Atlantis

Lost continent in the Atlantic Ocean. Much of Atlantis' history remains shrouded in mystery. The first kingdom of Atlantis, Caiphul, was founded by Valthoth, the Prince of the Last Days known later as the god Thoth, who led the refugees from the destruction of Lemuria. This first kingdom eventually fell (possibly due to battles against monsters from the depths of the sea), and there was confusion for quite some time. (It may have been during this time that the Atlantean warrior Kull conquered the land of Valusia.) The Second Empire was established by a dynasty springing from Cleito and sea-god Pazadon, or Poseidon.

These two had ten children, each of whom established a kingdom on Atlantis. The oldest of these, Atlas, was placed as king of the City of the Golden Gates, a beautiful place arranged in a circular pattern and filled with waterways and defensive walls. The Atlanteans excelled in the fields of science and magic, but much knowledge was lost after the fall of Lemuria. Its pantheon was diverse, including such gods as Daoloth, Gloon, Bast, and Ghatanothoa. As time went on, the forces of Chaos became powerful once again, and many Atlanteans practiced black magic. The cult of Dagon became strong, and the deep ones mingled their blood with that of the Atlanteans. Twenty thousand years ago, at the beginning of the Hyborian Age, a great portion of Atlantis sank beneath the waves. The causes behind this are unknown, and may range from geologic catastrophe to a failed sorcerous experiment to the wrath of the gods. Some say that their magical might became so great that Thelatha the Demon King, who served the agents of Chaos, was able to conquer the City of the Golden Gates. In the end, these wizards' magical experiments went horribly awry, and the City sank into the sea. Others say that the same disaster came about when the hybrid children of the deep ones sought to overcome the nobility, who fought back with crystal-powered weaponry. The ensuing cataclysm destroyed the surrounding continent and made much of the rest uninhabitable. As a result the Atlanteans lost much of their knowledge and reverted to barbarism. They did manage to conquer some land on other continents, but their glory had faded. Some isles, including Poseidonis and Bal-Sagoth, survived the inundation, but most of these eventually sank beneath the ocean. The survivors of the disaster fled to such far-flung locales as the Sahara, Averoigne, and the Caribbean. Atlantis' lore, as preserved by the high priests Klarkash-Ton and Luveh-Kerapht, has survived in fragments kept by the priests of Sais in Egypt. The ruins of Atlantis itself may survive beneath the waves, but if so no one has seen them and lived. One alternate tradition is that of Beloe's Wonders Witnessed, which holds that Atlantis, or "Alanhati", was inhabited by the Elder Things who caused it to vanish to avoid the eyes of men. This information contradicts much of the other information we have on this period, however. [Atlantis first appeared in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and the unfinished Critias. Debates as to whether Plato's tales were allegories or re-tellings of actual legends or events have gone on for millennia. Some have claimed that Atlantis did exist (though they often describe it in terms of their own political, national, and racial Utopia), while others say that another cataclysm, such as the volcanic destruction of the isle of Thera in 1500 B. C., served as its model. The modern fascination with Atlantis began with Ignatius' Donnelly's Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882), and shows no sign of abating. [Lovecraft and his fellow authors took much of their Atlantean lore from Theosophy. The most famous Theosophical book on the subject is W. ScottElliot's The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria (1925).] See Bal-Sagoth; Book of Dzyan; Book of Eibon; Bugg-Shash; Cimmeria; Commoriom; Hyborian Age; Hyperborea; K'n-yan; Lemuria; L'mur-Kathulos; Nodens; Shining Trapezohedron; Tsathoggua. (The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky; "The Mannikin", Bloch; "The Render of the Veils", Campbell; The Black Star, Carter; "The Seal of Zaon Sathla", Carter; Conan of the Isles, Carter and de Camp; The Hyborian Age, Howard; Selected Letters V, Lovecraft; "The Strange High House in the Mist", Lovecraft; "The Temple", Lovecraft; "The Whisperer in Darkness", Lovecraft; "The Last Test", Lovecraft and de Castro; "Out of the Aeons", Lovecraft and Heald; "In the Vaults Beneath", Lumley; The Transition of Titus Crow, Lumley; Critias, Plato; Timaeus, Plato (O); The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria, Scott-Elliot; "The City in the Sea", Thomas and Willis; Necronomicon, Tyson.)