The Undersea Kingdom of Atlantis
Table of Contents
Atlantis, The Undersea Kingdom
Nowadays, the general mental picture for “sci-fi” is Star Wars, or if you’re of a more cerebral type, Star Trek, but back in the 1930’s sci-fi was Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. Film was a young medium in the 1930’s, but such was Flash Gordon’s popularity that the space hero was slated for a film serial in 1936, making him one of the first comic book adaptations (comic strip, if you want to be technical about it) for film. None other than Universal was tasked with making the serial, the same wizards of the silver screen which gave us King Kong in 1933. The result was a classic. Flash Gordon would become a hallmark of not just sci-film films but film in general. It paved the way for Star Wars, for Wizard of Oz, for every big, fanciful blockbuster to come. It dared to dream and gave viewers sights and situations never before seen. Is the serial rough around the edges compared to what would come afterwards? Yes, but there’s no denying that it was an influential crowd pleaser. Flash would get two more serials, a feat not even Superman could accomplish, and his serial has been preserved by the Library of Congress for being culturally, artistically, and historically significant.
Now, why am I talking about Flash Gordon when this article is about a serial called Undersea Kingdom?
Well, you see, Universal’s rival Republic knew that Universal was making a Flash Gordon serial and decided that they would try their own hand at making a sci-fi serial. The result was Undersea Kingdom, released the same year as Flash Gordon (they tried really hard to beat Flash Gordon to the punch, but Flash beat them by a month). And while you’re probably familiar with the name and concept of Flash Gordon even if you’ve never seen the comics or films or tv shows, I’m betting you’ve never heard of Undersea Kingdom, and what’s more I’m betting you can guess why you’ve never heard of Undersea Kingdom.
Yeah. When there’ an MCU, there’s always a DCEU. Undersea Kingdom was the Republic Flash Gordon, the lower budget, derivative Flash Gordon. You could confuse the two if you squinted. In Flash Gordon, Flash Gordon travels to the planet Mongo, a place of swords and ray guns not too dissimilar to the planets Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote about like Barsoom (that’s Mars for you non-Martian natives). In Undersea Kingdom, Crash Corrigan (now isn’t that a similar name?) travels to Atlantis, which is another Barsoom-esque Wonderland. In Flash Gordon, Flash’s adventuring companions include Dr. Hans Zarkov and his true love Dale Arden. In Undersea Kingdom, Crash’s adventuring companions include Professor Norton and Diana Compton.
Undersea Kingdom is by no stretch a classic of sci-fi cinema. In fact, it got an uncoveted spot on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Nontheless, it has a couple of interesting ideas, and I love taking old stories that were, let’s say released too soon, and improving and expanding on them. Thus Undersea Kingdom is one of the pillars of the Silver Universe, a setting I’ve made for old public domain sci-fi and adventure films.
It’s not a universe where Flash Gordon meets Captain Marvel, but it is a universe where Crash Corrigan meets Captain Marvel.
The Silver Universe History
The Days of Imperial Atlantis
Many Earths in the multiverse have an Atlantis, be it an island, kingdom, or continent. All the various Atlantean cultures of the multiverse are linked through a powerful and chaotic force known to ARGO as the Column. The Column is named such because it’s placement within multiversal macrospace resembles a water column. Column energy at the top of the multiversal Column, like water at the top of a water column, is less pressurized while Column energy at the bottom of of the Column is extremely pressurized.
The energy of the Column, which in the Earth of the Silver Universe is called vril, is difficult to control at certain concentrations and has led to the destruction of many an Atlantis, but is limited in potency by the placement of a given Earth within the multiversal column. An Atlantis from the upper reaches of the column draws on relatively little energy and when catastrophe strikes only an island is lost. An Atlantis from deeper within the column takes a continent down with itself. One further down destroys the entire Earth. At the bottom of the Column is an Atlantis that never fell, an Atlantis that persists to this day as an empire that has conquered innumerable universes, and the destruction that will arise should this Atlantis one day lose control of the Column energy is unimaginable.
