Politics & Society
Player Submission
🔥 3
Merina Kingdom, 1831 · The Shattered Congress
By player
Jean Laborde awoke to the blinding light of the day his head pounding in sensation as he rubbed his eyes, trying to adjust to the brightness. He was in a strange place, some kind of coastal forest surrounded by men also of his condition either barely awake, asleep, or worse. For a moment he was confused as to where he was and why he was there but once he fully adjusted to the burning light of the day he started to remember. He was at sea seeking riches and treasure with a crew he put together himself. He had got a dingy of a ship he bought off some old man for a shilling. Evidently it seemed the ship; more accurately, boat was worth its price as a storm of the coast of Mozambique had totaled it. He and his crew were only able to survive due to sheer force of will or some act of divine intervention. Now he and the remains of his crew were shipwrecked on the coast of some African island. He prayed to the lord for his kindness of allowing them to live as he gathered up those of his crew that were still among them. He knew that there was a big island of the coast of Portuguese Mozambique and assumed that’s where he was. So soon after he and his crew had been awaken and alerted to their situation they set off hoping to find some kind of civilization hopefully the French or British kind. They did not find anything, though some people did find them. These people were harsh looking with weapons at the ready to strike. As they approached each over though the Africans lowered their weapons slightly not to immediately kill but in more defensive posture. Jean and his crew had no weapons on their ship and any pistols they did have were either lost or unusable as they had no dry gunpowder. So as the Africans approached they surrendered with their hands in the air hoping to avoid a confrontation. One African man presumably the leader approached and started speaking in a foreign language which Jean could only guess to what he was saying. The leader of the tribe or attaché started to walk away gesturing for two armed guards to go behind the crew to escort them. As the men started walking all together Jean got to properly inspect them. They were locals of African origin presumably but they weren’t like the sub-Saharan African Jean had seen before. Some of them had facial features similar to those of the natives of the French East Indies.
Eventually Jean and the crew escorted by the men came upon a large plantation from the looks of things. It was here that he was introduced to a French planter and businessman by the name Napoléon De Lastelle. Jean was relieved to be able to speak to someone who knew what was going on and where they exactly were. Lastelle explained that they were on the island of Madagascar in the kingdom of Merina. After many conversations between the two businessmen Jean was offered a job working on the plantation. Lastelle needed someone who knew how to operate machinery and now Jean Laborde quite literally washed up at his feet. Laborde pondered the opportunity. He was an industrious and savvy businessman and he recognized the opportunities he could bring to this island with his mechanical background. He accepted Lastelle’s offer to work here and he was given a homestead to live in. As Jean set up the few things he had in his new home he knew that his most valuable asset was his knowledge and he thought to himself about the ventures to come.
