Welcome to the Archipelago – a joint venture of three upcoming authors. While we haven’t had a chance to read the teaser story, SFFWorld.com volunteer staff are eager to join the swash-buckling fray. With award-winning authors working on this project, this serialized and interactive story is bound for troubled waters – as it should.
Read on to discover the adventure:
At the dawn of the 17th century, the nations of the world took to the seas like never before, crossing distances and discovering places previous unknown to them. We would come to call this the Age of Discovery, the beginning of the modern era. This was an age of empire-building and map-making, of new alliances and old grievances. Humanity’s horizons were broadened, for better or for worse, irreversibly changing the whole planet.
But what if things had gone differently?
The year is 1600, by the newly-introduced Gregorian calendar. England has begun to explore the Americas, though their early settlements have been disastrously unsuccessful. Portugal, Spain, England, and the Netherlands are at gun’s point with one another over plundering rights. Goa, the Tokugawa, Guangzhou, and Zanzibar are on the verge of major cultural shocks in the wake of the European visitors.
On the brink of all this change, three portals open in three different corners of the world. What if the course of history brought explorers not to the shores of their neighbours, but somewhere entirely different? What if the empires of our world set their sights on the Archipelago?
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Archipelago is a shared-world project by authors Andrew Leon Hudson, Charlotte Ashley, and Kurt Hunt. Each writer controls the fate of a different faction: the British Summer Isles, the east African city of Al’Tahj, and the lost colony of Roanoke, respectively. Told through monthly installments released on Patreon, these three factions travel through their portals and begin to learn about the Archipelago. But unlike a conventional narrative, their adventures are not entirely scripted.
Nine parts story and one part game, Archipelago is a collaborative storytelling effort where readers and writers both seek to outmaneuver one another to ensure victories for their favourite heroes. Archipelago readers will have the opportunity to influence events as the adventure develops, sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes devastating. Through monthly “Pearl” polls, readers have the chance to vote to award their favourite factions special items, or curse a rival faction with a faulty part. Less frequently, major plot devices or twists will be left up to readers.
As the three storylines progress, the writers will incorporate reader content, but they must also contend with what the others have written, using their wits and their pens to outmaneuver their opponents. The new world, the Archipelago, is rich and prosperous, filled with wonders unlike any seen on Earth. Those who cross over into the Archipelago have unparalleled opportunities for power and riches – if they can claim it. Sea monsters, mysterious artifacts, unknown skies and unexplored seas present only one kind of danger: the ships and guns of the other nations present a far more complex problem. With reader support, the three writers must battle for the supremacy of their faction.
Pick a side, read along, and help uncover the secrets of the Archipelago.
But who to pick?
This month, the Archipelago will present one story from each of the core nations. These free stories present snapshots of the Summer Isles, Roanoke, and Al’Tahj, but are also fast, fun, thrilling short stories in their own rights.
Start here, with the discovery of a portal in the Caribbean in the first episode, “In Extremis” by Andrew Leon Hudson.
IN EXTREMIS
By Andrew Leon Hudson
The forecastle shook as the gun-crews beneath unleashed another volley to port, and Thomas Laughton flinched in spite of his already ringing ears. The air was dappled black and grey with smoke, the sharp, stinging smell of gunpowder filling his nose with every breath–along with burning wood, the salt of the sea, and (in the imagination, at least) the salt of men’s blood.
His Majesty’s Ship Marvellous led a narrow line of English vessels to the east of the enemy, mirroring another to the west, the wallowing galleons of the Spanish silver fleet trapped in between. Her guns roared again, peppering the nearest enemy’s sails with grapeshot, and Laughton braced himself against the foremast. Thousands of miles from home, yet the blue of the Caribbean sky was as dull and muted as any English winter’s, and its emerald waters cast as dark as the North Sea in a storm.
Distant thunder roared, but from behind him–no, it was cannon fire. “Enemy on the starboard side!” a rough voice bellowed. “Where in blazes did this one come from?”
Laughton raised his spyglass. Through the smoke drifting across their decks from the battle he made out the familiar design and rigg of a Portuguese caravel, flying Spanish colours. Too far away to be an immediate threat, but she was showing her flank with gun-ports open and coming around their way.
Read more…. [link https://www.patreon.com/posts/in-extremis-by-9591808 ]
I’ve heard about this and it sounds awesome! I don’t know which nation to follow, but I will follow one.
We’ll see how it goes. I like the teaser story, but not sure how all three “worlds” will meld. But I trust they can do it. I’m looking forward to their stories.
This looks quite interesting. It will be fun to see it develop.