and all that remains is to notify the others of the final date and time and somehow arrange for eight people to live on board that submersible for God knows how long. Even so, I feel a certain excitement at the prospect, and it isn't simply the satisfaction from having completed the tasks at hand.

What if we do find what B claims is out there? What if it still exists?

There seems only one way to know for certain.