But the Silver Universe is situated high in the Column, and so when Atlantis fell, it took only a landmass around the size of Ireland with it.
This Atlantis was once a thriving culture with colonies scattered around the world. So advanced were the Atlanteans that they were able to use vril to create flying machines, forcefields, and robotic servants. But as with many an Atlantis, they drew too much from the Column and lost control. In a single day and night of misfortune, Atlantis disappeared beneath the sea. But though the empire was lost and the far-flung colonies would, in time, forget their lineage, the people of Atlantis would survive due to an enormous enclosing dome named the Pontus Dome. The Pontus Dome was built as a defense against the Mu culture, their only true rivals, who broke off from the Atlanteans shortly before the breaking apart of Pangea. It allowed the Atlanteans to survive, even at the bottom of the sea. Shortly after, the Mu culture would join the Atlanteans as subterranean survivors when they to took too greedily from the Column.
Atlantean culture diverged into two factions shortly after their sinking. The White Cloak faction looked toward religion to explain their predicament. They believed that their god Poseidon had punished them for their ambitions and that they had proven unworthy of the surface. They advised their fellow Atlanteans to look inward and to to find solace and purpose not in conquest and physical control but in spiritual refinement. It was in death, and the ascension to Poseidon’s paradise high above the Earth, that the worthy would retake the surface. The White Cloaks were opposed by the Black Cloaks, who denied the existence of a Poseidon and believed that it was the destiny of their race to retake the surface through science and establish an empire even stronger and greater than the one that was lost.
Around 1880, an ambitious Black Cloak scientist named Unga Khan developed a reflector–a device that allowed him to look upon the surface. He found a world full of “crust dwellers” that lagged behind his science. He believed that his reflector, combined with another of his inventions called a disintegrator, would allow Atlantis to wage remote war against the surface and conquer it. The crust dwellers would sink tribute down to them just as they had once sank tribute to Poseidon. They would retake the surface without having to send a single man to it.
Galvanized by Unga Khan’s discoveries, the Black Cloaks rallied against the White Cloaks, and with his newly invented weapons and store of old mechanical “volkite” servants, they were able to gradually win control of Atlantis and shrink the territory of the White Cloaks until they were forced back to a small corner of the Pontus Dome.
Undersea Kingdom
The discovery and destruction of Murania caused the crust dwellers to wonder–were there other worlds beneath their feet? They did not have to wait long for an answer.
Unga Khan directed his disintegrator against the surface, creating massive earthquakes as pockets of earth fell into blank spaces created by the disintegrator. The brilliant Professor Norton, ally to the mysterious science hero known as the Silent Radio, determined that the earthquakes were caused by rays being admitted from the bottom of the ocean floor and created a device that would neutralize those rays if brought into close proximity to their source. He wanted to take a submarine down to the source of the rays and bring the Silent Radio along with him, but the hero was preoccupied with a supervillain threat taking advantage of the chaos caused by the earthquakes. Thus Professor Norton made due with his young son Billy, Times reporter Diana Compton, and Ray “Crash” Corrigan, Navy lieutenant and athlete specializing in wrestling and gymnastics.
When their submarine drew close enough to neutralize the rays, Professor Norton activated his device, and the world was saved–for a time. Curious about these crust dwellers who just foiled his plans, Unga Khan activated a magnetic beam from his tower that drew the submarine into Atlantis through the inner sea which had once been the Ringed City, capital of Atlantis. Exiting their sub and entering the wilderness Atlanteans call “Dry Land,” Norton’s party was attacked by volkites and Black Cloaks. Thus began a long adventure.
