This is one of the more ancient groups of Atlanteans to have settled in the islands now known as the British Isles. At the time of their settlement, these Atlanteans sought to remove themselves from the political intrigues of Atlantean society through the relative isolation of Britannia. They had become so fed up with the intrigues of Atlantis that they were willing to work and live among the barbarians because they knew the other Houses of Atlantis would dismiss them as no longer a threat to their political power. Their goal was to cut away all of the unnecessary luxuries and distractions of the modern Atlantean world and to center on getting back to the basics of living a simple life

Over their centuries of self-imposed isolation, these Atlanteans interbred with the local human populations. One of the unfortunate side effects off this interbreeding was a thinning of the blood of the Atlanteans to the point that within five generations the mental disciplines of Mesmerism and Telepathy were not strong enough to be passed on to their descendents. This interbreeding also meant that there was an extreme minority of True Blooded Atlanteans left within the Atlantean populations of Britannia. The few remaining True Blooded families became the nobility of the Atlantean society that was forming in the highlands of Scotland. Due to their contact with the savage human barbarians Picts of Britannia the Atlanteans of Britannia eventually became as savage as their human counterparts.

Over centuries of social devolution, the Atlanteans of Britannia eventually began making war on one another; in many cases this was brought on because of alliances made by the Atlantean nobility. By the time that the Romans made their way into the southern lands of Britannia, the Atlantean noble families of the isles were already established to the point that it was impossible to tell where the Atlanteans started and the humans stopped.

In 43 CE, an invasion force that was led by Aulus Plautius with the II Augusta that was commanded by Vespasian along with the IX Hispana and the XIV Gemina Legions invaded the lower lands of Britannia. This invasion was delayed by a mutiny of the troops, who were eventually persuaded by an imperial freedman to overcome their fear of crossing the ocean and campaigning beyond the limits of the known world. The Romans sailed in three divisions and landed at Richborough in Kent, there are some historians that suggest that part of the invasion force also landed on the south coast in the Fishbourne area of West Sussex. When the Roman invaders defeated the Catuvellauni and their allies in the course of two battles, this started a tide of Atlantean refugees heading towards the lowlands of Scotland in an attempt to escape the Romans. All throughout this initial period of conquest, the Atlanteans of the lowlands and highlands of Scotland were largely left to their own ends. The Romans’ only real concern was taking control of the lowlands of what is now known as England and Wales.

One thing that the Romans were excellent at was turning Celtic tribes that were initially at peace against one another through the offer of the spoils from their assistance in the wars. It was at this point that the Atlanteans of Rome finally made contact with their long lost cousins. The Roman Atlanteans; whom were emissaries for Lord Ramius were promising these Atlanteans control of the Isles of Britannia after the Roman conquest was completed. These emissaries knew very well that Lord Ramius could not make good on these promises, but through these pacts the Roman Atlanteans were able to use these Celtic Atlanteans to eliminate other Celtic tribes and Celtic Atlanteans that were unwilling to even meet with the Romans.

These lies were the start of a festering wound that has never fully healed among the Britannian Atlanteans that survived the Roman conquest of their Isles.

By the time that Hadrian’s Wall was built, the Atlanteans of Scotland began seeing hundreds of Atlantean refugees flooding into the lowlands in an attempt to escape the savages of the Roman Legions. Most notable of the Atlantean refugees were the survivors of the Ordovices and the Deceangli of Wales; the Ordovices having been decimated by the Roman Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola in the campaign of 77 to 78 CE. When the nobles of both of these Celtic tribes of Atlanteans converged on Scotland, the Atlantean Picts knew that the Romans would be coming for them soon.

In 84 CE, Agricola with XX Valeria Victrix Legion defeated the Caledonians at the Battle of Mons Graupius in what is today known as northern Scotland. In this battle, the Atlanteans of Scotland with their Ordovices and Deceangli allies joined with the Caledonians in an attempt to stop the Romans from gaining control of the northern lands, this battle ended in a defeat mostly because the Caledonians, the Ordovices, and the Deceangli could not work effectively together to repel the Roman Legions. However, not long after this battle; Agricola was recalled from Britannia back to Rome and the Romans retired to a more defensible line along the Forth-Clyde isthmus, freeing soldiers that were badly needed along other frontiers of the Roman Empire.

After the conquest of Britannia was complete, much of Roman culture and ideology was introduced to the native populations of Britannia. These new ideas in some ways brought a civilizing element back to the Atlanteans of the isles. But at the cost of everything that they had gained in their centuries of isolation and independence.

In 155 CE, Roman Atlanteans began making their way into Britannia yet again, this time because Britannia was now being claimed as part of the Second Atlantean Empire by its new Emperor; Lord Ramius of House Ramius. Because of the Roman occupation of the southern lands, much of its remaining Atlantean population willingly accepted the appointment of Gaius Falconius of House Ramius as its Prefect. To the north in Scotland, the Scottish Atlanteans could only watch in shocked horror as their isles were now taken over by power hungry Atlanteans from Rome. The wound grew deeper, but with their isolation in the north of the isles, these Scottish Atlanteans simply isolated themselves even further in an attempt to remain independent of the Second Atlantean Empire.

The Clan of Atlanteans known as Clan MacKlintoc was born out of this desire for independence and the growing realization the Atlanteans had that they were not only different but, somehow, less than they had once been. Donal Macklintoc, the first head of the Clan spent over a decade on the move through the Highlands, not only to avoid the Romans but also to try and locate as many Atlanteans as he could. Donal had fought at Mons Graupius, he’d seen what had happened when the different groups of Atlanteans had refused to work together. He knew it could not happen again.

