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However, it's soon revealed that Steven accidentally removed a fourth artefact from the cliffs: a gold ring, once owned by Jan Pelgrom and kept on the mummified hand. Secretly keeping it for himself, Steven's own diary entries gradually bearing witness to a deepening obsession with the ring and its secrets - one that only worsens once local Aboriginal elder Charlie Sunrise discovers Steven's thievery...
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However, it's soon revealed that Steven accidentally removed a fourth artefact from the cliffs: a gold ring, once owned by Jan Pelgrom and kept on the mummified hand.hand before it slipped off and landed in Steven's sleeping bag during the initial discovery. Secretly keeping it for himself, Steven's own diary entries gradually bearing witness to a deepening obsession with the ring and its secrets - one that only worsens once local Aboriginal elder Charlie Sunrise discovers Steven's thievery...
* BetaTestBaddie: One of the articles provided in Steven's scrapbook is a discussion of "inadequate" psychopaths, namely individuals driven to kill due to their need to compensate for perceived weaknesses. According to the article, Pelgrom is a textbook case, eager to impress chief mutineer Jeronimus Cornelisz and prove himself capable of murder, reportedly throwing a temper tantrum when deprived of the chance to kill someone. The fact that Pelgrom spends most of Wouter's journal as a weak and sickly coward doesn't help. He also fixates on the ring, presumably believing it to possess mystical powers that can bolster his constitution just as Steven does many centuries later, even appearing to grow in strength once he starts wearing it on his finger. [[spoiler: Appropriately, he's finally undone when Ela manages to steal it from him, either driving him off or reducing him to a wraith - depending on how supernatural you believe the story really is.]]
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* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: In the final chapter of his journal, Wouter gives up on writing in the months after Pelgrom murders Ela, burying the journal with the last of his trinkets from home and abandoning all hope of seeing his mythical CityOfGold.]]
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* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: In the final chapter [[spoiler: of his journal, Wouter gives up on writing in the months after Pelgrom murders Ela, burying the journal with the last of his trinkets from home and abandoning all hope of seeing his mythical CityOfGold.CityOfGold. He presumably dies soon afterwards.]]
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** Steven tries to shoot down gulls with a slingshot before Kratzman stops him, and later stabs a lizard to death with a sharpened arial so he can use it as part of his "life frame," effectively feeding the corpse to an ant nest so they'll clean the meat off the bones.
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** Steven tries to shoot down gulls with a slingshot before Kratzman stops him, and later stabs a lizard to death with a sharpened car arial so he can use it as part of his "life frame," effectively feeding the corpse to an ant nest so they'll clean the meat off the bones.
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* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: In the final chapter of his journal, Wouter gives up on writing after Pelgrom murders Ela, abandoning all hope of seeing his mythical CityOfGold.]]
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* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: In the final chapter of his journal, Wouter gives up on writing in the months after Pelgrom murders Ela, burying the journal with the last of his trinkets from home and abandoning all hope of seeing his mythical CityOfGold.]]
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* DueToTheDead: According to Charlie, the severed hand must have belonged to a highly respected individual, as the mummification process was reserved only for individuals greatly honoured by the tribe in death, with severed appendages from such individuals being revered for their use in magic. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that the honoured individual was Ela, who died taking the ring from Pelgrom - seemingly destroying his power in the process.]]
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* DueToTheDead: According to Charlie, the severed hand must have belonged to a highly respected individual, as the mummification process was reserved only for individuals greatly honoured by the tribe in death, with severed appendages from such individuals being revered for their use in magic. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that the honoured individual was Ela, who died taking the ring from Pelgrom - seemingly either driving him away or outright destroying his power in the process.]]
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* {{Foreshadowing}}: Towards the end of the journal, Wouter records that several members of the Aboriginal tribe are demonstrating runny noses and aren't moving as quickly as they normally can. By the final chapter, a huge number of them are dead as a result of this illness.
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* {{Foreshadowing}}: Towards the end of the journal, Wouter records that several members of the Aboriginal tribe are demonstrating runny noses and aren't moving as quickly as they normally can. By the final chapter, a huge number of them are dead as a result of this illness.the illness they caught from Pelgrom.
