Merlyn
The most famous of all Atlanteans is certainly Merlyn, the Immortal Man. Few humans have ever equaled his power in history. Even by the standards of Atlantis, he was gifted, and he has spent millennia honing his talents to aid mankind for nearly fifty-thousand years.
Merlyn was one of the first mortals to be approached by Vandal Savage, who tried to recruit him as an ally in his eternal vigilance for mankind's survival. Exposure to the alien Terrigen Mists granted Merlyn immortality, and he became known as Eternal Merlyn.
Merlyn spent centuries travelling in search of knowledge. He met Aged Ghenghis, the immortal oracle of the Vishanti. The Vishanti saw in him knowledge and power, but tempered with compassion, and set him on a quest to find the lost Cosmic Cube.
With the power of the Cube, Merlyn was given the perfect companion to immortality: Wisdom. Merlyn was titled Sorcerer Supreme by the Vishanti, and charged with protecting reality. Finally seeing the folly of Vandal's ambition, Merlyn banished his former friend from his presence forever.
In 41,000 BCE, the immense mystical energies compressing the Demiurge threatened the very fabric of the multiverse. From this wound in space leaked a nightmare realm of the negative energy, called Nullspace. A plan was hatched with Merlyn and the Vishanti and the dimension known as Otherworld was formed to seal off the wound in reality. All Vishanti, in all realities, synchronized their powers to prevent the wound from tearing open wider; Merlyn anchored himself permanently as an echo shared across all multiverses, his life force permanently tied to Otherworld.
Long content to be alone, Merlyn would find his first apprentice in a woman named Morgan of Atlantis. Morgan was caught tampering with the very fabric of reality Merlyn protected from Otherworld. She was betrayed by her consort, the immortal Vandal Savage. Bare steps ahead of an Atlantean death squad, Morgan was rescued by Merlyn, who saw her great potential and resolved to educate her on the hazards of the Realm Between Worlds. First a student, then a companion, then a lover, she and Merlyn would lose themselves in magical research for a thousand years. Aiding Merlyn, she formed the Unseelie Courts; Winter Fae to guard the Gates of Reality that guard the rip in the heart of Otherworld, and the Summer Court to keep Winter in check.
In 38,000 BCE, Morgana's lust for power overtook her patience. She engaged with her former lover Vandal Savage and launched a campaign to conquer Otherworld. She reached into Nullspace and drew forth a strange stone. The High Goddess Brigid, of the Tuatha de Danaan, forged it into a blade, which Morgana gave to Vandal Savage. He attempted to murder Merlin, but Morgan relented at the last moment and intervened.
Wounded, Merlyn withdrew to the Starlight Citadel, ceding control of Otherworld and the Fae Realms to Morgan. He reforged the weapon used to wound him and gave it to the nymph Nimue for a time when a great champion would be needed again.
Eternal and alone, Merlyn would rarely leave the Starlight Citadel save in times of grave peril for the Earth itself. Unfortunately, his powers of prognostication gave him dreadful notice in advance of the oncoming cataclysm called Ragnarok. But he could no more intervene than could the Vishanti, and was forced to endure thousands of years of relative isolation in the timeless Starlight Citadel while the world below him healed.
In 1500 BCE, Merlyn returned to Earth to address the mad Sorceress Semiramis. With the aid of the Vishanti and the New Gods of Olympus, Merlyn assisted in the rescue of Hippolyta and her Amazons and banished Semiramis from Earth. Reclaiming the title of Sorcerer Supreme, he would hold it in trust until a worthy successor made themselves known.
In 600 AD, a stone with a sword piercing it appeared in the courtyard of the Castle of Winchester. None could draw it from the stone until a young peasant boy named Arthur tried his hand. Revealed by Merlyn the Magician to be Arthur Pendragon, he was crowned King of England.
In his quest to protect Britain and the realm of Otherworld, Merlyn would cause the demigoddess Lady of the Lake to give Arthur Excalibur, the sword that had nearly killed Merlyn, and a magic scabbard with it. Later, Merlyn would travel to Wakanda and procure ingots of vibranium with permission from Bast. With this metal he forged four items: a sword, a shield, a staff, and a chalice. He offered Percival of Scandia, his choice of weapon. Percy, choosing the sword, would become the first Black Knight, wielder of the Ebony Blade. Morgan le Fay's nephew, Mordred, successfully stole an ingot of the enchanted vibranium and forged it into the Obsidian Dagger as a counter to the Ebony Blade's wielder.
When Morgan made the gambit of attempting to use the Darkhold, Merlyn organized the Knights of the Round to attempt to stop Chthon's invasion of Earth. He summoned allies from many worlds, including the ancient demon known as Etrigan. With Chthon on the cusp of consuming the power of the Demiurge, a long list of allies launched a full assault and wrested the Darkhold away from Morgan. They succeeded in binding Chthon under Mount Wundagore and destroying the armies he had summoned from his demesne.
From Arthur's Knights of the Round Table, young Sir Galahad was selected to become the first member of the newly minted Knights of Brittania-- the multi-dimensional defenders of Otherworld. Others, including Lancelot, Percival, and Galahad, would embark on adventures thwarting the machinations of Morgan le Fay and other threats to the stability of Britannia. With the death of Arthur, Excalibur was returned to the Tuatha de Danaan to be held in trust until another worthy warrior was ready to take up arms.
