Log Of Long Zhu

Long Zhu was one of the first to descend into the great crag, and find himself joining the growing Ardamite Religion, and becoming a major figure in the nation’s politics. Though he slowly became withdrawn over time. His location is currently unknown, but this has been recovered from a journal in his manor, and digitized. Population records from the Zhuhong Empire place his birthdate around 1920.

August 14th- 1942

My Travels have brought me to an unfamiliar place. Initially, my goal was to take my product, Which was to be shipped to Gythros, but it seems that a maintenance issue ended those plans swiftly. The Great Crag… It seems as if there’s nobody else here.

August 16th- 1942

My rations have done me well, but I’d feared that I would run out soon. Luckily, I’ve found a quaint settlement, one led by a man calling himself “Selenium Ignatius.” It’s been built up with the local architecture one would expect, and they do have modern technology despite their isolation.. At the least, their leader carries themselves well and acts cordially. How long I will stay here is anybody’s guess. They've decided to call themselves the “Kaemerge” apparently.

August 25th, 1942

Well, its been a week and some change, and no sign of anybody coming to rescue me. No tools to fix my ship, and even if there was, that was a hard landing…

September 4th, 1942

I've noticed that the religion of this society is quite… Interesting, it seems that Selenium has placed himself as the head, the Herald of one they call Ardam. Below himself, are the four pillars, positive aspects. I haven't bought into it. I follow the teachings of Lao Tzu. And I do not see that changing.

January 15th, 1943

The settlement has grown a lot recently. Though some lost travelers had come to join it over time, the population was only about 100 people before today. But apparently, Selenium left saying he was going to Show the light of the Ardamite Faith to others, as the all-seeing Ardam has dictated. These 70 or so people seem to be Persians, given their manner of dress. But why they would come here, I do not know. But until new housing can be built, some relatively well preserved ruins are being used… they're centuries old at least, I imagine that's not the best of arrangements

But I've noted something interesting about Selenium. At times he'll disappear, going off too some unmarked building, to “Seek Audience.”. It seems to be ancient as well.

October 17th, 1945

Haven’t updated the log in quite a bit, but I've been busy. Being a former trader, i’ve been asked to work on Logistics by Selenium himself. I agreed, considering I live here, with very little to do other than cultivate crops. Though, it seems that might be changing, more and more people have arrived here, and there’s even been construction of factories within the gorges. Apparently, that metal they discovered back in 32’, Zycrium, veins have been discovered, and foundries are being built.

I’ve mostly kept to myself, But I started talking too some of the people who came to join Selenium. It’s the same story, they were brought from their old homes, which were wrought with war, disease, famine, any number of things, and came here for a fresh start. Either way, it seems things will be changing a lot soon.

August 14th, 1948

6 year anniversary of me crashing here, how exciting. But, with that, has come other changes. Apparently, an expanded system of governance, and an actual military are seen as important now. Lords, Aristocrats, Nobles, and Their titles. In a way, this reminds me of back home. Though, unlike there, apparently my work has been considered important enough that I’ve been given a title. Count Long Zhu, has a bit of a ring to it…

But this new government has drifted toward a theocracy, and Selenium has dubbed himself Emperor, and Herald of Ardam. Still haven’t brought into it, but, whatever makes them happy, I guess.

July 7th, 1953

Apparently, I’ve underestimated how hard being a noble is… I delegate work to my bureaucrats, and whatnot, but there is a lot of work to be done. The citizenry has no shortage of Grievances. Whether it be daily things, or the other lords trying to encroach upon other’s territory. The Imperial army keeps the peace at times, but I’ve had to build up my house’s personal force as a deterrent. Hopefully I don’t come to blows with anybody. I was a trader, after all, not a soldier, or a general.

August 12th, 1956

So it seems that noble houses have come to blows, though, thankfully, my own was not one of them. Apparently some “Settlements”, founded in regions outside of the gorge, are clashing with lords in Tsugashuan over power. As it stands, I don’t know who will be victorious. But at this point, I intend to watch and see what happens.

July 7th, 1959

The Whole Debacle is over, and the winners have become clear now, Four Houses by the names of Lavarit, Acconio, Isstora, and Ghaia. Things certainly got less straightforward as time went on. Blood oaths, secret alliances, backstabbing. The Inner-Outer conflict kind of died down in favor of random conquest.

I even found myself attacked once, though, by another count. I fought him off well enough, and he was killed, by one of his advisors, unsurprisingly. Apparently, he’d been told that such an attack would be untenable at best, but he did not listen… I’ll be holding a funeral for the troops we lost, All things considered, they’ve been loyal through and through.

July 8th, 1961

I’ve heard news back from the outside world. Apparently, something called a “Sigma Particle Reactor” was discovered. Produces a whole lotta power for its size. Some scientists are apparently trying to make one for themselves, and have come to a few members of the nobility for sponsorship, myself being one of them. Not like there’d be any harm in doing so.

