Re: Roads of Sartar, a question

From: bethexton <bethexton_at_...>
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 21:55:46 -0000

Magic aside, ribbons of concrete *really* don't like frequent freezing cooling cycles. The town I grew up in on the Canadian Prairies had concrete roads, and about every six metres or so (? guessing, from distant memory. Could be somewhat farther) there was a break and seam of tar, to allow for thermal expansion/contraction. (as an aside, on baking hot summer days the tar would bubble, popping tar bubbles was an irrestibly filthy activity for kindergarten age kids!).

That sort of road is possible, but personally I favor the bing blocks of stone theory. The Sartarites don't seem to be all that big on wagons. Notice that the merchants all get mules rather than carts? And the land is rough enough that, off the main roads, even carts would have limited practicality. I just don't see them having wagons with the large teams of horses needed to achieve much speed. In general, I just don't see most Sartarites spending much time in wheeled conveyances. Sure they have carts, but why do all the men have the running skill if they don't mostly travel on foot?

All of which is to say that if you had stone blocks and they heaved somewhat, it may not be a big deal. When walking you can deal with a certain amount of uneveness, and if you are driving a slow cart with very solid wheels it probably isn't all that big a deal either. On the other hand, having a nice firm road not ankle deep in mud, that is valuable!

Probably part of the magic would be to re-settle the blocks annually. They will tend to settle down in the Summer anyways to a large degree of course, but the magic keeps long term shifts from happening.

Of course, Lunar nobles in their high riding carriages might not think so highly of these roads as the Sartarites do.....

Also, the roads would be somewhat elevated above the general ground level, to help snow blow off. Maybe the wind daimones are even cajoled into blowing across the roads especially hard....this won't keep them snow free, but in more open areas where keep the snow cover down.

The more recent roads would of course be modelled on the original magic roads. The blocks of stone would be much smaller, and not fit together half so tightly, and the road bed would probably not be as good either. So you'd see a lot more heaving and pot-holing there. They might even be bad enough that you'd see parrelel cart tracks, used when things weren't too muddy.

All just my 2 cents worth. I think for the most part this can safely be a YGMV type topic!

--Bryan

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