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Solomwi
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Don King of the Apolyton HLA Movement
Dec 2002
time: 23:31
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Well, hello there! Come on in, have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?
Hehe, of course not, you’re here for a story aren’t you? Well, okay, nothing I like better than telling stories.
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times… oh, wait, that’s the wrong story. Heh, my old mind tends to wander from time to time. You’ll have to forgive me.
Joseph and Mary were dismayed to find there was no room at the inn. No? Of course that’s the wrong story. My apologies.
You’re here for the tale of that brave band of Celts called the Dye Expedition, aren’t you?
Well, the year was 1040 AD. Celtia had seen almost 300 years of peace since fully conquering the Mongol Empire, and was just starting to really blossom. The nation was in a time of enlightenment, making wonderous scientific advances, and that very year had established the world’s first democratic government. Oh, those were heady times to be a Celt. Carthage was still a relatively healthy nation, but things on the Celtic side of the border were so good that during the peace, both Russadir and Sulcis seceded from Carthage and petitioned for admission into the burgeoning Celtic nation. The Cartho-Celtic War was still 240 years away, and nobody had any inkling that in just over 300 years, we’d be invading Greece. Heck, nobody had even heard of rubber, let alone knew that Greece had the closest source to our borders. Yes, it was a wonderful time to be a Celt. The settlement of the Great Southern Desert and the Mongol lands was nearly complete, and that’s where our story really begins, isn’t it?
You see, markets from Entremont to New Gergovia were stocked with all sorts of furs, spices, incense, ivory, silks, and even rare Arabian gems. Still, the people had no intention of sitting pat. No, sir, they wanted more, and wanted to keep growing, especially as a cultural and trade center. Which brings us to New Lapurdum. Now, this wasn’t the biggest or most impressive town the nation had, but the little hamlet of about 40,000 people was about to be put on the map.
It seems that, in studying the maps they had gotten from Germany, some bureaucrat, stashed in a little office somewhere in the bowels of the Geologic Survey Office, noticed something extremely interesting about the continent of Byzantium. On the southwestern tip was the world’s richest cluster of dyes, comprising some sixty percent of the entire world’s supply. And the kicker was twofold. First, the German borders weren’t anywhere close to the area, and neither Egypt nor Arabia seemed too keen on crossing the vast German territory to settle there. Second, this cluster was due south of New Lapurdum. Well, this caused quite a stir, and the guy that discovered it… shoot, who can remember his name now… got a promotion and a little fleeting fame, for about twelve seconds, at least, hehe. Then, the government put together a plan and began recruiting. The CSS Challenger, a venerable old galley, and the second naval ship ever commissioned, was brought into port at New Lapurdum and decommissioned, heavily cannibalized to complete the first of a new type of ship, the La Tene-class caravel. The crew of the Challenger was transferred to the new ship, which was named in honor of their first ship, and adventurers from across the empire flocked to sign up for the voyage.
Now, nobody had any illusions that this would be easy. They all wanted to be part of the most ambitious maritime undertaking the country had ever seen, sailing halfway around the world to set up a new life in untamed country. Not all of them made the cut, either, no sir. Captain Ligures, who would be commanding this ship and expedition, selected a small band of the hardiest souls available, with a cross section of abilities, to found the town when they arrived, as well as drafting a group of workers from nearby to help establish the road network needed to bring in the lucrative dyes to the harbor. General Vercingetorix gave him the 21st Infantry Brigade, as well, knowing that there would most likely be hostile natives in the area.
The life stories of the people who got on that ship were as different as their reasons for going, and lord, I could go on for days about that. Some wanted the adventure. Some wanted to escape their creditors, and some were just drawn by the pristine, untouched ground. Some left hovels and some left the suburbs, but the most fascinating is Nepos Allobroges, elected before departure to serve as mayor of the new town, so to speak. He was already famous, having invented the printing press and built up a fortune printing the news of the day. He was known throughout the land as Entremont’s greatest philanthropist, too, always saying his fortune was worthless if he couldn’t share it. It would have been a surprise coming from anybody else, but I don’t think many jaws dropped when he gave all that up, packed up his family and volunteered for the expedition.
So they packed the Challenger full of people, the barest essentials of their belongings, shovels, axes and other tools, soldiers and their muskets, and the full ship’s crew and set off to the south, along with a pair of smaller cargo ships carrying supplies. The crew were the first to use the newly developed navigational techniques to keep their heading across the open ocean, and they performed spectacularly, all things considered. The stars kept them pointing south, but they did have their rough spots. From all accounts, the settlers and workers, and even the soldiers, were real disoriented when they lost sight of land. This made for a few tense moments as the workers, especially, threatened to take over the ship and find the nearest land they could. Hehe, now we all know that wouldn’t have ended real well, if they could have even gotten through the crew and soldiers to get the wheel, but that didn’t matter to them. It’s understandable, I guess, when you remember that they were where no ordinary man had ever been. They had to weather two great storms, and almost lost the ship in the first one, by Allobroges’ account, the biggest. There were sightings of sea monsters recorded, but we know now those were just undiscovered and immense types of whales. Through it all, they sailed south.
Well, now we all know how it turned out. The Dye Expedition landed on the Antarctic tip of Byzantium and founded the town of New Glanum. Almost immediately, they encountered a German unit on horseback and a unit of Arab Ansar Warriors, which had both been marauding about clearing barbarians from the unsettled area, and were actually happy to see another civilized group in the area. Once the settlers got roofs over their heads, they quickly built a harbor and started producing those dyes from the materials in the forest. The cargo ships unloaded enough supplies to keep this colony going until it became self sufficient, then anchored until they could be loaded with dyes. Those first shipments of dyes were snapped up on the mainland as soon as they hit market. A brutal winter shut down the shipments that first year, and nearly froze the settlers out, but they held on. That turned out to be the worst winter they saw until long after the town was well established, and much better prepared. Captain Ligures became Admiral Ligures when the Challenger returned to the mainland, and is hailed in the history books as the greatest military leader of that 500 year long peace, and only one worth mentioning at that. That town made Celtia one of only two countries actively producing dyes, and the only one with enough to export, which later generations leveraged as part of the grand formula that turned this into the greatest country in the world. Sure, there were some tense moments, like the two warrior brigades the Greeks dropped off in 1405, or the outdated cavalry units the Arabs put ashore in 1600, but neither of those invasions survived to even make it to the city. All in all, those brave souls gave more to their country than any other group in peacetime ever did, and over time, the town developed and branched out into today’s Antarctic Province, with 170,000 people calling it home, and the other four towns of the province calling it their capital.
Now, there’s a lot more to be told, and a lot of books have been written about the individuals and what they went through, but lord, I could start now and would be in my grave before I got halfway through ‘em all. Hang around if you like… I’m about to throw some steaks on the grill, and one more won’t be any bother. I hope you got the story you’re looking for.
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07-11-2003 03:08
I suppose the next step is: 
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