Historia Naturalis: 2nd Edition. On the Islands of the Northern Archipelago

When we first left our island, our first act was to sail around the island itself, noting its size and character. This also served as a brief training reminder. Once we felt capable of sailing into more distant waters, we began a journey northwards.

There are two volcanic islands immediately north of our old island. The first one, which can be seen from the spires of our old island, is small, roughly the same size as our original, with constant volcanic activity. <Backdrop>The island still spews out large amounts of smoke, dust, and ash. We did not get too close to it, but the mountains seemed to be in perpetual bloom with the fir tree of smoke that I was so familiar with in my previous life.</Backdrop>

Further north from this is an even larger volcanic island. While the first island was active and violent, the mountains here are soft and slow, though no less dangerous. The volcanoes of this island constantly emit a large, hot liquid that resembles the molten metal used by iron smiths. We did not venture too far on this island as it seemed almost completely uninhabited due to its hostile nature. We did, however, conduct some surveys and found a strange glass rock known as obsidian, which we have used to make sharper tools and weapons. These tools are more fragile than iron, yet also more capable in their own ways. One of my daughters, Arachne, in particular, seems very keen on these tools for her own work. While it may not be immediately beneficial, the island is a wealth of volcanic ash and rocks, which we will be able to use for the creation of concrete once we find a location for our city.

Attempts to travel further west along the island took us as far as the westernmost tip, where we were forced to turn back due to the treacherous nature of the waters. We were unable to discern exactly why the water at this southern point was as tumultuous as the Charybdis of Odysseus fame, and so we were forced to turn around and head back up the mountain, past our old island once again, and head further south.

It seems that across from our old island is a much larger island that shares a similar fate. All surveys indicated that it was uninhabited, save for certain monsters we’ve been able to find there. Blemmye or the Acephali seem to be present there. No further surveys were conducted to find other species living in the area. There was no life to be found until we passed off of these accursed Blemmye isles and reached a peninsula to the east.

This peninsula is connected, as far as we can tell, to the mainland, as it seems to have a large artery of a rust-covered track similar to the iron track on our own island. Along this large peninsula were several small tribes of peoples who warned us about traveling further east.

According to them:

“There were sea-living peoples who lived there, and they would destroy ships when they saw the opportunity.”

“It was not always like this, but apparently this has become an increasing problem.”

“The waters here are safer under the protection of a group they call the Blue Conch Tribes, though that seems to be changing as well.”

I've also been warned that the waters here are infested with pirates. Whatever the case, we have found a spot that we believe would be ideal for our city. As such, once we have established and made our initial camp there, we sought to reach the local powers in the area and establish our footing, presence, and to acquire supplies.