Taychendi Trade Routes

The various Taychendi trade routes are, due to the region’s high level of urbanisation, important arteries of politics, diplomacy and, naturally, economic activity. Taychendi trade is organised into a serious of roads, routes and “Loops” that connect various smaller trade routes.

Old Loop

A route map of the Old Loop

Before trade with the Kheionai began in the 700s, the Old Loop was the main economic and travel artery of taychend, connecting the cities of lower Larankar, the cities of the Vyech, and the Kalavend. Traders could also cut the path shorter by travelling up through Gophira, crossing the Iron Hills and travelling up the Vyech to Banderuttai instead, though caravaneers who ran the Scrap Loop were much more proficient at that.

Believed to have developed in the decades after the ruin, shortly before Ebenanth’s rise, control of the Old Loop for the first three Taychendi Empires was vital for them, and it would continue to be an important part of Taychendi history in the Great Age of Ambition as well. However, the profitability and security of the Old Loop would be damaged by the rise of Sibisimra in the 400s, a bandit-stronghold turned city turned powerful kingdom. In order to avoid Sibisimra, caravaneers would take their goods to Orenkoraim or Korrimadhala and then sell them on to ship captains who would take them over the water to the opposite port.

Despite nearly 200 years of disruption, Sibisimra would eventually be pacified by Eletam the Violet in the late 600s, and the Old Loop would regain its prominence – though not its predominance, as the foundation of Ameion and Oremvand during the 600s paved the way for new western trade routes, and the eventual creation of the “New Loop”. Nonetheless, the Old Loop is still recognisably at the core of this new trade route.

New Loop

Route map of the New Loop and constituent trade routes

The New Loop has, since the 700s, been the main economic artery of Taychend, that integrates the new western trade routes (the Border Road, Samidon Trail and Path of Wine) into the Old Loop. The five pillars of the route are Clemetar, Oremvand, Nagar Vyechei, Orenkoraim and Nanru Nakar.

Began to develop in the 700s through Oremvand opening up the Border Road and Ameion and Nagar Vyechei greatly expanding the Path of Wine, though it only truly began to flourish with the conquests of Olhokar in the third century, which for the first time allowed caravaneers to travel the full length of the loop. This continued through the Oremvandian and Second Gophiran Empires, and even beyond then, though movement north and south would be heavily restricted during the Ameion-Larankarha wars.

The wealth of the New Loop gave rise to what some called Warlords of the Loop, or more simply Looplords, who ran massive caravans several thousand strong, and were active from the 1000s to the 1400s AA. The Looplords were half trader, half mercenary, and their intervention was often decisive in a city’s political struggle or a conflict between two warlords. Their power was mostly broken with the rise of Ameion, however – those who remained only travelled along the North Arc.

North and South Arc

The North and South Arcs are twin trade routes, both anchored by Orenkoraim and Clematar. They constitute two halves of the “New Loop.” When Ameion conquered half of Taychend, the North Arc (from Clemetar, along the Endioka river then through Pattivaram into the Kalavend) became the trade artery of the Larankarha Empire, while the South Arc (which includes the Border Road, Path of Wine and the journey up the Vyech towards the Kalavend) became the trade artery of the Ambhen Empire.

While the concept of a South Arc was an invention of the post Wars of the Two Heroes era, the North Arc has classical roots, with the northern arc of the Old Loop being referred to as the “Old North Arc.”

When the Larankarha Empire and Vuls Tenvach fell in the 1500s, the New Loop was briefly reconstituted, though remnants of the two-arc split remained. As Ameion pulled back from the Kalavend, however, Clemetar and Orenkoraim, as the two places where the North and South Arc met, became greatly enriched.

Path of Wine

The Path of Wine is the key trade route between the cities of the Kheionai and Taychend. Its translated name is a direct reference to the similar Path of Gold that links Harafe and the Ynn. Active from the 700 onwards, the path originated alongside the city of Ameion, with the route expanded by Oremvand and Nagar Vyechei. The Taychendi trade their massive excess of raw materials – stone, grain, cloth, slaves and metal ore – as well as their own high-product goods like dyes, Precursor scrap and tea, in exchange for Kheionai products, wine chief among them, but also silk, sugar, deathglass, pottery and arms and armour, especially from Kherka.

The path runs from Ameion to Orenkoraim, with major stops at Oremvand, Korrimutren, Anakalnakori, Nagar Vyechei and Korrimadhala. The journey from Nagar Vyechei to Korrimadhala, however, is rather dangerous due to cape-storms off the coast of Thekvussam, so cargo is often simply taken over the Vyech up through Sthanan to Vuls Tenvach. Anakalnakori is added to the list of major ports should Korrimutren be inaccessible in some way – the river there can be used to bypass the Giants’ Hills that cover that part of the coast, and allow access to the Gopatri that way.

