Atlantis

Atlantis, the city beneath the ocean, is a major location on Rukast that serves primarily to facilitate trade.

=Founding= Most evidence points to Atlantis being built between 100 and 105 AL. The group that built the city is officially unknown, but common suspicion is that Atlantis was designed to be a Chinese colony.

=History= By 110 AL, a group of Russian arms dealers found the city abandoned and promptly occupied it and initiated trade.

The city grew quickly, and a city government was formed around 115. It consists of a council of seven elected officials who run day-to-day matters within the city.

=Current Day= Atlantis may have began as a criminal haven, but with the influx of people, installation of government and various efforts of the citizens, it serves many legitimate purposes on Rukast.


 * 1) Neutrality: Atlantis is an ideal place to hold major international events when no one locale can be chosen.
 * 2) The city has relatively few laws about the transport of most goods and services. At the same time, Atlantis makes quite a bit of money on tariffs and fees from the trade that goes through the city. A good deal of this trade is simply dropped off and resold, but it is in this way that things get shipped from one major power to another (since, in the case of many products, direct shipping is not legal).
 * 3) Banking - The words "dollar," "Euro," "Yen," and "Yuan" might hold meaning for some people, but the Atlantian credit is the currency that's used as a baseline (and the measure of PC currency). Secure banking laws mean that Atlantis is a pretty safe place to do business.
 * 4) Several planet-wide organizations have either a headquarters or a branch in Atlantis (neutrality strikes again!). Many big groups hang out in Atlantis, like the Red Cross (yup, they're still around), the Center for Intelligent Proliferation (a group of fission specialists that seek to control nuclear knowledge) and the Ore House market (which can determine the price of just about everything on Rukast via the trading that goes on there).
 * 5) Vacation - Parts of Atlantis offer services that are hard to get elsewhere. Some come to Atlantis for the sole purpose of partaking in whatever vice suits them.

=Atlantis Network= Atlantis is more than just the city. The council claims a territory of 200 miles outside of the city. Several smaller settlements exist within this area and provide a variety of services, the best known of which is transport to Atlantis by submarine.