Reports from the New Lands

This article was written for the Call of Cartography challenge in 2020. As of the new update to the map of Tosormi, and timeline, this article is now outdated. The real expedition landed on the eastern coast instead of the northern, and it was over a 100 years ago, not 10.

New lands, 54 days since departure

Your most reverent Majesty,

May the sun shine upon your lands and make them forever fertile. I hope this letter finds You in great health. After being on the open ocean for 54 days since we parted from our most dear homelands, we have finally arrived at a new coast. At noon this day we anchored and went ashore, much to the relief of everyone not used to the swells of the sea.
We seem to have landed on the northern shores of this new land. It is quite hot, we do not know whether it is just the season or if it is always like this, and humid. The workers who started setting up a simple camp had to take quite a few rests I noticed, not being used to the climate.
We have yet to see any signs of civilization here. Scouts have been dispatched both up and down the coast but we are waiting with exploring the dense forestation further inland. Game and water are plentiful however and we should have no problems staying long enough to explore this place thoroughly.
I will update you by carrier dragon as soon as there is more news.

Your humble servant and son,
Prince Namoh

New lands, 15 days since arrival

My beloved and honoured King,

It is always my highest wish that You are of great health and no ill has fallen upon our great country.
After having stocked up on fresh water and food we broke camp and continued down the coast. We are not yet sure of whether this land consists of several islands or if we have entered a great bay area, but as we sailed south we did spot more land to the west. As we do not know we have decided to travel along the coast we have already discovered for now.
Today we reached the outlet of a big river and have decided to set up camp here for the time being. As we made it unto land we discovered remnants of an old campsite; the first signs we have seen thus far of intelligent life in these lands. According to our trackers there seemed to have been at least a dozen people along with tracks of some kind of huge beasts, unknown to our men. I ordered the general to make sure security is set up at once in case these people come back and are hostile.

Your always loyal subject,
Prince Namoh

River camp, 21 days since arrival

Your Majesty,

As I sit down to write this letter I struggle with finding the words. What transpired today is not something I could have ever been prepared for.
Since there was never my intention to only explore the coasts of this new land, I sent out scouts to go upriver, into the jungle. Yesterday they came back with stories so wild I thought they must have smuggled with them some of the strongest liquor we had, but as their leader promised even under great threats that what they had seen was the truth, I decided to see this place for myself.
Thus, I embarked with the scouts and my personal guards into the dense forest on foot. It was not an easy way to traverse and took far longer than if we had been able to sail up the river. Late yesterday afternoon we then reached a lake.
My Sir, this lake may be one of the most beautiful places I have ever laid my eyes on at first sight. The water was speckled with small islands, some no bigger than a rock sticking up through the water, and some big enough to establish farms or forts. But the most curious thing about these islands, which is what the scouts had told us and which we did not believe until we saw it for ourselves, was the fact that they moved. Slowly they floated around in the still water, seemingly without a pattern but without ever crashing into each other. The learned men we had brought with us had no answers for us but I ordered them to try and figure out what was going on at once.
We set up camp a bit away from the lake, the scouts and soldiers were of course quite suspicious of this new phenomena, as less educated people often are, while the scholars set to work at the lake. With the help of some of the scouts, they made it out to some of the closer islands to take tests and look at it closer up.
This is when things got dangerous. As a scholar and a scout made it up onto one of the smaller islands, it suddenly sank into the water. Thank the stars the scout was a most adept swimmer and managed to take them both back to land. This proved to be a breakthrough though as they after this started exploring the islands under the water surface.
Sir, the islands are animals. Huge beasts that swim through the water and graze plants off of the bottom. The one they sat foot on seemingly got startled by the sensation and decided to dive its whole body into the water to protect itself.
I am very satisfied with my choice of scholars before our departure. Not many men would have the courage to keep researching something this unfamiliar, but these men and women are proving their worth to me as they never once tried to abandon their work. They have concluded the beasts seem to be exclusively herbivorous and show no interest in us at all. However, this is as much as they have been able to discern so far. What their shells consist of, why it is plants and animals live on their backs, and how they came to be in this lake in the forest is still unknown.

