Story Prompt, Genre: Alternate History - The year is 1523. European royals and nobles discuss Ferdinand Magellan and Antonio Pigafetta’s original findings to the King of Spain/Holy Roman Emperor Charles V back in 1522. Both of their return to Spain, circumnavigating the world and Magellan returning with less than 10 men left weren’t nearly as important as his discovery. These group of islands (not just referring to the Philippines, but the Malay archipelago as a whole, which at the time had been called the "East Indies" by Europeans.) had been a center of ancient cultures around the world for millennia, where trade, settlement, resources and advancements had been made. According to Magellan's reports and Pigafetta's notes, they claimed that the ancient peoples of Aegyptus (referring to the New Kingdom of Egypt), Persia, Greece, the Roman Empire and peoples from other civilizations had arrived and settled on these islands thousands of years ago, creating a peaceful coexistence with its indigenous peoples and combining their cultures, military prowess and advancements. The other civilizations, according to Magellan, included surviving cultures of ancient Danes, Norwegians and Swedes who retained their cultures, which were still unknown at the time to Europe (referring to the Vikings) and a culture of the early Anglo-Saxons (referring to the settlers from the old Kingdom of Wessex). While some indigenous peoples on these islands were darker skinned, Magellan noted of descendants of settler populations who clearly came from the African continent, (referring to the descendants of settlers from both ancient Carthage and the Kingdom of Aksum and the recent immigrants from both the Mali and Songhai Empires, powers Europe at the time had little to no knowledge of.) people from the Far East, like the remnants of Mongols and settlers from Cipangu (referring to descendants of settlers from the Yuan Dynasty and Feudal Japan) and even “Indians” as noted by earlier voyagers and conquerors llike Christopher Columbus and Hernán Cortés (referring to the Aztec, Maya and Inca who immigrated and settled in the archipelago via the ships of indigenous and settler populations). This revelation, if true, posed both potential and concern. A rich hub of history and culture, to understand more about forgotten civilizations and histories, and resources all for Europe to have to strengthen themselves, but whether or not to engage in diplomacy and trade or to conquer and colonize was another issue. Christianization was discussed, as there was likely a chance that the original ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Far East settlers had brought their faiths and religions, with the aforementioned Anglo-Saxons already bringing Christianity centuries before Portugal or Spain had the opportunity to do so. These islands were also now on the same level as that of Ming Dynasty China and the Ottoman Empire, if not on the same level as the Europeans themselves, including Spain, Portugal, England and France. With the archipelago having closer contact with China and being the home of the descendants of Mongol settlers from the aforementioned Yuan Dynasty centuries prior , this meant they also had better access to gunpowder weapons and having settlers from the New World meant they had better relations with them. Discussion continued on what either powers’s next move was. With the success of the previous colonization and settlement of the Spanish and Portuguese in the Americas, the idea of doing the same thing to the archipelago was considered, as the Spice Islands are part of the archipelago. However, there was also the option of diplomacy and negotiations with the archipelago, as it seemed both indigenous and settler populations were more hospitable to Magellan’s expedition fleet than expected, and being a center for ancient societies to survive and live on meant greater historical and scientific possibilities. Both options were considered, and simply leaving the archipelago alone was out of the question for both the European powers and the Catholic Church and the Church of England.