On the Western Continents of Khonsmia
Report by captain Khonsmes Kanefer
For many millennia had people wondered whether there is anything west of Europe and Afrika, but now we know the answer to that question for certain – there certainly is. Over the last decade I, along with other explorers, have travelled there three times already, and so I believe I now know a thing or two about this mysterious land, this long hidden continent. Or, rather, continents. While during my first expedition only a small landmass and many islands around it were discovered, later expeditions, travelling more to the north and south, discovered that there is much more. Indeed, it appears that our first landing site, the land of the Olmecs, was part of a region which connects two massive continents – North and South Khonsmia.
And with every new expedition, they appear to become larger and larger. The entirety of Khonsmia may very well be even larger than all of Europe and Afrika combined, though we will not know that for sure until we explore the continents more. Still, this makes Khonsmia a crucial part of the world, one which should not be ignored, as it may become as important as any other discovered continent. I will now proceed to describe each continent making up Khonsmia – North Khonsmia, South Khonsmia, and Central Khonsmia, which I separated since it appears to be quite distinct from the North, even if there is no clear geographical boundary – thus giving a general overview of all these discoveries and noting what stood out to us the most.
<u>North Khonsmia</u>
Of the three regions, we probably know the least about North Khonsmia. This is in part due to it being the hardest to reach – as our sea routes take us along the coast of western Afrika, and from there to South Khonsmia – and having the harshest climate, for which an expedition needs more preparation. Thus, for now we are mostly focusing on exploring the more southern regions, but the north will also be properly explored in time, I assure you. For now, however, what we explored of North Khonsmia consists of its southern coast, parts of the eastern coast, as well as a peninsula, stretching into the archipelago of Central Khonsmia.
This peninsula is an interesting one, and we decided to name it Sobekida – because, well, it is full of crocodiles, if nothing else. It was a rather surprising sight, seeing our beloved green river beasts in these western lands, considering how other animals seemed to be different, so Khonsmia may not be as alien as one might have thought. In fact, we found plenty of crocodiles everywhere we went – the islands, Central Khonsmia, South Khonsmia, and even the North, including this peninsula. However, there is a difference between these crocodiles. The ones in Central and South Khonsmia seem more like the ones we have here in Afrika, yet the Northern ones are much darker, often almost black, and have wider snouts. Some say that they are the cursed and exiled sons of Sobek, sent to be far away from civilization, but I’m not an expert on animals so I can’t comment on this too much.
Yet they seem to be the most interesting thing in this peninsula, as there’s not too much else there. It’s full of marshes, making it hard to traverse, much less live in. It appears to be somewhat similar to the more tropical regions, like Central Khonsmia or Central Afrika, except more… dead. It’s hard to describe it, but the peninsula may very well be cursed by the gods, I would suggest sending some priests there to confirm if that’s the case. In any event, it doesn’t seem to have much agricultural potential or any other useful resources either. Establishing a few ports may be a good idea, but going further in and trying to secure the peninsula may be much more trouble than it’s worth. There are some people there actually, but quite uncivilized ones only. They appear to still be many millennia behind, even more so than the Europeans or Afrikans, and definitely more than their counterparts in Central Khonsmia. They still use stone tools, make very primitive pottery, if it can even be called that, and are still nomads – that is, they haven’t settled down and don’t seem to know what agriculture is. To them, even a Cimmerian barbarian warband would look like the most unimaginably advanced society, considering these primitives are still learning how to make knives and spears. We tried communicating with them, but they had none of it and always attacked us. Of course, our weapons are no match for theirs, but it still cost us a few members of the expedition, even if we compensated by putting down dozens of these barbarians. It is a good question of which species is the most advanced in Sobekida, as the humans there certainly seem to be lacking in every regard.
