The Slave Way - The Key Road Through Thay

Dear Salia Valgon, daughter of High Cleric Fury Valgon, squire-in-training to Bane's Blackened Fist, Augustus Valgon (glory to Bane) - 

I could not help but overhear your inquiry about the Slave Way at your family's last gathering.  Unfortunately, I was unable to answer your inquiry right then, but as an aspiring warrior and a noble Thayan young lady, you should know about that road's very special place in our lives.  (Which is why your father probably shushed you; it was harsh, but he saved you some embarrassment, so hate him a little less for it, if you can.)  With this letter, I offer you a less boring way to learn about a path you will travel many times in your life.  Because until you work your way into one of the flying corps, you will be using it any time you travel south.
  

Excerpt from the official map of Thay

You already know why it is called the Slave Way - it's the route we force the slaves to walk once they get here so they can see just how far from help they are.  It weeds out any of the sick or weak we might have missed and gets any escape attempts out of the way.  Those who attempt to flee are brought down mercilessly in front of the rest.  By the time they get up the First Escarpment, most slaves have little fight left in them.  The journey is hard and slow, but it works wonders for morale.  Those who are not sold along the way and make it all the way to Eltabbar are docile and awed.  They accept their fate.

But we did not build the road in the first place.  Mulhorand seized this territory after Raumathar and Narfell blew each other to bits, and the basic path up the middle of the plateau was already in place.  There had been trade between the lake and the sea, but the road was torn apart in the war.  The Mulhorandi improved it when they rebuilt Kensten (which is called Bezantur now), but only as much as necessary.  At the time, Eltabbar wasn't much more than a series of docks and warehouses called Pyceles (its Raumviran name), so the trading was much slower and less valuable.  Like everything else about Mulhorand.

Plans really started to take shape after we won the war for independence.  When Eltabbar was remodeled and chosen as the capital, we knew the road would have to be redone, too.  It led right through Tyraturos, which was already a larger city, and many Thayans had schemes for a more impressive interior.  The Mulhorandi hadn't put many resources into the land because it was so far away from the center of their empire.  Now it was our empire, and once we stabilized our first cities, we began to build it up.

Foreigners do not understand much about how our interior works, which is for the best.  For one thing, the Slave Way has never been just one road, and it was not built all at once.  Different stretches were funded by various patrons between 1000 and 1200 DR.  They have their own styles, defenses, and upkeep.  They also have their own names that locals use.  The Slave Way no longer "starts" in Bezantur, either; acquiring Murbant and Escalant in 1357 gave us an excuse to extend the road out across the Wizards' Reach.  Slaves do most of the basic repairs and cleaning, but citizens take care of any serious problems.  The road carries caravans and our humanoid allies where they're needed, and maintaining the road is much cheaper than trying to teleport everything everywhere.

The main stretches of the Slave Way are:

Escalant to Bezantur: This part is called Wizards' Row, since it's marked with plinths bearing symbols of magic and the Red Wizards.  Some of them are enchanted and some of them are not at any given time, but they are always reminders that we own the area now.  (Anyone found vandalizing them is given a very public execution, but idiots still try.)  The surrounding land is also rigged with magical traps for those who stray from the road without a guard bearing the chosen glyph.  They wear many glyphs stashed on their person to confuse slaves who try to pick-pocket the right one.

Bezantur to Galresh (just before the First Escarpment begins): This stretch is called the Tower Gauntlet because it's lined with impressive watchtowers all the way to Galresh, which is the town at the base of the cliff.  Some say that the towers are based on Raumviran ruins that have been found deep within Thay but no one knows how much.  Spells have been cast from them, but whether they were cast by wizards or the towers themselves is anyone's guess.  Most caravans will stop to rest at Galresh before starting the climb, and the town stays alive by catering to visitors and watching over slaves until they are ready to be moved.

Up the First Escarpment: The road that leads all the way up the cliffside is steep and long, with few alcoves dug into the cliff face for a rest.  It is a place begging for accidents and attempts at revolt, along with attempts at suicide and infighting.  For all of those reasons (as well as the ruddy color of the bare rock), it is called the Red Road by those who survive.  And more survive than you might think.  We learned long ago that crazed slaves will try to throw themselves over the edge because they think they would rather die than serve us - so we have nets and magic in place to catch them.  There are also secret entrances to caves that belong to our humanoid allies.  That is where those who fight or fuss are sometimes sent to be punished.  Most are returned, worse for wear but alive.

