Honeyland | Lore
Queen Melissandra’s Definitive Guide to Exploration — an extract
(Chapter 7: A Cocarro Tale)
The following is an extract from the award winning explorer’s guide, Queen Melissandra’s Definitive Guide to Exploration.
Chapter 4 — The Three Principle Traits of Exploration
As any Queen leading an expedition will tell you, exploring is not a game for the unprepared. Nor is it for those disinterested in the world around them. In fact, it takes a certain type of personality to want to go exploring in the first place. It’s important to know yourself and also to know what to look for when picking a team to go exploring. This chapter will outline my three principles of exploration. You’ll learn how to identify these traits in others, and also how to cultivate them in yourself.
- Curiosity
Firstly, and most importantly, an explorer must possess curiosity. It is curiosity alone that drives exploration, a thirst to know what is out there beyond the horizon. Without curiosity, no exploration would ever take place and the world as we know it would be a small one. It’s easy to identify a curious soul, they have a sense of wonder about them and they seek to ask questions.
Curiosity can be nurtured and grown quite easily. Encouragement of the questions being asked and eager engagement with natural curiosity will only cause it to be exercised even more. As curiosity grows, so too does the level of confidence needed to ask further questions. Further questions lead to more effort required to discover the answers, which leads into exploration.
It’s also easy, if one isn’t careful, to crush curiosity. This can happen through ridicule, through dismissiveness, and also through inattention and a lack of care. Once curiosity is crushed, it is very difficult to build it back up again. Those that have lost their curiosity are also often the same Bees that are most likely to attempt to destroy another’s curiosity before it can blossom.
If you find a Bee with curiosity, help them to embrace it. It will only help the wider colony as a whole.
2. Preparation
The second most important trait that an explorer must have is preparation. To borrow and butcher an old saying, ‘if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.’ Some are born naturally to preparation, others have to work at it. To be a successful explorer, or even a long-lasting explorer, the ability to prepare correctly for the work ahead is critical.
The obvious preparation is logistical, supplies, transportation, accommodation, tools, team members, and even weapons in certain situations. All of these factors must be considered by any explorer looking to begin an expedition. This is the simpler side of exploration, if an explorer is not particularly gifted in this area, but knows it, these tasks can be delegated to another team member.
What cannot be delegated is the mental preparation that is required for an expedition to be triumphant. Each member of an explorer’s party must be mentally prepared for the journey ahead. Choosing to journey into the unknown is a test for any Bee’s mental strength. Without knowing what’s ahead, a Bee must have the capacity to stand firm in the face of uncertainty, danger, changing circumstances, and unusual situations. All without betraying their character.
Without preparation, no exploration expedition would have any chance of success. With it, you have every chance of having a memorable experience, and coming home with answers to your questions. Perhaps even some rare and valuable items!
3. Adaptability
Being mentally prepared for what could lie ahead gives a Bee the best chance of utilizing the third trait with great effect. Adaptability.
The trouble with exploring the unknown is that it is unknown. No matter how prepared you are, no matter how much research you have done on an area, there will always be something that you haven’t accounted for. This means that you have to be ready to adapt to the situation you’re facing.
The best way to be adaptable is to prepare and plan for as many alternative eventualities as possible. For instance, you may have planned to gain entry to a cave system via an entry that you spotted from a distance. Once you get there, however, you realize that access is far smaller than it first appeared. You then have a number of options, but none of them were in your original plan. Have you brought the right equipment which will allow you to move forward with any of the options available or will you have to go back to get extra supplies?
Prepare for any eventuality and you will have the ability to be adaptable.
4. Teamwork
Yes, yes. I know I said there would be three, but four just doesn’t feel as neat as a title. This fourth trait is as important, if not more so, than all the others. Without teamwork, an expedition would never leave their home hive. Teamwork allows Queens, like me, to lead an expedition force that can cover any of my own weaknesses through my team members’ strengths.
But, teamwork is more than just having a team with a variety of skills and talents. Teamwork means being willing to pitch in with those talents of their own initiative. It’s seeing your teammate struggling and lending a helpful wing or hand to work together to be successful. It’s about trusting your teammate to cover your back in the same way that they trust that you’re covering theirs.
When planning an expedition, the best chance of success is given when following these three (four) principles. Employ your curiosity, and encourage it among your teammates. Plan and prepare for every eventuality, enabling the greatest amount of adaptability. And choose well and wisely when picking a team. Do all of these things, and perhaps you’ll put out a guide to exploration one day!
If you’ve enjoyed this extract from Queen Melissandra’s Definitive Guide to Exploration, it can be purchased in Trader B’s Emporium, while stocks last.
Read the previous story: Chapter 6: A Cocarro Tale — Victoria Sponge meets Sergeant Pepper and the Isolated Souls’ Motorcycle Club
Read the next story: Chapter 8: A Cocarro Tale — The Gemstones of Cocarro
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