The Colonization of Oceana
One day as the warm sea breezes blew and the rolling waves crashed over the pristine sandy beach, a strange ship dropped anchor along the western coast of Oceana. In the past, the island had had many visitors from foreign shores. They came from the north, the east and the south, but none had ventured from the great continent to the west, a land populated by people whose forebears were rumored to be the same as those of the native people of Oceana.
When the adventurous western explorer Captain Israel Stallworthe and several officers and members of his intrepid crew came ashore, Alyana, the high priestess of Oceana, could plainly see the resemblance between the strangers and her own people: both had the same fair complexion, the same light-colored hair and the same blue-gray eyes. More indicative of shared ancestry were the similarities in the languages spoken by the two peoples. Although there were many regional differences in their speech, the visitors from the ship and the native people from the island of Oceana had little difficulty understanding each other's words.
"Greetings to you, good sirs," Alyana said, warmly welcoming the band of explorers to her homeland. "I'm sure you all must be tired and hungry from your long voyage. It is but a short journey from here to the metropolis where you can bathe, rest and eat."
As the visitors made their way inland, Captain Stallworthe and his men had a great many questions about the island and its people. Seeing no danger in satisfying the strangers' curiosity, the high priestess answered them all honestly and to the best of her ability.
"We have no need of either an army or navy here," she explained in response to the first officer's inquiry. "Ours is a peaceful society that has never known war or civil unrest, most likely because we do not place too high a value on worldly possessions. We instead seek the riches of the mind. Our people are, for the most part, scholars, poets, philosophers, musicians and artists."
Captain Stallworthe looked at the priestess with unconcealed skepticism.
"Forgive my candor. I don't mean to be rude, but I've noticed that all the buildings we've passed are quite elaborate and constructed of fine marble. Also, the clothes you and your countrymen are wearing are obviously well made of the best fabrics, and you are all wearing ornamental jewelry of gold and silver, encrusted with rare stones—at least they are rare in our world."
Alyana smiled and nodded, taking no offense from his comments.
"I know it must sound contradictory to our beliefs, but you will find most everything on Oceana to be of the highest quality and craftsmanship. You see, our people take great pride in everything they make, from the garments we wear and the food we eat to the great buildings that house our libraries, universities and observatories. To us on the island, the work we undertake—be it searching for a scientific discovery, composing a piece of music, painting a breathtaking landscape or making a suit of clothes—is done out of pride and joy of our labor and not for financial gain. To us, our work is not a means to an end; it is the end itself."
"I have traveled to many lands," the captain claimed, "and I have never seen a society such as yours. I hope you will allow me and my men to visit with your people and learn more of your unusual ways."
The Western explorers stayed on Oceana for several months, during which time they were treated hospitably by the native people of the small island. Everywhere the visitors went they encountered the many wonders of an advanced society. There was no crime, no greed and no violence. The people apparently took great joy in living a simple life of work. Their passions seemed to extend no further than the quest for art, beauty and knowledge.
The captain and his men, seasoned sailors who had faced many perils during their voyages, enjoyed the peace and tranquility Oceana offered, and many of them were loath to leave this Utopia and return to their homeland. Eventually, however, those men who had families in their own land began to put pressure on the captain to return. Finally, the brave seafarers bid farewell to the island paradise and reluctantly set sail for home.
* * *
When Captain Stallworthe and his men returned to their own country, they spread stories of the wondrous island they had discovered during their voyage. They described Oceana as a paradise on earth and its people as multi-gifted, highly intelligent and advanced in the arts and sciences. Their praise was so great that it stimulated widespread interest in the mysterious neighbor to the east.
One religious group, eager to indoctrinate the people of such a society in their own beliefs, formed a pilgrimage and set sail for Oceana. These newcomers, too, were welcomed by both the high priestess and the island's native inhabitants. When the western pilgrims told Alyana of their desire to establish a permanent colony on Oceana's shores, they were given several hundred acres of fertile farmland on the far side of the island.
