Planning the journey

Maris and Rafferty just entered the library on the Island Town.
Maris is really excited to learn about new cultures.
She immediately looks through the shelves of old books, while Rafferty is just wandereing around, slightly bored.

This place is amazing!
It reminds me of the library at my village, but it's really huge in comparison.
I can't wait to learn more about the history and culture of this place.

Yeah, whatever...
Just tell me when you need me.

Maris grabs a book about the Island Town and another one about the places around this area.

First she skims through a the latter one.
It contains a map of the whole eastern part of the known world.
It's basically only the coasts and the ocean.

She already saw the map of the world often enough. But she still looks through the map.

There it is! The Fruit Coast in the north, where she came from.
The small island where she came from isn't even visible in this map.

Her island and basically the whole Fruit Coast is part of the village area of the world, a moderately civilized area.
This area encompasses everything around the center of the known world within a radius of around one hundred to two hundred kilometers.
So it's pretty huge and contains many villages like hers.

The further you go away from the center of the known world, the less people are living there.
And the closer you get to the center, the more people are living there.
That's why the city is in the center of the known world.

Legends say, the gods were responsible for this distribution.
They caused people to gravitate toward the center.

But it's more likely that the climate there is just the best.
In the north it's too hot, in the south it's cold.
In the west it's too dry.
And on the ocean in the east it's wet, and especially further away from the coast the storms and waves can be very dangerous.

But nowadays the main reason why people gravitate toward the center is the city.
If more people are living somewhere already, more people want to move there. And since most people are living in the city, it's likely you'll find the people you want there.
It's as simple as that. At least in theory.
That's the reason why most of the people in the world live in the city.

In practice it's not that simple, though.
If you want to find some specific kind of people, you have to look in the right places.
And Maris doesn't believe to find somebody useful for her crew there in the city.

However, Maris wants to focus on her journey.
So from her home island she first went to the Pirate Island, also part of the village area.
And it's the closest village next to her island reachable by sea.

The next place if she stayed in that area would have been the Merchant Waters, but she didn't expect to find new crew members there.
So instead her next goal was this group of islands, the Island Town.

It's part of a more civilized area, the town area.
It contains six huge towns, which are between fifty and one hundred kilometers away from the center.
In one of these towns, there probably still live more people than in the rest of the world together, including the villages.
It's hard to imagine that. But the towns are really densly populated compared to most places.
But outside of the towns, there's not much going on in this area.

The towns are the culturally most advanced places in the world.
All of them have their own rules, which might differ a lot from each other.
Rafferty already told her what this town is known for.

Now she's pretty close to the city.
Technically, she could go there next.
But she has prejudices against them.
People from the city are often lazy.
And even the capable people from there are probably not suitable for an adventure.
At the very least, it would be very difficult to find the right person.

So instead it would make sense to go to the next town, the Water Town.
It's the only other town in the ocean.
It's also not too far from here. It's still about half a day with their advanced ship, the Light of Cian, but compared to the distances between different regions in the village area, it's quite close.

And she already likes this town, the Island Town, very much.
So she expects a lot from other towns as well.
So this time she should definitely get informed about the Water Town before she gets there.

But before that she also wants to visit the Merchant Waters.
It's a small detour again, since it's part of the village area, but it's almost on their way.

These are a group of islands known for their good trading.
A lot of ships are going here from island to island, bringing the goods where they are needed most.
And every seafarer in the world who wants to sell or buy something goes there.
You will always find somebody to trade with.

And afterwards, they can still visit the Water Town.

Soon Rafferty comes by.

Hey, what are you looking at?

Oh, it's just a map. I'm thinking about our journey.
I just thought, we should go to the Water Town next.
But it would make sense if we visit the Merchant Waters before that.

Water Town? I've been there.
It's a city built entirely in the water.
There's no real land, just modern, very tall buildings that go very deep under the water.
It's a really beautiful and exciting place.

And is there anything important to know about this place?

The people there are very intelligent.
Some even say they are more intelligent than the people from the city.

Are the city people even known for being intelligent?

There are some great scientists in the city, too. But that's basically it.
In the Water Town, everybody is very knowledgeable.
And also very creative.

Maybe we can get an artist there?

I was thinking of a doctor.
Or some kind of biologist.
Or even a mechanican might live there. Even if they are not really known for hard work.

So you agree to my plan?

Sure.

Any other idea where to go?

There's the Tinkerer Port at the coast in the south.
Maybe we could also get a mechanican there.

Maris looks at the map again.

That's a great idea!
If we don't find one in the Water Town, let's go there next.
And when we're on the way, we might also visit the ship community.
Do you think that's worth it?

Why not? It's almost on our path anyway, right?

It's not really on they path. It's also a small detour to the village area.
But since it's her idea to go there, she won't complain.

Yeah, kind of.
It's definitely a place I'd like to see for once.
But enough about the map.
I need to learn more about the actual places.

Maris turns the page and starts reading more about these places, especially about the Water Town.
Even if Rafferty told her about this town, he might have missed something important again.

As Maris is reading, Rafferty leaves her again, and sits down somewhere in the corner, waiting for her to finally finish.