James Cook

From the Journals of Captain James Cook, approx July 1774, sometime after castration
TIMELINE A "In the clarity of hindsight, it must be accounted that I was never truly a religious man. In these recent months, I have been compelled to ponder long and hard upon the nature of God. For in contemplation of God, there is the consequence of heaven, and of its obverse, hell. Of these nations of the Tsalal I find myself among, I have discovered that hell is of earth indeed. These dark monsters, for I can scarce bring myself to call them human, must surely spring from the loins of Satan incarnate. Murder, incest, beastiality, every perversion of every sort is embraced by them, they delight in cruelty and know know refinement. I have watched as my companions have been tortured to death, have had unbearable indignities visited upon my own body. They are the utter opposite of everything we know as civilization, yet are not savage. Rather, they are like a black mirror unto ourselves. As industrious, as clever, as restless and dynamic. They have taken my ship apart like a child's puzzle, meditating over each component, striving to duplicate and better the production. I curse the day that the wandering spirit sent men to sail the seven days. Truly, ignorance was a gift from God. It would be better for all if the civilized nations never knew such a people existed. But in the knowledge which must come, I can only hope that providence inspires the spirit of man to unite and exterminate these brutes. Yet in my heart, I feel fear, because now they know that we exist..."

From the Journal of Captain Cook
"....after we were separated from our ship, we were taken upon a road of remarkable sturdiness, in great wheeled carts drawn by the most singular oxen you might imagine.

In form of body, the creature was somewhat reminiscent of an ox, or perhaps a bison, for it bore a curious hump as I have seen in drawings of the American animal. I did not have occasion to remark upon whether it wore hooves or whether they were cloven. It was covered in a gray mane of shaggy hair, reminiscent of the wildebeest.

What was astonishing about the creature was its head, which was singularly massive, in comparison to that of an oxen. The head featured, high up on its skull where one might imagine horns or ears to be two huge black eyes, the largest I have ever seen on an animal, visibly protruding. Small pointed ears were set further back and low, cones recognizeable as ears only for their ceaseless twitching.

The animal had no visible mouth, and I am at a loss as to how it procures sustenance. Instead, it appears to possess what I can only describe as moth's proboscis,* or perhaps something akin the trunk of an elephant, but coiled tightly in a spiral beneath its head like a french horn. The animal wore an apparatus, keeping the spiral locked tightly in place, emphasizing the resemblance to a french horn. I can only assume that without the contraption, the animal would become ungovernable.

As the native name seems beyond our capacities of pronounciation, and as the creature resembles nothing more so much as a gigantic wingless moth, my companions have taken to dubbing these creatures 'moth beasts.'

Since then, we have seen many more of the creature, including some varieties of such strangeness as to make our first sighting commonplace. I can think of one strange specimen, whose head and proboscis seemed almost as large as the rest of its body, moving about on spindly legs.

The people of this land see these creatures as utterly unremarkable, and treat with them as if they were horses or cattle.

''* Note - Cook appears to have become confused, possibly as a result of the long sea voyage, or perhaps in disorientation from his capture. He is describing a butterfly proboscis, not a moths, although under the circumstances, he may be excused for his mistake.''

OK, basic premise will be that Cook arrives in January 1774, stays until May, and then heads north to resupply at the Falklands. An alternate Third Voyage will concentrate on Antartica only (so Cook will probably live longer), and there may even be a 4th and 5th voyage. The 2nd voyage will see exploration of West Antartica, with charts of Marie Bryd Land and parts of the Trans-Polar Channel being produced, with Cook managing to reach the South Pole in April. Attempts to traverse the whole length of the channel will be curtailed by the start of pernament night in May, forcing Cook to return North. The Third Voyage will see a complete circumnavigation of West Antartica between November and May of 1776/7, and further voyages may examine East Antarctica.

One idea I played with was having the Tsalal become entirely extinct by the time Europeans discover them. That offered up the prospect of a continent dotted with mysterious ruins, and more subtly, a whole raft of domesticated crops and animals, gone feral, but essentially ready to be cultivated all over again.

In an entirely virgin continent, one obstacle you'll encounter is difficulties with imported Asian or European crops not being suited to Antarctic conditions and soils and failing, as well as the lack of readily domesticated, easily farmed, productive local crops.

You might want to read up, for instance, on French colonization in Halifax Harbour in the 17th or 18th centuries. There were some chilling failures in the New World.

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I just need to check though, when would the pernament night begin at the pole?

Polar night

Polar twilight
Polar twilight occurs in areas that are located at the inner border of the polar circles, where the sun will be on or below the horizon all day on the winter solstice, although there may still be enough light for normal outdoor activities during civil twilight because of scattering of light by the upper atmosphere and refraction. It happens when there is no true daylight and only civil twilight occurs at the solar culmination. Street-lamps may remain on and one looking out a window from a brightly lit room may see their reflection even at noon, as the level of outdoor illuminance will remain below that of many illuminated indoor spaces. However, it is possible to conduct outdoor activities without any artificial light during the time of civil twilight. Sufferers of Seasonal Affective Disorder will probably resort to therapy with artificial light, as the psychological benefits of daylight require relatively high levels of ambient light (up to 10,000 lux) which are not present in any stage of twilight, thus, the midday twilights experienced anywhere inside the polar circles are still "polar night" in that sense.