Over the course of this adventure, Professor Norton was captured by Unga Khan and subjected to his “Transformation Chamber” which directly applied vril energy to a subjects brain to temporarily modify his will. Professor Norton had unwisely suggested to Unga Khan that he could create a rocket which would attach to the side of Unga Khan’s tower capable of carrying it to the surface and he wanted to force Norton to create such a rocket for him. While Norton slaved away on the rocket, Crash was captured by the White Cloaks and forced to fight in the arena of the Sacred City under the mistaken belief that he was Black Cloak spy. But a Black Cloak raid on the city allowed Crash to demonstrate that his loyalties were not with Unga Khan but with the Sacred City by personally saving the life of High Priest Sharad who rewarded Crash by making him the supreme military commander of the Sacred City and trusting him with the Sword of Polyphemus and the armor of Theseus. Alas, Crash would only be the supreme military commander for a short time, as Unga Khan would obliterate the Sacred City in an all-out attack that left few survivors. Sharad himself was killed in the attack, and Crash would always be haunted by his failure to secure the city. To make matters worse, Professor Norton had completed his rocket, and Unga Khan guided his tower, now a mobile weapons platform, down through the inner sea and up through the Atlantic and prepared to devastate the surface.
The Untied States navy quickly mobilized to sink the Atlantean tower, but it an atomic ray shield destroyed their shells before they could reach. But all was not lost–Crash Corrigan had snuck inside the tower by using a hollowed out volkite as a disguise. He didn’t understand how the delicate machines inside the tower worked, but he understood that they could be broken. He smashed the device generating the atomic ray shield and the Navy began to blow chunks out of the tower. Crash and the deprogrammed Professor Norton were able to escape the sinking of the tower but Unga Khan was not so fortunate and the world was rid of one of its greatest threats to life and liberty.
Return to Atlantis
Crash Corrigan and his friends returned to Atlantis after a month of rest to assist in the rebuilding of the Sacred City and the Temple of Poseidon. He was, after all, the defender of the Sacred City. Thus began the events of Return to Atlantis (1936).
The expedition found an Atlantis in chaos. The death of Unga Khan left a power vacuum. Several Black Cloak generals fought over the throne, which gave Crash and his friends time to rally the White Cloaks at the Palace of Triton. Once an army was raised, they retook the Sacred City which had fallen to a bandit lord.
Once the Sacred City was again inhabited by White Cloaks and its flame tube walls rebuilt, Corrigan began to slowly whittle down the Black Cloaks. Though the Black Cloaks greatly outnumbered the White Cloaks, they were disorganized, and it was not hard for Corrigan to pit one group of Black Cloaks against the other. In the tactical acumen he demonstrated in the war against the Black Cloaks, he proved the martial potential Sharad had seen in him.
Eventually, the White Cloaks were able to seize control over Atlantis, but their rule was a tenuous rule. They were a a minority ruling over a Black Cloak majority. They needed a strong, charismatic king to keep the country from imploding and all their hard-won victories from resenting. They needed Crash Corrigan on the throne.
Crash’s advisors urged him to marry an Atlantean noblewoman named Amphitrite, but his heart belonged to Diana Compton. But in the end, he realized that the needs of the Atlantean people outweighed his and Diana’s happiness, and so he took Amphitrite as his wife and ascended the throne of Atlantis while Diana left Atlantis forever.
The Ancient Robots
In 1942, Germany began to reverse her waning fortunes in the second world war by deploying powerful robotic troops that bore a strong resemblance to the volkites of Atlantis. These robots were powerful enough to decimate conventional forces and challenge Captain Marvel, the champion of the Allied forces who was empowered with incredible vril-borne energies by the ghost of the ancient Atlantean wizard Shazam. Believing that Atlantean forces were supplying Germany with these “Kriegman” troops, the United States dispatched their top spy and counter-spy Alan Armstrong, Spy Smasher, to Atlantis to investigate.
Thus began the events of The Ancient Robots (1942). Spy Smasher was discovered by King Corrigan prowling around Triton Palace and a brawl ensued, but once Spy Smasher explained why he was there, King Corrigan explained why the Kriegman troops couldn’t possibly have come from Atlantis–they simply didn’t have the resources to make so many volkites nor the know-how to make them so powerful. But after examining the salvage of several Kriegman troops, King Corrigan’s scientists discovered that they bore the markings of vulkites created by Atlantis’ far north colony Thule in the days of the Atlantean empire.
