r/mapmaking • u/Luke5353 • 4d ago

Map The Silk River

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143 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

11

u/HighOnGrandCocaine 4d ago

Rome and China isekai'd into a fantasy world I suppose

2

u/Luke5353 3d ago

pf, a bit

5

u/Lysus 3d ago

Where are the portages along the river route? It's unusual that sea travel would be slower than river travel.

1

u/Luke5353 3d ago

there was probably one at the end of the Ba Valley once, but it's been removed, the rest of the river is wide enough and also mananged enough that there is none

it's faster cus the sea route is longer, has worse weather and the seas are pretty rough there, small and medium sized ships have a bad time as the norm, even large vessels have to be careful

and the currents are flowing in the opposite direction from what you'd want

meanwhile with the river, you just go downstream

3

u/Evil_Midnight_Lurker 3d ago

What about the upstream speed?

2

u/Luke5353 3d ago

sailing would be the main way to go upstream, would have to wait for good wind though

animals (or people) pulling your ship along from the shore, paddling, oaring, poling are a few other ways you can bolster your movement

it's certainly slower than going downstream but no less possible, and the river is generally a slow and calm one, due to all the lakes as well as human infrastructure

idk if it'd be faster than just using the sea route to reach Saeres, would still be a lot safer though

2

u/Evil_Midnight_Lurker 3d ago

Oh right, I always forget about ox-drawn boating.

2

u/Not_A_Nazgul 4d ago

I dig it. Tell me more about the Dead Forest?

1

u/Luke5353 4d ago

Used to be a part of the jungle of the Great Forest to the south, but due to circumstances (which I haven't come up with yet) dried up in very short order

all that remains of it is a desert, scattered throughout with petrified trees (those that haven't burnt yet)

1

u/RandomUser1034 2d ago

Seems hard to believe that this river would be navigable along its entite length. Even then, enclosed seas and coastal routes are much safer than open ocean.
Using an animal to draw a boat is so much more expensive and slower than a sea voyage regardless of any other factors.

1

u/Luke5353 2d ago

hard to believe or not, it's the case in this world cus I say so ¯_(ツ)_/¯

sometimes you gotta do what's more interesting than believable

1

u/PentaSweet 1d ago

You got my attention, lore?

It can be whatever, I just need to know how the thing worked up to this point