Your loving son and servant,
Prince Namoh

Second river, 45 days since arrival

Your shining majesty,

We have finally made contact with the natives of these lands. As we reached the outlet of another river, larger than the last we found, we came across a small settlement; not more than a handful of houses and a couple of simple fishing boats. With our large ocean-faring sailer we were surely a sight to behold for this people. I sent a small group of men, including a couple of soldiers and the linguist I had hired, ashore to see what they could figure out.
Apparently, according to the linguist, their language is most assuredly unknown, but not completely separated from our own. She could not say anything for sure until she had managed to study the people further but was seemingly very excited to do so. Apart from the language they seemed a very simple folk, their tools were mostly made out of stone and bone and they did not seem to have weapons of any sort. It was quickly decided that they prove no threat whatsoever.
We decided to set up a new camp on the other side of the river for now. The land here is good, the area just around the outlet is cleared from the thick jungle further inland, and there is bountiful resources. I have made the decision to establish this as a more permanent camp, at least for the time being. I will keep sending groups of scouts from here to explore more of the land.

Your loving son,
Prince Namoh

Map of Explored Areas

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Behind the reports

Ten years ago, the prince Namoh left his homeland to explore what lies on the other side of the ocean. His expedition consisted of a huge number of people, with everything from soldiers to scholars. They reached Tosormi and was met by a land hugely devoid of human impact just waiting for them to inhabit with their own people. This first expedition was mostly peaceful as the mission first and foremost was meant to scout out resourceful areas, but it was soon followed by other groups sent by the King to conquer this land.

The first expedition

A mission of this type had never been done before, as far as anyone knew their home continent was the only land in the world. But it was getting crowded and shortages of resources resulted in so many conflicts that the king decided to try other options to try and get the upper hand. Their scholars voiced the opinion that there could possibly be unknown land in other places, after all, it wasn't unheard of that foreign items washed ashore on their beaches.
This first expedition consisted of the prince Namoh as leader, scouts, trackers, scholars, soldiers, and anyone else that the prince, with the help of some scholars, decided could be of use in a mission like this. The overall consensus in the court was that the mission was bound to fail and there were a lot of rumours going around why the king would send prince Namoh on such a dangerous and fruitless mission. Of course, these rumours stopped immediately when the first letter with news of the new lands came.

Prince Namoh

As the sixth son of the current king, prince Namoh has never been very close to the throne. Even so, his aptitude for studies made him a resourceful piece in the court and as there was never any questions of where his loyalty lay, he was the obvious choice for the king to send on this expedition.
It would later turn out that his knack for studying may have made him less capable when it came to dealing with the natives than the king would have wanted.

by Dimitris Vetsikas

The rocky coasts of the eastern parts of the bay

Today

In the ten years that have passed since prince Namoh first made contact with Tosormi a lot has happened. The prince is still the leader of their colony, answering only to the king back at home. He resides in the first town which has now grown to a sizeable settlement with people of all classes to ensure that they can actually be self sufficient here.
Much to prince Namoh's dismay however, the king sent several noblemen to these new lands as soon as they became more habitable. This meant that Namoh can no longer do only what he wants himself but have to take their opinions in consideration if he does not want them to do something rash.
Today this town by the second river is the largest settlement, and where the government is centralized. Apart from this they still have the island outpost in the bay, as well as two other larger settlements: one by the mountains in the northeast to prospect them, and one in the fertile fields in the south.
As much as prince Namoh would have liked to keep the peace, this has not been possible. He comes from a culture built on slavery and it did not take long until workers were needed. As they could not easily be transported from their homelands a lot of the fishing villages along the coast has been raided, most of the people taken as prisoners to be put in work in other places. There has been some attempts to learn more about the peoples here, both the ones inhabiting the fishing villages, and the elusive nomads that they have yet to make a more steady contact with as they seem to have started avoiding the coasts.