Atlantis

"Atlantis is all that remains of the greatest race to inhabit the stars."

- Halling

Atlantis, also called the Lost City of the Ancients and the City of the Ancestors, Atlantus in Ancient, is a city-ship built by the Ancients several million years ago, and is approximately the size of Manhattan. The Ancients left our galaxy several million years ago for the Pegasus galaxy, taking Atlantis with them, and settled on a planet they named Lantea.

Millions of years later, after the Lanteans &mdash; the name those Ancients became known by &mdash; submerged the city to protect it from their enemies, the Wraith, and returned to Earth through the Stargate. Their story, over time, inspired the Tau'ri myth of Atlantis.

Ancient use
Atlantis was originally situated on Earth on the continent of Antarctica. When the Plague created by the Ori spread through the Milky Way galaxy, Atlantis was launched from its home, bound for the Pegasus Galaxy. A small outpost and a few Ancient individuals were left behind on Earth. Atlantis was relocated to the planet Lantea. Once there the Ancients seeded the galaxy with life, just like they had once done in the Milky-Way. Soon life began to flourish where once there was none.

Sometime later, during the war with the Wraith, several Wraith Hive Ships took control of all Ancient colonies until Atlantis was all that is left. Hive ships went to Atlantis and started the First siege of Atlantis. The Ancients managed to defeat the hive ships everytime they came, but were impossibly outnumbered, so the Ancient Council decided to sink the city underwater for protection from weapons fire. Atlantis was attached to the ocean floor with a series of intricate clamps, the city shield holding back the ocean. Towards the end of the war with the Wraith, the Ancient Janus rescued Elizabeth Weir from a Puddle Jumper which had been shot down by the Wraith. This Jumper was a time machine, designed by Janus himself. It had accidentally transported Dr. Weir back in time. During this time it was decided, by the Council, to abandon the city and return to Earth via the Stargate.

Unknown to the council however, Dr. Weir secretly stayed behind in stasis as part of a plan devised by Janus. She rotated the city's ZPMs every 3300 years so that when her expedition team rediscovered Atlantis in 10 000 years time, the shield would hopefully have enough power to continue to hold back the ocean so they wouldn't drown like they did in her timeline. Janus also programmed a failsafe into the city so that if power reached a critical level the clamps holding the city to the ocean floor would release, and Atlantis would rise to the surface once more. Melia, a member of the Council, left this message for anybody who might rediscover Atlantis in the future:


 * "In the hope of spreading new life in a galaxy where their appeared to be none. Soon the new life grew, prospered. Here we built a network of Stargates... ...exchange knowledge and friendship. In time, a thousand worlds bore the fruit of life in this form. Then one day our people stepped foot on a dark world where a terrible enemy slept. Never before had we encountered beings with powers that rivaled our own. In our overconfidence, we were unprepared and outnumbered. The enemy fed upon defenseless human worlds like a great scourge, until finally only Atlantis remained. This city's great shield was powerful enough to withstand their terrible weapons, but here we were besieged for many years. In an offer to save the last of our kind, we submerged our great city into the ocean. The Atlantis Stargate was the one and only link back to Earth from this galaxy, and those who remained used it to return to that world that was once home. There the last survivors of Atlantis lived out the remainder of their lives. This city was left to slumber, in the hope that our kind would one day return."

Tau'ri arrival
When the Atlantis Expedition arrived, they started to explore the city until Rodney McKay discovered that the city's Zero Point Modules were nearly depleted and that the city's shield would fail, causing a massive flood. After searching Athos for safe refuge due to the inevitable shield failure, the search team eventually brought the Athosians back after a Wraith culling occurred. When the team and refugees returned, Janus's fail-safe mechanism activated and Atlantis rose to the surface just as the shield finally ran out of power and failed. With Atlantis safe from the risk of flooding, the Expedition continued to settle down and set up home for both themselves and the Athosian refugees.

Having learned of the existence of Earth, the Wraith sent three hive ships to attack Atlantis. The Atlantis Expedition was able to destroy the three ships, but the Wraith sent another twelve. Seeing no way of destroying them, the Expedition used a cloak adapted from a Puddle Jumper, and a timed nuclear warhead to make it appear that the city had been destroyed. The Wraith fell for the ruse, causing them to fall into Civil War. The secret of Atlantis is now a top priority for the Expedition members.

In 2006, SG-1 &mdash; except for Teal'c &mdash; arrived in Atlantis on the Odyssey as a step in their war against the Ori. Samantha Carter and Cameron Mitchell took McKay on a mission to connect a Pegasus Stargate to the Supergate back in the Milky Way, preventing its further use by the Ori. Meanwhile, Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran accessed the Atlantis database in the hope of discovering the location of the Sangraal, a weapon against the Ori designed by Merlin. However, the ascended Lantean Morgan Le Fay, who masqueraded as the database's holographic interface, was stopped by the Others before she could reveal it.

Later in the same year, live Lanteans were discovered in the void between Pegasus and the Milky Way, who subsequently reclaimed the city and forced the expedition out. Shortly afterwards, the Asurans attacked the city, killing the Lanteans and taking Jack O'Neill and Richard Woolsey hostage. John Sheppard, Elizabeth Weir, Rodney McKay, Carson Beckett, Teyla Emmagan, and Ronon Dex launched a daring rescue mission, using the city's shield generators to emit a massive Replicator disruptor wave. The Expedition was then able to reclaim Atlantis, keeping one of the ZPMs installed by the Asurans and sending the other two back to Earth to help with the battle against the Ori.

