The Golden Road

The Golden Road is a massive underground road system that connects many countries in the world of Tirestir. This System is said to originate in either Earthroot or Malth Kjarnarrik, whichever one of the origin stories you believe in it is undisputable the the majority owner of the Golden Road is the Duergar empire of Earthroot. Under the leadership of Earthroot the Golden Road has been restored to a mostly usable state, with a full passage now possible between the two continents, and even one of the ancient dwarven elevators, by many considered the most advanced one, reactivated. This newly reactivated device is located in the routes that pass under the middle ocean, and connect to a large brass bell shaped device that can fit many tons of cargo and about fifty passengers, though it requires four crew to operate. This new device has allowed the people of the underdark to surface in the middle of the ocean at a regular schedule, connecting them to the island peoples for trade and passage for their passengers.
The Golden Road is not solely owned by Earthroot however and Malth Kjarnarrik along with the Hexian Empire control sizable portions of the road, although both currently possess treaties with Earthroot allowing for free trade and passage through their controlled regions so long as Earthroot maintains the road through them.

Alterations

In many places in the Golden Road, specifically where it passes through, or connects up to, other empires, the statues that line the road are typically modified to resemble members of the empire that the road is ruled by. Throughout the currently maintained section of the Golden Road many alterations such as small towns built along the road as well as outposts and other buildings have been constructed.

Architecture

The Golden Road is a huge road that could potentially allow up to eight standard sized carts side by side to pass through its passages, although this occupancy is rarely made use of. The road itself is made of smooth grey stone that is decorated with runic carvings inlaid with gold along its outer edges. The walls of the Golden road are held aloft by large statues of dwarves that stretch a hundred feet to the vaulted ceiling made of similarly smooth stone, though in many places stalactites have taken the place of this previously smooth stone.

Defenses

Although reportedly the golden road features many ancient runic wards along the length of its highways that prevents collapse of the roof, slow down the degredation of the road itself, and supposedly defend from incursion, these defenses have become naught but tales. The current owners of the roads, Earthroot, mainly defend the travel lanes with small periodic outposts along its length, as well as patrols, though these become infrequent in the rarely travelled parts of the Golden Road and are nonexistent in the unexplored branches.

History

The Golden Road was once a worldwide spanning web of underground roads and passages that connected the massive deep empires. They were originally built by one of the dwarven empires, although which one is heavily debated. Despite this history of massive expansion the current Golden Road the current paths referred to as the Golden Road are a single large intercontinental road connected to a few still maintained offshoots. Peoples in many parts of the world that find themselves in the dark below have stumbled upon abandoned portions of the Golden Road that were disconnected from the currently maintained portions.

Founding Date

Unkown

Alternative Names

Deep Road, The Underway, The Low Road

Parent Location

Earthroot