Travel
Location, Location, Location
Creation is huge. One inch on the map of Creation equals 800 miles. To put this in perspective, the period at the end of this sentence is roughly equivalent to four times the size of New York City. An area the size of your fingernail is over 30,000 square miles, about the size of South Carolina or Belgium. One square inch is approximately the total landmass of Alaska or Colombia. The Blessed Isle covers roughly one-and-a-half times as much land as the United States or China and is about equal in size to modern Russia.
The locations and regions described in the books are numerous, but they offer many options for places to set your game. Read through them to find areas that leap out at you. Make a list if you want, noting locations that sound cool. If you know the kinds of characters your players want to play, find places you think would offer opportunities for the characters to thrive. Narrow down your list until you have an area that provides the most opportunities for characters to develop their own stories.
Travel
Traveling through Creation can take a lot of time, so use this to your advantage. It is rarely possible to move as the crow flies due to natural boundaries. If traveling by foot or with a cart, stopping only for supplies and following the lay of the land, characters could easily take three months to move an inch on the map. That's one full season of travel for you to play with, coming up with people or towns the characters encounter along the way. With horses, characters can cover the same distance in roughly half the time, but the travelers must take care of their mounts.
River travel can be faster but is limited by the river’s direction, the speed of the river's flow and whether the boat travels with or against the current. A boat naturally flows downstream at the speed of the current, but to steer, it must somehow be propelled. Travel upstream is always slower, as boats must fight the current. Rivercraft can be sailed if the river is wide enough, but they are most commonly pulled by dray animals on a tow path close to the riverbanks. Boats can be rowed for extra speed, but only smaller vessels use this as their primary method of propulsion.
An average vessel can travel an inch on the map in six weeks if headed downstream, or three months upstream. Faster currents reduce downstream travel times while increasing upstream travel times. Likewise, slower currents reduce upstream travel times while increasing downstream travel times. Generally, the wider the river is, the slower the current flows. Flooding, typically seasonal, often increases the current. River travel over longer distances is usually limited by daylight hours, as navigating sandbars and the twists and turns of the river can be very dangerous in the dark without perfect familiarity with the river. Boats can take shelter nightly in a marina or drop anchor along riverbanks.
Ocean and sea travel is the fastest mundane method of travel in Creation. Assuming average winds and travel as the crow flies, a typical ship sailing over "open water" of an ocean or sea can travel one inch on the map in about a week. Hard rowing can as much as double the speed, but it is not sustainable over periods longer than a few days without risk of injury to the rowers. A combination of sailing and light rowing is more common, allowing a ship to travel an inch in five days. Sailors on open-water vessels generally work in shifts, allowing 24 hours of travel per day. Coastal travel is somewhat slower, with a vessel working its way along a coastline and putting in to ports or anchoring offshore throughout the course of its journey. Coastal travel combines the risks of night travel along rivers with the speed of open water travel. Ships traveling a coast generally do so with a mix of rowing and sailing. They can travel an inch on the map in between two and three weeks, depending upon the complexity of the coastline.
Average Travel Times
The following assumes a moderate pace of travel over open terrain, with no stops but for re-supply or minor repairs. Use this chart as a thumbnail for travel over great distances, with the numbers indicating how far you can go within that period of time. All numbers are in miles.
To calculate the estimated travel time between two fixed points, first determine the distance between them and the method of travel to be used. Look to the travel type's row. Find the column with the highest number that can be subtracted from the distance and leave you with a positive result. Subtract as many times as necessary, with each subtraction one more of that column type. If the remainder is less than the column's number, you can move one column to the left and repeat the process. Total the travel time for your estimate.
Multiple methods of travel is easy to determine. Split land, river and ocean travel separately for the relevant distances. If necessary, split these further into the types of travel used in each leg. Add the total time together to determine the length of travel.