Rise to Delabbar: After reaching the main plateau, the path to Delabbar is named Yadara's Way for the patron who finally saw fit to develop it.  It was one of the last lengths to be given a Thayan touch, mostly because those who got past the Red Road didn't care what it looked like, as long as it was mostly flat.  Yadara was the last of her line and too old to bear children, so she chose to leave behind another legacy.  She commissioned statues of Thayan heroes who were not nobles and even placed a likeness of herself among them as a way of revealing that she had been adopted from commoner stock.  She killed herself at the opening ceremony and her ghost is said to wander anywhere along the path she pleases.  She terrifies slaves back to their masters - but she also delights in tormenting nobles who act too proud for their own good.  Trying to replace one of the statutes (or dishonor it) without her leave will result in immediate attack.

Delabbar to Mophur: Tyraturos held a city-wide competition to bring in the bones of the largest creatures their heroes could kill.  Nothing less than gargantuan sized foes would do for what they had in mind, and Spine Row is the end result.  Ribs, tails, other bones and carapaces are embedded in the dirt beside the road all the way up the middle of the plateau.  Closer to Delabbar and Mophur, the ground is moist and the bones stand out from greenery.  Closer to Tyraturos, the bleached remains gleam against desert sand.  At first, there were only so many, but they have been added to ever since.  These trophies make the journey to the massive gates of Tyraturos truly impressive and stand as a warning to any big monsters that might want to drop in on us.  Nobles can submit their trophies for use in the project even today.  I would not be surprised if your cousin Augustus added to the collection someday.  Tyraturos is the city of his birth, after all.

Mophur to Nuthretos: Mophur is the city of satisfaction (because it is the center of the drugs we spread across Faerun, not because they necessarily have more fun).  Nuthretos is the city of poison and basically dedicated to Talona.  Their solution was to sew the area with narcotics and dangerous plants, and good luck figuring out which is which.  Locals refer to it as The Wandering, but most of them won't risk stealing from the noble houses involved.  Slaves sometimes grab what they can, hoping to die, but they only become mildly ill.  Sick enough to wish they weren't.  Others just want to zone out and if they find the right leaves, they have a much better trip.  Some of the slave masters will spread rumors to calm the herd.

Nuthretos to Eltabbar: The influence of Eltabbar begins at the doorstep of Nuthretos, where the road becomes a marble expanse lined with columns.  This is one of the most costly stretches of the Slave Way to maintain but it is also the most elegant, as you've seen for yourself.  The problem is that you have not traveled much or far yet, so you cannot appreciate just how glorious it is.  One day, you will.  One day, you will ride out of the Wizard's Eye gate on your own steed and take the Steps of Thayd at your own pace.  If you follow your cousin Augustus's teachings, you will return a conqueror for certain. 

For you see, it is the Slave Way for the conquered, but it is the High Road for the conquerors.  You will not hear it called the High Road often, even though that is its official name, but it leads to the mightiest cities in Thay and there is no higher path to power here except the one that leads to the Thaymount.  Since neither of us were blessed with the gift of magic, mastering the High Road is our lot.

I hope this will be of use to you, and feel free to show off your newly acquired knowledge at the first available opportunity.  Just do not tell anyone where you learned it from, even if your cousin Augustus asks.  Let this be between us, and between us, let us make your house look even stronger in ways that others do not expect it to be.

Sincerely,
Tari Govannon

The Magical Weather Net Over Thay

Map from the 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting

The country of Thay is encompassed by several massive, invisible meshes of magic, and some of them govern the weather.  This ongoing project sustains webs of potent items and spells that must be replenished at intervals.  The necessary ingredients and arrangements are some of the Red Wizards' top secrets and they alone maintain the system's integrity.  Fail safe measures and alterations made at random also serve to throw off saboteurs.  But since circa 1100 DR, the "weather net" (as it is popularly known) has remained in place with few breaches or malfunctions and has transformed much of Thay.

Simply put, natural disasters like torrential rains, storm winds, droughts, hail, and heat waves do not occur because of this shielding.  Angry weather fronts rebound off the spell layer to wreak havoc in neighboring countries (which is between those countries and Talos, as far as Thayans are concerned).  Problems related to the volcanoes, seismic activity, and mudslides are still threats because they happen from beneath the surface.  Beshaba will have her day, as they say, and some bad luck cannot be avoided.  A great deal of damage and inconvenience has been mitigated by this magic, however.

