New Singapore Just north of here, where the river enters Lake nMichigan (the "n" is silent), the once proud island nation of Singapore washed ashore in the same storm that took the Edmund Fitzgerald, which may explain the strange devotion of Singapore's military to taconite (think of the uniforms of the elite unit known as the Geraldines). Despite daunting waves, rescuers using reyaksu (a type of water mole tunnel) reached virtually all the trapped citizens, bringing them safely here to the sheltered shores of Lake Kalamazoo in vessels similar to the Keewatin. Though the grounded isle soon merged with the coastal sands, the survivors were embraced: they had arrived during the so-called Warring States era of West nMichigan history and offered the locals of Aywatin gwome an economic and military edge. Later, of course, the Geraldines would be infamously ruthless as wandering mercenaries, but never took up arms against any ally of the New Singapore.