As for the surrounding areas of North Khonsmia that we explored – it was not too different, to our disappointment. Still full of marshes, black crocodiles, and these primitives. However, there was an interesting discovery made to the west of Sobekida. We found a river with a seemingly large drainage basin and considerable length, one potentially rivaling the Nile itself. This river – called Misi-ziibi by the locals, apparently simply translating to “great river” – is also surrounded by rather decent lands for farming. I would bet that if left alone for a few more millennia, this region might produce something like our civilization, considering the somewhat similar conditions. Of course, we don’t have that kind of time to wait, and the natives are still hunter-gatherers – just like every other natives in North Khonsmia, as agriculture and sedentism seem to have only reached Central and South Khonsmia by now – but they are at least a bit more civilized than the ones in Sobekida and there may be hope for them yet. They aren’t as aggressive and were even willing to trade with us, which they apparently do between the tribes by way of this long river. I would say that this region might be a good place to start a colony, and we should be the first to claim it. After all, we are the only ones who know a thing or two about managing a great river and building a society around it. It is a bit more to the north of Kemet, that is true, but it’s still very hospitable, no worse than southern Europe for the most part, at least from what we have seen so far.
Speaking of Europe, it occurred to me that North Khonsmia may be the western equivalent of that continent, just like how South Khonsmia would be the equivalent of Afrika. Just minus the civilizations we have on this side of the ocean, of course. North Khonsmia seems to be mostly a temperate, forested region, with many rivers and some agricultural potential, as well as relatively few natural predators or other deadly animals, just like Europe. Also, lack of deserts and jungles. Sure, it may sound boring, and it is in a way, but it could be a rather untroublesome region bringing us safe profits, as compared to the more southern regions across the world, which are a constant battleground between civilizations, beasts, diseases, and natural disasters. We may want to send some Mycenaeans and Hittites to North Khonsmia, it may suit their tastes pretty well.
Still, like I mentioned, we only explored a tiny sliver of North Khonsmia, so this is what I can say from what we have seen. For instance, we don’t know how far to the west does it stretch. Does it connect to Niphu, to China perhaps? Or is the space between the two continents filled with Atum’s Ocean? We also don’t know how far to the north it stretches either. It could connect with Europe, but it may also be separated. Though even if it was connected, it would be so at such a northern latitude that the area might be one perpetually covered in snow. Europe is said to have such northern regions which are perpetually frozen, so North Khonsmia may very well have them as well. But, considering almost no Egyptian or Phoenician has even seen snow once, we would need better equipment for such expeditions. Again, a job possibly better left to the Hittites. North Khonsmia may indeed be a decent place for them to settle, the eastern part seems be a more mountainous area from what we have seen, so the Hittites could feel right at home. Of course, colonization of this continent would take decades, if not centuries, considering how it may as well be uninhabited, with the locals being so primitive and spread out, and so we would need to build everything from scratch, but we might as well start talks of dividing it up between our OFK allies to avoid trouble later. The continent might not look like much right now, but I believe we could make it very useful for ourselves, especially if we take opportunity of Misi-ziibi, what some now call the Western Nile.
<u>Central Khonsmia</u>
But enough about that lifeless husk up north for now, let’s talk about the real meat of this thing, what I imagine you wanted to hear about the most. Central Khonsmia is where we, luckily, first landed, and the place which is of most interest to us right now. Like I mentioned, it is connected with North Khonsmia, and so is together with it in a single continent, but I separated it here because it is completely different from North Khonsmia and bears little resemblance in any regard. However, Central Khonsmia itself can also be divided into two regions – the archipelago and the mainland.
The archipelago, which we now call the Tainoan – as the natives living there are called Taino by the Olmecs – consists of many islands, on some of which we first landed on the way to the land of the Olmecs, and this island chain serves as a sort of protective wall, mostly separating the Atlantic Ocean and the Tainoan Sea, the latter serving as a sort of inner sea for Central Khonsmia (like what the Euxine Sea is now to the Hittites, or what the Mediterranean may soon be to the OFK). This archipelago consists of two large islands, one being long and thin, and the other more oval in shape, two mid-sized islands, possibly similar to Alashiya in size, and dozens of tiny islands, those being located mostly to the north, near Sobekida, and to the east, connecting to South Khonsmia. Most of these islands are inhabited, but also by primitive hunter gatherers, often not too dissimilar from the ones in the north. However, these tend to trade occasionally with the Olmecs and the other Central Khonsmian peoples. But other than them, the islands are unclaimed, and so we have already set up a few outposts there, to help with resupply for new expeditions and to continue trade with Central Khonsmia.
