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Chapter 1 The Nation of Atlas The nation of Atlas first came into being around a sacred hill shaped like a bird with folded wings which now sits in the middle of the city of Olympia, known as Golden Eagle Hill. The people who settled in the region before the nation of Atlas was born were a disciplined conglomeration of farmers, herders, artisans, traders, knights, and hunters who'd migrated from other lands but who claimed an identity rooted in that sacred location. The primary legend about the people and the land tells how an eagle of fantastic size carried the ancestral Atlasians from the far north to their south homeland near the hill. For, in that time, the Atlasians were fleeing terrible snow storms, and their priests prayed to their God for deliverance.Blessed by God, who oversaw their safe travel to present-day Olympia, the Atlasians were friendly, strong, and individualistic—destined to rescue the world in some future age. They had a special mission to maintain the planetary order. It was believed that God attended to their prayers, supported their mission, and offered guidance about how citizens should lead their lives. Atlas is a highly-evolved society. The nation leads the world in prosperity, military strength, science, technology, education, as well as in the international happiness index. It is the largest distributor of foreign aid across the globe. The nation has largely ended corruption inside The Atlasian Republic - “United We Defend” 10 its borders. Hatred, greed, poverty, and crime have all been dialed down. Colorful auroras illuminate starry night skies across vast expansions of snowy land and beautiful tundra to the north. In Central Atlas, incredible cities are situated amidst the massive Atlas Mountain Ranges, where lush oak and pine forests sit at the urban edge. The capital, Olympia, is one such city. Its masterfully architectured marble structures overlook its sacred Golden Fields. In Trinity's Library, hundreds of thousands of books lie, while at Fancer's Grand Academy Hall of Music, the land's finest symphonies are performed—and offered free to Atlas's relatively few poor citizens. In the eastern part of the country, fishing communities and coastal towns thrive. Glamorous lighthouses guard the area's rocky shores, guiding ships safely home. Hot air balloons flood the sky on celebration days, and astronomical observatories are plentiful. Come nightfall, millions of stars can be gazed at. To the south are open fields of green, and beautiful wheat fields, as this is the land that the great river of Atlas to the north has made fertile. Wolves, bears, and deer roam the prairies and forests. Golden eagles (The Atlasian national bird) soar overhead, and numberless pods of blue whales swim in the ocean depths. Atlas is one of the great Global Dominions, and people around the world look to the country as a proper influence and social ideal to strive toward. They prize opportunities to visit or live in Atlas, but the nation isn't the only great concentration of power and resources on the planet. Its chief global rival is the Legion, and many see this commonwealth as a dystopian society (though, within its borders, this characterization would be a dangerous one to make). The Legion is an Imperial Federation bent on world domination. It has three major cities: Corvus, an industrial city; Imperium, a military-based city; and Odysseus, a capital with black and emerald marble pillars—contrasting with Atlas's white pillars, thousands of miles away. Surveillance, control, and the constant threat of war are always present. Atlas officially came into existence in the year 277, shaped by its native shepherds, blacksmiths, and farmers, and strict Potschianism, a form of Christianity. The country experienced peace and harmony for over six hundred years. The Legion was established in 476. For 404 years, peace characterized the Legion territories. They assisted their later adversaries, the Norafieldens, in those years. They helped them establish the Norafielden Republic in the year 710. However, the nation's character shifted as the years passed. Centuries into their communal growth, the Legion became a massively powerful country, bent on inhibiting the freedom of their people, as well as those of the entire world. At some point in their national evolution, one political faction decided it was time to put the Legion's resources to more aggressive use and aimed to expand the empire. The Eastern Nation of Mei-Xing to the far east began its Imperial wars against other Eastern nations during that time, and it seemed fitting that the Legion should follow suit. It was not unusual for empires to seek expansion. 11 In those years, the Legions' ruling faction garnered massive support from its people, who bought into the faction's idea that the country was destined to rule the entire world. In the year 880, the Italus faction rose to the helm of the Legion, overthrowing the relatively peaceful rulers of the Flora dynasty and decapitating their leaders in an ominous display of what was to come. Boys with birth defects were killed in the moments after they exited their mother's wombs, and all men aged 18-40 fought in the army. The clouds of war were gathering as the Legionnaire Imperial Empire was on the cusp of being born. Twenty years later, in the year 900, the Legion's forces descended on the Norafielden Republic and the kingdoms near its borders. Terrible battles ensued, and this became known as the Swords and Shields War. In 957, rumors spread of a heavenly region in the world's northwest corner, where diamonds and gold were plentiful, and a river supplied fertile farmland to the south. The ruler of the Legion at the time, Queen Aeila Demetria, ordered her ships across the Northern Central Ocean to invade. Legionnaires deployed on the beaches moved inland and slaughtered unsuspecting natives. Atlas was a developed society but inward-looking. It knew little of the world outside its borders. The Legionnaires targeted the land's churches and monasteries, massacring 3000 of the country's priests, bishops, and monks among other The Atlas Mountains travesties.