Autochthea

Autochthea is still carried on the rolls of the Atlantean kingdoms, but earthquakes and floods in the Great Cataclysm wiped it out, and the old First Age capital that stood there now lies under the Sea of Lost Souls. In its prime it was the greatest trade hub in the world, receiving the plunder of Atlantean conquest: Tamoanchan gold, Mediterranean silver bars, Gondwanan diamonds, Khitan gems and much more. Its cities grew so rich that many buildings were sheathed in precious metal.

Almost all its learning drowned with it, and what is known comes from a few legends, such as the tale of the pyramid-tomb of the miserly sorcerer Hyperion, and from wandering Triton tribes, whose reports scholars trust far more. The Tritons say the ancient capital, which they call Attalus, still stands largely whole on the seabed as the capital of their undersea realm, with other ruined cities to its north, south and northeast.

Because the empire must have ten kingdoms, the Queen of Hesperia now sits as the tenth member of the Council of Kings on behalf of Celaenea. The choice has never been popular, though most Atlanteans grant it was politically shrewd. The people of Avalon, who say they descend from the few Autochtheans who escaped, have long asked to be named the tenth kingdom instead, without success.