Records: WestHem Trade

## **Cross-Hemisphere Trade**

Both the upper and lower continents of the Western Hemisphere were still incredibly dangerous. There was no estimation of populations, at least none with any hope of accuracy, only that the megafauna had likey reduced them from whatever they had been previously. Even in the post dire-creature apocalyspe, however, there was still hope.

The temperate zone of the upper continent, the tribes had survived in the seams between the dire-grazers and the dire-predators. They used the mega-flora to their own advantage as well, taking to life high in the trees when not taking over the caves.

The subtropical zones, where there was complex construction, had used their walls to their advantage.

In the lower continent, the tribes high in what might've been called the Andes Mountains had the advantages of both finely crated physical defenses and a propensity for the high ground.

In other areas... the RANP exploration was as much an extended Search and Rescue operation as it was cartography and cataloging. The power of the OM's magic was a shining light against the supersized apex predators – and with every ship holding a portal back to RANP-London, there was infinite room to evacuate surivors.

In the areas where the CMC had stabilized, however, human culture was experiencing a resurgence. In those areas, their success was now ready to start sustainble trade with the Eastern Hemisphere.

### **The WestHem Warriors**

The Aztec-Mayan areas were well ahead of the curve. Increasing control of the countryside meant rising industry, to the point they were producing far more than they were consuming. The RANP helped them package that, knowing it was going to sell like gifts from the gods back in the East.

Mayapan had significant trade networks even before the arrival of the CMC. The natives often traded luxury goods, such as cotton, salt, and honey, for products of obsidian and metal (which they then forged). The metal was still rare enough, however, that it wasn't used in combat (that was mostly relegated to the sharp edges of the obsidian). When the idea of cross-portal trade was opened, they were savvy traders.

## **Some of the MesoWestern Exports**

### **Chocolate**

* Legions of chocoholics would argue that the Maya's "food of the gods," made from the toasted, fermented seeds of the cacao tree, is the New World's greatest gift to civilization. The natives tended to enjoy theirs bitter and spicy, but this took the East by storm.

### **Vanilla**

* The elixir from the world's only known edible orchid, first cultivated by the Totonaca. This, in particular, was a personal favorite of King Richard.

### **Corn (maíz)**

* Every elementary-school kid knows corn was the most important food in the Americas. The Popul Vuh, the Maya "bible," attributes humankind's very existence to this domesticated strain of wild grass. In its creation myth, the "Creators and Makers" fashioned man from tender kernels of yellow and white corn after failed attempts with mud and wood. Though corn was a dietary staple in most of Mexico as long as 6,000 years ago, it was the Maya who first cultivated it around 2500 B.C., abandoning their nomadic ways to settle in villages surrounded by cornfields.

### **Sweet potato**

* Sweet potatoes are native to the tropics from the Yucatán to Venezuela, and the Maya domesticated the plant at least 5,000 years ago. By 2500 B.C., sweet potatoes had spread throughout the Caribbean and South America. Sweet potatoes belong to the genus Ipomoea, which includes morning glories. Though commonly confused with the yam, what we know as yams are simply another variety of sweet potato. True yams are native to Africa; when slaves from that continent were deposited in North America they adopted sweet potatoes as a substitute for the tuber they had eaten in their homeland and called it by the familiar name.

### **Squash**

* Though corn and beans are better-known Aztec natives, squash predates them by several thousand years; Maya people domesticated several varieties of squash as early as 8000 BCE. Oils from these seeds were the main source of dietary fat before the East introduced beef (and pork, at this point, had stormed off the table). Though the native plants included cucumber, zucchini, patty pan and butternut squash, great quantities of pumpkin — la calabaza grande — defined the Yucatán diet.

