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The Jugular Way -- the longest of any known roadway -- cuts through the heartlands as a rough, over-used cart trail stretching thousands of leagues; from the deepest Pan-Feric jungles of the Dornialan Obduracy to a meager death among the narrow streets of Lotnikk. In other times, it has been an artery of trade, a roadway of death, and the path of armies. Today, it is a living odditorium, bracketed by the carved pillars of abandoned shrines to The Author or the hulk of a Bronze Behemoth slumped next to an ominous, metallic, vine-covered bistro. Woldecott "temples" (now standing in the middle of humble grain fields) have fared just as poorly: their inner sanctums are overrun with weeds, revealing only a head or arm of a deity1, their Opeidovinoscopes smashed and scattered. In the Xtant hills , just south of Geltsland, a roadsign promises information for persons disappeared. Farther north, in winding passes of the Nihumet Range?, just beyond Tachyderm Pass, a clockwork statue gives clues to any mendicant dilettantes, nobles, or other thrill seekers trying to locate the wandering Orectic Oracle. Travel from one end of the Jugular Way typically takes several weeks. The longest known trip2 is rumored to have taken over one hundred twenty years; the shortest a little over four hours3. This unpredictability is due to the way in which certain factors4 interact (or fail to interact) with the road itself, and as a result the road itself has fallen more and more into disuse since the phenomena first began to manifest. Today, even in the heart of Bodea-Lotnikk, the Jugular Way is a route willingly chosen only by fools, the desperate, or the ignorant.6 1 - In almost nearly all cases, such appendages are merely statuary. 2 - Caveat: successful trip. 3 - Utilizing a method of navigation which has never since been willingly replicated, due to its unwitting creation of Un-Littlesmithick during the first field test. 4 - Mostly "time", but also molerats.5 5 - There's also the somewhat disturbing tendency of the road itself to... wander off. 6 - Making it one of the most heavily-traveled routes in the city, with a standing yearly repair budget in the thousands.7 7 - Most of which goes to replacing road workers on an annual basis. |
