Right, sea monsters. She didn’t take those into account when asking the question. [color=00AEFF]”Monsters of the deep? Oh, that’s easy: We don’t have any. Well, some are still left, but those stay in the depths. Either they live so deep down they can’t function near the surface or they learned that bothering us isn’t worth the trouble it brings. Humans have this tendency for disproportionate retribution: Countless times in our history, when one type of animal killed too many people or livestock for our liking, we nearly or completely eradicated that animal from that part of the world.“[/color] And then had to airdrop Wolves into Yellowstone in early 21st century, once people realized they were important for keeping other animals in check. [color=00AEFF]”Many of the large sea creatures have died out on their own thousands of years ago due to there being not enough food for them, others died due to water pollution.”[/color] Vigdis counted on her fingers. Blue Whales were hardly monsters, if anything they had been known to protect other creatures and even humans from sharks and killer whales, if documentaries and Vigdis’ grade six biology teacher were to be believed, but the Orcas definitely counted. [color=00AEFF]”Plus we started building our waterborne ships from steel… 450 years ago? That would’ve helped too.”[/color]

[color=00AEFF]”Hey, Captain, have you heard? There’s a fortune to be made shuttling explorers and settlers beyond mountains and oceans once we get the Jo airworthy again.”[/color] Now, Vigdis was clearly joking, even the locals would’ve recognized laughter by now, but in a pinch…

[color=00AEFF]”So you never had someone who one day decided ‘I’m just going to sail West and see where I end up.’? We had people like that even back when we believed in sea monsters, magic and gods. A quarter of Earth’s landmass was discovered due to navigation errors. Everyone had been sailing to India due East, until one day one man decided he would find a Westward path. Found a new continent because it was in the way.”[/color] Bit of a simplification, but it got the point across. [color=00AEFF]”And how does magic factor into it? No life mage ever tried changing into a creature that would tolerate the harsh conditions during the overland crossing?”[/color]