Thule was believed to have been destroyed by an explosion of pure vril decades before the sinking of Atlantis. Nonetheless, it’s location was taken from the archives of the Temple of Poseidon and King Corrigan left to investigate with Spy Smasher. They were joined by other American mystery men: Captain Marvel, the Silent Radio, and Grant Gardner, who switched from his usual identity of the Laughing Mask to the identity of Captain Republic after Pearl Harbor. Unknown to everyone involved in the expedition, King Corrigan’s six year old son prince Pontus had followed along as a stowaway on Spy Smasher’s gyrosub.
The team discovered that the colony of Thule was not destroyed by the ancient vril explosion but was instead displaced across dimensions. By utilizing the power of Captain Marvel’s transformation from Billy Batson into the champion of Shazam, the team was able to cross the dimensional barrier where they found a society very unlike that of Atlantis. The Thule were known for their volkites and after their separation from physical reality they continued to improve their volkites until nearly every part of their society was managed by volkites. Volkites did all the labor. Volkites did all the governing. The Thule had grown decadent, soft, and naïve. They were as trusting as children, so when Spy Smasher’s old opponent Hans Schumm stumbled upon the Thule while testing an experimental Nazi super-radio, the Thule believed his description of the world war and began to send his country powerful volkites through the dimensional barrier.
The mystery men were able to unmask Hans Schumm before the Thule and drive the Nazis out of their land–with a little help from Pontus Corrigan, who was able to convince the supreme ruler of Thule, the mechanical Volmind, that the heroes were not invaders by virtue of him being a child. What kind of invaders bring their children with them? The logical Volmind had only one answer–no kind.
But there was a cost for the victory, however. 2/3rds of Thule’s volkites had been destroyed by the heroes in the fighting. But this proved to be a blessing for the Thule as it allowed them once again to feel the satisfaction of surviving and thriving by their own efforts.
Following the events of The Ancient Robots, several adventurous Thule migrated to Atlantis where they established a minority community.
Rebellion in Atlantis
In 1946, communist agents entered Atlantis, ostensibly on a peaceful, diplomatic mission, but really to stir up the Black Cloak majority against the ruling White Cloaks. The Black Cloaks, in their fervent rejection of Poseidon and belief in absolute state power, found communist ideology complementary. The communists would discover Unga Khan’s son Belus Khan and set him up as their figurehead and like his father, Belus would begin a reign of terror across the lost continent. Thus began the events of Rebellion in Atlantis (1946).
Belus Khan’s rebellion would be brought to an end by Crash Corrigan not through violence but by argument (though there was certainly more than a little violence getting to that point). Crash pointed out that though the communists talked up crust dwellers as the “little brother” of their Atlantean “big brothers,” they would not truly yield to him and the Black Cloaks. They were using him, as they used everyone, and Crash pointed to their brief alliance with Hitler’s Germany as proof. Persuaded by Crash, Belus and his Black Cloaks turned on the communists and drove them out of Atlantis. Belus then signed a non-aggression pact with the White Cloaks and vowed to work out their differences through argument and debate. Belus and his Black Cloaks no longer wanted war, for he saw that such conflict simply weakened Atlantis as a whole and that only as a united whole could Atlantis hope to stand up to duplicitous threats from the crust such as the communists.
The Torch of Lemuria
In the 1950’s, man’s science had advanced to the point where the solar system could be explored. What man found out among the stars surprised him–his was not the only habitable planet in the solar system. Shortly before the fall of Atlantis, several Atlanteans had constructed rockets and taken to the stars. They settled on the moon, Mars, Mercury, and Venus. These four civilizations were the “star scattered tribes of Atlantis” and their position towards the crust dwellers of Earth was, like the position of terrestrial Atlanteans, mixed. All four cultures joined with Earth to form the Interplanetary Patrol, but their cultures would also produce some of the greatest dangers to threaten the Earth, such as Retik the Moon Menace and Marex the Martian. These threats would be met by a new superhero, Commando Cody, a mysterious super scientist who developed a planetary shield called the Cosmic Dust Screen to protect the Earth from interplanetary ray attacks. But Commando Cody couldn’t be everywhere at once. Some problems had to be left to others to solve such as the 1955 Lemuria incident.