Example: Dave's character Golden-Eyed Vengeance takes a riverboat to Nexus, which is 1,500 miles downstream from his river village. He uses the “downstream” row and finds 600 miles in the "monthly" column is the largest possible number. He subtracts this twice, leaving him with two months traveled and 300 miles to go. This is roughly half a month's travel, so it will take Golden-Eyed Vengeance two-and-a-half months to reach Nexus from his village by boat.
| Travel Type | Hourly | Daily | Weekly | Monthly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Land Travel | |||||
| Foot/cart | 3 | 15 | 75 | 250 | |
| Drawn carriage | 4 | 20 | 100 | 350 | |
| Horse | 6 | 30 | 150 | 500 | |
| Horse relay, simple | 10 | 50 | 300 | 1,000 | |
| Horse relay, elaborate | 15 | 100 | 600 | 2,000 | |
| River Travel | |||||
| Upstream, unassisted | 2 | 25 | 100 | 300 | |
| Upstream, assisted | 3 | 30 | 120 | 360 | |
| Downstream | 4 | 50 | 200 | 600 | |
| Ocean Travel | |||||
| Coastal travel | 6 | 100 | 400 | 1,200 | |
| Sailing | 6 | 125 | 800 | 2,400 | |
| Light rowing | 8 | 175 | 1,000 | 3,000 | |
| Hard rowing | 12 | 250* | 1,200** | 4,800** | |
| Supernatural Travel | |||||
| Tireless rowing | 15 | 360 | 2,500 | 8,800 | |
| Horseback, tireless | 25 | 600 | 4,200 | 15,000 | |
| * Mortal rowers safely maintain pace for (Stamina) days, resting 2x that amount | |||||
| ** Assumes one day hard rowing per two days rest, with sailing in the interim | |||||
Distance and Communication
Creation is populated with societies typically equivalent to a bronze or iron age level of technology. Natural boundaries such as mountains, oceans, dense forests, tundra and deserts discourage the formation of trade routes between cities. In many places, the concept of "nations" is nebulous at best, with city-states aware of their immediate neighbors and a vague notion of "exotic lands" 800 miles away—roughly an inch on the map of Creation. Most maps made in the Age of Sorrows are generally local and vague, accounting for major landmarks, changes of terrain, roads or trails, dangerous areas and the general direction of other significant cities or towns.
News travels at the pace of those who spread it, which generally means on foot and rarely in a straight line. It's often colored with embellishments, rumors, misunderstandings or just plain wrong information the further it spreads from the source. Faster methods include horseback or bird messengers. On an established road, with a series of horse-relay stations established to keep mounts fresh, a message can travel roughly 100 miles per day. Without roads or horse relays, a single rider can manage roughly 30 miles per day through open terrain or half that through rough terrain. Very difficult terrain usually requires a rider to walk her mount, dropping both to about 10 miles per day. Word delivered by riverboat spreads faster downstream, at 50 miles per day, than upstream, at 25 miles per day. Rough waters can drop this by half, with particularly bad conditions taking five times as long. Messages carried in open water sailing vessels travel 125 miles per day, or 250 miles per day of hard rowing, with bad weather reducing the distance covered. For this reason, coastal cities generally communicate faster than those inland.
Although rare, messenger birds trained to return to a certain location can carry messages in tubes attached to their legs. They can travel 30 miles per hour through unfamiliar terrain, with short bursts of speed up to twice that, and have a range of about 500 miles before they must take an extended rest. Beyond this distance, they have an increasingly greater chance of becoming lost. Messenger birds have their flaws, such as hostile forces looking to intercept the messages or natural predators. Also, messenger birds can make the trip in only one direction—they are trained to return "home." As such, they are often caged and carried with a messenger who releases them to travel home with their message.
One form of rapid communication uses a series of signal towers manned by sentries. The towers are within visual range of one another—often dozens of miles distant, sometimes over 100. When a predetermined signal must be sent over a great distance, the sentries in the first tower light a great bonfire at its top. The sentries in the next tower see this and light their own bonfire, and so on down the line until the predetermined message is delivered to its destination. The message itself must be determined ahead of time and is a one-way "yes" or "no" form of communication, generally some kind of confirmation, such as a call for aid or a signal to attack at dusk. Care must be taken to prevent provocateurs from lighting such towers prematurely to send false or early confirmation, and methods of doing so vary in sophistication from area to area.
Supernatural Communication
Everything changes when magic or First Age technologies enter the picture. Immediate or near-immediate communication over longer distances is possible, with greater rarity as distance increases and communication delays decrease. Imperial legions travel with portable heliographs, large shuttered lights that can rapidly transmit information for as far as the naked eye or telescopes can see.
The Realm actively maintains a system of heliographs. Such devices are prohibitively expensive outside the Scarlet Empire, but travelers occasionally encounter decrepit Shogunate heliograph towers elsewhere. Heliography typically requires those communicating to do so in code, as anybody looking in the same general direction of a signal lamp will notice its presence at night. Use during daytime is more difficult to spot, but still possible if someone is specifically watching for it.
