Beginnings of Ultima Thūlē

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Ultima Thūlē
The World of Atlantis Nocturne

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Alternate Names: Mu ; Átlantis ; Agēnor
Original Name: Tīros
Imperial House: Imperial House of Leviathan
Lord Magistrate: Túrannos ( Tīr - andâzi )
Great Beast: Leviathan (aka Tunnanu ; Rahaḇ )
Mother Goddess: Titaea
Tīros was a world of dark oceans shaped from the mutual destruction of the primordial gods Hydros and Tartaros . From the body of Hydros came the oceans of this world and from them, the Mother Goddess Titaea who would bring this world back to life. Tartaros became a dark reflection of this world and his blood became a thick, oil-like pitch of microbial life... a "living darkness" formed from Antilife and from which his wife Tartara emerged.

The god Tuphaôn (aka Typhon ) also emerged from this darkness followed soon after by his sister Ekhidna (aka Myraina Tartêsia ) who quickly coiled around him. Together, these gods would unleash endless horrors upon this world that included resurrecting an ancient evil whose bones were older than Tīros itself. Those bones belonged to Tunnanu who had been a member of the Fallen , a devourer of demons slain by the Ascended and whose resurrection would lead to the destruction of Tīros.

When the Awakening began and the Dark One walked across the face of what was Tīros reincarnated within the Worlds of Shadow, long snake-like tentacles reached up from beneath the firmament to engulf him. Fighting to free himself, the Dark One reached into the heavens where he found a massive piece of mighty Ólympos (named for the Olympian Gods ) which had not become a part of Góð heimr . Bringing this crashing down upon Leviathan, the Dark One imprisoned the Great Beast forever beneath the abysmal depths.

The god Oceanus and a small host of lesser sea deities (including his sister/wife Tethys ) had been entrapped within this mountainous piece of stone. Setting his "children" free, Oceanus named this world Mu and ruled over it until the cataclysmic collision with Wyvern. Half of Mu would be destroyed as it became flattened against its sister world and created the Great Barrier thrusting up vast amounts of water that reformed into a belt above it named for Oceanus (whose essence is trapped within it).

So much water had been removed that three large supercontinents of dry land now appeared alongside four smaller continents and numerous islands that are actually the tops of seamounts. A fourth supercontinent exists just beneath the surface lying between the continents of dry land where the "peoples of the sea" call home. Ruled by Oceanids (direct descendants of Oceanus and Tethys), the continent of Wär is home to the Aqua rians , a generic name for all the peoples of the seas as they began the process of rebuilding their world.

Among the Aquarians were the Neráïda , beings descended from the Oceanid Doris and fathered by the primordial Titán Nereus . Neráïda possess Fae lineage because Nereus himself is part Fae and they possess a superiority complex viewing that they have a divine right to rule this world. First to colonize the land were the Nymphs who named this world Átlantis after the Titán Átlas who was the patriarch of their existence.

Life spread throughout the lands via rifts between worlds and fertile soils provided a bounty for the humans who were to follow. Among these were the Pelasgians , Polynesians , Phoenicians and even Vikings (at a later time) to name but a few. Called Agēnor by the Pelasgians, Átlantis became a name relegated to the largest of its continents and the cities which had adopted the name as their own. The remaining continents after Átlantis are Hyperbórea and Lemuria with the smaller ones being Kumari Kandam , Tartessos (aka Tarshish ), Antillia , and Evenor .

Most of the surface lands are covered by tropical rainforests, mountains, fertile central plains and are rich in mineral wealth. Beyond the continents exist the Black Seas of Átlantis known for their much greater depths where only the tops of seamounts are seen. Formed by volcanic activity, many seamounts never reach the surface while others are slowly subsiding beneath the waves as new islands replace them over a period of millions of years. Where the Black Seas near the Great Barrier, powerful underwater currents churn the seas violently, and hurricanes rage in the skies above as seamounts increase in number by the thousands until becoming a solid volcanic mountain range.

Sirènes dominate these seas ruling over a wide variety of sea monsters capable of surviving the harsh conditions. They survive by using their changeling abilities to appear human, as mermaids , and as harpies taking on the characteristics of each while being something entirely different in their true forms. At the darkest depths , the seafloor was broken up creating trenches and subterranean caverns that became home to extremophiles and... living darkness!

Above the seafloors exist several zones that become increasingly filled with life as it gets closer to the surface. Detritus from the surface layers trickles down feeding life at the lower levels who feed upon it and are fed upon, in turn, by predators. The deeper one gets, the rarer and more bizarre life becomes. Many lifeforms are transparent, create their own bioluminescent light, and use echolocation to find their way in the darkness of the deep.
Widespread worship of the Titáns is common across Ultima Thūlē because of their descent from Oceanus and Tethys before the creation of Góðheimr. Above all they worship the gods Akmôn and Hēméra , the parents of Ouranós and Gaea who sired Oceanus and Tethys. A faith-based on the worship of the "He" and the "She" as equally supreme with their children descending as gods and demi-gods until becoming something a little more than mortal... the Aquarians.

The Black Seas of Átlantis are the regions beyond the continental landmasses where the seas are at their deepest and where monsters dwell. Not even the Aquarians will journey here except in force as it is a place of many hatreds and even they require subsurface land to survive. Empress Leviathan comes from this place where she made war and conquered the Imperial House of Átlantis Nocturne, the eternal place of rule by the Lord Magistrate Túrannos (Tyrant). His was a rule that began with the arrival of the Phoenicians who gained control over an empire through trade, diplomacy, and mercenaries in their employ.

With them followed the Káptaru ( Minoans ) and the Týrians (aka Carthaginians ) all descended from the Kenāʿanites . Then came the Pelešet with their allies giving the Týrians and their ruler Túrannos rule over the Imperial House of Átlantis Nocturne. Now humbled before Empress Leviathan, Túrannos would be left as Lord Magistrate as she had no desire to rule as she desired only to create a new Imperial House to be shaped by her hand. With this power yielding itself to her, she created the Imperial House of Leviathan within the very mountain under which the Great Beast himself lay.

The inner world within this Imperial House became known as Thūlē from which the world beyond became rechristened as Ultima Thūlē. Pirate kingdoms arose during this time with the advent of guns, cannons, and Greek fire . Peoples called Makōn became the most feared of the Aquarians to dwell within the Black Seas as enemies of both land dwellers and the Neráïda.

The submerged fourth continent was now called Thálassa , a realm of many Aquarian peoples whose most powerful kingdom is ruled by the Neráïda and their queen Androméda . The Empire of Átlantis existed both above and below the surface of the ocean because of alliances with Aquarians too weak to stand against the Neráïda on their own. Samandarin became powerful mercenaries for surface peoples because of their amphibious nature and worship the Òrìṣà called Olókun whose daughter Yemọja dwells among them.

Ultima Thūlē is mostly a world of water and yet, the peoples of the sea dwell mostly upon and within the upraised seamounts being no more native to much of its waters than the land dwellers above. The Black Seas of Átlantis were especially populated by Aquarians whose kingdoms allied with the Amphamen whose kingdoms ruled the coastlands of the southern continent. To the north, barbarian kingdoms ruled by airbreathers remained powerful and wealthy because of their agricultural wealth as the lands of the south were poorer for producing food.