Awakar Route
The Awakar Route is the name given to a trade network crossing the central Ninva Desert in Scipia. Crossing through the modern-day countries of Charnea and Tyreseia, the various paths have carried goods and passengers between Periclean coastal ports and the resource-extraction centers in the heart of the desert. Today, the Awakar is vital to the transportation networks of both nations; Tyreseia relies on the extensive rail network to link Ninvite and Tyreseian oil fields and to bind its south with the north, while the Ninvites rely on the network to cross the arid and near-lifeless desert between their densely-populated metropolises. The harsh climate has bred a form of alternative tourism. Hundreds of thousands of tourists, mainly from Belisarian countries, flock to New Tyria to travel by train through the desert, with many following the popular Taɣlamt.
Historically, the Awakar Route was plied by camel caravans. The inhospitable environment and pitfall-laden terrain made the route extremely difficult, and forced medieval and early-modern states to invest in significant infrastructure development to support the caravans. The trade lines were lucrative, as they brought goods such as gold and salt out of the Ninva and up onto the Rubric Coast, where merchants could trade for goods from Belisaria and the wider world. The camel trade network reached a crescendo in the late 16th century, with numerous caravansary companies plying hundreds of paths via innumerable rest points to manifold port towns and cities on the Periclean Sea coast. The Awakar Route saw a decline in popularity thanks to advances in maritime shipping, with many merchants opting to bring their goods on the much shorter journey south to Salacian Sea port towns. The Route received new life in the late 19th century, however, as the advent of steam locomotion allowed for quicker and less labor-intensive cargo transport in exchange for a larger upfront investment. Few camel routes were converted to rail lines until the 20th century, when near-simultaneous discoveries of vast crude oil deposits in Charnea and Tyreseia led to the rapid expansion and conversion of most remaining caravan trails into railroads.
Routes
The most popular route is the Taɣlamt, which moves between the Tyreseian capital of New Tyria City and the Ninvite capital city of Agnannet. Despite being one of the more ancient caravan highways, the Taɣlamt was for centuries merely one of a multitude leading to New Tyria. The route gained new prominence during the 20th century, when Agnannet experienced a massive boom in population and influence that put a greater demand on the Taɣlamt rail line.
Methods of Travel
By far the most common means of transport across the Awakar is the railway.
FerroTyr and Ninvite Railways jointly operate the Taɣlamt, a high-speed passenger rail service that roughly follows the ancient caravan route of the same name.
Many tourists, in spite of harsh warnings from both governments, will attempt to purchase a desert-worthy motor vehicle and follow a disused caravan route from Tyreseia to a Ninvite city. Such travel incurs many hazards:
- Inability to navigate due to driver incompetence,
- Disused routes often being abandoned due to environment shifts that render them impassable,
- Harsh terrain performing excessive wear and tear on vehicle parts,
- Improper amounts of supplies, especially water, being acquired for the journey, and
- The remoteness of many less-popular routes rendering rescue an improbability.
The Tyreseian Workers' Naval Infantry Service and Republican Guard frequently mount camel and motor patrols of the desert to search for smugglers and to scout for any stranded motorists, though the likelihood of the latter's survival long enough to be rescued is slim.