Sorcerers, creatures or spirits capable of providing near-instantaneous communication between two or more parties are highly sought after. The Realm uses an extensive network of freelance sorcerers to keep its various prefectures and satrapies in touch, usually with the Terrestrial Circle spell Infallible Messenger. Such relationships can often be a devil's bargain, for while such communications are almost always secure, the messenger typically remains aware of the parties involved. He could even learn the contents of the message itself, so it is in the best interest of all parties to utilize the most trustworthy of envoys. Rarely are those with such a prized ability killed outright for bearing witness to sensitive information, although it has been known to happen. Typically couriers privy to sensitive information are kept in a gilded cage of sorts, their every earthly desire provided for while they are kept under heavy guard to prevent capture or voluntary departure.
Armies on the March
Well-trained armies in Creation can realistically march about 15 miles per day, or 25 to 30 miles with a forced march in relatively open terrain. Rough terrain can easily halve those distances. Armies typically march in column formation along roads, which leaves them vulnerable to attack but offers the fastest method of advancement. Cavalry and lightly armed scouts move in a screen before the army, ranging a few miles ahead to sweep for enemy troops. Marching armies often disrupt any other transportation along the road.
Crossroads, mountain passes and bridges offer strategic positions for armies. Armies cross rivers by fording and at bridges, either those already existing or over hastily built artificial fords or temporary bridges. Fodder for mounts travels with the baggage train, typically the slowest part of the army and found to its rear.
The Importance of Supply
Food is a serious issue for armies. Range and direction is limited by food carried, available plunder and any storehouses along the way. One rider and mount together require about the same amount of food and supplies as four soldiers. Armies that cannot find enough food to survive will starve, disband or revolt against their commanders. There is often a high agricultural surplus in most civilized areas because the rice crops come in three to five times per annum.
The logistics capabilities of most societies means that a roving army of 5,000 is a force to be reckoned with. Defensive forces fortifying a central point such as a typical city-state can exceed this number by three or four times if kept in good supply, though troop quality can vary greatly as these forces generally include militias, conscripts and mercenaries in addition to a core of professional soldiers. Societies capable of fielding larger armies over sustained periods of time and distance can dominate substantial amounts of land.
Navies or naval convoys are typically limited in speed by the slowest vessel amongst the pack, with faster outriders splitting off from the main force when speed is a necessity. Imperial warships often have a heliograph setup of some kind. Imperial flagships also have some form of near-instant magical communication such as at least one sorcerer capable of casting Infallible Messenger. Squadrons of fighting vessels can form a blockade to prevent supplies or enemy vessels from traveling through, typically around a port or along common routes of travel. Armies transported by naval vessels must be sufficiently supplied for longer journeys, but those traveling in convoy can send supply ships to friendly ports or link up and redistribute supplies if necessary.
Accelerated Travel
I Teleport Across Creation!
Barring certain spells with limited application such as Travel Without Distance, it is simply not possible to immediately teleport to any point in Creation. Certain beings or artifacts might have the epic capability of limited teleportation over great distances, but such an occurrence is so rare it should be unique and always carry a price. Travel between fixed locations separated by great distances is still legendary, but it could be considered slightly less rare than unique.
Various forms of non-standard travel and communication exist within Creation. The following is a short list detailing the approximate rate of travel for each. Italicized entries indicate travel is “as the crow flies,” defined previously. “Treat as Exceptional” means that you should add in that modifier to more easily approximate the speed, although the mount isn’t necessarily exceptional itself.
Ships
Powered paddlewheel (First Age only): Ocean "rowing" speeds. Engine quality and fuel requirements determines quality of rowing.
Cranked paddlewheel: River "upstream, assisted" speeds, even in the ocean.
Haslanti iceship: Ocean "sailing" speeds on ice and water. Iceships cannot be rowed.
Haslanti air boat: Ocean "sailing" speeds. Air boats cannot be rowed.
Mounts
Riding bird (gryphon, hawk of Metagalapa): Land "horse relay, simple" if three days or less, otherwise use "horseback." Mount is assumed to be exceptional when factoring prices and speed.
Howdah-mounted bird (roc): Land "horse relay, elaborate" if a week or less, otherwise use "horse relay, simple." Mount is enduring.
Mammoth or yeddim: Land "cart" if pulling a wagon or heavily burdened, otherwise use land "drawn carriage." Mount is enduring.