The Tainoan islands have a tropical climate, one perhaps most similar to western Afrika and other Atlantic islands around it, from what we have seen. In terms of resources, there doesn’t seem to be much, and conducting agriculture might be difficult as well. Still, the islands have potential for us. For one, the rather small and primitive populations would be extremely easy to subjugate, if we chose to do so, and colonists would quickly become more populous if even a few dozen thousand settled in, I would say. Of course, the Olmecs might see these islands as part of their sphere of influence, but we could easily enter into an agreement and give them some islands while dividing the remaining ones between the OFK members. One might ask then, why would we even need those islands? Some might say that they are worthless, but I would beg to differ. Believe me, I’m far from a man who wants to conquer the world and colonize every little corner of it, but the Tainoan offers us a very unique opportunity and I think we should use it. Like I said, these islands can offer easier resupply for our ships travelling between the Old World and the Khonsmias, as they are the first land that is reached after traversing the Atlantic Ocean and they offer easy further access to North Khonsmia, Central Khonsmia, and South Khonsmia. Or at least the important portions of these continents. These islands could be our trading hubs for the region, places through which we could more easily contact the inhabitants of the remainder of the Khonsmias, and possibly even military bases for the army and navy, in the event we needed to conduct some military action in the region. If we wish to interact with the Khonsmias in any meaningful way, we will need such or similar outposts in any event, and I would say it would be better to establish them on these islands, rather than on the mainland, where they would be more vulnerable to outside attacks. The islands, meanwhile, would be surrounded by the sea and our unparalleled ships, and there are also plenty of them to be divided between us, Hittites, Mycenaeans, Olmecs, even the Alashiyans, Amorites, and Puntites, if they want to get in on this.
But the Tainoan islands are only a means to an end, of course. And that end is Central Khonsmia, the mainland one. It is a sort of isthmus, which connects North and South Khonsmias, though it is much narrower in the south, and thus we decided to geographically assign the region to North Khonsmia. The isthmus also has a peninsula – the Yucatan peninsula – which is right to the east of the Olmec civilization. Central Khonsmia is also mostly of tropical climate, being almost entirely covered in jungles. However, the people here are much more advanced than their counterparts up north or in the islands. The locals in Central Khonsmia have actually invented agriculture, and apparently have practiced it for millennia already, if what we have been told is true. Yet the food they grow is quite different. While here in Neburu, Europe, and Afrika the main grain being grown is wheat, in Central Khonsmia – and in South Khonsmia too – it is replaced by corn, of which we have brought you samples, so you could see how it looks for yourself. This isn’t too surprising for us, considering we did discover, centuries ago already, that the people in Niphu grow a different grain as well, that being rice, so by now we know that wheat isn’t as universal as it previously has been thought to be. Other than corn, Central Khonsmians also grow a variety of other plants. This includes food such as tomatoes, beans, squashes, papayas, and pineapples. They also grow some plants for other uses, such as cotton for textiles and the native agave for writing materials (the equivalent to our papyrus). That’s not even mentioning the more esoteric cultivars, such as chili peppers, which are used as an extremely powerful spice, and tobacco, which is a sort of a drug, similar to hemp and opium, though much less potent. Or so I have been told by my crewmates.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
So, the selection of produce in Central Khonsmia is certainly impressive, but what’s even more impressive is that all of this is done even with the relatively poor quality of the soil there. Indeed, the soil is not very productive on the isthmus and there is not much of it either, yet the locals have adapted to the situation and made the best of it. They use irrigation techniques, not too dissimilar to the ones used in Mesopotamia, to make agriculture more effective, store food to make up for the loss of produce in bad times (which is why they grow corn so extensively, as it can be stored for a long time), and use slash and burn techniques to make way for more agricultural areas by cutting down and burning parts of the jungle. Quite resourceful people, if I do say so myself, unlike their northern neighbors, who have access to more land, longer rivers, and much better farmland, yet they still haven’t settled down and started farming.