The nation's current status as the breadbasket of Faerun is one of the outcomes of these buffers.  In the wee morning hours, a gentle but steady rain falls as scheduled in most tharchs.  It lasts for an hour and allows for more comfort and crops than were once possible.  In the earliest years after the net's construction, the rainfall happened at intervals throughout the night to help spur changes in the land.  The rains have been altered over the centuries but in recent memory, an hour a night has been enough.  This, along with rich fertilizers (that include the remains of sentient beings) has enabled Thay to sell food abroad by the ton without batting an eye toward its own granaries.

During the rest of the time, temperatures are kept relatively stable based on the region at hand, as follows:

The Priador, which sprawls along the ocean at a lower elevation, was cooler and wetter to begin with and is covered by its own screen.  Its spells are largely defensive in nature and do not provide rain; a certain amount of moisture is allowed through, instead.  Since the tharch has several key port cities, it still needs protection from Talos's rage and Umberlee's waves. The nation regularly goes out of its way to appease the Bitch Queen so she won't harass its ships, but she can be fickle.  Talos is only offered sacrifices when Thayans travel abroad but they're rarely enough to divert his hatred for long.  Surthay's coverage is similar in the north, where its net guards its position along Lake Mulsantir.

Thazalhar's program is based on a fierce determination not to lose its deserts.  Adverse weather is repelled, but very little moisture is allowed within.  The entire tharch resembles the hot, dry lands close to the Dragonsword Mountains, and its inhabitants prefer that.  The locals continue to uphold more traditional Mulan ways, anyhow, having divorced the culture from its religion.  (Mostly.  Perhaps it's no coincidence that there's more forbidden worship of the Mulhorandi pantheon in Thazalhar than anywhere else in Thay.)  The tharch uses its spell shield to create mirages, turning the land into a maze against those who do not belong there.  This has served to repel Mulhorandi spies and convince outsiders that the area has no cities of note.  It's rumored that the defensive net would be suppressed if enough rain were to fall on it but none know for sure.  In any case, the sodden island tharch called the Alaor has a similar net but different magical defenses.

The broad plateau upon which most of the empire rests enjoys a continuous mesh of spells.  The tharchs of Tyraturos and Pyarados were originally arid deserts interspersed with mesas.  While they have become far more livable, patches of desert persist, especially along the Slave Way and Eastern Way roads, which are stamped down regularly by humanoids, slaves, and livestock.  The cities of Tyraturos and Pyarados remain on hard packed sand and reach higher temperatures regularly, but haven't complained.  There are far more fields across these tharchs than maps tend to reveal but they are used for hardier crops that can withstand more heat and dryness.  


The tharchs of Lapendrar, Eltabbar, and Delhumide have shown the most improvement due to the weather project.  On the westward side of the Thaymount, deposits of ash make for incredibly fruitful soil.  Delhumide has seen enough death and magic for its land to respond well to water, but some of the crops that grow there have unusual side effects.  Lapendrar has grudgingly enjoyed the improvements the program has brought, especially in the lower cities of Nethjet and Nethentir (which were acquired later, in 1086, and continue to resist Thayan influence more than anywhere else).  The area's farmers have taken advantage of the good fortune while they have been able to, knowing that if rebel factions incense the Red Wizards enough, the rains could be turned off for good - or worse.

The sheer number and power of the effects going into Thay's weather shields make them inscrutable by any means short of epic level magic.  They are blinding when detect magic or similar spells are aimed at them, and divinations encounter as much interference.  No one will ever know how many spies and traitors have been executed before they could give away information related to this protection - nor is it likely they will ever be found.  Regardless of its expense or secrecy, most Thayans are quite proud of their bulwark against nature.  They know that it is one of the grandest magical undertakings in the history of Faerun, so any remarks about Thay's fine weather are more than just small talk, especially with foreigners.

