Royal Beacon

While riverboat borne messages and horse or camel riders are the main forms of communication within the Kingdom, the primary communication form from the realm's periphery is through the Royal Beacons. The beacons are small outposts scattered in rough lines from the Kingdom's borders to major military bases and from there to the capital. There are two main forms of signal relayed by a beacon: smoke signals and torch signals. Both are based on the number of fires lit (between one and five), with smoke color being an additive feature for smoke signals. A single black fire indicates the approach of a small military force. Two black fires indicate an approaching medium army, with three indicating a large army. Four fires means that the enemy, regardless of size is actively attacking the walls of the post and five signals indicate that the post is likely to fall. Signals sent backwards have a second set of fires or torches being lit to indicate how close to the border the enemy force is. Depending on the weather conditions, torches will be used instead of smoke signals. There are plans to exchange the current signal 'language' for a more flexible one, but that is still in development. White smoke is used to denote the arrival of a foreign envoy and red smoke indicates that another emergency has occurred, with the specific emergency denoted by supplementary torches: one for wildfire, two for major illness outbreak and three for natural disaster. In the red smoke cases, the number of main fires indicate the urgency of aid with the higher the number meaning the need for aid is extremely high.
The signal system was first developed in the reign of King Ntiklon Snenes, the second king, as a way of getting information from the western forts to the capital quickly that was also flexible enough for the time.

Pronunciation Guide
Ntiklon Snenes: n-ti-klon sne-nes