August 7th, 1962

In an unexpected development,there is a woman i’ve grown interested in. Currently, we spend a lot of our time together. A woman from Penzenheim, apparently. Her Name, Schwanhild… How will things though, that much, I do not know.

July 10th, 1964

Things have changed quite a bit in my life. Schwanhild and I have married, and we’ve had twins. My son, Who I have named Yongrui. Long Yongrui, and His sister, Ruolan… I hope to give these two the best life I can. My early upbringing wasn’t exactly a preferable one.. Being the child of a father who died at war, and a mother who fell into Alcoholism did not make for a happy home life. How different would things have been if he’d survived?

Well, there’s no use dwelling on that now

August 7th, 1982

Rediscovered this thing, In pretty good condition for a 40 year old log, I’ll say that much. It’s been a relatively quiet time since then. The occasional power struggle between nobles, and myself even gaining the title of Duke, and Tsugashuan still growing rapidly. My son as well, he’s 18 now, and decided to join the Army… I’m not sure If I like that. I’ve had to see many I knew in caskets over the years, and I wouldn’t like for him to be one, but it seems that he’s intent on doing so regardless… My daughter has decided to take up administration, as things stand, I will likely pass my domain to her when I retire.

But I’ll note, things are starting to heat up again with the appearance of this Kid “Ito Minoru”, Last survivor of some Clan in Yamato, which got massacred around six years ago. About the same age as my son, but he’s apparently been made a general, By the emperor himself.

A Lot of the nobility are jealous, and he and my son are apparently the best of friends now.

February 27th, 1985

So, apparently, that Minoru guy has even more power now. Selenium has introduced the idea of an “Apostle”, a powerful warrior and accomplished strategist who would serve as his second in command. My son is one of his personal guards, apparently. Somehow, he discovered he had protomis within himself… How that happened was anyone’s guess.

January 30th, 1992

Another apostle… Some guy named Najeem Al Moussa. He was fighting in some war down in the Sultanate. Not one that I'm privy to, but regardless, these two apostles have begun challenging each other for power, though it's mostly been a cold war than anything else.

August 12th, 1993-

So the USSR Collapsed a few years ago, and a new government came to replace it, at first, it was the CRM, but Sokol Namuov, the last descendant of the Old imperial family came to power, mostly bloodlessley at that. Something we apparently helped with… This isn’t exactly the first time we’ve done this, but, something feels different this time, I can’t describe it, not well, at least… The road that the Kaemerge is going down isn’t exactly a good one. From what I heard, he was content to even retire from politics and let things take its course.

Perhaps, this was something I should’ve addressed when I landed those 51 years ago…

July 17th, 2000

My son…

He’s…

He’s gone, to civil strife, at that. The 3rd Apostle, Amelia Livert, and the 1st, Minoru Ito. And he was among those killed. Schwanhild has locked herself in her study, and, at this point, I even find myself wanting to do the same. We only found out now that he had a child, my grandson. I decided to bring him, and his mother, into our clan. It is only right. For what reason he decided to keep this secret, I do not know… I certainly did not raise him to do so…

August 14th, 2002

It’s been 60 years since I've landed here, and I’ve reached the age of 82… I’ve decided to retire. I find myself interested in narrative writing, poetry. Perhaps I'll just be doing that.

January 8th, 2006

Another world war, one partly propagated by someone we put in power… To think I'd be here to witness another… At this point, I’ve grown tired of war, and my beloved wife feels the same. I’ve built a summer home in a secluded corner of Tseng. I intend to live the rest of my life there…

August 11th, 2011

While my wife and I sit in our retirement home, things have changed within the organization we once called ourselves part of. A number of Proto-humans have been made soldiers, many of them young.

September 25th, 2016

A Lot has changed in those 10 years… We’ve revealed ourselves to the world, even began or own war of conquest, but, it’s dangerous to be a Member of the Kaemerge and be out here. I’m not surprised that my daughter came to petition us to return… I’ve kept contact with her over the years, but as for those I used to associate with, not so much… I decided to do so.

December, 2017

Tsugashuan has fallen, or rather, it’s falling.I believed this day would come eventually, I knew that. The apostles were apparently killed by some relatively young opponents, along with much of the Imperial guard. All with vendettas against this state… This much is not a surprise to me. You reap what you sow. My daughter apparently intends for us to escape to the colonies… Perhaps I should do so.

​The fate of Long Zhu is unknown. Apparently, he stayed in the city up to the point where the last apostle was killed, and was planning to escape. A number of civilian vessels were noted exiting the city, but whether his was one is not currently known. The collapse of falling rock could have killed him, or being shot down by a stray blast. But there is little detail to confirm this.