North Across the Caspian

This photo might have been taken from a riverboat traveling north across the Caspian River. The picture looks north to the hills that separate the Caspian Valley from the highlands of Nothern Cascadia. On the left hand side, where the meadow meets the treeline, you can just make out the road that would lead from Angel Heights, in the north of the city of Fernwall, past the Fernwall Downs racetrack, and up the hill to the city of Bexler in the dutchy of Monchapelle. (You can click on the photo to enlarge it.)

As you might expect, in addition to the hundreds of riverboats from up river, a steady stream of twenty-mule teams travel this road every single day, carrying everything from textiles and wood to industrial metals and food into the city to feed its voratious appetite. For example, the city consumes six thousand tons of coal, six hundred tons of flour, sixty thousand gallons of dairy products, and seven tons of legumes every single day! And that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the thousands of goods and materials the city needs to keep running.