Trade in Mizahar
Part I. History of Contact and Trade
I'll start off with a review of domain interactions throughout Mizahar, as no trade can happen without the awareness of other polities to trade with.
First, the peoples of Mizahar really only returned to the surface around 200 AV, give or take a few decades. So little to no interaction between domains occurred before then, and the history of modern trade goes back no more than 300 years. Frequently, much less than that. Additionally, trade can only happen if one has a surplus to sell off, and as Mizahar's cities were essentially built from scratch, it probably took decades
at least for them to generate a surplus of anything. Thus, it's more likely that even small-scale trade didn't really get started until 250 or 300 AV.
The history of land tradeDue to its sheltered location, Zeltiva actually dates all the way back to just post-Valterrian; the University resumed offering classes in 20 AV. Every other city in Sylira came along later. The Dyres brothers initiated Stormhold Castle sometime around 240-250 AV, going by the
Dyres Lineage page. Ravok was founded around 150 AV. It's not clear when Sunberth or Nyka were resettled, but since they are both in relatively open terrain, they were likely founded in the later range of time, circa 200-250 AV.
Sylira as a region has a unique combination of population levels and relatively passable terrain which makes it likely the first to have developed anything resembling a systematic trade network. The Syliran Knights are also the only group I know of to have undertaken major road-building and region-patrolling projects. They built first the Syliras-Zeltiva road, and later the rest of the Kabrin Road, linking Karjin in the north to Riverfall in the south -- although I can't find precise dates for when these were completed. Trade would have happened before the roads, but it became
much more practical afterwards.
Another potential conduit for early land trade is the Run, the path of Endrykas' migration through the Sea of Grass. The Drykas didn't emerge until around 200 AV, and it's in the lore that there was 'much experimentation' before the Run finally became settled, so it was probably towards 300 AV that they began following a regular route. Endrykas moves even more slowly than a caravan might, the better for their herds to graze, but it offers the security of numbers for any trader that traveled with them.
The Drykas themselves might trade goods between other cities, but are less likely to do so in a systematic fashion. Similarly with other nomads, such as the Benshira and Chaktawe. A few things might pass through their hands on the way to someone else, but most of their trade would be for items they intend to use themselves.
The history of sea tradeSea trade likely started with the Svefra in the Suvan, although they did not settle there until "the waters had calmed", likely around the same 200 AV period. I'm not seeing any history for Alvadas or Kenash; Riverfall looks to have been established around 200 AV, as its founding leader died circa 300 AV. As with land trade, all of these cities and the Svefra themselves needed to get established before they could start trading, so it was probably around 250-300 AV that any Suvan Sea trade really became viable.
The Svefra, however, currently have only two kinds of ships: personal casinors and family palivars. Both of these are on the smaller side, and give up some potential cargo space for living quarters. Indeed, casinors only carry up to 500 lbs of cargo, which isn't much at all as trade goes. Additionally, like other nomadic cultures, the Svefra's primary considerations are not trade, running a set route between cities, and otherwise depending upon that business for money; they will pause and detour and travel at their own pace in their own time. So while they do exchange goods and facilitate the flow of materials between cities, they are less likely to do so in large scale or with any consistency.
Syliran ships do trade across the Suvan, and Syliran crews are said to sail from other ports such as Sunberth (see the 'discovery' of Mura in its lore page). But I haven't turned up much in the lore about their role in ocean travel and trade other than a few passing mentions.
Finally, while Svefra can be found off the outer coasts of Mizahar, their ships cannot handle the open ocean. Those waters are the sole province of Zeltivan sailors. According to a note buried in the
Mura lore, Zeltiva only redeveloped oceangoing ships around 445 AV. So while Zeltiva did explore the eastern coasts earlier, as far as Novallas in the north and around to the entrance of the Suvan, true systematic sea trade all the way around the outside of Mizahar only began after 450 AV.
This brings us to Kenabelle Wright's expedition and the circumnavigation of Mizahar; she started off in Summer 450 AV and made it back around to Abura in Winter 451. Prior to this expedition, Zeltivans and Sylira at large did not really have contact with the far side of Mizahar.
The Avanthal lore page says Wright landed there in 457 AV, a small discrepancy. Per Kenabelle's
Account, they reached Avanthal in Spring 451. The Avanthal lore says their people did not explore or reach out to others prior to Wright's expedition, although Kenabelle's Account indicates that Avanthal and the Vantha were the subjects of rumors, so
someone had to have traveled out of there beforehand. But not in a manner which supports
trade. Wright's crew went on to land in Denval later that Spring; Denval didn't have further contact with the outside until 455 AV. Wright did not stop at Thunder Bay or in Lhavit, nor along the shores of Falyndar. Per the
Trade Routes lore, there are sill no permanent sea trade routes to the far west of Mizahar, except Alvadas.
The history of trade in western MizaharKalea and Falyndar, along with western Taldera, are their own case entirely. Cities in Kalea remain isolated due to the impassable mountains of Kalea; land travel is essentially a non-starter. Certainly not with wagons, although the
mountain ixam offer interesting possibilities as draft animals at lower elevations. There aren't many of them to be had, though.
Ships from Avanthal are said to have traveled to Denval, per the Denval lore. So some small-scale, coastal sea trade might happen in modern times with local ships -- but Lhavit's first contact with the outside world only came in 402 AV, and as mentioned above Denval had no traders prior to 455 AV, so these are very new on the historical scale. (Not to mention, Denval is totally obliterated now, but that's a different matter altogether.)
I'm not sure who Kalinor trades with, or by what means, although there is
some trade as per the city's lore; it's close enough to the coast that ships might put in nearby, and it's possible Endals fly in to some landing point on the surface. Similarly, I'm not clear on what degree of contact The Spires has with the outside world; they have no port, and there's no mention of whether the Wind Eagles fly into the bloodwood trees. Taloba and Zinrah are also essentially cut off from the outside world by the surrounding jungle. There is mention in Taloba's lore page of 'outside trading posts', what I infer are places on or near the shore where ships can unload and do business. But that's about it as far as documented outside interactions go. I'm not sure when "first contact" happened for any of these cities, or what form it took.
ConclusionAnd that's trade from the historical perspective. Next up -- well, after the next 'feature' post -- will be a discussion of what else I can find on more modern trading and the goods that flow between cities.