In 1955, the ruins of Lemuria, an ancient off-shoot of the Atlantean culture, were discovered by Captain Marvel’s archeologist friend John Malcolm. The Atlanteans believed that Lemuria was wiped out long ago by a super-plague, but John Malcolm found living, breathing men and women within the ruins. Investigating further, John Malcolm learned that these men and women lived without food or water. They, on some strange impulse, mimed their way through ruins, harvesting crops that did not grow and drawing water from dry wells. The Lemurians in fact, did die from their super-plague, but preserved their culture through volkites who served as an eternal “snapshot” of Lemurian life. These Lemurian volkites advanced not only crust knowledge of robotics but Atlantean knowledge. They were no where near as powerful as Atlantean or Thule volkites, but their intelligence was equal if not greater than that of a human and only close physical examination revealed them to be anything but; By studying the Lemurian volkites, the Silent Radio learned how to create his greatest invention–the robot Adam Glass, who would go on to be one of Earth’s greatest defenders. He also learned how to blur the line between robotics and biology and used this knowledge to safe the life of the superhero Spy Smasher by converting his mangled body into a “mechano-man.”
The discovery of the Lemurian volkites was fascinating, but was no cause for alarm–until it John Malcolm discovered a Torch in at the heart of the ruins.
Torches, with a capital T, were fonts of vril energy. At the height of the Atlantean Empire, many covered the face of the Earth, but after its fall, it was thought that only the torch in Atlantis was left, dim as it were. The Torch in Thule was likewise weak and the Torch in Mu was entirely snuffed forcing the surviving inhabitants of Murania to convert to using uranium to power their city. But the Torch of Lemuria was virtually untouched by the ages owing to its robotic inhabitants. The Atlanteans, Thule, and Muans burned through their Torches heating, lighting, and repairing their homes, but the volkites of Lemuria needed only to occasionally recharge their inner batteries. They didn’t need circulating air or warmth or light. They were fine performing their tasks in cold, dark ruins, and so their Torch burned strong and bright.
Upon hearing of the Lemuria Torch overflowing with vril energy, Belus’ Black Cloaks demanded that King Corrigan lead an expedition to Lemuria to claim the Torch and bring it back to Atlantis. The White Cloaks, of course, disagreed, and accused the Black Cloaks of repeating the hubris that sank them to the bottom of the ocean. King Corrigan was, with the help of ambassadors from the crust nations, able to convince the Black Cloaks to sign a treaty. All the crust nations agreed not to touch the Torch, and if any made so much as a move towards Lemuria, Atlantis would be allowed to seize the Torch with the full support of all other nations. This seemed like a good idea, until a nation that didn’t sign the treaty appeared to take the Torch–Mu.
Though Murania exploded in 1935, a handful of survivors remained within the radioactive ruins. These survivors were encountered in 1936, the same year Crash Corrigan arrived at Atlantis, by the Thunder Rider Energy Company, or TREC, and peace was established with the Murania remnants after a group that blamed the crust world for Murania’s destruction were stopped from detonating a bomb that would have wiped out all life on the surface. These remnants vowed to cut themselves off from the crust world forever–but they did not consider Lemuria as part of the crust world. When they heard about the Torch, they descended upon the city, and this caused Belus’ Black Cloaks to descend upon the city as well. King Corrigan went with the Black Cloaks to try his best to keep peace between the Atlanteans and Muans. As with his adventure to Thule, he did not go alone. Pontus, now 18 years old and an accomplished swordsman, went with him.
In Lemuria, King Corrigan and Pontus encountered Captain Marvel, who came to help his old friend John Malcolm who was caught between the Atlanteans and Muans, and a new superhero known as the Eagle, who patterned himself off of the Eagle of the 19th century. Behind the mask, the Eagle was Frank Baxter, one of the original Thunder Riders that discovered Murania, and he became a masked superhero to protect the surviving Muranians from crust dwellers that wanted to steal their uranium. The Eagle has arrived for the same reason King Corrigan and Pontus had arrived, to find a way to keep peace between the men of Mu and the men of Atlantis. He had arrived with his partner sidekick, a young man of 18 years known only as the Viper who took an instant dislike to Pontus for reasons no one could begin to explain.