Civil polar night
The civil polar night is the period during which there is only a faint glow of light visible at midday. It happens when there is no civil twilight and only nautical twilight occurs at the solar culmination. Civil twilight happens when the sun is between zero and six degrees below the horizon. The civil polar night is limited to latitudes above 72° 33', which is exactly 6 degrees inside the polar circle. In mainland Europe, there are no places fulfilling this definition. On the Norwegian Territory of Svalbard, however, civil polar night lasts from about 12 November until the end of January. Dikson, in Russia, experiences civil polar night for around a month. If there are thick clouds, it gets darker, and places like the coast of Finnmark (about 70°) in Norway will get a rather dark "day".

Nautical polar night
The nautical polar night is the period that no trace of light can be seen anywhere but the sky is not completely dark at midday. It happens when there is no nautical twilight and only astronomical twilight occurs at the solar culmination. Nautical twilight happens when the sun is between six and twelve degrees below the horizon, although there is still a place at the horizon with clearly more light than other places because of refraction. The nautical polar night is limited to latitudes above 78° 33', which is exactly 12 degrees within the polar circle, or eleven and a half degrees from the pole. Alert, Nunavut, the northernmost settlement in Canada and the world, experiences this from late November to mid January.

Astronomical polar night
Finally, the astronomical polar night is the period of continuous night where no astronomical twilight occurs. Astronomical twilight happens when the sun is between twelve and eighteen degrees below the horizon. Thus, the astronomical polar night is limited to latitudes above 84° 33', which is exactly 18 degrees within the polar circle, or five and a half degrees from the pole. During the astronomical polar night stars of the sixth magnitude, which are the dimmest stars visible to the naked eye, will be visible throughout the entire day.

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Much of the East half of Antarctica, the outer shorelines would lie very close to 70 degrees latitude, give or take a few degrees here and there.

There are numerous areas, however, particularly on the West side, where cook might sail to latitudes of 80 degrees, or perhaps even better.

Svalbard in the north is located at or above 74 latitude. As noted, their polar night goes November 12 to January 30. If Svalbard is located in the Southern hemisphere then seasons would be reversed. So your period of civil polar night would run May 12 to July 30.

Alert, Nunavut, Canada is located at 82 latitude, within about 60o miles of the pole. Its 24 hour daylight runs from March 20 to September 15. Its 24 hour darkness runs from October 15 to February 28. If it were southern hemisphere, then perpetual day would run roughly September 20 to March 15, and perpetual night from April 15 to August 30.

For the record, the countries I've described as Azul in the East and Tzohr in the west lie within 80 degrees latitude. The other 'nation's or areas mostly lie within 70 to 80 latitude.

As I understand Cooks 2nd voyage he crossed the Antarctic circle, latitude 60 in January 17, and made his closest approach, latitude 71'10, on January 31.

My guess is he'd be sailing in near perpetual daylight at the height of the Antarctic summer.

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Oh most definately perpetual daylight. Like I said, he should be able to reach the Pole itself before night. So, darkness from Late April do you reckon? That could create some interesting circumstances for an early April arrival at the Pole.

I think I'll probably go for extinct native scenario. There'll be some form of grand monument at the pole (probably a large henge with assorted avenues).

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Very interesting descriptions of the cultures. Are we going to hear anything more from the perspective of the natives?

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eww. Interesting But, still Eww on that regard. Still, I am Interested in seeing what happens with Captain Cook, and the fall out of that expedition.

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I'm referring to the cultural and religious developments. Obviously such a unique and isolated location means that these people are going to have a very different perspective. I can't help but wonder what they actually thought of the first European visitors, for instance. What are their religions like? What are their creation myths? How many languages are there? We've heard they have civilizations and cities, but what are those like?

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It might take a while to get there. Right now I'm still at the early stages of sketching out the geography and biology of the continent. As you can see, I have to fight even for my channel.

The Tsalal are still a desperate population of hunter gatherers residing in the Tsalmothua country, evolving the bodies of oral tradition and skill sets to keep them surviving in harsh country.

They haven't yet invented agriculture, though that will be coming soon. Frankly, there's not a lot of interesting things I can do to write about starving hunter gatherers.

But even from Agriculture, there's a hell of a lot of history and development to do. There are certain things I have in mind, a lot that I'm open to.

Like Caesar, I am interested in cultures and creation myths, different perspectives, and so forth. Influenced by Lovecraft and Poe, I want to bring a weird nasty edge to it all, the weirder and nastier the better. But ultimately with a veneer of plausibility.

I have some definite things in mind, and the hundred and fifty years between Captain Cook and Howard Philips are going to be very interesting. 1900 is going to be extremely interesting.

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I can't help but wonder what they actually thought of the first European visitors, for instance.

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At this point, I will say only this. That before the first European visitors, the Tsalals thought that they were the only people in the world, that theirs was the only true lands. Their efforts at exploration had revealed only barren windswept rocks, and it had become an article of faith that there was nothing else.

Captain Cook and his ship came as a world shattering cultural shock. The Tsalal had long ceased to even imagine that there might be other lands, other peoples. Much less a race with technology and skills in some ways almost equal to their own.

Well a Lovcraftian influence explains Phillips' murder.

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Howard Philips? HP? From New England? Writing for Arkham Tourist Press?

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yeah those to.

Here's a little something. Cook's voyage in Antarctica