His reasoning was simple; they must attempt to return to what they once had and at the same time, gather their forces. As they stood, there was no way they could fight the Second Empire and the war would have to be fought, at least in the short term, on an ideological battleground. Instead he spent twelve years traveling the country, making contact with as many Atlanteans of as many different groups as he could.

The offer he made them was simple; join with his Clan, keep their individual identities but be stronger, be safer. Some turned him down, many agreed and over time, Macklintoc gathered a large group of Atlanteans to him. That group, despite his assurances of independence, would become known as Clan MacKlintoc.

Their existence was difficult, continually harried as much by the other Clans as by the Roman Atlanteans but the Clan survived, their most notable success being the harrying of the troops sent to build the Antonine Wall. Construction of the wall was disrupted time and again by guerilla attacks and although it was completed, the tenacity and brutality of the united Atlanteans led to it being abandoned in 158 CE. The leader of these attacks, Lorien Macklintoc was one of Donal’s most trusted liuetentants and would play a vital role in the house’s later life.

Twenty years of uneasy conflict and gradual increases in strength passed until, in178 CE, it is believed that the Lilan progenitor of House Lionnes; known only as Lady Vanessa, undertook a journey to the lands known today as Scotland in order to contact the Atlanteans that had been stranded there during the fall of the First Atlantean Empire. The lands of Britannia; which included the lands England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland had always remained at a distance from the heart of Atlantean politics. Because of this situation, the Atlanteans of the Isles of Britannia had always remained an autonomous zone within the First Atlantean Empire, with that in mind the Atlanteans all throughout Britannia really were not effected all that much by the fall of the greater empire. Crucially, they were also an untapped resource, a power base that, if controlled, if tamed, could prove massively influential for whichever House made contact.

With that in mind, Lady Vanessa made her journey to Britannia. Its purpose was to unite the Atlantean in those lands under the banner of House Lionnes; thereby bringing them into the Second Atlantean Empire and strengthening House Lionnes in doing so, to the extent that if everything had gone as smoothly as Lady Vanessa had planned, House Lionnes would have become the most powerful Atlantean House within the empire.

However, Lady Vanessa was not the first Imperial Atlantean to make contact with their island bretheren. Emperor Ramius had already made contact with the Atlanteans of Clan McCullen in Ireland, and that they had become members of the Second Atlantean Empire.

Lady Vanessa found herself faced with a problem. Ramius had all but successfully annexed the Britannian Atlanteans and there were reports he was already looking for a suitable Exarch.

If he succeeded in taking over the entire country, bringing it’s entire Atlantean population under his wing, he would be unassailable. To make matters worse, the only Atlanteans he’d not contacted were scattered across the Scottish Highlands and were, in many ways, as disparate and barbaric as the humans they lived amongst. Ramius, it seemed, had won. The Britannian Atlanteans would either serve him or be beneath his notice.

She solved that problem by passing the Lilan Condition to Jeremiah Macklintoc, one of the chieftains in the area. With the help of five of his clan members, Macklintoc spent the next thousand years at the heart of Scottish and English society. His Clan were instrumental in setting up what would become Edinburgh and fought a bloody war with the Lilan Viking Indulf and his war band for control of the country, ultimately winning a decisive victory.

Learning would become one of their most important weapons and William Macklintoc was instrumental in the founding of St Andrew’s University, the third oldest university in the world. There, he continued to research possible cures for the Lilan Condition whilst knowledge and learning accrued around him.

At the same time, Angus Macklintoc, Jeremiah’s spymaster, fought a cold war with the Scarlet Brotherhood. The Macklintocs found an unlikely ally in Janus, a Brotherhood spy whose constantly shifting loyalties led to some of their greatest victories and worst defeats. It was through Janus that the Macklintocs learnt of the threat the Brotherhood posed and through the uneasy alliance with Jeremiah that Janus was able to help them thwart many of the worst plans. The relationship between the spy and Angus came to a head on new Year’s Eve 1999, when Janus was instrumental in both an attempt to create a binary virus that would wipe out every Atlantean in the country and foiling a massive Imperium invasion. He is currently in a coma, held in a secure building at St Andrew’s University.

The Macklintocs have seen off Vikings, plagues, two world wars and constant attacks by the Crimson Brotherhood. They have done so because Jeremiah is a fiercely intelligent strategist and brutally efficient warrior, because Angus Macklintoc is dedicated to his family and country’s security and because family members like William Harcourt and the Dukes of Ireland, Patrick Quinlan and Ryan Ferguson, have acted on their own initiative.

They have also done so because they are cautious. The Macklintocs know their country well and Jeremiah has placed trusted friends and family members in positions of power across England. Their record has not always been perfect, in particular in Ireland, where Macklintoc was forced to sever formal ties with his Dukes for several decades. Whilst they have been welcomed back to the fold, problems with pockets of Imperium resistance and elements of the human population remain.

But despite this, despite their rag-tag nature, the Macklintocs are successful rulers. Based in Edinburgh Castle with St Andrew’s and a small retreat on Holy Island as extra seats of power, they run England more kindly than the Imperium ever would. The price is the humanity of Jeremiah Macklintoc and his family and, with one exception, it’s a price they bear willingly.