But unknown to everyone that had journeyed to Lemuria, a gang of radicals from the star scattered tribes had secretly entered Lemuria with the goal of securing the Torch for themselves. They believed that the true spirit of Atlantis was not with any of the Earth bound savages but with the those that braved the harshness of space. As the true descendants of Atlantis, they and they alone were entitled to the Torch, and they were willing to go to any lengths to claim it. They captured King Corrigan and the Eagle and framed the Muans as the kidnappers of King Corrigan and the Atlanteans as the kidnappers of the Eagle in the hopes of getting both armies to wipe each other out.
Pontus and the Viper were tasked by Captain Marvel, who held back each army by himself, with rescuing King Corrigan and the Eagle. But Pontus and the Viper fell into disagreement over how to proceed and a brawl ensued. Afterwards, the Viper revealed himself to be Crash Compton, Crash Corrigan’s other son. He had a single night of passion with Diana Compton before giving her up for the throne of Atlantis, and that was all it took.
Crash Jr. resented Pontus for having the father he never did, but ultimately the two were able to set their differences aside to rescue King Corrigan and the Eagle. With the two heroes rescued, the spaceman plot was revealed, and the matter of what to do with the Torch was left up to Captain Marvel who, with the Wisdom of Solomon, gave it to the Lemurians. He observed that they, who used the power least, used it best.
The Solar Guard
In 1956, the mysterious interplanetary warlord known only as the Ruler, who had been apprehended by Commando Cody of the Interplanetary Patrol a year prior, was revealed to be none other than Unga Khan, who survived the destruction of his tower back in 1936. He used what he had learned from Norton’s rocket to escape to the stars where he met the star scattered tribes of Atlantis. What they showed him, he learned, and what they would not, he also learned through surreptitious means. Soon he became one of the smartest beings in the solar system and, without a doubt, the deadliest. As the mysterious Ruler, he attempted to conquer the Earth in 1955. His efforts were thwarted by Commando Cody of the Interplanetary Patrol, but when he returned in 1956, he returned with a new and incredible weapon–a greatly strengthened and improved version of his transformation chamber called the Mind Slaver. Firing it at Earth from a hidden asteroid base, Unga Khan’s rays were blocked, but not completely, by the Earth’s protective Cosmic Dust Screen. Enough got through to slowly bend the will of the population. People all around the world felt their minds slowly slipping away. Thus began the events of The Solar Guard (1956).
Feeling the effects of the ray but possessing enough supernatural fortitude to resist them, Captain Marvel flew around the world at super speed to gather the best and brightest and take them to Atlantis, which owing to its underground location was spared the Mind Slaver rays. Crash Corrigan and his sons Pontus and Crash Jr. were joined by Commando Cody, Captain Republic, who at the time had become a “rocket man” of the Interplanetary Patrol under Cody, the Silent Radio, who was joined by his greatest invention, the human-like robot Adam Glass, Captain Marvel and his “Marvel Family” Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr., the Eagle and his Thunder Riders, and Spy Smasher, who had been saved from the brink of death by the Silent Radio who transformed him into a partly mechanical “mechano-man.”
Together, these brave mystery men and science heroes became were dubbed the Solar Guard by Commando Cody, for they were to save not just the Earth from Unga Khan, but all of the solar system.
Protected from the rays of the the Mind Slaver by “anti-ray pills” created by the Silent Radio and Commando Cody, the Solar Guard flew to Unga Khan’s base and engaged him and his forces in battle. It was then that Unga Kahn revealed his trump card–a death ray platform orbiting the sun that converted its energy into a powerful laser capable of snuffing out all life in the solar system. While the Marvel Family, Adam Glass, Commando Cody and Captain Republic dealt with the laser, Crash Corrigan led the remaining members of the Solar Guard against Unga Khan’s forces and engaged his old nemesis in one-on-one combat, finally driving his Atlantean sword into his stomach and ending his rule of terror once and for all. Before he felled, Crash whispered to Unga Khan “This is for Sharad and Moloch.”
