Grópius Avenna Porrótor

General introduction

Grópius Avenna Porrótor was a Tarrabaenian adventurer and author of maps and intineraries. He lived around 2900-2945 of the Era of the Earth. Maybe he lived past 2945, but he disappeared around that time and nothing was ever heard of him again, though some sources state that he did not actually disappear but rather voluntarily left Tarrabaenia to go west.

Among his most famous accomplishments are the crossing of the Central Erana Mountain Range and a visit to the Mukebahari Bay. He also left maps from various areas in Tarrabaenia, Madini, the Central Erana Mountain Range and even from a valley left of the Central Erana Mountain Range, which he called 'Subaltó Nibilis', which translates to 'valley of the mist'. It is not exactly known, which valley that refers to, but since it is described as misty, it can not be the Mesa of Lanp'run, but rather the XXX region east of the Brap'u.

Family background and personal history

Grópius was probably a member of a better established family of traders and land owners from the province of Bicantia. From this he got his money to go on expeditions, supposedly to open up new trade routes.

He is known to have been married. The name of his wife is unknown and of his three children, two sons and one daughter, only his daughters name remains known, as she, Serena Avenna Bellóta became one of the most successful pearl traders in Tarrabaenias history, probably due to her fathers explorations.

Grópius' travels

While not much is known about his private life and his life as a businessman, Gropius became famous for the expeditions he made. At first he crossed the Sévo Mountains to the East, a natural border that had already been breached before with Tebrina stretching eastward by that time. But other than territorial conquest, he went on a study trip to document local landscape shapes, possible transport ways, sources of water and what else might be useful for trade caravans. While trade with the East was already established with the Madini, the Madini charged high fees for their goods. Direct trade with the further away states in Andaperna could also not take place as the Madini protected their trade routes and Madini rulers forbade passage for Tarrabaenian traders.

Nonetheless there were rumors of access to the sea that might be used as a way around the Madini. These rumors pertaines to the Mukebahari Bay of course. The Madini hardly went there as they thought the place to be haunted, which they saw proven by the constant growling of the Volcano Bear. After their harbours, also the biggest of them, Dorba Umsumu, were destroyed in the Great Scorching, the Madini shunned the area. Rópius saw this as an opportunity to establish a new port there and to explore the areas further east on the seaway. This plan never came to fruition though, as the Madini got aware of his plans and threatened to continuously destroy everythin he would establish there as to prevent the Volcano Bear from getting angered and bringing destruction upon their lands. What Grópius accomplished there though, was to find pearls, which later his daughter continued to harvest and to import to Tarrabaenia. These were known as Avenna Pearls, as they differered from pearls harvested in the Grey Sea with their cool, light anthrazite hue.

The other famous trip of Grópius led him across the Central Erana Mountain Range. In 2941 he started his expedition from somewhere in the foothills in the state of Palissa. He went as straight west as possible until he reached the end of what he called 'an ocean of rocks'. When he descended, he got into a thick forest, that was hot and wet. Many of his companions suffered strongly from the conditions there and threatened to start a mutiny, which forced Grópius to turn back without having established any contact with local people. The Central Erana Mountain Range he found empty and barren, only mentioning a small band of nomads with their cattle in one of the valleys. He suspected there to be more than what he saw, due to the Kaumogg Stone Settings he discovered and documented, albeit not knowing, what they mean. He went for a second expedition to the West in 2945 from which he never returned.

One of Grópius' drawings of the stone settings

Grópius' legacy

With the Madini foiling his plans to etablish a Tarrabaenian trade port at the Mukebahari Bay, travel to and direct trade with the East was out of the question. Nonetheless, the Madini conceded that Grópius' Men and later his daughters Men could have access to the very western tip of the bay. The pearls found there never drew the Madinis attention as they were content with monitoring only the fact that no traffic across the sea started there. This left at first Gropius, later Serena with a massive revenue earned from those pearls.

Gropius is otherwise well known for his documentation of the areas he visited and the local landscape shapes. He was not a poet, but a tradesman, noting facts down as he saw them. This in part contributed to his writings having been overlooked for a long time. Later on they helped though securing the western bank of the Paunis river for the Tarrabaenians. He was also made aware of the existence of three petty kingdoms to the North of the Sévo Mountains, although he never visited them.

His trip to the West across the Central Erana Mountain Range was documented in great detail, but never inspired others to try the trip themselves. Today it isvalued more for its artistic value, as it shows drawings of the Kaumogg Stone Settings as well as of the nomads he met on the way. These seem to have been Joun, a race unknown to the Tarrabaenians. Their strange appearance fascinated people ever since the drawings were published and they also became some kind of model after which stories about The Pebblerollers get illustrated.