The colonists, however, were interested in more than husbandry. They exhibited a profound curiosity not only about Oceana's unusual society but also about its religious beliefs.
"We in Oceana worship the goddess Mari, the mother of the sea," Alyana told them, "but we have no established religion as such. There are no holy writings or divine laws. We have no temples or sacred rites. Mari keeps the waters of the ocean peaceful and fills them with food. In gratitude for her beneficence, we pay homage to her. We honor her with statues and paintings, and we glorify her name in poetry, song and literature."
The leader of the colonists was appalled at such a belief system.
"Do you mean to say that you don't believe in God?"
"Which god do you speak of?" Alyana asked. "The sailors from the east have told us of many gods and goddesses."
"There is only one true God!" the priest declared fervently. "I see we will need to establish a church and a school on the island to teach his divine word to your people."
"By all means," the high priestess agreed. "Feel free to build your church. My people are always willing to learn since we value knowledge above all else."
* * *
The pilgrims soon established a successful colony, building permanent homes as well as a school and church. The hardworking settlers also planted crops, tilled the soil and fished the seas. These pious newcomers prospered on Oceana, and soon other ships carried more people from the great western continent to the island's shores. The new settlers brought with them strange men, women and children with red skin and dark hair and eyes.
For the most part, these people of a different color were treated poorly by their fellow countrymen and were made to perform the most menial tasks and labor long hours, and if they did not please their white masters, they were quickly punished, often by physically painful methods.
Alyana, therefore, found it difficult to reconcile the words of love and brotherhood the colonists preached in their church with their inhumane actions toward their red-skinned brothers. And while some of the people of Oceana were attracted to this new religion the colonists taught, their high priestess felt it contained many contradictions. She also considered most of the newcomers greedy, cruel and hypocritical individuals.
As the colony grew and its religion spread, the pilgrims established a new form of government. A small number of colonists declared themselves leaders and passed laws to which both their own people and the islanders were supposed to adhere. Alyana, who up until that point had believed in the principle of live-and-let-live, decided it was best to talk to the ruling members of the colony before things got any further out of hand.
"You are, of course, free to make laws for your own people," she explained with great delicacy. "However, you have no authority over those of us who were born here in Oceana."
"Our God gives us authority over all pagan people," Father Percival, the newly proclaimed leader declared. "If you do not submit to our beliefs and our laws voluntarily, we have the military might to force you to do so."
The high priestess was sorely troubled by this conversation. The colonists, although they had come to Oceana in the name of peace and brotherhood, had brought with them their weapons of war. The islanders, however, had no such weaponry, and even if they had, they lacked the proclivity for violence to use them.
"How can I preserve the ideals of our society in the face of armed aggression?" Alyana cried, kneeling before the twenty-foot-high statue of Mari that stood on the beach outside her home. "We can either bow to this foreign god and his laws or else manufacture weapons to defend ourselves. Either way, we betray the principles of peace and freedom by which we have lived for so long."
Deeply distressed, the high priestess looked up at the statue and saw not white marble features, but actual flesh and blood. The goddess' blue-green eyes, full of compassion and understanding, shed saltwater tears. The sea was the source of all life on earth, and its deity, Mari, was the mother of all mankind. As such, she loved all her children—those born on the island, who revered her, as well as those from the great continent to the west, who stubbornly denied her very existence.
* * *
After several days of fasting and meditation, Alyana met with the most loyal Oceanians. She instructed the island's most talented craftsmen to begin building a fleet of great ships. The teachers were told to collect their books, and the artists, poets, authors and musicians were instructed to gather as many great works as they could fit in the cargo holds of these ships.
"At the first sign of aggression," she instructed the most learned in the ways of seafaring, "you are to set sail and head east."
Work on the mighty vessels progressed in secret, as did the collection of food, clothing, books and artwork. Neither the colonists nor the converts among the native Oceanians were aware of these ships' existence.
