(This is a very symbolic picture. The shell represents nature and the sense of the unknown when we first arrived on this mysterious island. The carpet and cord as well as outlets however represent civilization, convenience and familiarity. We saw the shell when we first arrived but we knew in our hearts that we would survive on this island and possibly even create our own colony if things turned out especially well.)
We made the decision to be peaceful with the natives rather than establish immediate dominance as other explorers often do. And it worked out. These natives soon came to treat us like friends and returned our kindness. At that point, no hostility arose. We had no bad weather for the first few months and it was actually a nice tropical climate. Grateful, we enjoyed it.
But just when things seemed like nothing could ruin the sweet tranquility we had acquired, things began to turn sour. Our leading captain came to the decision that we were being too friendly with the natives. Our resources were beginning to run out and if we wanted to return with more than what we came with. We needed to press the natives more so that we could receive more resources from this. And this was done with the cost of losing some of their friendly relations they held with us early on.
The following months we spent on the island were never quite as wonderful as the first few. Some months required us to be very harsh with the natives so they would give us what we needed. Or, wanted, I guess I should say, since this was technically their land. But in order to prevent an all out war from occurring we did not press the natives for more resources every month. It continued like this for a long time. But every time we did not press the natives felt less like we were gaining their loyalty and good side again. It instead felt more like we were preventing a kettle from boiling over.
And then the summer came, and we met a terrible series of events. The weather unexpectedly turned very rough and dangerous. Once, we had an entire tsunami. That did not do good for the resources we held nor the natives' attitudes. And even after the winds were finished blowing and we had all barely survived the impact of the storm, our captain required us to press the natives yet again for more resources. Many of us knew this was morally wrong, but it was better that we survive than they right?
The natives inner hatred of us continued to grow and grow and then began showing outwards. Though nothing violent had happened yet, they were far from the humble hosts they had portrayed themselves to be when we had first come across them. This continued through the fall where the weather was noticeably lighter. But we had another bad storm towards the end of the year, though it was nothing near the likes of the tsunami of the summer.
By the end of December, the natives were about to burst in anger at us over how unfair we had been to them. At this point we had only one option. We needed to return to the king by January and so we left. And that very morning we left was the same morning the natives decided to launch an all out attack on us. We barely got our boats together and sailed away in time, though I did end up with a spear in my shoulder.
Thankfully we had one more additional resource than what we came here with to take back to the king. It may not be much, but I wonder what he would have done if he had been in our position.
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