Westfarer and Eastfarer Routes

File:Andorasroutes.png

Black = Westfarer RouteWhite = Eastfarer Route Grey = Additions such as the Southfarer Route Orange = Draegon's additions, the "King's Course"

File:Westfarerroute.jpg

A traveler traveling down the Westfarer Route in the Wetlands.

The Westfarer and Eastfarer Routes are two halves of a mostly-decayed foot highway that existed from the Third Era to the beginning of the Eighth (present day) Era. A then-rare diplomatic meeting was held between the Kingdoms of Thyllanor, the Moonlyt Peaks, The Wetlands, and Gardoria in c.4150 BC. It was decided that in order to ease tensions between the nations, make traveling easier, and set more visible borders, an extensive route system would be built, starting in southwestern Gardoria at the capital of Blackwood, and ending in Thyllanor's capital of Faercrest. Two main routes would exist, and then form a junction in the Wetlands; the Eastfarer Route was the one that ran from Blackwood to Faercrest, and the Westfarer Route ran from Dimlight to Blackmire. A later extension to the Westfarer Route in the direction of where Dragonspire City would be settled were added in the Seventh Era, and a series of paths loosely connected Dragonspire to Faercrest when the Drakonian Highways replaced the Routes, nearly making the route system come full circle. A lesser-known extension dubbed the Southfarer Route built off of the Westfarer Route, bringing the path into the mainland Kingsland and eventually all the way into the Shoremen capital, Stormholme.

The Westfarer Route and its sister route both served dutifully in travel from region to region for thousands of pre-conquest years, especially in the traversing of the treacherous Moonlyt Peaks, the dense foliage of Gardoria, and the swamps of the Wetlands. Of the two, the Eastfarer is far more famous, because of the post-coronation ceremonies of both Thyllanor and the Wetlands involving a pilgrimage down the routes. It was one of the first true engineering marvels of Andoras, as well; where the route was to cross bridges, it did so in terrific fashion, with iron supports and rods rather than the former traditional wood. The Eastfarer was even more durable, and was the less-destroyed of the two, where the bridges and tunnels in the Moonlyt Peaks trudged along at a steady pace to the south.

File:Eastfarerroute.jpg

A bridge on the Eastfarer Route in Thyllanor.

It was, of course, not cheap to construct such routes, so all four kingdoms pitched in significant sums of gold to pay for the construction. The Westfarer took approximately twenty years to complete, while the Eastfarer took eighteen; a shorter distance for the Westfarer, but it was hindered by the mountains and the marshes that got in the way. However, these are just rough estimates; one can assume that the routes were constantly being repaired and renovated for thousands of years before they were destroyed, with the Southfarer Route being a notable addition that took twenty-two years itself to complete; at its completion, however, it made the Westfarer Route the longest continuous road in the world.

When Draegon landed on Andoras, he was pleased to find that part of the Eastfarer Route lied at a small town where he decided he would establish his beachhead. This eventually became Dragonspire City -- perhaps the most famous result of industrialization/immigration because of the Route's reach.

The routes were also very vital supply lines; one of the main reasons they were initially destroyed. With the Dragomyr invasion of Andoras, Draegon Dragomyr ordered the destruction of both routes, so as to seriously hinder trade between the kingdoms and force them to surrender without their full strength. While the dragons that Draegon wielded were far more instrumental in annexing kingdoms, the lack of their main trade routes seriously inhibited these four nations, and soon they became completely isolated as the Dragomyr forces themselves utilized what remained to march right into capital cities and plant their banners.

After the conquest, Draegon proposed to have Drakonian-style highways built roughly in the place of the Westfarer and Eastfarer routes. These, too, have started to fall out of shape in lesser-traversed areas with three and a half centuries of unchecked erosion, but in urban regions, they are kept beautifully intact, and are a daily reminder of the conquest and the Drakonian influence on Andoras, even after all this time.

Major cities along each route

Westfarer Route

Beginning in the city of Blackmire, the Westfarer route begins immediately northwestward onwards the Moonlyt Peaks. Along the way, it hits the city of Steelreach, a central-southern city in the Peaks. It turns towards the east somewhat to move through the mountains, and juts into Thyllanorian territory, passing through the city of Vaerik. Weaving through the mountains again in a westerly direction, it finally reaches the capital of Highmountain. Through technological innovation quite advanced for its time, the Westfarer Route managed to carve a path through the Moonlyt Peaks, finishing its long and storied run in the town of Dimlight, which became a city due to its strategic location on Thyllanor's northeastern coastline..

Eastfarer Route

Half of the Eastfarer's renown is the sheer amount of people that came to live in places where it ran through, knowing that trade, commerce, and no doubt glory were sure to follow. The project began in the Gardorian capital of Blackwood, one of the few times that they had permitted such a large project in their borders. It went almost directly east to the smaller city of Learwood, then continued east beyond the city, and eventually Gardorian borders. It went through Shoremen territory for a short while, then cut northeast into the city of Striekens, now in Kingslander territory. Going immediately north from thereon, the Route hit the city of Vickclift, went through Wetlander territory for a long stretch dotted with villages, continued slightly northeast into the Thyllanorian city of Morano, further north to Lorton, and finally the ultimate northeastern curve turned into the Thyllanorian capital of Faercrest. Later additions in the Seventh Era connected the (relatively) major Wetlander city of Garanide, and from there eventually reached Dragonspire City itself.

Southfarer Route

An unofficial and less-traversed addition to the Westfarer Route, the Southfarer Route was almost equal in length to the existing Eastfarer Route, but its usefulness would not last more than two centuries before Draegon destroyed the Route. Starting in 166 BC, architects built on to the Westfarer, going from Blackmire and taking the route southeast, into the major farming town of Imperia, in the Kingsland -- just a few miles back, the Southfarer formed a junction with the Eastfarer Route. The route extended east, almost touching the coastline and curving around the Imperian Plantations. It then diverted southwest, and ran through the city of Mournare and branched into the Lord Paramouncy of Thunder's Shore. From thereon, the route continued west for a time, then curved into the town of Baymoch. The route was almost unhindered as it continued southeastward directly to the city of Stormholme. Taking the Westfarer and Southfarer Routes together, they added up to form what was probably the longed paved stretch of continuous road ever created, with its length being in the tens of thousands of miles. The Drakonian Highways that Draegon established following the conquest never truly reached the length of this combined Route again, despite the money that he had initially poured into restoring the united Kingdom's infrastructure.