the Nacre Road
A map from the atlas of my campaign setting, Elyden
One of the largest and most important trade-routes in Elyden, the Nacre Road has dominated life in Southern Sammaea since its origins in 500 RM.
It stretches for over 12,000-miles across Southern Sammaea, linking the city of Hamma in the far west to Bhal Zhariah in the east, passing through the nations of Ammesh, Habot, Phyrr, Maenmist, Northern Simbara, Akanthra, Idaphon, Khar Nadul, Hanna, Qaralam, Shezaliah, and Zhariah, and allows the relatively easy flow of trade from west to east.
The road is named after the now-largely dead nacre trade along the northern shore of the Sea of Ammash and originated in around 500 RM as a route travelled by Mehmuthi nomads, some of whom went on to become merchants, travelling in caravans hauled by great beasts.
Trade along the Road is not uniform and it passes across plains, hills, forests and mountains alike, with some caravans relying on pack-beasts and others using land ships or crawling ambulants. Caravanserais are spaced at deliberate intervals, typically one to two days’ travel apart at most, forming a secondary infrastructure of fortified inns, counting-houses, wells, and Lazanist shrines. Some are little more than enclosed courtyards with cisterns and watchtowers, while others, such as Avenar and Prasinia, have swollen into great cities with enclosed markets, bonded warehouses, and League courts.
Larger cities along the route maintain segregated trade districts where foreign merchants reside under charter, their goods taxed, inspected, and sealed. Entire urban quarters exist solely to service the needs of merchants, including mechanics for vehicle repairs, beast-hospices, rope-makers, scribal offices, and currency exchanges amongst others.
Matted-armoured guards, often called Road Wardens, travel with convoys and are licensed to bear heavy weapons across borders. Ledger-Keepers accompany major caravans, maintaining bonded accounts recognised from Ammesh to Zhariah. Pass-Sealers inspect cargo for contraband at national frontiers, while Oath-Witnesses certify contracts in multiple jurisdictions. In contested regions, entire companies of artillery crews are retained privately to escort landships through unstable territories.
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Map created in Photoshop, with the help using G. Projector.
A tutorial for my method can be found here.
You can find a key to the map here.