While for the most part I only singled out the Olmecs from this region, they are not the only agriculturalists, far from it. They only seem to be a bit ahead of the curve, having established an actual civilization, but the rest of Central Khonsmia is farming and trading almost as well and may soon create more local civilizations. It’s a somewhat similar situation to what was happening here about two millennia ago – the Sumerians founded the first civilization, but the surrounding peoples, the Elamites, the Hittites, the Levantines, and us Egyptians of course, were not too far behind and not many centuries later we had our own civilizations too. So the same goes for Central Khonsmia, and the people there all share some similarities. They are sedentary, are involved in agriculture, have some sizeable settlements, have markets and engage in trade, wear more intricate clothing, produce some luxury goods, have their own religions with well defined gods, and build some interesting architecture. The Olmecs differ in the fact that they have a more centralized society, with their state containing the capital city and the surrounding areas and other towns. However, before moving to the discussion of the Olmecs I would like to mention some other peoples who seem to be closing in on them in terms of societal advancement. Of these, the two most prominent groups seem to be the Zapotecs, living to the south of the Olmecs and bordering Atum’s Ocean, and the Mayans, living to the east of the Olmecs, mostly in the aforementioned Yucatan peninsula. These Mayans are also the ones we saw having built something similar to pyramids, though much cruder than ours, of course. Still, that is a most interesting development indeed. Could the Mayans be to the Olmecs what we became to the Mesopotamians here?
As for the Olmecs – well, they certainly have a civilization, I cannot deny that. They live in the northern part of Central Khonsmia, just to the west of the Yucatan peninsula, and they have access to the Tainoan Sea but not Atum’s Ocean yet. Whether the civilization already emerged as a unified one, like here in Egypt, or was a collection of city states, like in Mesopotamia, for some time, is still unknown to us, but right now the civilization is quite centralized and one would not be wrong to call it a kingdom. Thus we have given the country the official designation of the Kingdom of Olmeca, interchangeably used with the Olmec Kingdom, and the local officials seem to be satisfied with this arrangement. The capital, known as Itzamatul, has about fifteen thousand inhabitants, which may not seem like much to us now, but it is the largest city in the Khonsmias, from what we have found, and it is still very impressive. It has a large marketplace, many temples, and an impressive palace for the king. The king himself, who I had the pleasure to meet, is named Tlacolotl, the fourth to be exact. He is a young man who was very eager to meet us outsiders, and while it took us a while to communicate with him and the other Olmec officials, we eventually managed to do it and he allowed us to set up an embassy in his capital. From what he told us and what we explored, the kingdom is ruled rather loosely, and while Itzamatul is the religious and economic center of the Olmecs, the other cities have some autonomy, though they still have obligations to the crown. The other cities are not very large, all having a few thousand inhabitants at most, but they are nice as well. The capital is located on the Coatzacoalcos river, which has a few tributaries joining it, and this valley is the heartland of the civilization, being quite densely populated, possibly having a couple hundred thousand inhabitants in total. Meanwhile the whole kingdom also contains a few other nearby river basins, and so its combined population may be over half a million, but it’s difficult to say for sure.
