Card：
Effect：
Play an Economy card, draw 2 extra Diplomacy cards at the start of your next Round.
Describe：
The Northwest Passage was not a single maritime route, but rather a network of interconnected sea lanes extending across the northern regions of the world. By the late Fifth Millennium A.C., navigators generally divided the passage into five principal segments:
The New Declan Passage, linking Koranville with the eastern coast of Puyo;
The Mackenzie Northern Passage, which extended northward along the northern shores of Mackenzie;
The Polar Passage, crossing the frozen archipelagos that dominate the Arctic regions of northern Mackenzie;
The Aurora Passage, leading westward through the Aurora Sea and ultimately reaching the northern territories of Tenyeje;
and The Asuma Passage, which connected the western reaches of the Northwest Passage to the Port of Linghua Longdu and, further south, to the numerous spice-producing islands of Southeastern Asuma.
Together, these routes formed the maritime corridor known collectively as the Northwest Passage.
Tales：
Between the years 4050 and 4100 After Creation (A.C.), the Kingdom of Koranville suffered a decisive defeat in its prolonged conflict with the Kingdom of Skykor. The consequences of the war fundamentally altered the balance of maritime trade across the Western Continent.
In the decades that followed, Skykor established effective control over the principal southern sea routes leading to Asuma. As a result, Koranvillian merchants found themselves increasingly excluded from the lucrative spice trade of Southeastern Asuma, whose island archipelagos produced cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon in abundance. These commodities were regarded throughout the Western Continent as goods of extraordinary value, often compared to gold in both rarity and profitability.
At the same time, demand for spices within Koranville continued to rise rapidly. The traditional southern route remained available in theory, but in practice it was lengthy, costly, and vulnerable to attack by Skykorian privateers operating throughout the southern seas. Faced with mounting economic pressure, the Koranvillian Crown and the Royal Spice Guild turned their attention northward in search of an alternative passage to Asuma.
It was under these circumstances that the Flesh Expedition was organized.
The expedition was led by Sir Flesh, a Koranvillian nobleman and experienced navigator. The flagship of the voyage was the KRS Vitae, accompanied by the escort vessel KRS Sailfish. Departing from the Port of Koranville, the expedition entered the New Declan Passage and proceeded northward with the objective of traversing the largely unexplored Northwest Passage and establishing direct trade with the ports of Asuma.
According to The Journal of Sir Flesh, the early stages of the voyage were successful. By late summer the expedition had entered the Mackenzie Northern Passage and completed the charting of several previously unmapped coastal regions. As the ships advanced farther north, however, temperatures fell rapidly and drifting sea ice began to accumulate within the narrow channels.
In the early winter of that year, the expedition encountered exceptionally severe conditions near the Icefog Strait.
The sea froze earlier than anticipated.
Both vessels became trapped within dense pack ice.
As the winter progressed, the ice thickened steadily and exerted increasing pressure upon the hulls. After approximately two months, the keel of the KRS Sailfish fractured under the strain. The vessel suffered catastrophic structural damage and was abandoned. Surviving crew members transferred the remaining provisions to the Vitae.
The expedition thereafter entered a period of extreme hardship.
The testimony of the sailor Ryan Holt, recorded several years after the voyage, provides one of the most detailed contemporary accounts:
“Our bread had long since spoiled, and only a few barrels of salted meat remained. Many men suffered swollen and bleeding gums. Wounds refused to heal. Some began losing their teeth, while others could no longer leave their hammocks.”
Modern scholars generally agree that the crew was suffering from scurvy.
On the third day after the expedition’s food stores were exhausted, lookouts reported several unfamiliar figures moving across the ice.
At first, the crew believed them to be sea monsters.
As the figures approached, however, it became apparent that they belonged to a previously unknown tribe of northern dragons.
This encounter represents the earliest and most complete surviving account of the Northern Dragon peoples in the historical record of Koranville.
Sir Flesh described them in the following terms:
“Their wings seemed poorly suited for long-distance flight, yet they moved beneath the ice as hunters of the sea. They emerged from one opening and vanished beneath another. Their speed astonished every man aboard.”
The dragons were typically clad in heavy garments fashioned from bear and seal hides. They carried spears, bone bows, and throwing weapons adapted for Arctic hunting.
Particularly noteworthy was a distinctive form of eye protection worn by nearly every member of the tribe. These masks, carved from bone, covered the eyes completely except for a narrow horizontal slit through which the wearer could see.
Subsequent studies conducted by Mackenzian scholars suggested that the design served to reduce the effects of snow blindness caused by reflected sunlight on ice and snow.
The dragons displayed no hostility toward the stranded sailors.
Instead, they offered fish, seal meat, and fresh ice suitable for drinking water.
Nevertheless, relations between the two groups were initially strained.
According to The Report of the Survivors of the Vitae:
“They instructed us to eat raw fish and the organs of seals. Many considered this a mockery unworthy of civilized men. Raw fish was tolerable enough, but the liver and entrails of seals were revolting to most of the crew.”
Including Sir Flesh himself, many members of the expedition initially rejected the dragons’ advice.
Over time, however, those who consumed the food provided by the dragons began to recover. Their gums ceased bleeding, wounds healed more readily, and their strength gradually returned.
Those who continued to refuse the food experienced further deterioration.
Faced with the realities of survival, an increasing number of sailors eventually adopted the dragons’ practices.
With the benefit of modern medical knowledge, historians now recognize that the seal organs consumed by the sailors contained essential nutrients that alleviated the symptoms of scurvy.
The following spring, rising temperatures weakened the surrounding ice. Assisted by the dragons, the crew succeeded in opening a navigable channel and freeing the Vitae from its frozen confinement.
Although the expedition ultimately failed to reach Asuma, it succeeded in returning to Koranville with extensive observations concerning the northern regions of Mackenzie.
The Flesh Expedition is widely regarded as a turning point in the history of Northwest Passage exploration. Its significance lies not only in the cartographic knowledge it produced, but also in the fact that it marked the first confirmed contact between the civilization of Koranville and the Northern Dragon peoples.