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** Steven might as well be Jan Pelgrom's reincarnation: both are slim pretty-boy types, both suffer from fits of respiratory illness, both abuse animals, both obsess over the ring, and both regard Aboriginal people with fear and contempt. Steven even appears to demonstrate similar powers to Pelgrom while wearing the ring. [[spoiler: And both seemingly vanish while consumed by the ring - or by madness, depending on how you interpret the novel.]]
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** Steven might as well be Jan Pelgrom's reincarnation: both are tall, slim pretty-boy types, both suffer from fits spates of respiratory illness, both abuse animals, both obsess over the ring, and both regard Aboriginal people with fear and contempt. Steven even appears to demonstrate similar powers to "powers" like Pelgrom does while wearing the ring. [[spoiler: And both seemingly vanish while consumed by the ring - or by madness, depending on how you interpret the novel.]]
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* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Kratzman's desperate attempt to get the mortally-wounded [[spoiler: Charlie Sunrise]] to the hospital result in him getting stopped by the cops, resulting him facing criminal charges for driving an unroadworthy vehicle - and losing his precious Dream Machine as a result. Worse still, [[spoiler: Charlie dies in the hospital anyway, and Steven gets off scot-free for it.]]
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* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Kratzman's desperate attempt to get the mortally-wounded [[spoiler: Charlie Sunrise]] to the hospital result results in him getting stopped by the cops, resulting him cops and facing criminal charges for driving an unroadworthy vehicle - and losing which costs him his precious Dream Machine as a result.Machine. Worse still, [[spoiler: Charlie dies in the hospital anyway, and Steven gets off scot-free for it.]]
* PetTheDog: In one of the later chapters of his journal, Jan Pelgrom provides Wouter Loos with a sea slug, pointing out that its ink can be used to replenish Wouter's dwindling inkwell. It's a surprisingly sweet gesture, especially considering that Pelgram spent the earlier chapters either annoying the bejesus out of Wouter or threatening to murder him.
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* ShoutOut: Pelgrom's ring seems to draw a great deal of influence from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', with Pelgrom seemingly empowered by wearing it and [[spoiler: seemingly fading to nothingness without it]] ala Sauron, and Steven Messenger obsessing over it a very Gollum-like fashion. Even the phantom monster that haunts Steven is eerily akin to a Ringwraith, [[spoiler: though if the story's supernatural aspects are taken at face value, it might actually be Pelgrom's ghost.]]
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* ShoutOut: Pelgrom's ring seems to draw a great deal of influence from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', with Pelgrom seemingly empowered by wearing it and [[spoiler: seemingly apparently fading to nothingness without it]] ala Sauron, and while Steven Messenger obsessing obsesses over it in a very Gollum-like fashion. Even the phantom monster that haunts Steven is eerily akin to a Ringwraith, [[spoiler: though if the story's supernatural aspects are taken at face value, it might actually be Pelgrom's ghost.]]
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* VillainProtagonist: It soon becomes clear that Steven Messenger is not a good kid in any sense of the word. On top of illegally hoarding a priceless artefact, he also treats First Nations people like Charlie Sunrise with utter loathing, enjoys killing animals, and has no empathy for anyone. [[spoiler: He ends up inflicting fatal injuries Charlie in a fit of a rage and responds with utter apathy after being called out on it.]]
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* VillainProtagonist: It soon becomes clear that Steven Messenger is not a good kid in any sense of the word. On top of illegally hoarding a priceless artefact, he also treats First Nations people like Charlie Sunrise with utter loathing, enjoys killing animals, and has no empathy for anyone. [[spoiler: He ends up inflicting fatal injuries to Charlie in a fit of a rage and responds with utter apathy after being called out on it.]]
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!!Tropes
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* DueToTheDead: According to Charlie, the severed hand must have belonged to a highly respected individual, as the mummification process was reserved only for individuals greatly honoured by the tribe in death, with severed appendages from such individuals being revered for their use in magic. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that the honoured individual is Ela, who died taking the ring from Pelgrom - seemingly destroying his power in the process.]]
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* DueToTheDead: According to Charlie, the severed hand must have belonged to a highly respected individual, as the mummification process was reserved only for individuals greatly honoured by the tribe in death, with severed appendages from such individuals being revered for their use in magic. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that the honoured individual is was Ela, who died taking the ring from Pelgrom - seemingly destroying his power in the process.]]