The Olmec Kingdom is said to have been around for more than three centuries, which is not too long, but enough time to establish a proper state and refine it. After all, the Mycenaean Confederation emerged not too much earlier than that. The Olmecs don’t seem to be a very warlike people and instead seem to be more of a cooperating and trading type, like our Phoenicians, so I believe we should get along with them pretty well. And, just like the Phoenicians, the Olmecs also focus on making luxury items, including various figurines, drinking vessels, mosaics, face masks, and other artifacts, all made from jade, magnetite, basalt, greenstone, or obsidian, materials acquired either locally or traded with surrounding settlements. The Olmec heartland around the Coatzacoalcos river is also quite productive agriculturally and so exports foodstuffs all around in order to buy up all the luxury materials, which makes the capital so opulent even compared to some of our cities which are twice or thrice the size. Of course, there are also these huge heads, about which I wrote extensively in my first report, which surround the capital and could be found in some other cities. We were told that these heads represent former kings, priests, and other important local men, which makes sense. And the Olmecs also have their own calendar and writing system, which we noticed during our first visit, but only know are starting to fully understand. The Olmec script is written on rock slabs and the aforementioned agave leaves, and consists of pictorial symbols. You can see it in one of the attached tablets, the symbols seem more esoteric, but the logic is the same as for the ones we still use ceremonially.
The Kingdom of Olmeca is certainly an advanced society and might prove to be a great ally for us. I don’t believe we should interfere with them too much, we should let them continue advancing, but trading and sharing discoveries would certainly benefit both sides. Central Khonsmia is a very interesting region and it may prove to become yet another important battleground, if, say the Mayans or the Zapotecs rise to challenge the Olmec dominance, especially if those groups are supported by the EC. But in any case, if there is one region we should definitely leave to the locals, it is mainland Central Khonsmia, as it would be a shame to destroy the only true civilization on these continents and subjugate the only peoples who have achieved something worthwhile there. If we want to expand and colonize, we should focus on North Khonsmia, South Khonsmia, and the Tainoan islands – where we have already started our limited expansion – but a strategy of cooperation with the Olmecs would give us many more benefits. If other civilizations emerge in the region – and I’m sure they will, soon enough – we should cooperate with them just the same. As long as the EC doesn’t get involved, in that case we should be willing to get our hands dirty to kick them out. Knowing their destructive potential, they should be kept as far away from this great land of opportunity as possible.
<u>South Khonsmia</u>
Just like with North Khonsmia, we haven’t discovered that much of South Khonsmia yet either. However, from what we have seen, it seems to be a rather large continent, one possibly the size of Afrika. South Khonsmia is completely surrounded by water, except an extremely narrow point in the north, where it is connected by an isthmus to Central Khonsmia, but the connection is so narrow that I believe the designation of a separate continent is well deserved. For reference, the isthmus at that point is more than two times narrower than the one connecting Lower Kemet with the Sinai peninsula, and since we deem Afrika to be a separate continent from Neburu, so South Khonsmia must be a separate continent from the north as well.
Of South Khonsmia, we have explored the northern coast, as well as a portion of the eastern coast and a small part of the western coast, the one adjacent to Atum’s Ocean. What’s to the west of this continent, we do not know yet, our ships do not travel much around Atum’s Ocean, but we may be able to start doing that in due time. To the east, though, it’s a much clearer picture. South Khonsmia and Afrika are completely separated by the Atlantic Ocean, and the further south one goes, the wider the gap becomes. We know this since we sailed around Afrika decades ago and saw that it was completely surrounded with water, with the exception of Sinai, of course. Thus South Khonsmia cannot connect with it and either connects with some undiscovered continent to the further south, or is also surrounded by water and so allows the Atlantic and Atum’s oceans to join, just like how Afrika allows the Atlantic and Indian oceans to join.
As for the climate – what we discovered of South Khonsmia has been almost exclusively tropical climate, filled with jungles, just like in Central Khonsmia and in Central Afrika, which makes sense, since the part of the continent we explored is roughly equal in latitude with the latter. Though curiously enough, we have not encountered any major deserts in the Khonsmias. If we go by the theory that there is similar climate according to latitudes, then there should have been a massive desert in the northern part of South Khonsmia and in Central Khonsmia, yet there are no deserts there and only jungles. Maybe deserts are a unique phenomenon of Afrika and Neburu only?