### **Black beans**

* The black bean appeared to have originated in southern Aztec areas (and well south) almost at the same time as the squash (more than 7,000 years ago). With their meaty flavor and velvety texture, black beans are still the favorite in and around the Yucatán, where they may turn up in almost any dish.
* Further, the backbone of the trademark flavor of the region came from locally-grown plants: chiles, tomatoes and avocado. The tomatoes, especially, gained a foothold as a staple in Italian cuisine. Finally, the papaya was a delicious fruit with significant potential medicinal properties.

### **Chiles**

* Chiles were cultivated in the Americas as long as 7,500 years ago. Some of the RANP mistook them as relatives of black pepper, native to southern Asia, but portal trade now spread them throughout the world. The release of endorphins, increased heart rate, mental stimulation and euphoria provoked by chiles' capsaicinoids — the ingredient that makes them taste hot —qualifies them as psychoactive plants.

### **Tomatoes**

* The Italians, in particular, found a fondness for this WestHem export. Precursors originated in Peru, but the modern tomato came from the Yucatán, where the Maya cultivated it. Native versions were cherry-sized and most were yellow rather than red. Related to the deadly nightshade, but profoundly *not* poisonous, Italian cuisine was already contemplating the mixing the ingreidents in a world-changing invention called the *pizza*.

### **Avocado**

* In southern Aztec areas, it was prized as an aphrodisiac — where the original ahuacatl name meant "testicle." The locals even kept their daughters indoors during harvest season. The avocado had already spread north to Coahuiltec areas and south to the Andes tribes (the proto-Inca), before portal trade spread it through Europe. While the sexual association didn't much carry over into Eastern cuisine, fans of the turkey-and-avocado sandwich *might* disagree.

### **Papaya**

* The fruit was destined to travel west more than east, becoming an indispensible part of the south-pacific palette. Not only pleasing in flavor, it had mild medicinal effects and was another major export for the WestHem cultures.

### **Non-food Exports**

* The market for other exports was tiny, at best, save for a mindset: cooler-wearing clothing. In this respect, there was Ricardian "inspiration" passed along that was introduced to the locals that streamlined the bulky wear of the 14th century European courts and urban commons. In this case, it was pants with pockets – sometimes cargo-pant level of garment engineering – and a court style that was more reminiscent of the mid-18th century. With all the OM/RANP had already done to upset the apple cart in the east, the countryside was surprisingly resistant to the style cues. Coming through a translation of warrior cultures of the west, however, made it *cool*.

## **Cross-Colonization**

There were some European concerns, especially in the more isolated and deep rural areas, about the influx of darker-skinned peoples fleeing the monsters of the west. It wasn't a space issue: after the plague and the orks, there was (unfortunately) plenty of room in Europe for western refugees. Some of this trickled back to previous biblical interpretations of dark skin being a byproduct of Cain's sin – and that murmur was otherwise nipped in the bud both by Jesuit clarification and the raw, regular presence of a rainbow of humanity in the royal and imperial Plantagenet courts.

In most urban European areas, where the stories of the megafauna were well-known, and especially those agriculural areas more deeply impacted by the orks, there was an appreciation and high regard of the Westerners' hardy stock.

As for East-to-West Cross-colonization...? *That was few and far between*. While there was even more empty territory in the West, the megafauna was considerably less controlled than the orks (at least in core CMC areas). in total, there was movement between eastern and western hemispheres, but it was *very little*.

## **The Pacific Arrival of the *HMS Discovery***

By August, 1381, the *HMS Discovery* was making its way back up the Pacific side of the Western Hemisphere. There were local Aztec/Mayan rumors of the Andes tribes well to the south, but contact was limited mostly to epic stories. By the time the *Discovery* made its way back to the MesoWestern civilizations, it found a pair Noble Plantagenet march duchies and considerable progress in making the countryside safe.

Given the regular contact of the *Discovery*, they knew what was happening (they'd been portal-offloading rescued WestHem natives in RANP-London nearly the entire time, and especially during their trip up the Amazon). Actually seeing the progress, however, was impressive – especially as it stretched from the Gulf to the Pacific.