![]() ![]() While the trails were not paved, they had previously been worn down by traders. That was possible because most of the route was over flat prairie. Cross-country routes like the Oregon Trail became famous because they were the only routes across the continent that wheels could move on. There are a few exceptions, such as our American settlers moving west. If your society doesn’t have roads in good order, your characters can’t use wheels when they travel. But unfortunately for them, roads in bad repair are not very useful. For instance, after the Roman Empire disintegrated, people used unmaintained Roman roads for centuries. On the other hand, if you want your world to be filled with broken, semi-passable roads, go to town. Then the roads would be ground down by travelers, weathered by erosion, cracked by rounds of freezing and thawing, blocked by fallen trees and landslides, lost under floods, broken by roots, you name it. Creating roads was an enormous construction project requiring engineering, cartography, and plentiful labor. But before modern technology, only a nation at the top of its game could make roads work.īuilding and maintaining roads was expensive. If nothing else, they needed their messengers to reach their destinations in order to govern effectively. Reliable transportation required enormous coordination, and nations had a strong incentive to invest in it. In general, people only had access to good roads if they lived in a powerful nation. Usable Roads Were Uncommon Glanum Roman Road by SiefkinDR used under CC BY-SA 3.0 Perhaps traveling by river would leave the heroes too exposed in hostile areas. In cases where rivers are available in your world, you’ll need to provide a reason why your characters don’t use them. They were forced to cross the Rockies on horseback instead. But after they had traveled to the end of the Missouri River, they were unable to locate another water route heading west. When exploring western America, Lewis and Clark hoped that they would be able to travel almost exclusively by rivers. If the destination was inside a large continent and all of the rivers ran perpendicular to the direction of travel, people would be forced to travel over land. However, canals were limited to mostly coastal low-lying areas. Many nations, such as the US and China, even built canal networks to aid transportation in densely populated areas. If your characters can get closer to their destination via rivers, lakes, or ocean, * they will. Water transportation was unquestionably superior. Without engines, land travel was slow and punishing. Why Did People Travel Over Land? This would be so much easier if we had a river. ![]() Here’s what you should know before your characters wander through an enchanted forest or sneak into enemy territory. The logistics of a trip were completely different from today. Before cars and trains, traveling over land was exhausting and dangerous. Many fantasy stories involve traveling from one city to another, often in worlds without engine technology. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |