@TheEdVerse Oloré! I hope the holiday season is treating you well this Nightal! 🎁
A couple of questions, if I may…
Who built the East Way? When? Why does it go through Hullack Forest instead of skirting the edges? I presume the woods were as deadly back then as they are now?
— Lazar Stojkovic (@LazarStojkovic) December 27, 2019
1)
The Forest was as deadly back then, but much larger (i.e. there was no skirting it except by climbing mountains; they filled that corner of Cormyr). The East Way took years to blaze and clear and expand, in stages, starting circa 176 DR or so (the Sembian end, 2)
…from Yhaunn to Ordulin, was first, but not envisaged as a road linking with Cormyr). Woodcutters, sponsored by interests in Aravel that wanted their own supporting farms, started east from Arabel in 192 DR, and blazed a trail (a pack trail, not a wagon road) …#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 27, 2019
3)
…to the border by 198 DR. The rest came in fits and starts, mainly pushing east from Cormyr, over the next few decades. For a long time, it was a trail with fords, not a proper wagon road, and was perilous in the extreme (monsters used it as a banqueting.. 4)
…table), so it was several centuries before it gained the name "the East Way" and had full coverage of waystop inns, stables, good bridges, and so on.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 27, 2019