Captain’s Log

Admiral Josephine Comita

North Star, Polarian Fleet

June 15, 2513

37.1, -58.2°

 

As Admiral of Polaris Station and acting captain of her flagship, the North Star, it is with growing frustration that I record yet another log without decisive naval action. We are now seeing increased raids on outlying stations and supply lines, and despite repeated reports to the Council, no action has been taken to address the growing pirate threat. If things continue in this vein, we are at risk of losing the coastal mines, and without the mines our entire way of life will collapse into anarchy.

I have found myself revisiting Andrea Shang’s canonical text, A History of the North Atlantic Archipelago. Her study of societal collapse is especially relevant in light of the pirate Ching Shih’s growing influence in the Atlantic.

Like the collapse of Western civilization, we are at risk of failing to act until it is much too late, despite the clear warnings provided by myself and others. Now, it is not the threat of rising seas and warming temperatures that will destroy us, as we have learned to live in this altered world, but a bitter struggle for the last of the resources left that will drive us over the edge.

Unlike the collapse of the West, however, there is still time to avoid disaster, provided the Council remembers its duties to all Archipelago stations instead of sinking deeper and deeper into corruption and complacency.

I will end this log with a passage from our history:

The North Atlantic Archipelago is still perhaps the greatest feat of human engineering in our impressive history as a species. Today, the Archipelago stands as a testament to the courage, resilience, and adaptability of the human race—  and as a reminder of our failures. Shang, 2503.

We will not repeat these failures on my watch.