Once the battle was over, Commando Cody suggested that the group keep together as the solar system’s ultimate fighting force. All present agreed save for Crash and the Silent Radio, who were beginning to feel their age.
Towards the Present
In 1976, Crash Corrigan passed away in his sleep at Triton Palace. He became the first and so far only crust born to be laid to rest in the Tombs of Orion, the last home for the kings and heroes of Atlantis. The Tombs of Orion were part of the Ringed City and thus lay beneath the Inner Sea. Crash Corrigan’s body had to be weighed down to be buried and so his body was dressed in his commander armor as it was brought below by the finest divers in Atlantis.
In the present, Atlantis remains a land of mystery and adventure. Volkites still roam the dry lands carrying out ancient orders that only make sense to them. Ancient Vril crystals will occasionally be found by farmers or playing children and be turned over to the priesthood of the Sacred City for study and preservation. The Norton Submersible Company continues to bring Atlanteans to the surface and crust dwellers to Atlantis. Atlanteans on the whole prefer to keep to their land and do not share the crust dweller’s desire to expand out to the stars. Such expansion frightens the Atlanteans and reminds them of their terrible war with Mu. But every once in a while an Atlantean will rebel against the tradition and join the Interplanetary Patrol. One such rebel is the crown prince of Atlantis, Domatites “Doma” Corrigan, who has joined the Solar Guard along with his vulkite bodyguard Pelagios. Doma didn’t want a bodyguard, but Pelagios’ presece was forced upon him by the Atlantean parliament. Doma is a skilled member of the Solar Guard, but his superiors are concerned that his desire to prove that he can function without Pelagios has given him a bit of a reckless streak.
Sentinels of the Multiverse Deck
Special Rules
An explosion of that magnitude could jar the dome!: If a source ever deals 10 or more damage, all heroes must discard a card.
If they cannot, the Dome of Pontus cracks, sinking Atlantis once again beneath the waves. GAME OVER.
Through the Domain of Poseidon: At the beginning of the game, place an area card in play.
NOTE: This deck is very hero sided, as it represents Atlantis in a time of peace around the events of The Torch of Lemuria. I’ll probably make a variant later representing Atlantis at the time of Undersea Kingdom later, but it might end up being an entirely different deck. I’m not sure i can make the treasure hunting aspect work with increased villain presence.
Atlanteans (4)
White Cloaks (1)
4 HP
Charge! At the end of the environment turn, this card deals each villain target 2 melee damage.
Since Unga Khan’s defeat, Poseidon’s faithful have held power over Atlantis, but as a minority, our grip is tenuous.
–Pontus Corrigan
Black Cloaks (2)
4 HP
Charge!: At the end of the environment turn, this card deals each hero target 2 melee damage.
Crust scum are fit only to serve us, the elder race!
Wandering Volkites
8 HP
Fighting a long-forgotten war: At the end of the environment turn, this card deals each target 2 energy damage.
Reprogrammed: If a villain target destroys Wandering Volkites, place it back into play. It’s text becomes At the end of the environment turn this card deals each hero target 3 energy damage. If a hero target destroys Wandering Volkites, place it back into play. It’s text becomes At the end of the environment turn, this card deals each villain target 3 energy damage.
There have always been wandering volkites, their hearts slowly dimming as they wander from place to place without a purpose.
–Pontus Corrigan
Atlantean Gladiators
8 HP
We’re waiting for you at the arena!: When this card is in play and Arena is not in play, deal all villain targets 2 melee damage and shuffle Atlantean Gladiators back into the deck.
Let’s have a good match!: When this card is in play and Arena is in play, prevent all non-hero damage dealt to this card. Prevent all non-melee damage dealt to this card. When damage is dealt to this card, deal the source of the damage 2 melee damage.