Travelling the full Path of Wine isn’t often done, with Thekvrystana traders preferring to sell their cargo at the next major port over, avoiding any long voyages in the open ocean – if it is done, then its usually done by Kheionai traders, or else exceptional Tenvachi captains who have both the will to make the journey and can brave the cape of Thekvussam.

Road of Graves

The Road of Graves, known to the Taychendi as the "Vaona Samadiya", is a trade route that connects Larankar to Thektoram and the Straight Road, as well as the southern coast more generally. The Road of Graves constituted the western branch of the Old Loop – the hardest road of the trail, due to both the terrain and caravans being constantly harassed by Sarihaddhi and Chendhyan raiders, as well as the often unreasonable rulers of Imarchend and Marhed Rayodana. Subjugating the Road of Graves brought Marhed Rayodana wealth in the Great Age of Ambition, with the rulers of the city building an old stone road through the desert that would later be renovated by the Second Gophiran Empire. In spite of common thinking, the route’s name predates the lining of that stone road with dirt mounds and grave-markers, and was likely wholly figurative at first.

Straight Road

The Straight Road runs from the port of Korrimadhala to Varanya Sangaman, and, if the route is open, to Kannagarendi through Imarchend and Haenbuddar, a nearly straight line east-west that cuts through central Yodhanpir and into Imarchend. The route was popularised by the rise of Sibisimra in the 400s, as the bandit kingdom strangled trade up through the Vyech towards the Kalavend – when Sibisimra or the Iron Hills are ruled by hostile powers, traders bring cargo over the coast from Orenkoraim via the Straight Road, bypassing the upper Vyech.

There are two major alterations to the route. The first concerns Sthanan ith Vussam – a stop in the city is optional, and if they have no business there traders will often ignore the city, cutting across from Nymbhava to Bayasidaphora to bypass taxes. Another is the Shadow Road, or Vaona Neraghul, that bypasses Varanya Sangaman and Kannalulthe – a dangerous trail, exposed to Sarihaddhi tribesmen and rarely trod, usually only used by thieves and smugglers, hence the name. In the days of the Second Gophiran Empire, the road was used to smuggle goods along the Straight Road while avoiding the colossal imperial capital at Kannalulthe.

A route map of the Scrap Loop

Scrap Loop

The Scrap Loop is a caravan route focused around the trade of Precursor scrap and iron. It is an ancient trade route, perhaps even some years older than the “Old Loop.” At Sibisimra and Enlarmai iron from the Iron Hills is sold on south to the Thekvrystana and west to the Larankarha respectively. After the 1600s the Scrap Loop declined in relevance, as the Kalavendhi began to sell their Precursor scrap downriver to Orenkoraim and the Cannorians instead.

Border Road

The Border Road runs along the Donzaern River, from Oremvand to Clematar. Before Olhokar’s conquest of the Guaraddhi, Oremvand had complete dominance over the route, since generally only their traders (with their Chendhyan guards) were able to survive the trip. Since Kannagarendi and Rakkabuttai’s founding, however, its been a lot more profitable, and it now comprises the western arm of the “New Loop.” Kannagarendi and Rakkabuttai sell Chendhyan slaves up the border road to Clemetar, while goods from Larankar are brought down to Oremvand via the Donzaern.

Samidon Trail

The Samidon Trail represents the other major trade route between the Kheionai and Taychendi, running between Clematar and Empkheios, with often heavily guarded ships taking cargo, slaves and more up the Taras’su Ervan lake and Agotham river in exchange for Kheionai goods. Exceptionally dangerous, especially thanks to Caergarae lake raiders, the route can be extremely profitable due to bypassing Thekvrystana taxes on Kheionai goods, and all the additional costs incurred by taking those goods up through the Road of Graves or along the Border Route. Named after the joint Kheionai-Taychendi fortified trading post at Samidon, which is used to resupply those coming from either side of the trail.

Long Road

The Long Road is the Cannorian name for the Amadia-Taychend overland trade route, where Larankarha/Advakhalla traders work alongside Baanche and Dugui’hi guides, making the long trek to and from Amadia. There are some myths and legends about it being attempted before the Dugui’hi were initially expelled from the forest, though it appears to have truly opened up in the 16th century, when the Dugui’hi reconquered the Mushroom Forest.

Starting in Clemetar, caravans travel up through Bethlikar, Scenkar and the Pass at Advapatai, entering the Mushroom Forest and negotiating with the many Dugui’hi chiefs along the road for access. Once out of the forest, traders generally prefer to stop at Carginden, a city along the lake, before turning back, as opposed to going all the way to Cara Lafquen.

The Long Road can be extremely profitable, as the Taychendi trade steel, horses and scrap in exchange for Amadian damestear and silver without Cannorian interference, while the Dugui’hi profit off taxing the trade. Not all Dugui’hi welcome the presence of Taychendi – the latter problem has caused trade caravans to become bogged down in the forest itself on occaision, being forced to turn back without selling their goods to the Amadians.