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* UnreliableNarrator:
** Wouter Loos is honest enough... up until he comes down with a serious case of delirium in the finale, drawing everything he witnesses into question.
** Steven Messenger is prejudiced, arrogant, and not inclined to take the perspectives of others into account. As such, his viewpoint portrays Charlie Sunrise as threatening and untrustworthy, Kratzman as an easily bribed mercenary, and everyone else as fools. [[spoiler: In the ending, it's suggested that he may be mentally ill and quite a few of experiences may be hallucinations.]]
** Wouter Loos is honest enough... up until he comes down with a serious case of delirium in the finale, drawing everything he witnesses into question.
** Steven Messenger is prejudiced, arrogant, and not inclined to take the perspectives of others into account. As such, his viewpoint portrays Charlie Sunrise as threatening and untrustworthy, Kratzman as an easily bribed mercenary, and everyone else as fools. [[spoiler: In the ending, it's suggested that he may be mentally ill and quite a few of experiences may be hallucinations.]]
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* DirtyCoward: Jan Pelgrom is gung-ho to murder Wouter Loos and eat his flesh... up until an Aboriginal tribe happens by, whereupon Pelgrom collapses in a sniveling heap and begs Wouter to defend him against what he thinks is a CannibalTribe.
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* {{Foreshadowing}}: Towards the end of the journal, Wouter records that several members of the Aboriginal tribe are demonstrating runny noses and aren't moving as quickly as they normally can. By the final chapter, a huge number of them are dead as a result of this illness.
* MirrorCharacter:
** Steven might as well be Jan Pelgrom's reincarnation: both are slim pretty-boy types, both suffer from fits of respiratory illness, both abuse animals, both obsess over the ring, and both regard Aboriginal people with fear and contempt. Steven even appears to demonstrate similar powers to Pelgrom while wearing the ring. [[spoiler: And both seemingly vanish while consumed by the ring - or by madness, depending on how you interpret the novel.]]
** Nigel Kratzman is uncannily similar to Wouter Loos in many ways: not only are they both short and dark-haired, but they also spend much of the novel obsessing over something largely pointless (the El Dorado legend for Wouter, the Dream Machine for Kratzman), try unsuccessfully to reign in their behavior of their increasingly psychopathic friend, and ultimately fail to save an innocent life - [[spoiler: Charlie Sunrise in Kratzman's case, Ela in Wouter's.]]
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Kratzman's desperate attempt to get the mortally-wounded [[spoiler: Charlie Sunrise]] to the hospital result in him getting stopped by the cops, resulting him facing criminal charges for driving an unroadworthy vehicle - and losing his precious Dream Machine as a result. Worse still, [[spoiler: Charlie dies in the hospital anyway, and Steven gets off scot-free for it.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: After witnessing the full extent of Steven's heartlessness and suffering for it, Nigel Kratzman leaves him a letter raking him over the coals for it.
-->I am sorry I ever met you and I hope I don't meet anyone like you ever again in my life. You think you are better than everybody but you're not. You're like a thing that lies on its guts in a dark hole, just lying there, watching and waiting.
-->You are a bastard and no friend.
* MirrorCharacter:
** Steven might as well be Jan Pelgrom's reincarnation: both are slim pretty-boy types, both suffer from fits of respiratory illness, both abuse animals, both obsess over the ring, and both regard Aboriginal people with fear and contempt. Steven even appears to demonstrate similar powers to Pelgrom while wearing the ring. [[spoiler: And both seemingly vanish while consumed by the ring - or by madness, depending on how you interpret the novel.]]
** Nigel Kratzman is uncannily similar to Wouter Loos in many ways: not only are they both short and dark-haired, but they also spend much of the novel obsessing over something largely pointless (the El Dorado legend for Wouter, the Dream Machine for Kratzman), try unsuccessfully to reign in their behavior of their increasingly psychopathic friend, and ultimately fail to save an innocent life - [[spoiler: Charlie Sunrise in Kratzman's case, Ela in Wouter's.]]
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Kratzman's desperate attempt to get the mortally-wounded [[spoiler: Charlie Sunrise]] to the hospital result in him getting stopped by the cops, resulting him facing criminal charges for driving an unroadworthy vehicle - and losing his precious Dream Machine as a result. Worse still, [[spoiler: Charlie dies in the hospital anyway, and Steven gets off scot-free for it.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: After witnessing the full extent of Steven's heartlessness and suffering for it, Nigel Kratzman leaves him a letter raking him over the coals for it.
-->I am sorry I ever met you and I hope I don't meet anyone like you ever again in my life. You think you are better than everybody but you're not. You're like a thing that lies on its guts in a dark hole, just lying there, watching and waiting.
-->You are a bastard and no friend.
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* ScarySymbolicShapeshifting: Possibly. In the final chapter, a delirious Wouter describes Jan Pelgrom as a HumanoidAbomination - as an inhumanly beautiful figure flying above the water while he has the ring, and a monstrous, pale wraith without it. This could just be hallucination... or it could be a real transformation.
->Each night he comes, calling softly about the camp, outside the firelight. None dare face him. The young men, the warriors, the grey beards — all live in terror of darkness, for he moves by moonlight, his dreadful body pale and crouching low. He is the sickness. He is the vile one who brought them death.
->Each night he comes, calling softly about the camp, outside the firelight. None dare face him. The young men, the warriors, the grey beards — all live in terror of darkness, for he moves by moonlight, his dreadful body pale and crouching low. He is the sickness. He is the vile one who brought them death.
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* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: In the final chapter of his journal, Wouter gives up on writing after Pelgrom murders Ela, abandoning all hope of seeing his mythical CityOfGold.]]
* DueToTheDead: According to Charlie, the severed hand must have belonged to a highly respected individual, as the mummification process was reserved only for individuals greatly honoured by the tribe in death, with severed appendages from such individuals being revered for their use in magic. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that the honoured individual is Ela, who died taking the ring from Pelgrom - seemingly destroying his power in the process.]]
* DueToTheDead: According to Charlie, the severed hand must have belonged to a highly respected individual, as the mummification process was reserved only for individuals greatly honoured by the tribe in death, with severed appendages from such individuals being revered for their use in magic. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that the honoured individual is Ela, who died taking the ring from Pelgrom - seemingly destroying his power in the process.]]
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* PatientZero: In the journal, [[spoiler: Jan Pelgrom apparently spreads his illness to the rest of the Aboriginal tribe, resulting in a huge number of deaths, as none of them have any resistance to the new plague. To insult to injury, Pelgrom not only survives his own illness but is described as inhumanly glorious afterwards.]]
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* PatientZero: In the journal, [[spoiler: Jan Pelgrom apparently spreads his illness to the rest of the Aboriginal tribe, resulting in a huge number of deaths, as none of them have any resistance to the new plague. To add insult to injury, Pelgrom not only survives his own illness but is described as inhumanly glorious afterwards.]]afterward.
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* UncertainDoom: The story ends with [[spoiler: Steven mysteriously vanishing from his home after sending the complete scrapbook to Dr Hope Michaels. It's possible that he's just run away from home to avoid police attention, but as he records his "other self" stalking him more aggressively, it's possible that someone or something killed him.]]
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* UncertainDoom: ShoutOut: Pelgrom's ring seems to draw a great deal of influence from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', with Pelgrom seemingly empowered by wearing it and [[spoiler: seemingly fading to nothingness without it]] ala Sauron, and Steven Messenger obsessing over it a very Gollum-like fashion. Even the phantom monster that haunts Steven is eerily akin to a Ringwraith, [[spoiler: though if the story's supernatural aspects are taken at face value, it might actually be Pelgrom's ghost.]]
* UncertainDoom:
** Wouter Loos is incredibly vague about Jan Pelgrom's fate. Though he's definitely dead by the present-day chapters, the MaybeMagicMaybeMundane nature of the narrative means that it's not known if he died of starvation and thirst in the wilderness, or [[spoiler: if Ela taking the ring from him resulted in him fading away without its power.]]
** The story ends with [[spoiler: Steven mysteriously vanishing from his home after sending the complete scrapbook to Dr Hope Michaels. It's possible that he's just run away from home to avoid police attention, but as he records his "other self" stalking him more aggressively, it's possible that someone or something killed him.]]