But I digress. The northern and eastern coasts of the continent are the ones we explored the most, going inland in some places but never too far. Like I mentioned, they are filled with jungles and so we did not find much that was unexpected, after having already explored the Tainoan and Central Khonsmia. The natives there are an interesting kind though, as the region seems to be in a sort of transitionary stage. Some tribes are still hunter gatherers, while others have already adopted agriculture, and more and more seem to be switching every year, according to our Olmec contacts. So the inhabitants there are much more advanced than the ones in the Tainoan and North Khonsmia, but still have a long way to go to reach the Central Khonsmian level. Still, it is good to see progress happening – before long, much of the continent will have fully adopted agriculture, I would say. The most prominent theory right now is that agriculture is spreading there from the north, from Central Khonsmia, which seems more and more like the heartland of the Khonsmias in every way after every discovery we make. We concluded this from the fact that agriculture seems to be the most intensive in the northern part of South Khonsmia, adjacent to the isthmus, also quite noticeable on the western coast and the northern coast, and the more on goes south and east – that is, away from Central Khonsmia – the less agriculture there seems to be. And everything else that comes with lack of it: few and tiny settlements, low population density, beasts outnumbering people, and so on. The eastern coast is almost exclusively populated by hunter gatherers, and I imagine the same story would remain if we went further south along it.
And what do these people in South Khonsmia grow? Well, mostly the same foods and other items that the people of Central Khonsmia grow, just at lower quantities. The climate is similar and since agriculture seems to have reached the continent from the north, having similar crops is understandable. However, there is one major exception. Rather than growing corn as the main grain, South Khonsmia grows a plant known as cassava instead. The products of it are similar, in that they are also tubular, but they are brown on the outside, rather than yellow like corn, and white on the inside. They are also edible whole, unlike corn, of which only the kernels on the outside are edible. A most interesting development indeed. And speaking of these tubular plants which the Khonsmians seem to grow so much and eat as their main source of sustenance, there may be a third one yet as well. We have heard reports that to the further south, in western South Khonsmia, people grow a plant known as a potato, which is similar to cassava, except more yellow on the outside and the inside.
That interested us greatly, and we started inquiring more about that place. And the more we asked, the more curious information we received. The western coast of South Khonsmia is a very mysterious land to us, but it may hold something of great value. We heard about these potatoes, but we also heard about seasoned agriculturalists, who have been doing this for millennia. We heard of settlements, towns, even large cities being in the area. We even heard about pyramids having been built there. And not any pyramids. Not like the crude ones in Olmeca or in Mayan lands. No, massive ones. And what’s even more bewildering, they were supposedly built thousands of years ago. Right around the time our own pyramids were being built by the likes of Djoser, Sneferu, and Khufu. We have heard reports of civilizations in the area, of kingdoms, and not even current ones only, even ones which are said to have vanished centuries ago.
Of course, these are all just stories, we cannot confirm their validity until we see everything for ourselves. Yet, there has to be some truth to them. The rate of agriculture does not decrease when going south along the western coast, like it does when going south along the eastern one. These potatoes also seem to exist, we saw a few making their way to us when we traded with the locals. So these reports might be truer than we first expected them to be. I believe our upcoming expeditions should focus on this exact region, because we must figure out what is actually going on there. The region may be a separate center of civilization for the Khonsmias, similarly to the case of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley. We may actually discover another true civilization there, who knows. And this one could be even older than anything in Central Khonsmia. If we reports are true, it would be far older than the Olmec civilization. If they are true, it would be the first civilization (or a successor of one) to have emerged in the Khonsmias. This would be a massive discovery, its importance cannot be overstated.
North Khonsmia may be the most uncivilized place in the Khonsmias, Central Khonsmia the most prosperous one, but South Khonsmia is right now the most mysterious one indeed. There is a lot to be discovered there. The EC may be thinking the same right now, so we should get ahead of them and prevent them from snatching South Khonsmia from us with their grabby hands. And yes, these may turn out to only be rumors, and the whole continent may turn out to be worth not much more than the North. But I somehow believe these tales, even if some call me foolish for that. I believe that we can strike gold by continuing to explore the south, and that we can find some peoples who are even more advanced than the Olmecs. Or maybe some… who might be our equals.