Introduction
The Prayadine Canal is the biggest man made structure in Aestis, it is a series of subterranean tunnels, aqueducts and surface level canals that stretch across the Arching Mountains and connect the Veskan city of Nyrus in the east with the Arcish city of Hemyres in the west, which is just fifty miles from Arc itself. The purpose of the canal is to keep the booming populations of Arc and the other cities of the Arclands fed with grain from the vast fields of Veska in the east. In addition to it being a conduit for grain barges, it has become a vast thoroughfare for all kinds of east-west trade. Arc’s enemies have long resented the Prayadine, claiming that it has given Arc a vastly unfair advantage by supplying the city with cheap food imports for centuries. Arc’s hunger for cheap food is in large part the product of the debt based economy that the Protectors of the city have created. With so many Arcites struggling with vast burdens of debt and terrified of the prospect of imprisonment in the Oboline if they default, cheap bread is an absolute necessity. Because the value of the Arcish Levat is based on the low level of debt defaults, higher grain prices that cause desperate Arcites to spend more on bread and less on debt repayment could potentially cause the Levat itself to collapse. The ruling families of Arc’s nearest rival, Dran, have periodically considered seizing the canal and severing the flow of food from east to west. The consequences for Dran’s much smaller economy would be catastrophic. The
The Armies of Arc garrison key sections of the canal, but this is highly costly for even a wealthy city state, so instead Protectors have financed small fiefdoms or 'canal lordships' throughout the Arching Mountains, along the canal's route. These fiefdoms are dependent of Arcish gold for their survival and fight brutal wars against bandits and other threats to the canal, knowing that their Arcish paymasters are unforgiving of failure.
History
The canal was commenced in the year -1050 under the reign of Twilight King Saralas Varraline, one of the few far-sighted monarchs of the Arc Empire. Two hundred and fifty years earlier, the Prayadine way, a caravan route through the mountains was established. This gave the new kingdom of Veska a vital lifeline of trade to the city of Arc, and many Veskans credit the emperors of Arc with their survival. The mountain caravan route stiimulated east-west trade, but the flow of goods and foodstuffs was later dwarfed by the quantities that could be shipped by canal. Varraline’s ambitions to use the canal to revive Arc came centuries too late. By the time of his coronation, the deep structural problems facing the empire were all but intractable. It was the decision to dig the first stages of the canal by Varraline that signified to the nobility that their hold over the imperial throne had been critically weakened. Some nobles accepted the inevitable and began to adapt by developing exports from west to east, mainly timber and coal, but others became determined to fight once more. In taverns throughout the Arclands, the song ‘The Blood of Solomund Gorer’ was ominously sung by retainers loyal to Arcish nobles. Linden Varraline acted decisively against the nobility, striking the first of several blows against them, which concluded with their annihilation when the empire collapsed 150 years later. Varraline was helped with his purge of the most vocal noble families by Veska, even though the new kingdom was still a frontier state, the ability of the Veskans to eliminate enemies clandestinely across the continent was already formidable. The creation of the Prayadine Canal was one of the seminal moments in Veskan history, it is celebrated as an historic Veskan (not Arcish) achievement, and one which guaranteed that Veska would become far wealthier than Ghotharand could ever hope to be. Ghotharand became increasingly dependent on Veska over the following centuries (when it wasn’t attempting to conquer Veska), and had to pay steep tariffs to have its goods transported along the Prayadine Canal from Nyrus to Hemyres.
Veska's Bloody Price
The threat of closing the canal to Ghothar commerce allowed the Veskans to place immense pressure on Ghotharand for manpower, as different stages of the canal were built. The canal eventually became a network of routes across the mountain, with some passages from East to West having to be diverted along other routes due to winter/spring floods, warring tribes and bandits. These new sections were build using slaves and indentured servants from Ghotharand, and slaves seized by the Ghothars and Veskans from Oloris. Thousands perished in the construction of the canal, and the practice was largely ignored by Arc. It was only abolished under pressure from the first Protectors after several slave revolts and after it became clear to Arcish merchants and bankers exactly how inefficient slave labour really was. Forced workers who were barely fed and who lived in a constant state of terror and despair were far less useful to the engineers of the great canal than motivated, paid workers. When the engineering challenges proved insurmountable, the merchants of Arc raised the capital necessary to hire Firg craftsmen, meaning that some of the bridges, aqueducts and tunnels that define the ‘East-West Passage’ as it is sometimes known, are among the most robust and majestic in Aestis. At the East and West terminuses of the canal, new cities emerged to service the thousands of travellers that crossed the mountains and to warehouse grain and other exports/imports at either end.
