Strigos Road

The Strigos Road (Via Strigos), which is to say the "Rawboned Road", is a project that was initiated by Azalin Rex subsequent to his re-emergence in 755 BC. It will join the East Timori Road at Liara to the Argenteus and Tempe roads just west of Tempe Falls. A timeframe for the completion of the project has not been given and where the work currently stands is unknown.

The Strigos Road is largely the re-establishment of a road that traversed Arak prior to the existence of Nova Vaasa. That route connected the Tempe Road to the Old Svalich Road in eastern Barovia. The Scourge of Arak in 588 BC wiped the surface of Arak clean, damaging, but not destroying, the original road. The reputation that Arak would acquire in the years that followed the cataclysm was ample deterrence against the use of the road for any prospecting or exploring beyond the Darkonian frontier.

The Great Upheaval in 740 BC made possible the reestablishment of a route through Arak by its relocation of the Arak east to the newly opened gash upon the face of the Land of Mists that is the Shadow Rift. The disappearance of the land of Arak as such, permitted the subsumption of the Mountains of Misery by Darkon, moving the Darkonian frontier south to that of Nova Vaasa. Prior to this change, the fool who dared spend the night in Arak, after the Arak had been deprived of their original playthings in 588 BC, stood an excellent chance of being carried off before the dawn.

As of 750 BC, the road afforded access to the north western flank of Mount Nirka, but only on foot as that part of the roadbed that hadn't been partially or completely washed away was littered with boulders and covered by rocks slides. Happily, fallen trees proved to be an additional obstacle only in the vicinity of the frontier for the interior of Arak remains essentially treeless. In addition to replacing or clearing the roadbed, several new bridges and tunnels are required.

The route gently curves from southernly to easternly between the Tempe Road and the northwestern flank of Mount Nirka where it crosses the headwaters of the Corvus River. Next it turns straight south and then southeast as it negotiates the western and southwestern flanks of Mount Nirka where it crosses the headwaters of the Amnis Lacrimarum ("River of Tears"). Then it skirts the western flank of Mount Nyid, before bearing southwest as it winds its way to Liara through the Forgotten Hills.

Eventual trade along the route will confront not only the challenges offered up by the Mountains of Misery, but equally that of Nova Vaasan taxation which is even more punititve than Falkovnian taxation. One would almost wonder if Azalin Rex doesn't have some other purpose in mind ... unless he is confident that the Prince of Nova Vaasa can be persuaded to embrace the benefits of free trade.

References

Gazetteer II, p. 12, 16, 38.

Gazetteer V, p. 37, 71.