Chapter 2:
First Contact
The lands we are exploring are nothing like what we left behind. The land is mountainous, true, yet...it is clearly not Anatolia. Fog blankets everything, making venturing from the Bay a dangerous proposition. Even exploring along the coasts is yielding relatively little signs of civilization. Demir claims to have seen ships in the fog, though I find that hard to believe. Who in their right mind, would sail out in this? Willingly? I want to believe him, of course. I want to believe that God has not sent the City somewhere completely empty. Would it be worth escaping the Turk, only to die alone? Surely there are other people out here somewhere.
At first light, I am going to take the ship towards shore. If Demir was actually seeing something, we will follow the path they took. If there are actually other ships out here, other people, they must have a home. There is no reason to believe they are migrating or that they do not live in this area. Perhaps we can find a home, if this blasted fog would just go away...
---Giovanni Moretti, 1453
Exploration of the Bay was a risky task, in the first few days of the Relocation. The Roman and Italian mariners knew their ships, and they knew how to sail. However, the foggy Bay was far different from the sunny Mediterranean. Constantinople was far enough inland to avoid the worst of the fog. Even so, at times, it would spread further than expected. Even were there ocean-going ships available, venturing through the unfamiliar strait was dangerous. A few ships confirmed that the vast ocean was
not the Mediterranean, yet went no further. The ships were not designed for long voyages without land in sight. They were never intended for true ocean travel. As such, on order of Emperor Constantine himself, exploration was focused on the Bay and the land ringing it.
Roman and Italian ships split, some north and some south. Loaded with an eclectic mix of Romans, Italians and Turks for ranging inland, these vessels were the forefront of Constantine's efforts to learn more of his surroundings. To discover just where God had moved his City. In the initial days of exploration, they would find nothing of note. The Bay proved to be massive and untamed, trees lining the coasts and little sign of civilization. Some aboard the vessels began to believe, if only in private, that God had given the City an Eden. Empty land to colonize and shape in his name. Some others believed it a curse, that the City would wither away without trade or any new subjects.
Still others, including a young Turkish soldier by the name of Demir, believed that they had seen small vessels in the fog.
1 Nothing more than canoes, perhaps, yet vessels nonetheless. Aboard the
Iride, a Venetian galley, this man would guide her in the direction he had seen the shapes in the distance. The captain of the
Iride, Giovanni Moretti, would later say that he had always believed Demir.
At the time, however, it was an act of Faith and not a rational motion.
The
Iride pulled up against a cleared portion of land, a few
mílion2 to the south of Constantinople. It was here that Demir and a group of Roman militia spread out to explore the strange land they had found themselves in. The trees resembled the oaks of Europe, yet they were subtly different. Stronger and taller than anything any Roman had seen in many years. The birds and animals that called these trees home, rustling around the curious men, were different as well. Not a single creature was the same. Chirps were different. Plumage was nothing remotely familiar. Even the rodents that scurried about, were clearly not from Greece nor Anatolia.
With this sight greeting the early explorers, was it any wonder they were surprised when they actually found human habitation? Later records would describe this meeting, in various favorable and unfavorable lights. It truly depends on who you ask, and if they are inclined to view the Romans favorably. The common consensus, however, is simple:
Distracted as they were by the new and unusual life around them, the Romans and Turk came across a village. Almost without realizing it. It would only be when strange words in an undecipherable language were shouted at them, that they realized what had happened. Were this Europe, or even
Mēxihco, this may have been the death of these unfortunate explorers. However, it was not. The natives of the Bay were a simple people, who were as confused as the Romans at what they were seeing. While conflict was not unheard of, these were not a warlike people.
A fact that proved fortuitous, as the Romans and their Turkish guide would find out. Even as these men closed into a defensive formation, they were being greeted with more curiosity than malice. The people who stood before them were far different from any that the Romans had seen before.
Tall and relatively dark skinned, the men and women were clearly not African nor Indian nor even Chinese. They wore strange clothing, though from the perspective of the Natives, the Romans wore stranger garments. The buildings the Natives stood before were simple round huts, made of local materials that the Romans did not recognize. Not one man held a proper weapon, only a handful carrying what appeared to be spears. In fact, to the surprise of the Romans, not a single piece of iron was visible. Not iron, not gold, not silver. Not even bronze.
These people were primitive. They had
a civilization, it was clear, yet it was not a proper society by the Roman standard. Even the Mongols had been more civilized.
This first impression was not helped by the fact that, when a clear elder stepped forward, the man spoke in a language nothing like anything heard in Constantinople before. Even Demir, who had heard tribal Anatolian languages, was unable to even hope to translate it. The Romans, who spoke Greek and little else, couldn't begin to understand it. Attempts to communicate with the elder, draped in a thin fur coat, were doomed to failure at first. It was only the apparent friendliness of the Natives that smoothed over this early stage of contact.
As a whole, humans are a curious creature. Presented with something new and unknown, there are two primary reactions. Violence, and the desire to know more.
For the
Ramaytush3 people and the Romans, it was the latter that won out.
Given food and water, the Romans were invited into the camp- and it became apparent it
was a camp -of the Natives. These men, confused as they were wary, were plied with stories and tales. Not a word came across, from either side, though it was at least established
who they were. The elder quickly learned the word 'Roman'. And the Romans quickly learned the word
Altamu. The home of the people they were speaking to, and evidently just one of many villages. When told this, a young Roman smiled and informed the Natives that they were from the city of Constantine.
When the elder smiled at the breakthrough in communication, he made wide gestures towards some of the younger men of his community. No words were needed to understand that gesture. The Natives wanted to see this 'City of Constantine', even if they only vaguely understood what it was. It was hardly in the original plan by the Emperor.
Constantine had wanted to know if there were any Turks or other recognizable people nearby. Not bring strange and unknown people to the City.
However, perhaps sensing a rich reward, the Romans didn't care. They readily agreed, with Demir the Turk assigned to attempt to learn the language the Natives spoke. Not out of any altruism, but only out of the belief that a
Turk could clearly understand a savage language better than a Roman could. While an insult, it would prove to be a boon, when hard work would see this language translated. For these few men would become the first Natives of this strange land to visit Constantinople.
First contact, at least with the
Ramaytush people, would prove to be a relatively bloodless affair. It would only be later that Roman and Native alike, learned just how little resistance these people would have to disease and cultural change...
1. Demir the Turk would, in later years, become something of a popular folk hero in the Native populations of Rome. A man from a hated minority, who had the good fortune to be the first person to meet any Native. A man who proved that you didn't need to be
Greek to be an important figure. For all that he would become lost to history in later years, this only fed a convenient myth for those Natives who wanted to cling to their cultural identity in the Empire.
2. A Greco-Roman 'mile', the
mílion is roughly equivalent to 1.5 kilometers.
3. The
Ramaytush are the subdivision of the Ohlone people that were native to what would be OTL San Francisco. The name '
Ramaytush' is a relatively modern invention, however, it is difficult to find what this group would have actually called themselves. I use
Ramaytush for convenience.
(Apologies for how long this took to get up. Work has been...less than kind to my energy, lately.)
