īy a stroke of luck, the Casino Quarter located deeper inland was spared and remained dry. When the waters settled, they reached up as far as the second floor, particularly in the ruined city center.
The devastation was significant, further worsened by shipping vessels smashed by the waves into the coastal regions of the city. Instead, it suffered severe flooding in the wake of the detonations, with floodwaters rushing into the city at high speeds, destroying everything in their path. When the Great War struck, the city was spared a direct impact.
It remained a popular tourist destination up into the Great War, with legalized gambling leading to the emergence of numerous casinos and other tourist attractions, such as the Aquarium of the Atlantic, drawing in visitors from the wartime United States. Its last pre-War mayor was Carly Day, a career politician who set up the city hall so that professionals handled all of the municipal affairs, leaving her as an idle figurehead enjoying her free time, riding the mediocrity gradient to a cushy retirement. An infamous city under mafia influence, Atlantic City was known before the Great War for its immense boardwalk and the Casino Quarter, a recreational and entertainment district stretching on a narrow strip of land sandwiched between the Pine Barrens and the Atlantic Ocean.
