Editing Journey of the Strange (section)

===the emerald rush and new colonials===
To date, the principal riches to have come from the New World consists of emeralds. In a single region where the hills reach the coast, a small colony was set up to harvest these gems from the earth.

The quantity of emeralds has not been great. Indeed, if a careful accounting were undertaken, it would be found that the colonies have so far represented a huge investment with little or no reward. However, when these stones arrived in the Old World, they ensured that the stories of rivers of gold and silver across the ocean would not die on the vine.

Few of the colonists paid for the rights to land before embarking on their voyage. The numbers of such folk are on the rise, however, and they are markedly different from the others in that they are arriving with families in tow and have no thought of returning. Along the way, these people have their charters ratified by the Baroness and her staff and they arrive at the docks full of hope.

Naturally, the claims they have, while vast, frequently overlap with others and usually cover areas of swamp, areas held by drakes and so on. A number of claims appear to be to areas of sea. Nevertheless, all of these claims bear several seals and signatures, so their bearers still feel themselves to be wealthy and are still able to use these documents as a certain form of currency.

None of these colonists has yet struck out into the interior to lay claim to their lands, but they are building in numbers and are getting organised. Several groups have declared themselves to be new states, independent of any other, but these have so far been largely ignored as they have yet to act. Many of them arrived with young children and have seen their children grow into young almost-adults. This is leading to the obvious problems, especially with the young mamelucos who abound.

Steam is building up and the climate is one of incipient explosion.