The First Years Chronicle of the Landings
Type: Narrative — Colonial History Era: 1893–1898 (Maf local calendar) Location: Near the Ark Royal crash site, leading to Jonesboro
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Escaping the Ark Royal — Submarines
A few months after the crash, engineers aboard the Ark Royal found a way to open onto the sea through airlocks. A few months later still, they had crafted a small submarine from salvaged ship components. A handful of volunteers boarded it for its first dive — flooding the airlock, opening the door to a rush of high-pressure water that rocked and creaked the hull, uncertain whether it would survive the depths. It did. Hours later, the crew reached the surface and radioed back: "The stars are bright tonight."
Over the following two years, more (and larger) submarines were built from salvaged Ark Royal components, growing capable of carrying more passengers each time — until enough existed to begin ferrying the ship's survivors to the nearest landfall.
Resources: Gold and Hidden Technology
The Ark Royal carried substantial gold reserves (exact quantity unknown) intended for trade or land purchase if needed, alongside the Colonists' advanced knowledge and technology — some of which was so specialized or advanced that many Colonists themselves struggled to fully understand or use it.
The Five-Year Chronicle (1893–1898 Maf Year)
Year One (1893–1894): "The Shadow Years"
Submarines surfaced only at night; inflatable rafts brought small groups ashore. By year's end, roughly 3,000 Colonists were on land, posing as shipwreck survivors. Early barters (tools, fabrics, medicines) gave way to land disputes — some resolved with gold coins "from across the sea," others through intimidation.
The First Killing: a farmer resisted the Colonists' encroachment and was killed in the ensuing fight, his land then claimed. This moment fractured the Colonists themselves — some saw it as necessary survival, others as outright corruption. Jones family elders began quietly using small amounts of Ark Royal gold to legitimize land purchases, carefully masking its true origin and never flooding the local market.
Year Two (1894–1895): "The Gold and the Guns"
The Jones family consolidated control of the gold reserves, presenting themselves to locals as wealthy "exiles from across the sea." Gold bribes secured favors from Peplle politicians; land titles in the peninsula were quietly transferred, and the first official "settlement charter" was recognized.
A real internal dilemma emerged over how much Ark Royal technology to reveal: simple advances (steel tools, irrigation tricks, basic medicines) were shared with locals, while high-tech devices (weapons, computing systems, advanced energy systems) remained locked away. Internal strain grew — a faction calling themselves the "Quietists" accused the Builders of arrogance and corruption; some Colonists refused to settle at all, retreating inland to live among the locals instead.
Year Three (1895–1896): "The Floodgates Open"
Mass landings began as more submarines completed construction, rapidly accelerating the pace of settlement. (Full detail for Years 3–5 not yet captured in this pass.)
Holidays & Religion
The Integrators and Builders maintained their Earth traditions and customs, especially their holidays — Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, and July 4th — which local peoples quickly adopted as additional holidays of their own, alongside their existing festivals and celebrations. Protestant Christianity was the dominant religion among the Original Colonists, though nearly every other religion was also represented among them.
A Breakaway Nation
A large number of Native American colonists began a movement to establish their own independent nation(s), adopting the phrase "Free at last, free at last, we are free at last!" This was achieved in the 1920s, when uninhabited land was discovered far to the west.
Appearances
- Creator-provided detail
Open Questions
- Full detail for Years 3–5 of the chronicle (1895–1898) not yet captured
- The Native American colonists' breakaway nation(s) — name(s), exact location, and further history not yet given
- Exact quantity of the Ark Royal's gold reserves not specified