The Path of Dominance

At the time of the original cataclysm 300 years ago, the Atlantean, now home to the Path of Dominance, used to be a state-of-the-art battleship in the world’s most powerful military organization. During the cataclysm, military and civilian vessels played a very important role in evacuating the doomed cities and searching for new lands overseas. The Atlantean was the most important ship of this fleet – packed with supplies, food and a prototype water purification system, its mission was to transport the greatest minds of humanity to relative safety.

After losing contact with the rest of the fleet and the command center due to raging sea storms, Captain Ryland Wolfe and the ship’s officers quickly realized that the shores were practically uninhabitable. The only way to survive was in the open sea, the last place in reach where the air remained mostly breathable and the incoming sunshine wasn’t blocked by dust clouds – this was very important because the Atlantean was powered by massive solar panels. Fortunately, the ship was equipped with everything needed to survive almost indefinitely without docking. It carried a large number of crew and civilians, with some of humanity’s best doctors, engineers and scientists.

Finally, the working prototype of the water cleansing system provided them an endless supply of poor quality, but drinkable water. So Captain Wolfe decided that the Atlantean would be humanity’s new cradle.

During the following decades, the Atlantean has grown from a simple battleship to a gargantuan floating city that retained some ship-like features. For this constant expansion, the ship’s engineers had to use materials salvaged from ruined coastal cities and naval wreckage, giving it a fairly chaotic overall look.

The main hull hosts many sealable docks for smaller vessels (from swift motorboats to large cruisers) and the Path’s Exosuits, the Octopods. A large part of the ship’s deck is covered with solar panels to cater for its massive energy needs, but some of the recently constructed hulls now host nuclear and Neutronium power plants too. The ship is armed with powerful onboard weaponry.

Apart from the hulls hosting the power plants and the crew’s habitats, another important part of the Atlantean is the Agricultural Hull, consisting of a gigantic greenhouse where the crew grows various crops, fruit and vegetables, and several huge tanks where various consumable fish are bred.

Captain Wolfe was a true soldier, and the principles laid by him form the roots of the Path’s culture. One of them is the general hierarchy called the „Echelon”, a system that treats the whole society, even non-military personnel as a military organization, with the current captain of the Wolfe bloodline on top. The ranks in the Echelon (Stratum) and their professions (Ship Engineer, Military Officer, Treasure Hunter, etc.) are passed down the line of generations, making it very hard to move from classe to classs. The payments are independent from the classes, the portions are equally distributed, so the main motivation in one’s life is to get promoted in his or her profession. Each promotion is a huge event of great significance, while demotion is a class-wide shame that can never be forgotten. Because of the highly respected ranking system, the law court can bring swift justice using demotion as a form of punishment.

Since the Path of Dominance emerged from a military past, and the Atlantean had originally been a huge floating weapon, every single member of the society is obligated to undergo a military training and the Indoctrination at a very young age. This leads to the fact that the Soldiers’ and the Raiders’ class are the most respected ones.

The seemingly strict and power-oriented Path of Dominance in fact highly cherishes the life of its people. Despite of the continuous development of the Atlantean’s built-in water purification system, the ship is still not able to produce fully clean water. This problem results in a slowly decreasing population due to short average lifespan and sterility. To avoid further reduction in their numbers, the Path organizes so called „Raids” from time to time: with every Raid they hit coastal settlements and tribes of nomads to take supplies and clean water by force, but the main purpose is to take captives. Soldiers never intend to use lethal force during the Raids, they are always equipped with non-lethal weapons. The greatest Raid in the Path’s history was that of the Capital itself in 179 PP, and while armed conflict with the Council is a thing of the past, the event is still recited at times as a tale of heroism and valor.

Hostages captured during the Raids are forced to undergo a process called the Indoctrination and are then placed in the proper class of the Echelon. The Indoctrination is a psychedelic mind-altering session, during which the subjects are injected with the Indoctrination’s special serum and exposed to a huge amount of audiovisual impressions – all about accepting the ways of the Path and the meaning of life in the Echelon. The Indoctrination is not only used to integrate the Raids’ captives, but also to prevent a potential riot against the strict hierarchy and the class-based system. The ones responsible for the Indoctrination’s program are the „Clairvoyants” – a mysterious class that is not ranked very highly, though many belive that their true power and influence is almost equal to the Officers’.

Another highly regarded class is that of the Treasure Hunters’. With their expert diving skills, physical and mental abilities and the Path’s Exosuits, the Octopods at their disposal (designed to travel both on and below surface), the Treasure Hunters’ job is to delve into the deep seas and explore the sunken cities and ships – remnants of the Old World - in search for loot, supplies and materials.

Because of their military-based culture and threatening presence, the Path of Dominance is feared by the other three Paths for a reason. Though their actions today are mainly peaceful and they try to keep their distance from the other Paths, every Captain has a secret dream: that one day all of humanity will be part of the perfect system of Echelon.