I am Heinerio, the Keeper of the Chronicles of Atlantis. Mine is the sacred duty to record what transpires through the seas and oceans of our great continent.

I keep the ancient Chronicles that preserve our history from even before the time of the sinking.

I watch over all and record everything that is of interest; all that transpires under the watchful gaze of our great King Thessily is mine to preserve.

I doubt many citizens now consider Thessily that great. This is Vulko, former Chronicler and current editor. After Orin (Aquaman) and I left Poseidonis for Tritonis this… amateur took over the Chronicles. Now I find myself forced to go through his work and combine the works with that of other Chroniclers. Orin himself recently penned a short treatise that I now labor to add chronologically with this fool's.

Now is a time of struggle and strife when all true sons and daughters of Atlantis must stand true to their lord and master, he whom the burden of leadership weighs heavily. It was a time for the true patriots of our land. There has been much trouble of late that has caused hardship for the noble people of my fair city, but I believe we have not yet lost hope. Things will get better, I know this. In the recent struggle our great nation had with the Surfacer nation called Oumland the dome over the city was destroyed. This was due in no small part to the inaction of the 'hero' known as Aquaman, our former king. Now that Thessily is again in power the dome has been restored.

As a result of the brief war, Thessily has renewed interest in increasing Atlantis' military might. "We must have more than men on giant sea horses to defend ourselves!" he boldly proclaimed. He soon after approved a new budget and placed former palace security head Rodunn in charge of establishing the military.

In more recent news, Aquaman returned from his exile. Our former king decided to ignore the decree of our former lord to return to Poseidonis on some whim. His anticlimactic return is underscored by the similar return of former Chief Advisor and Scientist, Vulko, who returned quietly on his own but a few scant months earlier. After being forcibly retired from the council and abandoning us for our sister city of Tritonis, it is interesting Vulko would return so readily.

I returned because I felt I had to. And I would hardly call Aquaman's return a 'whim'. He did suffer a serious injury.

More recently the newly appointed United Nations ambassador resigned from his post, leaving the position unfilled yet again. Once again the troublesome nature of having to send an individual in a landsuit, awkward for short times let alone hours, to meet with the humans proved too troublesome for our diplomat to do for an extended period.

The more liberal factions of the Council proclaim this could lead to elevated tensions between Atlantis and the Surfacers but the wiser members of the Council remind that the Sun Dwellers seldom listened to us anyway, and that we are better off not even recognizing their crude organizations as having any authority. These council members caution that by involving ourselves with the Surfacers we lower ourselves to the depths. It was originally hoped that by ‘playing by the rules of the surface world’, to use the words of former Minister F'ancha, we could avoid further wars, such as the costly one with Oumland.

To risk injecting a personal opinion, leaving the United Nations was for the best; as a sovereign nation we should not have to ask permission before carrying out our wishes. And the ineffectiveness of the organization at making any real change for the benefit of Atlantis was astounding. Also, a resolution proposed to limit fishing or control pollution was almost always vetoed by one useless nation-state or another in the Security Council, all to protect their own alliances and trade interests.

Additionally, the recent riots - if I deem them large enough for that label - mentioned in my last entry have increased. The students have grown even more restless, and it is soon thought that violence could erupt. The young demonstrate their ignorance and youthful by rejecting their society.

Riot? I believe the adjectives my befuddled colleague is seeking are 'protest' or 'march'.

Their laughable disputes are hardly worth mentioning, but as an unbiased observer I record them. They speak against their teachers, saying they teach only what they are told to teach. They claim the new lesson plans and curriculum are misinformation. But we cannot blame them, they know not the errors of their ways. All the lessons have been approved by the Council of Atlantis and supervised by our great King. But there is greater reason for their discontent.

The students have chosen a flawed individual as idol. They adore and admire our former monarch, the King who was more interested in playing hero and pandering to the Surfacers than serving his own people. Instead of protecting his city he drew the attention and attacks of every dangerous creature or insane psycho towards our fair city. Do the youths of Poseidonis revile such a dangerous individual? No, they make fan clubs in support of him and make obnoxious music that sings his praises.

I will give the Chronicler this point, as it is quite obnoxious music. Have they not read the studies about what high energy sound waves can do in the water? Perhaps I should circulate my research papers on that.…

I know former Chroniclers have spoken highly of our ex-King and his reforms to Poseidonis, but fortunately I am here now to record a more balanced record. I illustrate this with recent events of the past week.

Aquaman, I do not believe someone who has abandoned their home and kingdom truly deserves their Atlantean name so I do not address him as Orin, left our city early that tide.

He had spent the previous several hours draining the resources of the science department on his new vanity item, a large harpoon. He recently lost his hand and deemed to attach a weapon of the Surfacers to it. The audacity! And not just any hook, but one used by whalers and dolphin hunters. He used OUR technology to strengthen his weapon then set off without explanation.

I later learned he was answering a distress call from a Surfacer vessel over his League of Justice communicator.