Congratulations, you’ve beaten us!: When this card is destroyed, play an Atlantean Treasure from the deck or trash.
The rules of the arena were reformed under the rule of my father. Now it serves as a place of sport instead of bloodshed.
–Pontus Corrigan
Atlantean Treasures (5)
Atom Gun
Treasure: When this card is played, place it in a hero’s play area is an equipment card.
Full Power Atom Ray: POWER: Deal 1 target 3 energy damage. This damage cannot be reduced, prevented, or redirected.
They don’t work like our ray guns, not exactly. They do something to particle fields we still can’t precisely explain.
–Commando Cody
Atlantean Sword
Treasure: When this card is played, place it in a hero’s play area is an equipment card.
Orichalcum Strike: POWER: Deal 1 target 2 melee damage. Increase the next damage dealt to that target by 1.
Orichalcum makes wounds that don’t heal, but don’t worry, Atlantean swordsmen are so skilled victims of their strikes never have to discover this.
–Pontus Corrigan
Volkite
8 hp
Treasure: When this card is played, place it in a hero’s play area is an equipment card.
Ancient Robotic Servant: At the end of turn, Volkite deals 1 target 2 energy damage. Draw a card.
The name is a corruption of high Atlantean. Vol for vril and kite for kute. Vrilkute, a being of energy, different from humans, which are beings of spirit.
–The Silent Radio
Hollow Volkite
Treasure: When this card is played, place it in a hero’s play area is an equipment card.
Orichalcum Shell: Decrease melee, projectile, fire, cold, and toxic damage dealt to this hero by 1.
My father once wore a volkite. You can’t go wrong with the skin of something that’s survived the aeons.
–Pontus Corrigan
Areas (6)
The Inner Sea
Atlantean Adventure: When another Area card is played, destroy this card.
Sea beneath the Seas: Increase all electrical, cold, and energy damage by 1. Decrease all fire damage by 1.
Submerged Excavation: At the end of the environment turn, one player may discard 3 cards. If they do, discover a Treasure.
This was once the Ringed City, the capital of the Atlantean empire, but it all caved in during the calamity. Fish now hold court where godlings once did.
–Pontus Corrigan
Dry Land
Atlantean Adventure: When another Area card is played, destroy this card.
Bandits and Brigands: When this card enters play, play a Black Cloaks from the deck or trash.
In the Shadow of Ruins: When this card enters play, reveal the top 3 cards of the deck. If any cards are Treasure cards, play them. Shuffle all other revealed cards into the deck.
What need do we have of the surface? All around us is evidence to the cost of such ambition.
–Pontus Corrigan
The Sacred City
Atlantean Adventure: When another Area card is played, destroy this card.
Orichalcum Walls: Decrease damage dealt to all heroes by 1.
Flame Tubes: At the end of the environment turn, deal all villain targets 1 fire damage.
The Sacred City was destroyed by Unga Khan during my father’s first adventure, but he saw that it was restored with even stronger fortifications.
–Pontus Corrigan
Arena
Atlantean Adventure: When another Area card is played, destroy this card.
We Challenge You!: When this card enters play, play Atlantean Gladiators from the trash or deck.
I could use a little exercise!
–Captain Republic
Atlantean City
Atlantean Adventure: When another Area card is played, destroy this card.
At the Market: At the end of the environment turn, one hero may discard 3 cards. If they do so, they collect or salvage a Treasure and destroy Atlantean City.
It’s incredible how static Atlantean architecture has been all these years. I guess there’s just no improving upon perfection.
–The Silent Radio
Temple of Poseidon
Atlantean Adventure: When another Area card is played, destroy this card.
Sacred Heart of Atlantis: When this card enters play, play White Cloaks from the trash or deck.
Blessings of Poseidon: At the end of the environment turn, all hero targets heal 1. All heroes draw a card.
Our fall was punishment from Poseidon. We confused power for virtue and control for love and father Poseidon in his wisdom sealed us rom the surface.
–High Priest Bellerophon
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