Meanwhile, the new leaders of the colony passed stricter laws further curtailing the people's freedom, laws that the high priestess and her loyal followers continued to ignore.
In light of the natives' open defiance, the colonists prepared to make war. Alyana was arrested and charged with heresy. She steadfastly held her position that the colonists had no authority over the people of Oceana and refused to answer in their courts the charges brought against her. In the absence of any defense, the judges declared her guilty and sentenced her to death.
Shortly thereafter, all islanders were forced to either swear allegiance to the new theocracy or suffer the same fate as their high priestess. Many loyalists were able to flee persecution in the recently constructed ships, but the majority of them were not so fortunate.
* * *
On the day of the scheduled executions, Alyana and her faithful followers were led to a sheer cliff, high above a stretch of rocky beach. There they were made to stand along the cliff's edge while Father Percival, the spiritual leader of the colonists, read the decision of the court.
"Let it not be said," the priest concluded, "that our God is not a merciful and forgiving one. I offer you one more chance to save your lives. Forsake your heathen beliefs and swear fealty to him and to his laws, and you shall be pardoned."
The high priestess and the loyal Oceanians stood fast; they would rather die on the jagged rocks than give up their freedom and bow down to a god they did not believe in.
"So be it then."
A group of armed colonists raised their guns. Alyana turned her back on the firing squad and raised her hands in supplication to the blue-green ocean beneath her. Her fellow islanders followed suit. As the colonists opened fire, the loyal people of Oceana fell to the rocks below, but only a few of the bodies had been struck with bullets. The others had willingly leaped to their deaths.
The colonists watched the executions with grim satisfaction. With the loyalists gone, there would be no opposition to their new government. They could now take over the fine universities, libraries and museums and convert them into housing. Oceana was a land rich in natural resources that would bring them great wealth, which they would then use to spread their laws and the belief in a loving, merciful god to yet other lands.
Their moment of triumph was short-lived, however. As the colonists drew to the edge of the cliff to see the bodies of the victims, a dark cloud appeared on the horizon and rapidly approached the island. A strong wind blew, and the ocean parted. The figure of a woman emerged from its watery depths, a woman with skin the color of a sandy beach, eyes that were the blue-green shade of the sea and hair the shimmering white of sea foam. The men from the land to the west, whose minds had long been closed to all beliefs but their own, stood in awe of the incarnation of the goddess Mari.
"You have destroyed my gentle priestess and the innocent people of Oceana," Mari cried. "Now you must be punished."
Having spoken her decree, the goddess called forth the ferocity of the sea. A large black cloud rose from the depths of the ocean and obliterated the light of the sun. Bolts of lightning rent the sky, followed by the deafening roar of thunder.
The converted Oceanians trembled with fear, for they had never known the sea to be anything but calm and peaceful.
"Let us leave this cursed place" Father Percival shouted above the terrible din of the approaching storm.
The colonists quickly gathered what food and supplies they could and hurried aboard their ships. Several of them managed to set sail before the first avenging waves struck the island.
By the time night fell, the paradise known as Oceana was buried beneath the sea.
* * *
After a long, arduous journey, the few surviving colonists returned to their own land.
"We have come back empty-handed, it is true," Father Percival said. "But at least we are alive. This cannot be said of the people of Oceana."
If the priest believed he and his followers had escaped Mari's vengeance, he was sadly wrong. Before the year was out, a deadly plague spread through the land, killing off the white population and leaving only their red-skinned slaves, who were strangely immune to the disease, to inherit their land. It would be centuries before white men once again discovered the North American continent.
Meanwhile, across the ocean, Mari guided the remaining Oceanians to the land of Greece. There they established a new civilization and passed down tales of their homeland, an island paradise that had been swallowed up by the vast Atlantic Ocean, an island that would come to be known as the legendary continent of Atlantis.
Salem thinks it would be great to live on Oceana, no doubt because seafood is so abundant there.