Meanwhile a small quake rocked the city's foundations, one of the first of the recent quakes that have troubled our fair Poseidonis. But was Aquaman there to help prevent panic? No. In fact after the roof of a building collapsed, three people were trapped for two days following that minor tremor. Our ex-king's strength could have been very useful in helping free those poor souls from their murky prison.

Why not just blame Orin for the quake? I'm sure there is a way you could rationalize it. Maybe he angered the gods or perhaps his ego destabilized the tectonic plates.

Although I was not there personally I have interviewed several passing Atlantean and listened to recordings of the Surfacer's electromagnetic signals and I believe I have an accurate depiction of events.

A boat belonging to one of the small Nation-states of the Land Dwellers carrying some form of cargo was assaulted. It was laden with some form of shiny rock the Surfacer's think is valuable. I am not sure where the Nation-state of DeBeers is located on their confusing ever-changing map but apparently they are a frequent shipper of these rock.

A creature known as Captain Squidd, and alien who was corrupted by the violent entertainment of the Surface and became a thief attacked the vessel. The Surfacers astonishingly have so much history of theft and violence that they separate it into categories. This alien is classified as a 'pirate' or given such derivations as 'buccaneer' or 'cut-throat'. This alien interestingly enough is a Molloskanoid, a creature whose head resembles the squid he takes his name from. He is humanoid other than this and garbs himself in the clothing of ancient Surfacer sailors who also were labeled 'pirates'.

This if more evidence of the perversion so common among the Land Walkers; they cannot even be satisfied corrupting themselves, they have to force their horrific media on others. Like an old senile octopus that cannot control its ink pouch, they pollute and stain everything they touch.

This alien, partnered with a mutated human known alternating as Killer Whale or Whale Boy depending on the author of reports, attacked with his flying vessel equipped with alien technology. They pair quickly unloaded the cargo and flew away. No Surfacers were injured and none were killed. And yet Aquaman still took off on pursuit to reclaim their property.

He intercepted the pair and leapt from the water onto the open-air deck of their vessel. Despite the fact that it was traveling over ten meters above the water he was still able to leap aboard. Much like the dolphins that raised him, Aquaman can leap far out of the water. Very undignified for someone with royal blood to be wriggling around like coupling fish. He savagely attacked the youthful Whale Boy knocking him from the deck and into the ocean far below. At the speeds they were going Whale Boy was instantly stunned and probably knocked unconscious. But Aquaman did not care and let the youth fall, possibly to drown. He was mutated with a mammal, not a fish, and could not breathe underwater according to reports. Aquaman was much too busy engaging in violent behaviors with the extraterrestrial to care.

Once again we have the sin of omission. The author neglect to mention how Whale Boy/Killer Whale was forced to the surface by a pod of passing sperm whales. He was batted around playfully for a few minutes and de-pantsed before the Surface authorities arrived, following Aquaman's signal, and collected him. Coincidence the pod happened to help? I think not.

The fight with the alien, long away from his home and trapped on a strange world, was savage and brutal. Alone and possibly scared, an easy target for the Surfacer's mental pollution. Aquaman, using his new harpoon, disabled the controls of the vessel so it zigzagged around out of control threatening at any time to crash into the ocean surface possibly killing both. They struggled back and forth, neither stopping to debate peaceful solutions, not that any of Captain Squidd's requests for mercy would have been heard if they had been attempted.

Aquaman, as has been well documented in these pages, has never fully grieved over the loss of his son. He abdicated the throne after that and has often demonstrated a temper since then. His recent behavior and the replacement of his hand demonstrate this. Atlantean technology could have easily produced a suitable prosthetic limb, but he chose a weapon! What will he discard next? His morals? His shirt? His facade of even caring about sea life? The monarch of the smaller sub-city of Thierna Na Oge even has an entire artificial arm that works as a real one would! But Aquaman chose a weapon. And if my memory serves me well I recall one of the old kings had a limb constructed of an enchanted nature that could alter its form at will. It should still even be located in the ancient vaults containing the older relics.

Interesting, I too recall that King. I must remember to mention that to Orin the next time I see him. I am surprised I did not recall it sooner, although Atlantis does ironically have a history of maimed royals.

It did not take long for Aquaman to overcome the helpless molusk. Despite advanced extraterrestrial technology such as electrified nets and vibro-cutlasses, the alien was soundly thrashed to within an inch of its life. Frantically, as what was probably a last ditch effort to save its life, Captain Squidd jettisoned his cargo.

Knowing the value of the cargo to his human friends, Aquaman quickly leapt overboard and tried to follow it down. Captain Squidd cunningly fired off several torpedoes at Aquaman easily distracting our ex-king.

While he was evading and disabling the projectiles, Squidd made his escape. Of course Aquaman did not peruse, he had more important tasks on his mind, such as rescuing the belonging of the Surfacers.

Although the confusing economics of the world above puzzle even one such as I, there is much I know. They have protection of their assets so the owners of the stolen rocks would not have suffered from their loss, they would have had insurance to cover the theft. Aquaman must have known this but still chose the scour the ocean floor for the dropped crates. And given the high speeds and erratic course of the vessel before and after the dumping it must have been miles upon miles.

