Ue Ius

Ue Ius was a Wymgani explorer from the Saesha people on the north-east coast of Ocea island, in what is now Ariddia. Continuing a long tradition of Wymgani exploration of distant lands, and roughly following the path set by Wa We two centuries earlier, Ius was the main navigator and spokesman of an expedition which sailed from the South Pacific to north-western Europe, arriving in 1587.

Ius is possibly the first Indigenous Ariddian to have learnt to speak English. He remained in Europe for over four months, and during that time provided priceless information on his native islands to local scholars (anthropologists, linguists, sociologists, geographers, scientists of various kinds...). He drew, from memory, sketches of his home village, but refused to reveal their location, after hearing about the colonisation of other lands.

During his stay, he met Emily Dale, a young middle-class woman, recently orphaned daughter of a wealthy upholster, and married her two months later in an Anglican church, after converting on the insistance of his bride-to-be. When he returned to the Ariddian Isles, his wife accompanied him.

After that, his fate is unknown. Over the following centuries the Saesha were scattered and absorbed into neighbouring communities, their specific oral history being forgotten. There is no oral record of Ius' return. If he did indeed make it back to Ariddia, his stay in Europe and the knowledge he brought back appear to have had little or no impact on his native community. Assuming Emily Ius survived the journey, she was probably the first White person to set foot in what would later become Ariddia.

Written records from sixteenth century Europe remain, and describe Ue Ius as a tall man with light brown skin and dark hair, naked (until he adopted some European clothing) safe for dry leaf wrappers round his waist and thighs. He was perceived as an intelligent, curious man, "an outstanding navigator, knowledgeable in the varied sciences of his people", according to one surviving newspaper article. Another article mentions that he took books (including a Bible), a compass, a sextant and other pieces of scientific equipment with him back to Ariddia.