Some time later, after a massive preemptive strike on Asuras by Earth's new battlecruiser, the Apollo, the Asurans launched an attack on Atlantis. They sent a satellite housing a Stargate to Lantia, and after dialing in from Asuras, directed a powerful energy beam at Atlantis. Unable to evacuate by Stargate, and unable to fully dissipate the beam after submerging the city, the Expedition used the stardrive to leave Lantea. The recently discovered geothermal drilling platform, located on the ocean floor gave Atlantis the power boost it needed to lift off, as the expedition only had one ZPM instead of the 3 which the city was designed to use. The shield had to be lowered so that more power could be diverted to the Stardrive for the crucial first few moments of flight. As the shield was being raised after this initial phase however the Asurans beam grazed the side of the main tower, causing serious damage to the main power conduits. Because of this Atlantis dropped out of hyperspace prematurely and far from the new intended homeworld, with the city's single Zero Point Module nearly depleted, having only twenty four hours of energy left. With the aid of a replacement ZPM, stolen in a daring raid on the Asuran homeworld, the city eventually settled on M35-117.

Technology
Atlantis has a great deal of advanced technology in it, ranging from the Stargate and puddle jumpers, to drone weapons, the stardrive and the all-important shield.

Stargate
The Stargate transports people and objects to other worlds. On the Atlantis stargate there is an energy shield that stops matter from rematerializing, similar in function to the Earth Iris. Also, due to a special crystal, it is the only Stargate in the Pegasus Galaxy which can dial to another galaxy.

Energy
Atlantis' main energy supply are ZPMs, which are stored in a special room. To gain access to all of the technology and features of Atlantis, three are needed, however in cases of emergency, one can perform the most important tasks. The city also possesses several solar-powered generators, however they don't provide much energy. That might, however, only be in proportion to the massive amounts of energy required to operate the city. In one extreme instance, lightning strikes from a massive storm were used to briefly power the shield in order to save it from a Tsunami. A more effective method of alternatively powering Atlantis comes in the form of a geological drilling station located on the seafloor of Lantea. This station was built by the Ancients, and utilised by the Atlantis expedition when they left Lantia.

Shield
The shield of Atlantis is a massive dome that completely imcompasses the city when activated. It protects the city from anything ranging from orbital bombardment, to the weight of an entire ocean, to a tsunami, to coronal mass ejections. The shield can cover the city like a skin to prevent the ocean from crashing inside when the city is submerged, or to prevent air evacuation when travelling through space. Also, the shield can be expanded when necessary to protect nearly an entire planet. After some modifications made by Rodney McKay the shield can also be used to cloak the city.

Stardrive
The stardrive on Atlantis enables the city to travel to distant planets, or even galaxies, in only a few days and is incredibly powerful. It is designed to operate with 3 ZPMs, but can be powered by 1 if the situation calls for it, and if other power sources are used as well, the geological drilling platform for example. The most power is used in getting Atlantis off the surface, after this a single ZPM is able to power the city and open a hyperspace window.

Structure
From above, the city has the form of a giant snowflake with all buildings located on a giant platform. Most or the taller buildings are located in the middle, while other smaller ones are situated at the edges of the six piers. The control tower, the largest of the buildings, is located in the very middle of the city, housing several important rooms including the gate room, the main jumper bay and the holo room. The buildings are suprisingly not very strong, meaning that the city needs the shield to protect them from threats, such as orbital bombardment or a tsunami.

Locations

 * Ascension lab
 * Auxiliary control center
 * Bio lab
 * Brig
 * Chair room
 * Conference room
 * Control tower
 * Drone weapon storage room
 * Grounding stations 1, 2, 3, and 4
 * Gym
 * Holo room
 * Infirmary
 * Jumper bay
 * Living quarters
 * Mess hall
 * Nanite lab
 * Section 24-B: An expansive area in one of the arms of Atlantis. Before the city rose out of the ocean after the arrival of the Atlantis Expedition, the shield in this area failed and flooded.
 * Society research lab
 * Stargate Operations
 * Commander's office
 * ZPM room

Technologies

 * Database
 * Failsafe-mechanism
 * Long range sensors
 * Shield
 * Stardrive
 * Transporters

Commanding officers

 * Dr Elizabeth Weir (2004-2007)
 * Colonel Samantha Carter (2007-2008)
 * Richard Woolsey (2008-present)

Alternate timelines

 * ''In episode Before I Sleep, Atlantis had no failsafe device and all ZPMs were running simultaneously, so the city is flooded. Weir, Sheppard and Zelenka get into a time-travelling Puddle Jumper, accidentally going back ten thousand years. after being attacked by two Wraith darts, the Jumper crashed, Weir was the only survivor. The Ancients back then refused to let her go back and corrupt the timeline. Luckily, the time-machine's inventor, Janus, helped her by creating a failsafe and making sure the ZPMs ran the city one at a time.
 * In The Last Man, forty-eight thousand years into the future, M35-117 is now a desert planet and its sun is getting hotter. Atlantis was abandoned by humans all together. Colonel John Sheppard, guided by a hologram of Rodney McKay, try to get to the stasis chamber where he will be for seven hundred years. But due to the sun, in five hundred years, the planet will be uninhabitable. So Sheppard used the city's solar panels to power the shield to protect the atmosphere.