The twin grain cities of Nyrus and Hemyres, one Veskan, the other Arcish, became populated by the Prayadine Arcites and Prayadine Veskans. These were people whose respective cultures merged through communication, friendship, cooperation, intermarriage and sometimes a shared sense of grievance that their respective rulers didn’t understand or care about their problems or concerns. As Arcites and Veskans along the canal became closer, there was a fear in Arc and Veska that they might decide to declare their independence from both polities. The recognition between both Arc and Veska that the Prayadine Canal is integral to their combined prosperity has helped forge an economic and diplomatic relationship between the two states which is unparalleled in Aestis. Veskan courtiers and diplomats are regular features at the court of the Protector, and Veskan kings find raising finance with Arc’s Houses of Coin a mere formality. However, this requires a shared amnesia over the canal’s bloody past; however, in Ghothar and Olorian folk memory, bitterness and anger towards Arc, Veska and the peoples of the Prayadine are prevalent. Along the route of the canal, Olorian shrines to the dead are tended carefully, often by barge crew members from Oloris and by wandering Bhana (holy men and women from Oloris who seek out Olorians who died beyond the Olorian Delta, who use incantation and prayer to guide their spirits home). Non humans, often treated poorly in the Arclands, crew barges from Veska, particularly the mariner rodent Ryvvik, who are becoming more and more accepted as part of life in Hemyres and the poorer and waterfront districts of Arc. Life on the canal can be dangerous, especially when one of the various ‘Canal Lordships’ has been weakened and is unable to offer the normal level of protection from bandits and other dangers.
Nyrus
Nyrus was established in -1011 and is one of the easternmost cities of Veska, it was established at the far edge of the great Veskan plateau, a region rich in black soil, where much of Veska’s most verdant farmland is situated. Nyrus is known as the ‘Door to the West’ and the central canal docks are located in the heart of the city, which is protected by concentric rings of fortifications. The Veskans have long been aware that Ghothar invasion plans have Nyrus as one of their primary objectives. Grain wagons from across the plains make their way to Nyrus to sell their produce in the grain markets, before the precious food is loaded on to barges. The grain merchants and middle men who dominate the trade have made vast fortunes and own huge town houses in the city and great fortified manors in the vicinity. Veskan ‘spinefish’ or small armoured river vessels accompany grain convoys along the first leg of the canal to the Barothwether Aqueduct, which exists at the Veskan border. Nyrus is populated largely by Prayadine Veskans, who have lived on the edge of Veska for 1,300 years. Their focus isn’t the cities of the eastern coast, but the route through the mountains, and to many Veskans they seem odd or provincial. Prayadine Veskans feel out of place in Veska itself, but not fully accepted into the often elitist and exclusionary Arclands.
Hemyres
Hemyres was a Vannic settlement at the eastern foot of the Arching Mountains, which some scholars believe actually predates Arc itself. The city is cooler than Arc owing to its height above sea level, making it an ideal place to store grain (any further up from sea level and damp would begin to rot the produce). It is approximately a hundred miles from Arc and also within easy reach of Dran (though Dran has never seized Hemyres, knowing that Veska would instantly stop grain shipments and starve Dran and the Arclands into submission). Like Nyrus, it is well fortified, and is based around a series of Vannic era towers, with more modern warehouses and markets where Veskan grain is sold. Ascites are not the only customers, and grain is often bought by merchants from across the Arclands. Arc, however, is the main destination for Veskan food, and Hemyres is seen by Arc as being of vital strategic importance. Hemyrian grain was once stored in huge ‘siege caverns’ at Arc, where a year’s worth of food for the entire city was supposed to be stored. In recent centuries, as the possibility of siege has seemed more remote, this precaution has lapsed and the reserve grain is sold for a tremendous profit, taken by cart to Arc and then shipped from Arc’s docks to every community across the Arclands and beyond. There is still plenty of surplus food in order to keep the city fed cheaply and the Arcish economy buoyant.
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