Atlantis

When Oa and the Elder Gods coaxed the Demiurge to life in 50,000 BCE, magic fluxed and surged across the realms connected to that entity. New power flowed to all the realms, along the lines of travel called the World Tree, or Yggdrasil, by Asgard.

When the Demiurge settled into awareness, magic became a staple of the human condition. Shamanic traditions and totem worship were refined into religion, paving the way to sorcerous talents and then leading to the science of wizardry. Humanity's short, furious lives were nothing compared to the longevity of the New Gods, but they were whipped along by the forces of evolution and competition with startling speed. Humanity went from tribal huts and nomadic hunters to agrarian societies. Magic became so commonplace that entire societies and nations of magic-users gathered together. In 42,000 BCE, they raised a monument to their power, a city of tens of thousands of people and flourishing science and arts. They called this city Atlantis.

Of Atlantis, much can be said. Atlantis began as one great city, but became seven united nations spread out across the seven great Seas of antiquity at the height of the power of the ancient Civilization of Atlantis. Each nation had specific areas of responsibility-- food, military power, magical research, culture and the arts, etc.

Atlantis flourished as a culture and as a society. Magical talents were so commonplace that even the meanest of the lowest caste were capable of basic magical ability. Magic was studied as a scientific discipline instead of as a religious contemplation, allowing for the creation of vast machines and infrastructure that would have been otherwise impossible. Atlanteans made regular correspondence with the New Gods, and some-- such as Merlyn-- seemed close to equalling their power. Humanity was poised to join the rest of the universe as peers.

In 15,000 BCE, Asgard's celestial war with the mighty Thanagar and the Oans provoked a genocidal response. The Oans triggered a failsafe protocol, named Ragnarok. The result destroyed the awareness of the Demiurge and shattered many realms. Atlantis, with all her power and wisdom, nearly survived the Cataclysm-- but they were betrayed by Morgana le Fay, the Exile. Her vicious attack came at a critical moment as the Atlanteans were preparing the spells needed to survive.

In a day and a night of fire, the mountains sank and the seas rose, and Atlantis was destroyed. Their mighty machines were powerless and their magic was sundered. Even basic communication became impossible. Some Atlanteans enacted desperate, last-minute measures to survive, creating domes of force to protect their undersea homes or creating mutations that allow them to breathe and adapt underwater.

The nations of Atlantis lost their key means of communicating with one another. Of the royal family, only two heirs survived. One of them took refuge in the Kingdom of Poseidonis, the smaller center of cultural heritage for Atlantis located south of Greenland. The other took up residence in the larger, more militant city of Tritonis, in the Pacific. In the aftermath of the Calamity, it was lost to the ages who has the true claim to the throne, and the two great nations have maintained embittered but distant relations since then.

Thousands of years of civilization were obliterated overnight. Magic on Earth dwindled to a mere trickle as the Earth entered the Hyborean Age, some score of millennia ago.

But evolution finds a way. Those mystics who survived the cataclysm were hardened by the lack of freely available power. They learned to channel their own willpower and focus, to gather energy from other life forms and spirits. Their progeny would go into the world with the genetic legacy of homo magi, buried for generations yet to come.

Hunger is a harsh mistress, and only the strong survive.