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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. === The shipwreck