Re: ATLANTIS and CATACLYSM...

LATER.

Now comes the time when we must turn out attention to a small
archipelago of limestone islands to the south and west of Atlantis.
In a later time, this cluster of islands would be known as 'Bermuda',
and in the late Antediluvian Age, it was the site of the primary
research and development complex of the dominant guild of master
fluxons, having been so for almost two centuries, after the
suppression of the rival Flux orders in the Great War of Assassins.
In the ensuing years, what had been a research and study complex in
some ways similar to a modern university had grown, and grown, and
grown, as the importance of Flux technology in civilized life and
military affairs had grown. In 4785 BC, the entire archipelago (which
then consisted of somewhat fewer, larger islands, due to he slightly
lower world sea levels of the time) was dedicated either directly or
indirectly to the work of the guild. Those inhabitants who were not
directly involved with the guild were there in one or another sort of
supporting role, the whole carefully supervised from Atlantica.

The paralenses that were the _sine qua non_ of the technological and
industrial base of the Age were conceived, invented, perfected, and
now were manufactured in Bermuda. [1] The millions of small
paralenses and the hundreds of Greater Paralenses were all constructed
here, assembled by master artisans and incorporating the precious
orichalcum from Atlantis, shipped to Bermuda in heavily escorted
freighters with the heaviest security in the empire. Now that the
Great Project had begun, the new Greatest Paralenses required for its
implementation, and much of the supporting technology for them, were
also being assembled in Bermuda, which was now busier and more heavily
inhabited than it had been in its entire history.

Over one hundred thousand people called Bermuda home, making for
crowded conditions. All the larger islands were heavily built up, and
a major naval base was also present, to support the protective cordon
of warships and aeremes that constantly guarded this nerve center of
Atlantean power. Unlike the colony-states, Bermuda was governed
directly from Atlantis, and legally was considered to be part of the
great Isle. All legal and political authority in Bermuda in that age
flowed from the assigned Quasetor, who was in turn answerable in
theory to the Circle of Ten directly, and in practice was always a
personal retainer of the Speaker. Access to Bermuda was restricted
more tightly than to Atlantis proper, the only place on the planet
where this was the case.

Along with the constant work of assembling the paralenses and other
equipment for the Great Project and general use, there was an ongoing
R&D effort in Bermuda, organized and carried out by some of the most
brilliant minds of the age. It was in 4785 BC that a breakthrough was
made, after some decades of development effort, and the symbiotic
crystal was finally perfected. [2]

These devices made both psionic and Flux skills far more reliable and
effective, and were widely coveted. Though no orichalcum proper was
required for their operation, that is, they contained none of the
precious extradimensional metal, orichalcum was required for their
creation, and they were fantastically complex, making them rare and
expensive (and highly restricted by law). The first few symbiotic
crystals produced in Bermuda went to the highest ranking master
fluxons of the order, to some of the highest ranking governmental
officials and aristocrats of Atlantis, and to a handful of highly
connected VIP types. Only about thirty symbiotic crystals were
produced in the first year of their availability, and after that the
production rate fell somewhat due to the other demands on the
resources of Bermuda and to the sheer difficulty of creating these
devices.

The fact of the existence of symbiotic crystals was not secret, but
they were utterly beyond the reach, beyond the hope of reach, for the
vast majority of all people, even in Atlantis, and distribution
outside Atlantis and Bermuda was strictly forbidden, with rather
draconian penalties for violation.

Even as the symbiotic crystals were being developed, the researchers
were going further, using the same basic engineering techniques to
attempt to createa more sophisticated Flux/psi devices. (The
underlying physics of psi and the Matrix/Flux are the same, so the
same techniques were adapatable to both, within limits.) This would
prove to be of vital importance as time passed and events moved toward
their coming confluence.

MORE LATER.



[1] The people of that age did not use the name 'Bermuda', of course.
We shall do so for our own convenience.

[2] This is _mostly_ the same thing as the device described in GURPS
3e Psionics, see related thread for details.
.

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