The following histories were translated from a combination of ancient inscribed leather hides and clay tablets...2390 BC... an encounter with a small village on the coast was most profitable. It turns out these otherwise destitute people know how to fashion wood into workable craft for moving on the water close to the shore. Most novel, if not that useful.
2350 BCThis tablet hereby establishes a new standard for the written word. From henceforth, it is the decree of the elders that a standard format for all written records be established...2190 BC"... as we rounded the bay, the town came into view. It was not of the form that the ramshackle hamlets we had encountered so far. It was more like Paris, or Orleans, yet... alien. Large carved stone pyramidal structures formed most of the buildings instead of the long low buildings of home. The people there, of darker skin tone than our own, were strangely adorned and spoke in a tongue unlike our own. The citizenry seemed uninterested in us, and no leader seemed present, so we pressed on looking to contact someone in the role of chief..."
2150 BCThe Aztecs have made contact. Negotiations, until we found a means of common communication, were slow to begin with. Possibly as they are culturally backwards. This is odd, as they sure know more than we do about the secrets of the world. They have tamed beasts to do their bidding instead of simply penning them like we do, and their many warriors carry spears tipped with a shiny substance instead of our dull stones. They were unwilling to divulge the secrets of these two marvels, so we shall them to their lives and carry on exploring elsewhere.
2030 BCExcavations of both Orleans and Paris show that around this time, standardized urban layouts were emerging in French towns...The tribal council has authorised a second tribe to depart from Paris, with instruction to set up our third settlement in the wooded grasslands along the coast.
1830 BCSettlement of Lyons is complete. 3 tribes, bonded by common heritage. Who could stand against us? Those puny Aztec with their mounds of rocks? Pah! As if...
1790 BC Far to the south, beyond the southern deserts, our scout has come across a second advanced tribe...
Like the Aztec, the Inca build thier structures in a mound of rocks style. The also look and sound very similar. Chances are they are different branches of the same tribe. In any case, we managed to track down a tribal leader to speak to...
The Inca seem a lot more easy going than the Aztec. They are more cultured than the Aztec and share the Aztec knowledge of the world that we do not yet have. They have no knowledge of how to organise their teeming masses nor how to represent the spoken word, so we trade it to them for knowledge of how to tame the wild beasts, how to find that shiny spear stuff the Aztec have, and how to move canoes using the wind. They took some convincing, mind you, but gold is easy to come by in any case... they were also keen to learn about how we build our villages, and were willing to show us how to make better fabrics. A fair deal, says I, and they were eager to share, unlike their rock mound building cousins.
The council of elders is of the opinion that the Inca would make good friends, and the Aztec are potentially dangerous. We shall continue expanding to the south as far as is practical before looking to settle anywhere closer to existing settlements, unless anyone has any better ideas...