* UncertainDoom:
** Wouter Loos is incredibly vague about Jan Pelgrom's fate. Though he's definitely dead by the present-day chapters, the MaybeMagicMaybeMundane nature of the narrative means that it's not known if he died of starvation and thirst in the wilderness, or [[spoiler: if Ela taking the ring from him resulted in him fading away without its power.]]
** The story ends with [[spoiler: Steven mysteriously vanishing from his home after sending the complete scrapbook to Dr Hope Michaels. It's possible that he's just run away from home to avoid police attention, but as he records his "other self" stalking him more aggressively, it's possible that someone or something killed him.]]
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* AxCrazy: Jan Pelgrom was not the most stable man on the planet, easily swinging between childish cowardice and murderous psychopathic rage. Having already been marooned for multiple counts of rape and murder, he kills and butchers a puppy, tries to get Wouter to shoot the Aboriginal tribe they meet, and in the final chapter of the journal, [[spoiler: brutalizes his lover Ela, then murders her in cold blood for taking the ring from him.]]
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* ApocalypticLog:
** The journal of Wouter Loos gradually becomes progressively more desperate as his exile continues, having to face the threat of starvation, disease, and Jan Pelgrom's murderous insanity. In the final chapter, [[spoiler: Wouter is seeming dying of a horrific illness, deliriously claiming to have seen Pelgrom become a HumanoidAbomination and PlagueMaster. Based on the disordered testimony, Wouter died soon after hiding the journal and other artefacts.]]
** Steven Messenger's own journal starts to get increasingly stressed as his visions continue, growing increasingly horrific as a monstrous intruder begins stalking him. [[spoiler: The story ends with Steven mysteriously vanishing - either simply running away while under the influence of a psychotic break or becoming a victim of the intruder.]]
* AxCrazy: Jan Pelgrom was not the most stable man on the planet, easily swinging between childish cowardice and murderous psychopathicrage.rage at the drop of a hat. Having already been marooned for multiple counts of rape and murder, he kills and butchers a puppy, tries to get Wouter to shoot the Aboriginal tribe they meet, and in the final chapter of the journal, [[spoiler: brutalizes his lover Ela, then murders her in cold blood for taking the ring from him.]]
** The journal of Wouter Loos gradually becomes progressively more desperate as his exile continues, having to face the threat of starvation, disease, and Jan Pelgrom's murderous insanity. In the final chapter, [[spoiler: Wouter is seeming dying of a horrific illness, deliriously claiming to have seen Pelgrom become a HumanoidAbomination and PlagueMaster. Based on the disordered testimony, Wouter died soon after hiding the journal and other artefacts.]]
** Steven Messenger's own journal starts to get increasingly stressed as his visions continue, growing increasingly horrific as a monstrous intruder begins stalking him. [[spoiler: The story ends with Steven mysteriously vanishing - either simply running away while under the influence of a psychotic break or becoming a victim of the intruder.]]
* AxCrazy: Jan Pelgrom was not the most stable man on the planet, easily swinging between childish cowardice and murderous psychopathic
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* BodyHorror: In the end of the journal, [[spoiler: Wouter Loos is deathly ill, mentioning that his lips are covered in sores, his eyes are leaking something horrible, and flesh falls from his face every time he touches it.]]
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* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The supernatural elements of story are left deliberately ambiguous. It might be possible that Steven might be seeing visions of the past, that Jan Pelgrom become a HumanoidAbomination through the power of the ring, and even that the story ends with [[spoiler: Steven being killed by Pelgrom]]... or it could be that Steven is a teenage schizophrenic and that Wouter Loos hallucinated the supernatural events of the journal over the course of his illness.
* PatientZero: In the journal, [[spoiler: Jan Pelgrom apparently spreads his illness to the rest of the Aboriginal tribe, resulting in a huge number of deaths, as none of them have any resistance to the new plague. To insult to injury, Pelgrom not only survives his own illness but is described as inhumanly glorious afterwards.]]
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Steven is prejudiced against Aboriginal Australians, using the slur "Abo" against Charlie Sunrise and characterizing him as a drunk. [[spoiler: It's for this reason that he has zero remorse after impulsively killing Charlie.]]
