Tiamou's Voyage

One of the oldest legends known and still told is about the hazards encountered in the early days of ocean travel. Tiamou's Voyage is the story of a journey plagued with bad luck and saved by the apparent self-sacrifice of a sailor. Among Tideriders it is used to teach children correct ways of doing things, but it is also remembered for possibly describing the first person ever to manipulate water.

Summary

The collected versions of Tiamou's Voyage vary significantly in the details, but all agree on the following points:

• The captain's name is Tiamou, which is at odds with Tiderider naming traditions and supports the story's pre-500 Oce origin.
• The vessel is described as a ship with at least twenty oars.
• The ship is unable to sail, either because of a lack of wind or catastrophic damage.
• The crew rows to the point of exhaustion.
• Yadi, the only named sailor, declares he will go to an atoll called Miyestat for help and walks away on top of the water.

The following features appear in some versions and are attributable to later influences:

• All but two reference an incident with the ship's fire. While it's possible the minority dropped that part, Tideriders had begun moving away from keeping shipboard hearths at least a century before the earliest known written version. Start to finish, Tiamou's Voyage is filled with warnings against carelessness, and there is enough reason to believe that caution around fire is one of those added lessons.
• Yadi states he will walk above the water to avoid the Deeps. This addition probably developed around the same time as the legend of First One, since the deep ocean doesn't seem to have been a concern before that.
• The rescuers from Miyestat bring a message from Yadi that he has gone to find the middle of the ocean. No version with this ending can be dated earlier than 250 Vol, by which time Tideriders were aware of the Eddy and Water Seekers.

Historical Basis

Unlike the myth of First One filling the world, Tiamou's Voyage contains no truly supernatural elements. It's tempting to believe, as Tideriders do, that it really happened as described in its core elements. Harder to accept, however, is the 5000-year gap between the first appearance of a water worker powerful enough to walk over the ocean and the first appearance of a Water Seeker approaching a mother ship. If Tiamou's voyage happened, if Yadi existed, if he went for help, he almost certainly swam rather than walked.

Date of First Recording

The earliest record I have access to that references the legend is dated 5056 Oce. It's mentioned in a transcription of an older family history that claims Tiamou was their founding Mother Captain. Other Tiderider families also make this claim.

Date of Setting

The date the voyage allegedly took place can't be pinpointed any more accurately than sometime between 400-500 Oce.

Related Ethnicities

• Tideriders