The Southern Continent appeared on the horizon after seventeen days at sea, rising from the morning mist like a vision from another world. But it was the ships that came out to meet us that truly drove home how little we'd understood about the scope of civilization beyond our territorial borders.
They were vessels unlike anything our shipbuilders had ever conceived—sleek, fast, powered by some combination of wind and magic that let them cut through the waves with impossible grace. Their hulls gleamed with metallic inlays that seemed to pulse with stored energy, and their sails bore symbols that spoke of advanced craftsmanship and aesthetic principles developed in complete isolation from our own traditions.
"Signal flags," observed Navigator Hayes, studying the approaching ships through h