* UncertainDoom: The story ends with [[spoiler: Steven mysteriously vanishing from his home after sending the complete scrapbook to Dr Hope Michaels. It's possible that he's just run away from home to avoid police attention, but as he records his "other self" stalking him more aggressively, it's possible that someone or something killed him.]]
* PatientZero: In the journal, [[spoiler: Jan Pelgrom apparently spreads his illness to the rest of the Aboriginal tribe, resulting in a huge number of deaths, as none of them have any resistance to the new plague. To insult to injury, Pelgrom not only survives his own illness but is described as inhumanly glorious afterwards.]]
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Steven is prejudiced against Aboriginal Australians, using the slur "Abo" against Charlie Sunrise and characterizing him as a drunk. [[spoiler: It's for this reason that he has zero remorse after impulsively killing Charlie.]]
* UncertainDoom: The story ends with [[spoiler: Steven mysteriously vanishing from his home after sending the complete scrapbook to Dr Hope Michaels. It's possible that he's just run away from home to avoid police attention, but as he records his "other self" stalking him more aggressively, it's possible that someone or something killed him.]]
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The discovery triggers a major archeological investigation, revealing that the artefacts once belonged to Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom, two mutineers from the Dutch vessel ''Batavia'' marooned in the uncharted land long before Australia was settled by Europeans. Wouter Loos' journal is quickly translated and published in local magazines, forming [[NestedStory a story within a story]] as Steven collects the serialized chapters.
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The discovery triggers a major archeological investigation, revealing that the artefacts once belonged to Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom, two mutineers from the Dutch vessel ''Batavia'' ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia_(1628_ship) Batavia]]'' marooned in the uncharted land long before Australia was settled by Europeans. Wouter Loos' journal is quickly translated and published in local magazines, forming [[NestedStory a story within a story]] as Steven collects the serialized chapters.
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* AxCrazy: Jan Pelgrom was not the most stable man on the planet, easily swinging between childish cowardice and murderous psychopathic rage. Having already been marooned for multiple counts of rape and murder, he kills and butchers a puppy, tries to get Wouter to shoot the Aboriginal tribe they meet, and in the final chapter of the journal, [[spoiler: brutalizes his lover Ela, then murders her in cold blood for taking the ring from him.]]
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals:
** Steven tries to shoot down gulls with a slingshot before Kratzman stops him, and later stabs a lizard to death with a sharpened arial so he can use it as part of his "life frame," effectively feeding the corpse to an ant nest so they'll clean the meat off the bones.
** In Wouter's journal entries, Jan Pelgrom kills, cooks, and eats the puppy that was marooned alongside the two mutineers, despite being in no danger of starvation. For good measure, he follows this up by threatening to kill Wouter as well.
* EntertaininglyWrong: Influenced by the stories of El Dorado, Wouter Loos believes that there's a CityOfGold just over the mountains, and when an Ela gives him a precious-looking crystal, Loos is even further convinced of the imagined kingdom's prosperity. The footnotes reveal that the crystal is ordinary quartz, sacred to the Aboriginal peoples but of zero monetary value to anyone.
* TeensAreMonsters:
** High-school student Steven is a racist, a creep, an animal abuser, and a thief. By the end of the novel, [[spoiler: he's also a murderer - and even if you could excuse the death of Charlie Sunrise as manslaughter, Steven's total lack of empathy wouldn't help the verdict.]]
** Jan Pelgrom was the ''Batavia'''s cabin boy before he took in the rapes and murders directed by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeronimus_Cornelisz Jeronimus Cornelisz]]. Being marooned doesn't improve his character in the slightest.
* ThisIsMyBoomstick: Subverted. After being taken in by an Aboriginal tribe, Wouter Loos attempts to impress them by using his rifle to help them on a hunting expedition... only to end up missing, scaring off the prey, and pissing off the entire tribe. For good measure, they smash his rifle soon after.
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals:
** Steven tries to shoot down gulls with a slingshot before Kratzman stops him, and later stabs a lizard to death with a sharpened arial so he can use it as part of his "life frame," effectively feeding the corpse to an ant nest so they'll clean the meat off the bones.