The Bridge of Bones near Keluthar

Excerpt from the official map of Thay

On the coast of Lake Thaylambar is the small port city of Keluthar, an important supply point for all of the northern tharchs.  It is one of the oldest continually settled locations in the area, chosen for its strategic value alongside the mouth of the River Thay.  Not only does it have regular visits through its extensive docks but it is an end point along the Sur Road which connects Surthay and Gauros by land.  Since it is also almost directly across the lake from the grand markets of Eltabbar, Keluthar handles all southbound shipping of note.

Keluthar was the capital of the tharch for a brief while after the sack of Delhumide city, when Thayans were trying to solidify their power after gaining their independence.  As a Mulhorandi town, it had been dedicated to Osiris and the rites of the dead for Mulan citizens.  It had the most opulent resting places and its priests tended nearby necropoli.  It was no surprise when Keluthar suffered a particularly violent wave of "renovations" after the revolt, as the old signs of worship were destroyed.  Instead of giving the town a whole new purpose, however, edifices were slowly but surely restored in bold new ways.  

The necropoli in Delhumide were once the most revered and sought after, and in some ways, that's still the case.  Many nobles continue to find it fashionable to be buried at Keluthar or its outlying necropoli, especially if they live in the rough, less civilized lands of Gauros or Surthay.  And whether they like it or not, slave corpses are often shipped to the great clearinghouses operated by House Tam.  (Shipping the dead isn't compulsory, but it does bring in coin to offset the loss, and most organizations want to be in the good graces of House Tam.)  From there, bodies are distributed for experimentation, raising, and any other purpose the overseers approve.

Umratharos eventually stole the honor of being Delhumide's capital, choking off the lion's share of the gold and attention Keluthar had started to enjoy.  The city has since filled its coffers mainly through fees for services related to the dead.  It has struggled to become a reliable source for spell components, poisons, drugs, and shipping materials.  Local plants and creatures are often twisted by leftover magic, offering unique toxins and intoxicants.  Umratharos chokes off as many supplies from the north as it dares, however, and the Sur Road does not have a branch that doesn't pass through the new capital.  Thus, tere is a continual tug-of-war between the cities and while many Thayans pass through Keluthar, its growth has been sluggish in recent memory.

The Bridge of Bones is a great - and some say horrific - monument that crosses the River Thay near Keluthar.  Bridges were constructed on the spot for centuries before Thay's birth because the river's waters can be particularly treacherous.  The Mulhorandi Empire established a notably large and impressive bridge there, book-ended with mighty statues of their gods.  Of course, it couldn't stay that way, and a number of Red Wizards had the pleasure of bombing it into oblivion with spells.  The ruins were kept as a statement of their power for around a century until House Tam suggested a new design.

Thousands of bones of all sizes were gathered from across the country, taken only from enemies of Thay.  Keluthar gathered a panel to deem the donations worthy of being used and while anyone could submit a corpse, in practice few were allowed that were not presented by nobles.  The bones were magically hardened, coated in precious metals in some cases and treated with alchemy in others, and arranged to form the new bascule bridge.  Gnomish slaves provided the knowledge of how to install its two platforms, which raise and lower on either side through counterweight mechanisms (with a magical backup, in case anything goes wrong).  

Gate towers of volcanic rock on either bank also have room for rotating groups of guards.  These defenders are generally bored or busy trying to squeeze fees, favors, or diversions from travelers.  Guards rarely sleep in the towers but there are cramped bunks, as well as stocked armories and kitchens in both of them.  They can cut themselves off defensively if necessary, and a few times it has been.  The towers also anchor the latticed elevated walkways that cross over the river as viewing and offensive positions for the bridge's defenders.  They are identical five story buildings with ground-level entrances on the interior side of the bridge.  The surrounding banks are set with the large other bones of monstrous foes and laced with traps, and several gates must be raised to allow visitors to pass through them.

The towers and walkways showcase the skulls of Thay's foes, with the largest arranged along the towers' exteriors.  The collection has grown over time and permission must be granted to add or remove any.  While the smaller bones are an anonymous mix, the skulls are each numbered, named, and known, and it is a tradition to spit at them in disdain.  (The guards hate this practice, as it is sometimes used as an excuse to catch the staff in an ugly spray.  Only those who don't need to use the bridge spit near the guards, however, since they have authority to make even nobles wait.)

The guards will share the history of the bridge and its trophies for a donation, and will help spread rumors of the skulls' magical powers for free.  A number of the bones have been found to be enchanted, but the exact spells aren't known except to the guard captains and they are changed at irregular intervals.