Fram Expedition

**Fram Expedition** was an expedition aboard the ship symbolically named after its predecessor with similar mission: to explore frozen ocean in northern Foolandia sooner than Pillagers will, and report findings to **Anti-Pillager Alliance (A.P.A.)** headquarters. Especially important part of the mission was to find any traces of ancient Eskayedic peoples that were reportedly living in the area in ancient times.

## Voyage Novaya Zemlya -> North-East Frozen Ocean

Voyage started 2023.12.30 15:50 CET (14:50 GMT, 9:50 EST) in Novaya Zemlya, in eastern dock at coordinates:

Sea route was this: Novaya Zemlya -> Severnaya Zemlya -> Sagev -> Ill Age Fatherland -> Warped Forest Province -> Janus Canal -> North-East Frozen Ocean.

## Icebound Ship & Losing Crew

Unusually cold winter surprised the expedition in the middle of frozen sea near Eskay Creek north-west from **Nordkapp** and the their ship stuck in the iceberg at coordinates:

The expedition was surviving the winter inside the ship, having fishing and hunting equipment, sufficient amount of food and drinkable water supplies, but polar bears probably sniff it out and started to attack the ship. Ship captain (R.I.P.) did not survive one of such attacks while he was catching fish and patrolling the deck. Only fishing rod and his tobacco pipe was found in a pool of blood.

In the spring, survived remaining crew still wasn't able to release the ship from the iceberg, but they were able to leave the ship using ship's accessory boats for short range roaming around. Although they attempted to stick together, they failed eventually, and two more crew members disappeared: **0kareo** while scouting with elytra and **Stanley Kidd** who was kidnapped by Pillagers.

Remaining crew members, **Admiral Litke** and DemonBaby didn't want to return without their lost friends, so they risked their parallelization:

* DemonBaby elytried up to nearby isolated snowy taiga cliffs to see into the distance and scout for traces of **0kareo** and **Stanley Kidd** from there, and also started to build an inaccessible base there, later known as **Fort Hulda**.
* **Admiral Litke** stayed guarding **Fram** and mapping surroundings, and continued in its close vicinity in Eskay Creek site with the primary exploration mission: he found and marked multiple mines of various minerals, and connected them by improvised roads with Fram's iceberg, built improvised cranes, digged a canal for boats, started extending the road to DemonBaby's outpost, and deflected several spying Pillager's patrols' Eskay Creek takeover attempts, making them unsuccessful. But before that all, **Admiral Litke** radio-contacted his old friend with cover name **Flying Dutchman** (high-ranking official of the **Empire of Darkness**) on his assignment in Pillager's mining area in **Wallachia**, to arrange the release of **Stanley Kidd** imprisoned probably there, and help him with the flight back to the north-east ...

## North-East Colonization

2023.12.31: Test boat voyage to **A.C.M.E. Rocky Mountains** undertaken by **Admiral Litke**: water-way (sea + partially swampy river) discovered and the required canal digged with HunterrF who joined **Fram** crew later, to help DemonBaby with searching for the lost crew, but DemonBaby disappeared as well. **Admiral Litke** + HunterrF started to develop a road between Eskay Creek and **Nordkapp** and hired first 2 colonists: starving and sick gold-diggers lost in old growth taiga were taught by the hardship enough, that it's better to have a stable job with shelter protection, than golden rush. One became a toolsmith, the second a mason, and the mines had the new employees ...

## Ancient Ruins

2024.01.03: When DemonBaby suddenly reappeared, she had good news: she had found the thing expedition was looking for: ocean ruins and trail ruins, supposedly remnants of ancient culture of Eskayedic peoples. DemonBaby led **Admiral Litke** to new archeological site and he was excited. Excavations started soon, confirming that ruins are really that old, and that they really belonged to those ancient peoples. And to discover ancient secrets of those peoples, while legends have it, they formed quite advanced civilization in the past, and also Pillagers are looking for their artifacts too, theorizing those ancient technologies like armor smithing templates could significantly change the balance of power in Foolandia ...

Ancient ruins discovered by DemonBaby in Eskay Creek

More information about excavations and their outputs: here.