Where to run a KUP game #3 - The land (part 2)

(continues from part 1)

The lands within the Great Belt are considered civilized and hospitable. As already explained, surface travel relies on the ability to navigate using the winds. This is done through personal abilities and dedicated tools (the most common of which are the anemometer and the wind map) or with the help of professionals: guides who lead travelers. This second option generally occurs when traveling beyond the Great Belt, where the expertise of a professional is necessary to navigate 'wild' territories.

The winds are constant and regular, generally blowing according to the pattern shown in the graphs below, with obvious variations based on the terrain. The direction of the winds depends on the season: in ‘The Earth Slumbers,’ the winds bring rain, making it cold and damp; conversely, in ‘The Earth Awakens,’ the winds are dry, making the season hot and dry.

Due to the consistency of the winds, the civilized lands are populated with windmills specifically built to harness the winds of both seasons: they are very similar to real medieval windmills, with an upper mechanism that rotates 180° to utilize the wind in both directions. These windmills are a typical construction found in specific areas where the winds blow with moderate force and the greatest possible consistency.

The second way to travel in the civilized lands is through tunnels. Tunnels that cover vast distances run underground, all of them with similar features: they are circular, ranging in width from 6 to 9 meters, and have several exits to the surface. No one knows the origins of the tunnels as it is lost in the mists of the past (but this will be explained later). For over a thousand years, the tunnels have been managed by the Underground and Passageway Corporation, known as UPC: this corporation explores, cleans, and makes the underground paths accessible. Once explored, mapped, and cleaned, UPC secures the tunnel by blocking any secondary access (there are small walkways connecting the tunnels to the surface), turning these secondary accesses into ventilation shafts. They also create a road surface and equip the tunnel with a (magical) lighting system. Finally, they establish small resting areas at regular intervals where travelers can stop and rest their animals. All of these services come at a cost, which the traveler pays as a toll each time they use the tunnels. UPC has a strict hierarchy and order spread all over the civilized lands, which ensures a high level of safety, to the point where underground travel is preferred over surface travel (even though it’s expensive!). The tunnels managed by UPC number eight and are quite extensive in terms of length, as highlighted on the map below:

Every tunnel has a name derived by a color: Umberway, Saffronway, Bistreway, Verdisgrisway, Purpleway, Crimsonway, Indigoway, Ceruleanway. UPC is always actively looking for usable tunnels, and there are currently several under exploration or cleaning, but these activities are kept strictly secret by UPC. What is known to everyone is that the tunnels continue beyond the Great Belt, but for these routes, UPC does not provide any safety guarantees. For example, it’s known that at least the Indigo Way, Saffronway, and Umberway lead to a sort of declining city in the middle of the desert area to the west of the Great Belt, a place where only bold adventurers and reckless bounty hunters dare to venture… but this is another story (or adventure!).