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The story of Liberto (Ehppò)

The Origins and the Island

It was 1509. Europe was in turmoil: a continuous flow of ships headed for the New World. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, until Kàreni Vothar accidentally landed on the island of Ehppò. This land lies in the heart of the Adriatic, hundreds of kilometers from any other coast. With an area of about 480,000 km² (slightly smaller than France), it was surrounded by many smaller islands, some tiny, others as large as Corsica. The climate was mild, the coasts jagged and full of bays, and the subsoil teemed with minerals. All this made the island fully self-sufficient: no need for imports, no dependency.

Isolation

It was precisely this potential that became our curse. At first (we are still talking about a period long ago), the nearby powers made agreements with our government to guarantee Ehppò absolute independence. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the ruling class even decided to ask for the island to be removed from maps and from the collective memory of other countries, condemning us to total isolation.

The tendency toward isolation became fully entrenched in 1900, when Jerksmi Shtìr I took power and established a dictatorship. He convinced the people that the outside world was dangerous, populated only by savages ready to destroy us. Since then, the title of Jerksmi Shtìr has passed from generation to generation, up to the current ruler: Jerksmi Shtìr IV, great-grandson of the dynasty's founder.

Colonization

Let’s go back to the first encounter with the island. Vothar and his fleets arrived at Ehppò after a storm that forced them to struggle at sea for four days. Miraculously surviving, they considered the number four a sign of destiny. In just a few years, they founded the first four cities: 1Ery, 2Ery, 3Ery, and 4Ery. “Ery” means “day” in the new local language. Among these, the most important became 3Ery, which we also call Reventoj. In reality, “Reventoj” is not an official name: it is a nickname, just as “Liberto” is a nickname for the entire island.

Reventoj Today

Reventoj is the most populous city, but also one of the harshest to live in. People are crowded into neighborhoods, tired and disillusioned. That is why many seek refuge in secret groups, technically illegal, where we try to rediscover our humanity. One of these groups is ours, Group E, which has a particularity: we still preserve the tradition of Esperanto. It is said that a diplomat from Ehppò, Lèdis Harpoor, during a trip to Poland in the 19th century, was fascinated by it and brought it back to the island. Since then, at least in our group, the language has survived, and many members use only Esperanto.

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The Shipwreck, Kàreni Vothar, and the beginning of Liberto

While ships set sail from Europe to conquer the New World, whose history is already well known, not everyone is aware of the “Kàreni Vothar incident.” A ship set off from Spain, called the Lost Dawn. The vessel was decrepit, a veteran of countless missions that had made it obsolete and ill-suited for such a journey. Its purpose was to serve as a test for the waters, so that in case of a dangerous or risky route, the only ones at risk would hypothetically be its crew.

The crew was composed of people who had nothing to lose, many of whom had very little reason to live in the first place. On September 30th, 1509, at 23:23, a storm put the ship in extreme danger, causing serious problems and forcing everyone to evacuate and cling to the largest debris—at least those who wanted to survive.

After four days adrift on the waves, with almost no water or food left, and little hope remaining, they finally reached the shores of an island, surrounded by several smaller islands. The island was a wild territory, rich in vegetation, food, water, and natural resources. Here, the crew had the chance to recover, build a new boat, return to Europe after about a year, and start a new society. They named the island Ehppò, which in the code language they had invented meant “Freedom.” Only people who were sad, hopeless, and who believed they had nothing left to live for in Europe were allowed to settle here.

The number 4 later became culturally known as the “Lucky Number,” due to the four days spent adrift at sea. They returned to the island, and in the following decades, the first tens of thousands of people settled there, giving rise to the first four villages, which today are the most important cities. The cities were placed far apart from each other, both to avoid “stealing” resources from one another and to take advantage of the island’s highly varied fauna and flora.

The cities were named Ery I, II, III, IV. “Ery” simply means “Day.” Today, the Ery are by far the four most populous cities, with Ery III (Liberto) being the largest (about 20 million inhabitants), followed by Ery II (17 million), Ery I (15 million), and Ery IV (12.5 million).