The Royal Roads of the Southwest
The peoples of the southwest live - and for hundreds of thousands of slave laborers, die - by their public works. To make the desert bloom, massive and complex irrigation systems must be built and administered by strong central governments if civilization is to be maintained and a third Dark Age averted. These central governments therefore have the know-how and institutional urge to build other public works on a scale beyond anywhere else in the former United States. Often, these monuments are built at the demand of the God-kings of these hydraulic empires, usually in the service to their immortal soul - pyramids, labyrinths, temples. In addition, there are those public works that are not directly tied to irrigation, nor do they directly appeal to any higher power, but they nonetheless service the realm and proclaim the glory of the Presidents. One such example are the Presidential Railways.
Now, make no mistake: these are not the iron railroads plowed by steam locomotives that had tied together the continent in the industrial age. For the most part, they are ruts cut into stone roads, tracks in which the wheels of a wagon can be placed. This may seem like nothing to get overexcited about, their are clear advantages in the context of the west. For one, travel is a fairly well-strictured thing. Trails and caravan routes are ancient and must be strenuously held to. Any deviation or attempt to find a new pass may lead to a would-be trailblazer may just as well result in his death by thirst, or he may fall under the mercy of savage and suspicious tribal peoples. Wagon-ways ensure that there is no deviation, accidental or otherwise.
This latter point is of especial importance for the cyclopean states of the desert. More than anything, the reign of the hydraulic empires is predicated upon control - control over water, control over violent force, control over access to God. Life is highly strictured, designed to ensure compliance and eternal loyalty now and in the hereafter. Railways allow potentates, whether they be local chieftains, high priests, or presidents to exercise a high degree of trade over vital commerce. Large and heavily-burdened wagons cannot travel over the raw earth. They are reliant on stone roads built by the government, who then solidifies their power by requiring wagon trains to travel only in the prescribed ruts. More practically for especially heavy wagons, it cuts down on maintenance needed for the road. In many lands, the penalty for a wagons bearing a sufficient load that do not travel with their wheels in the grooves is death, by crushing beneath rail wagon.
The first state to pioneer the use of railways was Vegas. The Colorado being unnavigable aside from a few short stretches which are passable by barges, the House of Vegas needed a dependable network of transportation to administer their riverine kingdom, taking vital supplies to the waterworks upstream of Lake Mead. And so, the Caesars commissioned their sage-engineers and bureaucrats to construct a great series of engraved roads to tie together the Colorado. The design reached New Mexico in the late 27th century during the rule of the Vegasite Dynasty. Though railways were born in Vegas, it reached its highest form in the Confederacy. The land is vast, rough, and mostly empty, necessitating many paved roads between major cities. The largest cities are connected by enragraved roads, and most cities have extensive networks within. While in Vegas gauges were largely standardized, in New Mexico they wildly differ between towns and regions. Every stretch of graven road is controlled by a different temple complex or guild, built to their own specifications. Each excises their pound of flesh and kicks some up to the representatives of the confederal government.
In Splendid Albuquerque the central government takes the strongest interest in graven roads, and elevates them to their greatest heights. The city center is full of towering elevated graven roadways, a marvel of the world. Between the great temples and palaces, rather than simple graven roads, there are rails of precious iron and glinting bronze. It was here that with government patronage the eunuch-slave Abed Wayasli, taken in war with Kuluradu, designed mechanical hand-carts, marvels that could travel without being pulled. An extremely large funerary hand carriage was designed to ferry the body of President Bill Cisneros over iron rails to his mourtuary temple outside of the temple. The rails and the massive cart have both recently been broken down for scrap, but handcarts have become increasingly popular in the city.
Recently, the rails have been adopted in a few cities in California, though to comparatively limited extent. The system has seen little to no adoption in Bajo Colorado, Utah, or Kuluradu.
The peoples of the southwest live - and for hundreds of thousands of slave laborers, die - by their public works. To make the desert bloom, massive and complex irrigation systems must be built and administered by strong central governments if civilization is to be maintained and a third Dark Age averted. These central governments therefore have the know-how and institutional urge to build other public works on a scale beyond anywhere else in the former United States. Often, these monuments are built at the demand of the God-kings of these hydraulic empires, usually in the service to their immortal soul - pyramids, labyrinths, temples. In addition, there are those public works that are not directly tied to irrigation, nor do they directly appeal to any higher power, but they nonetheless service the realm and proclaim the glory of the Presidents. One such example are the Presidential Railways.
Now, make no mistake: these are not the iron railroads plowed by steam locomotives that had tied together the continent in the industrial age. For the most part, they are ruts cut into stone roads, tracks in which the wheels of a wagon can be placed. This may seem like nothing to get overexcited about, their are clear advantages in the context of the west. For one, travel is a fairly well-strictured thing. Trails and caravan routes are ancient and must be strenuously held to. Any deviation or attempt to find a new pass may lead to a would-be trailblazer may just as well result in his death by thirst, or he may fall under the mercy of savage and suspicious tribal peoples. Wagon-ways ensure that there is no deviation, accidental or otherwise.
This latter point is of especial importance for the cyclopean states of the desert. More than anything, the reign of the hydraulic empires is predicated upon control - control over water, control over violent force, control over access to God. Life is highly strictured, designed to ensure compliance and eternal loyalty now and in the hereafter. Railways allow potentates, whether they be local chieftains, high priests, or presidents to exercise a high degree of trade over vital commerce. Large and heavily-burdened wagons cannot travel over the raw earth. They are reliant on stone roads built by the government, who then solidifies their power by requiring wagon trains to travel only in the prescribed ruts. More practically for especially heavy wagons, it cuts down on maintenance needed for the road. In many lands, the penalty for a wagons bearing a sufficient load that do not travel with their wheels in the grooves is death, by crushing beneath rail wagon.
The first state to pioneer the use of railways was Vegas. The Colorado being unnavigable aside from a few short stretches which are passable by barges, the House of Vegas needed a dependable network of transportation to administer their riverine kingdom, taking vital supplies to the waterworks upstream of Lake Mead. And so, the Caesars commissioned their sage-engineers and bureaucrats to construct a great series of engraved roads to tie together the Colorado. The design reached New Mexico in the late 27th century during the rule of the Vegasite Dynasty. Though railways were born in Vegas, it reached its highest form in the Confederacy. The land is vast, rough, and mostly empty, necessitating many paved roads between major cities. The largest cities are connected by enragraved roads, and most cities have extensive networks within. While in Vegas gauges were largely standardized, in New Mexico they wildly differ between towns and regions. Every stretch of graven road is controlled by a different temple complex or guild, built to their own specifications. Each excises their pound of flesh and kicks some up to the representatives of the confederal government.
In Splendid Albuquerque the central government takes the strongest interest in graven roads, and elevates them to their greatest heights. The city center is full of towering elevated graven roadways, a marvel of the world. Between the great temples and palaces, rather than simple graven roads, there are rails of precious iron and glinting bronze. It was here that with government patronage the eunuch-slave Abed Wayasli, taken in war with Kuluradu, designed mechanical hand-carts, marvels that could travel without being pulled. An extremely large funerary hand carriage was designed to ferry the body of President Bill Cisneros over iron rails to his mourtuary temple outside of the temple. The rails and the massive cart have both recently been broken down for scrap, but handcarts have become increasingly popular in the city.
Recently, the rails have been adopted in a few cities in California, though to comparatively limited extent. The system has seen little to no adoption in Bajo Colorado, Utah, or Kuluradu.
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