:D
Happy now?Anyway, let's get down to the next bit of history. Last time I blogged, I gave a brief history of the First Landing. Come to think of it... there hasn't been a second landing yet, so I don't know why it's the 'first'. Then again, there may be more landings some time in the future, if the rest of the galaxy rediscovers us. Won't that freak the Lagooners out?
Again, please note, this is only the history known according to the Lagooners. I haven't yet met up with and discovered the respective histories of the descendants of the Blynde Follow and Super Sonic.
Ok, here we go, the Age of Menedékhely, comprising of two sub-sections:
- The Founding of the Old City (btw, Old City and Menedékhely will be used interchangeably)
- The Golden Age of Menedékhely
Founding of Menedékhely
As the majority of those aboard the Aisley were scientists of various kinds and skilled workers, they were quick to appoint themselves leaders, although not without a few scuffles and debates. The first leader by vote of majority, was known as Dr Earl Thomas Grey, a medical doctor. He wasn't a real earl, just given the fanciful name by his parents. Although not the highest ranking man amidst those on board Aisley, he certainly was the highest ranking man with enough wits and common sense to help the people rather than play power games.
According to the oldest city records I could find and according to my subsequent calculations, the ship Aisley made her emergency landing in what is now known as The Valley or by its alternate name, the Dark Forest.
The forest here, according to the records, is incredibly dense, such that beneath the canopy, it is like night time all day round. The earliest records tell of the ship having landed near the southern edge of the valley where the mountains were pitted with thousands of caves. Those who ventured within the caves seldom survived to come out, even if they were clever enough to use the ball and string method. Stories tell of monsters within the caves.
Anyway, Dr Grey formed expedition teams who found a way around the caves and to the sharp roofed mountains of what we now call the Northern Mountains. Looking down what came to be known as The Cliff - a sharp spur of rock that jutted out over the Old City, they saw a circular shaped plain amidst the mountains, with a hilly country to its west. There was water and the land here looked like a good place to settle.
The survivors of the wrecked Aisley stripped the ship and took everything they believed would be of use, as nobody ever wanted to return to the Dark Forest again. Too many of them had already perished to unseen predators that lurked in the dark, waiting to snatch individuals that strayed from the main camp.
After many days, maybe 10 - the records at this point were corrupted so I am making a guesstimate here, they reached the plain. One of the graphic designers got together with someone who knew how to sew and they made a makeshift flag out of what scrap cloth they had of red, green, blue and white. Dr Grey planted the flag in the centre of the plain and declared the city, their new home, Menedékhely, meaning a sanctuary or haven.
The Golden Age
The survivors of the landing, the first generation of those aboard the Aisley set up and organised the city, writing the laws and manner of procedures for those to come after them. The subsequent generations were careful to follow their elders' advice and slowly built up a great city where many types of science were investigated and researched. Others explored the surrounding terrain and discovered themselves encircled by mountains everywhere, thus the theory that remains until today that the world was almost wholly made up of mountains.
Despite Menedékhely remaining the only city, the city was divided into segments that allowed trade between the specialists, enabling the people to work together in unity for the survival of their people. The city prospered and grew until it encroached upon the hilly country just west of the city that became known as Adensa. Family houses were common within the city and those with the same family name would live together in ever larger houses, passing down their particular family's history from generation to generation.
Some areas of Adensa was a bit like a retirement home, where those no longer able to work were housed and taught some of the younger generations and then buried amidst the extensive (now non-existant) cemetaries upon the mountainsides. The rest of Adensa and the area around Tobbles Hill, which was where I was made or born (whatever you want to call it), was farmland that provided for the entire city and population of Adensa. All families were required to take part in farm maintenance according to the time they were rostered on, so that everyone would be aware that the farms were what allowed the city to survive.
With the increase in prosperity came increased research into all sorts of technologies, including genetics. With the failure and trouble caused by the Rockmen produced by Monty Clodigger, research upon humans was forbidden, although continued by some, including my father, in secret.
The First Landing covers approximately 100 years of history. The founding of Menedékhely another 100 or so. Somewhere during this time, the ancestors of the Lagooners experienced their first series of freak storms and did their best to account for what they believed to be an anomoly in the weather. There are not many records of the first Great Storms. The Great Storms were discovered (by me) to recur every 200 years or so, although why no one else bothered to study them, I don't know. Anyway, 8 Great Storms occured during the Golden Age, ending with the one at the end of the age. So, the Golden Age, according to me and what I gathered from the city records, spanned an approximate 1650 years, give or take several decades.
The Golden Age ended two decades after my father made me and my fishy cousins (ie the devil fish) and I predicted the next series of Great Storms which swept the fish into the city, resulting in the First Scattering. The Old City had never been flooded or threatened to be flooded by the Great Storms until the one that ended the Golden Age. Beorn and I discovered that the devil fish were intelligent enough to direct the flood water over The Cliff in order to flood the city.
More details of the First Scattering will be coming soon...