Tyrant lizard: Land "horse relay, simple." Mount is enduring.
Travel and Communication Spells
I Teleport Across Creation!
Barring certain spells with limited application such as Travel Without Distance, it is simply not possible to immediately teleport to any point in Creation. Certain beings or artifacts might have the epic capability of limited teleportation over great distances, but such an occurrence is so rare it should be unique and always carry a price. Travel between fixed locations separated by great distances is still legendary, but it could be considered slightly less rare than unique.
Here is a quick summary of spells that speed travel or communication. Details are either found in this book or are left to other supplements. Italicized entries indicate travel is "as the crow flies."
Terrestrial Circle
- Becoming the Wood Friend: Any forest, scrubland or cultivated field is considered open terrain.
- Calling the Wind's Kiss: Maintain a ship's maximum speed, ignoring normal currents or small storms for ({Essence} hours + 2 motes per hour) to maintain. Treat difficult terrain as open, and apply the make haste bonus for the duration of the spell (ignoring {Stamina + Resistance} limits).
- Conjuring the Azure Chariot: Flight capable at 200 miles per hour for as long as the sun is in the sky, and must be cast during daylight hours.
- Stormwind Rider: 100 miles per hour land-based mount that treats terrain with obstacles as open. Spell requires concentration and lasts until the caster sets foot upon the ground.
- The Horse that Travels Earth and Water: Use land “horse, tireless” until next sunrise, and treats all water as land of same terrain type.
- Travel Without Distance: Instantaneously travel to any location seen before within (Essence x 10) miles.
- Viridian Mantle of Underwater Journeys: Swim or walk on underwater surface as though at full running speed on land. Apply make haste bonus (ignoring {Stamina + Resistance} limits) as long as the subject remains underwater.
Celestial Circle
- Cloud Trapeze: Flight capable at 100 miles per hour. Ends when sorcerer breaks concentration.
- Rolling Earth Carpet: Ground changes to open terrain for caster and 100 marching humans/50 mounted riders, centered on caster for duration of committed Essence. Ignore long distance, political upheaval and warzone terrain modifiers and the hunted travel quality, although this spell does not preclude encounters with enemies.
- Swift Spirit of Winged Transportation: Flight-capable ship travels 200 miles per hour at one mile above the ground until it reaches water-based destination. Only flat-bottomed ships can set down safely on land.
Solar Circle
- Chariot of the Blazing Sun: Flight capable at 750 miles per hour until destination reached, sorcerer dispels it or the sun leaves the sky.
Complex Travel
The travel distances on the travel type table do not account for natural or political boundaries, assuming travel occurs in roughly a straight line with no external delays. If you would prefer to add complexity, use the following modifiers. Use the slowest moving travel type if multiple people with multiple forms of locomotion are traveling together. To apply modifiers you must first select a terrain type, then apply terrain modifiers and finally apply travel qualities. Multiply this fraction by relevant number on the travel type table, rounding up. If the total is 0, then travel is limited to no more than one mile per day, at the Storyteller's discretion.
Terrain Type
Select terrain type to determine base movement.
Open: x1 base movement. Includes rolling plains or tundra, calm waters and otherwise gentle terrain.
Difficult: x3/4 base movement. Mounts or wheeled vehicles at x1/2 base movement. Includes forests, deserts, ice plains, foothills, a river ford, seasonal squalls or otherwise rough terrain.
Extreme: x1/2 base movement. Mounts or wheeled vehicles at x0 base movement, but this can be improved with modifiers. Walking a mount brings a traveler to x1/4 base movement which is matched by mount. Includes marshes, mountains, dense forests, whitewater rapids or otherwise normally impassible terrain.
Terrain Modifiers
Total all positive and negative modifiers, then apply. They can never increase movement above x1 or below x0 base movement. Trails: +1/8 movement. Includes any common throughways, river routes or beaten paths through an area. Found in any terrain type.
Highways: +1/8 movement (add to Trails bonus). Includes any form of well-maintained road system, such as that on the Blessed Isle. Found in open or difficult terrain. Storyteller may rule it is found in extreme terrain, but this is rare. Highways don't always go to your specific destination, but they can get you to the vicinity where you can take local trails. Land-based only.
Long Distance: -1/4 movement. Apply to any travel lasting more than a day. This accounts for natural and political borders, skirting around impassible terrain, et cetera.
