Premise:
In the 1930's there was an architect who imagined a new continent. A continent settled by
Europeans where the land was rich and the energy was free. A continent that only a century
before had been entirely underwater.
This land was to be called, Atlantropa. That architect's name was Herman Sorgel and to achieve
this dream he needed to drain the Mediterranean Sea.
It was such an audacious feat that Sorgel knew it was impossible for one nation to construct
alone. In a time of growing tension Sorgel wanted Europe to create what was essentially a
modern utopia.
Sorgel's plan was to build two of the largest dams ever imagined at both ends of the sea. The
dams would be so large, they'd block any water from the Atlantic Ocean.
Without the constant source of water the Mediterranean simply dries up. The coastlines of
Europe and North Africa change dramatically. Italy no longer is a peninsula. Cities once on the
coast see themselves miles away from the shore.
Atlantropa would be hundreds of miles of farmland for a new Europe. Hydroelectricity from the
massive dams supply the entire continent with endless renewable electricity. The fertile land
provides it with food.
At least, that was Sorgel's vision.
In an alternate world, that vision was realized. Just like the architect wished, every nation came
together for the greater good. Sorgel convinced his homeland of Germany, that the idea
Lebensraum (living space) was not in the Eastern lands of Poland but in the untapped lands of
Atlantropa.
Because of this, there never is a second world war. Instead the decades following the thirties are
dominated by the construction of the dams. Millions are employed. Everyone is happy.
At least, until the project is finished. By the 1980's the dams were constructed. The sea was now
slowly evaporating as Sorgel wished. There however was an issue.
The land wasn't fertile like previously hoped. The reclaimed land after millions of years
underwater was left nothing more than a dry and salty flat. It was absolutely unlivable.
The project worked on for decades had done nothing but leave Europe with salt. The utopian
vision dried up with it.
Two hundred years later Europe is a far different place. The sea has long since dried up. In its
place is a hot vast desert much like the Sahara of North Africa.
Atlantropa isn't a lush land. It's instead a nightmare of a place. The sweltering conditions have
left Southern Europe a barren wasteland. As the sea evaporated so too did the population. What
was once Italy is now the furthest southern outpost for the Old Reich.
Without World War II Nazi Germany never collapsed. Hitler's thousand year Reich has now
lived for two centuries in a very different world.
'The Atlantropa Articles' will be a book split between two different stories, set in two eras,
between two authors.
Joseph's part of the novel will focus on numerous different characters set in the 1980's as they
deal with the promised utopia around them unraveling.
My story will take place two centuries afterwards in the deserts of Italy. It will focus on one
single character. An Old Reich officer assigned to the city of Maria. A vast metropolis that is the
last large city in Southern Europe.
Each chapter will switch between characters as more is revealed about the status of this world.
The discoveries Joe's characters make will be crucial to answering the questions left by my
characters.
Joe's part will be political and history focused. My part will be more personal. It will focus on
the ramifications of those past actions in the eyes of a single character many generations later.
That's the premise of 'The Atlantropa Articles'.