** In Wouter's journal entries, Jan Pelgrom kills, cooks, and eats the puppy that was marooned alongside the two mutineers, despite being in no danger of starvation. For good measure, he follows this up by threatening to kill Wouter as well.
* EntertaininglyWrong: Influenced by the stories of El Dorado, Wouter Loos believes that there's a CityOfGold just over the mountains, and when an Ela gives him a precious-looking crystal, Loos is even further convinced of the imagined kingdom's prosperity. The footnotes reveal that the crystal is ordinary quartz, sacred to the Aboriginal peoples but of zero monetary value to anyone.
* TeensAreMonsters:
** High-school student Steven is a racist, a creep, an animal abuser, and a thief. By the end of the novel, [[spoiler: he's also a murderer - and even if you could excuse the death of Charlie Sunrise as manslaughter, Steven's total lack of empathy wouldn't help the verdict.]]
** Jan Pelgrom was the ''Batavia'''s cabin boy before he took in the rapes and murders directed by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeronimus_Cornelisz Jeronimus Cornelisz]]. Being marooned doesn't improve his character in the slightest.
* ThisIsMyBoomstick: Subverted. After being taken in by an Aboriginal tribe, Wouter Loos attempts to impress them by using his rifle to help them on a hunting expedition... only to end up missing, scaring off the prey, and pissing off the entire tribe. For good measure, they smash his rifle soon after.
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''Strange Objects'' is a 1990 YA novel by Australian author Gary Crew, the author behind ''Literature/TheWatertower''.
Half psychological thriller, half historical fiction, the story takes the form of a scrapbook assembled by Steven Messenger, a kid living on the coast of Western Australia, charting the discovery of a collection of artefacts found during a school trip to the local cliffs: an iron cauldron, a leather-bound journal, and a mummified hand.
The discovery triggers a major archeological investigation, revealing that the artefacts once belonged to Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom, two mutineers from the Dutch vessel ''Batavia'' marooned in the uncharted land long before Australia was settled by Europeans. Wouter Loos' journal is quickly translated and published in local magazines, forming [[NestedStory a story within a story]] as Steven collects the serialized chapters.
However, it's soon revealed that Steven accidentally removed a fourth artefact from the cliffs: a gold ring, once owned by Jan Pelgrom and kept on the mummified hand. Secretly keeping it for himself, Steven's own diary entries gradually bearing witness to a deepening obsession with the ring and its secrets - one that only worsens once local Aboriginal elder Charlie Sunrise discovers Steven's thievery...
----
!!Tropes
* VillainProtagonist: It soon becomes clear that Steven Messenger is not a good kid in any sense of the word. On top of illegally hoarding a priceless artefact, he also treats First Nations people like Charlie Sunrise with utter loathing, enjoys killing animals, and has no empathy for anyone. [[spoiler: He ends up inflicting fatal injuries Charlie in a fit of a rage and responds with utter apathy after being called out on it.]]
Half psychological thriller, half historical fiction, the story takes the form of a scrapbook assembled by Steven Messenger, a kid living on the coast of Western Australia, charting the discovery of a collection of artefacts found during a school trip to the local cliffs: an iron cauldron, a leather-bound journal, and a mummified hand.
The discovery triggers a major archeological investigation, revealing that the artefacts once belonged to Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom, two mutineers from the Dutch vessel ''Batavia'' marooned in the uncharted land long before Australia was settled by Europeans. Wouter Loos' journal is quickly translated and published in local magazines, forming [[NestedStory a story within a story]] as Steven collects the serialized chapters.
However, it's soon revealed that Steven accidentally removed a fourth artefact from the cliffs: a gold ring, once owned by Jan Pelgrom and kept on the mummified hand. Secretly keeping it for himself, Steven's own diary entries gradually bearing witness to a deepening obsession with the ring and its secrets - one that only worsens once local Aboriginal elder Charlie Sunrise discovers Steven's thievery...
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!!Tropes
* VillainProtagonist: It soon becomes clear that Steven Messenger is not a good kid in any sense of the word. On top of illegally hoarding a priceless artefact, he also treats First Nations people like Charlie Sunrise with utter loathing, enjoys killing animals, and has no empathy for anyone. [[spoiler: He ends up inflicting fatal injuries Charlie in a fit of a rage and responds with utter apathy after being called out on it.]]