Political Upheaval: -1/8 movement. General political unrest makes travel difficult. Times of great strife can cause delays, with roads being clogged with refugees, bridges being defunct or secret police running “security” checkpoints.
Warzone: -1/4 movement. Armies are on the march or fighting throughout this area, and neutral travelers must take care to provide proper authorization for travel or avoid troop movements. Reduce to -1/8 if an army sanctions the travel, and ignore if travelers are visibly members of a friendly army. However, there is a -3/4 movement penalty for traveling behind the lines of an enemy army, and doing so almost always ensures martial confl ict. Getting through the lines in the first place should be no easy task.
As the Crow Flies: Ignore long distance terrain modifier, if applicable. Travel occurs in roughly a straight line and assumes the terrain type is open unless otherwise stated.
Travel Qualities
Unlike terrain modifiers, these qualities can increase movement above x1, but cannot reduce it below x0.
Exceptional: +1/8 movement. Applies to methods of conveyance only: mounts, vehicles and vessels. A fast or well-crewed form of travel. Resources are often one or two dots more expensive. Cannot be included with "substandard."
Enduring: +1/8 movement. Applies only to mounts. The mount has particularly great endurance and can travel farther than most creatures before needing rest.
Accurate Maps: +1/8 movement. Resources requirements are usually one dot for Open, two dots for Difficult and three dots for Extreme. Allows travelers to avoid known hazards. The Storyteller deems whether maps are “accurate.” Travelers without at least Survival 1 do not get this bonus.
Make Haste: +1/4 movement (daily), +1/2 movement (hourly). Only applicable for land-based travel. For hourly distances, see page 130 regarding strenuous activity. For daily distances, replace "hours" with "days" to determine how long travelers can make haste and how many days of rest they require after doing so. Any penalty negates this quality. Armies performing forced marches are limited by their weakest members.
Substandard: -1/4 movement. Applies to methods of conveyance only: mounts, vehicles and vessels. A sluggish or unreliable form of travel. Resources are often one dot less expensive to purchase or rent. Cannot be included with "exceptional."
Hunted/Hunting: -1/4 movement. Travelers are actively hunted and are attempting to evade capture or are themselves hunters actively seeking a target over long distances.
Large Group: -1/4 movement. Guild caravans, armies, naval squadrons and other large groups traveling together have a difficult time coordinating their movement. Any amount of travelers larger than 500, mounted travelers greater than 200 or ships of more than 20 are considered to constitute a large group. Rapid communication capabilities through artifacts or sorcery reduce this factor by 1/8, and groups with extensive training on coordinated movement (i.e., elite troops or well-seasoned caravans) reduce it by 1/8. Both reductions stack.
Unfamiliar Land: -1/8 movement. Apply penalty if none of the travelers have ever been through this region. Ignore after three months' travel in the region, if travelers take a previously traveled route, if travelers have a local guide or if any traveler possesses Survival ••••+.
Example: Dave's character Golden-Eyed Vengeance wants to travel from his river village to Nexus, 1,500 miles downstream. Dave's Storyteller determines that roughly 1/4 of it (375 miles) is considered difficult terrain due to a sluggish rainy season, but the other 3/4 of the journey (1,125 miles) is considered open.
The terrain modifiers include +1/8 for trails (a well-traveled waterway) and -1/4 for long distance (far longer than a day's travel), for a total of -1/8. The leg through difficult terrain will be 5/8 movement, while the leg through open will be 7/8 movement.
As for travel qualities, Golden-Eyed Vengeance hires an exceptional boat for +1/8 movement, and the Storyteller decides such a boat would have accurate maps for another +1/8, for a total of +1/4. The difficult leg is now 7/8 movement, while the open leg is 9/8 movement.
Looking at the distances for downstream river travel, the difficult leg of 375 miles uses weekly travel: (200 miles * 7/8) is 175 miles per week. Two weeks of travel is 350 miles, with 25 miles remainder. A day's travel is normally 50 miles, and even with the 7/8 movement factored in it will come out to just over half a day's travel.
The open leg of 1,125 miles uses monthly travel: (600 miles * 9/8) is 675 miles per month. One month of travel leaves 450 miles to go, so Dave switches to Weekly travel: (200 miles * 9/8) is 225 miles per week. This remaining 450 miles is exactly two weeks of open travel. Totaling everything together, Golden-Eyed Vengeance reaches Nexus in two months and a little more than half a day.