Captain Squidd was not so lucky as the Surfacers, all he had was his repossessed goods. Far from home and his mind destroyed by mental garbage, it is little surprise he was driven to crime. I do not blame him for what came next. Since he had lost all, even his henchman had been arrested, he attempted to repay Aquaman for what had happened.

Thus he assaulted Poseidonis. I would have been horrified and dismayed if it had not happened so many times before. Every Surfacer, alien, or madman in a costume attacks MY city just because it is the birth place of their enemy. It does not matter that he is not King anymore or that he no longer lives here, they attack regardless. They know nothing of our waters or our people yet they assume so much. They do not even bother to try to find out.

Squidd attacked, blasting a large hole through the dome. He was armed in a submersible version of his craft although it did not look like it was holding up well under the water pressure, as it was not designed for such depths. Squidd, to his credit and unlike such others and Black Manta or Ocean Master, did not randomly start firing at people. A few warning shots grazed a few buildings while a large loudspeaker was lowered.

I frantically got my pen ready when the speaker dropped so as to better quote our attacker. "This is just a raid, obey peacefully and none shall be harmed! Bring me all your valuables, there's no rush, I have plenty of room in me hold to go around."

He also added several accentuations to his brief dialogue, such as repeated use of a guttural 'arrr' and the untranslatable 'avast ye skurvey canines' or something of that sort. My translator gave me many strange looks when I showed him my phonetic transcripts. I assume they must be a part of his native tongue, whatever it is Squidd talks.

King Thessily, never one to stand idly by while his people are threatened, immediately sent several defense squads to engage Captain Squidd. He event sent the elite palace guards to slay the intruder.

But alas, we have spent too much time relying on an orange clad savior to learn how to defend ourselves. Even in times of underwater war or battles we send for aid from Tritonis to defend our borders. But we had not the time to alert the brave mere-men to call them to our aid. Instead, our guards were stunned by loud non-lethal torpedoes or shocked by charged nets. Squidd flew to the vaults and storage warehouses and took all that was of value.

It was only then Aquaman returned. He had been away for hours combing the ocean floor for the lost crates, and just as long delivering them to the waiting hands of the Surfacers. Not stopping to talk, once again moving straight to violence, Aquaman launched himself from above at the submersible. Squidd fired weapons about in a panic, only barely missing pedestrians and other bystanders. Aquaman did not care, he merely evaded the weapons and used his shiny silver harpoon to disable the ship. First the engines then he peeled open the cockpit.

Interestingly Squidd cannot perfectly breathe underwater so he donned a small mouthpiece before swimming out to engage Aquaman. The pair struggled, crashing into the roof of a storage depot while the unmanned sub sunk wildly, crashing into other vehicles and almost hitting several people.

Uncaring, Aquaman batted Squidd about, sending his foe off the edge of the building where Squidd quickly dropped through the water to street level. Aquaman dove after and continued his assault.

Aquaman of course used his fists, or at least fist, to resolve this problem, as he does most problems. He never even attempted his much vaunted telepathy to stop Squidd. Bearing the hair signifying the Curse of Kordax does not always bestow psychic powers, I have yet to hear of a telepath who was not blonde.

Orin's powers, as all who bear the Curse, do not work in that fashion. He cannot command fish, he can only talk and request assistance. While most fish love and respect Orin, Squidd is unlikely to listen.

But given his superior strength, it is no surprise Aquaman triumphed. I know not why, but he is well over ten times stronger than any other Atlantean I have known. So he soundly thrashed Squidd for this reason. Is this a hero we wish upon our children? A rage filled and violent individual that lashes out on all who displease him? I think not.

I did ask Orin about what happened. He said that the stolen property, diamonds, were bought with blood. Deals were made between the owners and some poorer nations above. That the owners would not suffer for the loss, but more would suffer to replace the diamonds. He said he was only trying to save more lives.

I do question his savagery though. More and more Orin strikes me as being inflexible and abrupt. I worry about him and wonder at what kind of monarch he would become.

Also in the news are further reports of strange mere-people like the Tritons but who have the lower end of sharks instead of other fish. A hunter reported that ‘she had teeth like a shark's, all pointed and sharp. And lots of them.’ These reports have been dismissed as being a trick of the light, possibly thermal gas from a fissure causing hallucinations. I mention it only to remind people that not everything the see exists. Shark people indeed.

Lastly is the migration of dolphins away from Poseidonis. Normally there is the infrequent visitation of dolphins to our waters, but for reasons unknown the dolphins have been keeping their distance. Scientists are puzzled but most blame changing weather patterns. Possibly due to Global Warming or pollution from the Surfacers. No surprise.

More shall come when it occurs for the seas never cease their movements.

I am Heinerio, the Keeper of the Chronicles of Atlantis. Mine is the sacred duty to record what transpires through the seas and oceans of our great continent.

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The End...

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