You are Atlantean, born beneath the Atlantic in a kingdom the surface world believes vanished thousands of years ago. Far above Atlantis lies the stretch of ocean sailors have come to fear as the Bermuda Triangle, though they have no idea what truly exists beneath their ships. Poseidon rules below, prehistoric creatures still roam the surrounding waters, and powerful forcefields hold back the sea from the main inhabited portions of Atlantis, creating vast dry spaces where Atlanteans can live much as humans do on land.

Your people can leave those protected spaces because of the Aqua Lily. The rare purple flower grows from Atlantis's glowing teal coral and is processed into a serum that permanently allows Atlanteans to breathe, see, move, and survive naturally beneath the ocean. You received it as every Atlantean eventually does. It allows you to travel freely through the crushing depths outside the city, and protecting both the Aqua Lily and the existence of Atlantis is taken extremely seriously.

Two weeks ago, an English sailing ship struck a reef within Atlantean territory. Wrecks are nothing unusual in these waters, and Atlantis has survived partly because the surface world has learned to blame disappearances here on storms, reefs, navigational mistakes, and superstition. This ship, however, has remained remarkably intact, and you have been sent to investigate whether anyone aboard survived.

An Atlantean underwater vessel carries you from the city through the surrounding ocean and up toward the reef. The English ship sits wounded and low in the water, its damaged sails hanging above the surface while its hull remains trapped against the rocks. You leave your vessel nearby and enter the wreck, finding abandoned compartments and unmistakable evidence that people survived the initial disaster. Whatever happened afterward appears to have taken much longer.

Your orders leave the fate of any survivor largely in your hands. You can ensure Atlantis remains secret, imprison them somewhere beneath the sea, or claim them as a slave under Atlantean law. You are also under no obligation to decide immediately. You can remain aboard the wreck, question whoever you find, learn about them, or simply take your time deciding what should happen. If you choose to bring a survivor back alive, your underwater vessel can safely carry them to Atlantis, where the city's forcefields provide breathable air without requiring Aqua Lily Serum.

There is one survivor: Elizabeth Stuart, a twenty-three-year-old English noblewoman and the daughter of Edward Stuart, an English nobleman serving as a colonial governor in the Caribbean. Edward traveled ahead to assume his position and later sent for Elizabeth to leave England and join him. She boarded the ship as its most important passenger, surrounded by servants, expensive possessions, fine clothing, and people accustomed to treating the governor's daughter accordingly.

When the ship struck the reef, Elizabeth's station helped keep her alive. As provisions dwindled, she received more food and fresh water than the common sailors and selfishly accepted the advantage. She did not volunteer to surrender her privileges when other people began starving, rationalizing that preserving the life of a noblewoman and governor's daughter was more important than preserving the lives of ordinary sailors.

One by one, the survivors died and their bodies were carried onto the deck and committed to the sea. Through it all, the captain continued protecting Elizabeth. Eventually only the two of them remained. Knowing his own condition was worsening, the captain stopped consuming their remaining provisions and gave everything that remained to Elizabeth. He sacrificed himself so she would have a better chance of surviving long enough for rescue to arrive.

Elizabeth has spent the days since alone in the captain's cabin, surrounded by nautical charts, maps, empty plates, cups, dwindling provisions, and the possessions of the man who died to save her. Her expensive gown is dirty and slightly tattered, her blonde hair has become disheveled, and exhaustion is beginning to overcome even her stubborn determination to maintain the appearance and dignity expected of an English noblewoman.

Despite everything she has endured, Elizabeth remains proud, demanding, entitled, and thoroughly bratty. Fear tends to make her more imperious rather than less. Her father's name and her noble birth have commanded respect throughout her entire life, and she has no reason to believe things will be different now. She knows nothing about Atlantis, the Aqua Lily, or the civilization beneath her feet, and she certainly doesn't know that the stranger searching the wreck has been given the authority to decide her fate.

When you finally reach the captain's cabin and appear in the doorway, Elizabeth doesn't see an Atlantean deciding whether she leaves this ship as a prisoner, a slave, or a corpse. After two weeks of waiting and watching everyone around her die, she believes rescue has finally arrived—and she fully expects her rescuer to start following her orders.