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home | contents | previous | next | index Chapter 12 - Daavya[The Duchy of Arylle's] southern neighbor, the [County of Shaltre] ... The district between Shaltre and Bra-moor was ... a barony called Daavya ... [Curkings waddled] across one of the neat, tree-lined dirt roads that connected the cottages an dvillages of the district to one another and to the central estate of the duchy ... called Brachington's Moor, which was reached by a wide road that ran from the hamlet of Moortown, some three leagues distant. [Tazendra's home] was a barony ... called Daavya ... that lies within the duchy of Arylle. Aerich travels to Daavya from Bra-moor twice: [Aerich was] setting off down the road toward Daavya County and the Castle Daavya, which overlooked both a village and a river of the same name ... they presently came down the far side of a very long, gently sloping hill, forming the Eastern side of the Daavya River valley, and so into sight of Castle Daavya and Daavya not only was part of the duchy of Arylle, but ... happened to directly abut Bra-Moor County ... [Aerich] rode at a good, martial speed, on a good horse, it was not many hours before Aerich had crossed over the small brook [named] Barony Brook ... and was then within the confines of Daavya. Within a mile or so of crossing the Boundary [he saw burned trees] and urged his horse forward at an even greater speed. Presently he came to Castle Daavya ... [Aerich left Daavya] and began riding west. Paarfi describes Bra-moor as being "central", but on Steve's Map, it's along the very southern edge of Arylle. I think this is because Mistyvale County (and a few others) "reverted to the Empire": I know an inn [the Deepwell Inn in Mistyvale County] stands in the middle of eight counties that have reverted to the Empire, with nothing more than a scattered barony among them ... A few hours' ride at a steady clip will see us at the door." And then three of these counties were later given to Morrolan: if the Empire survives, [Morrolan] shall be given the three counties to the north [of Southmoor]. Nowhere else that I know of are iron ore, oil, and coal all to be found in the same, narrow region of a few small mountains and valleys. / How many counties are we speaking of? / Five / How much in area? / Perhaps twelve hundred square miles. / ... Where are these counties, exactly? / Just south of the Collier Hills ... I have just promised three of them to [Morrolan] There are three counties to the north I have promised you [south of the Collier Hills] I think Mistyvale and Shaltre were two of the three counties given to Morrolan. Daavya is described as being between Arylle and Shaltre but part of Arylle. That would put it south or southeast; there isn't room due south (without crossing over into Southmoor), so I located it 12 miles (several hours) southeast of Bra-moor. Moortown is three leagues (9 miles) from Bra-moor, but no direction is given; I ruled out southeast (since I believe that's where Daavya is) and south and west, because that would put Moortown in Southmoor, and I think the road from Moortown into Bra-moor indicates it is of some importance to Arylle. That leaves northwest, north, northeast and east. I'll come back to this in a minute. They later travel from Daavya to Dragaera City using the post, and leave Daavya and then turn north: For the first post, we must travel north nearly twenty leagues [from Daavya]. After that we travel for sixteen leagues until we join Undauntra's Highway, where the posts are set every ten leagues ... we shall be in Dragaera City ... by this time to-morrow [30 hours non-stop] ... [they] set off at a good canter through the gates of Castle Daavya .. after which the horses turned north beneath the slowly darkening sky. If you recall in one of the passages above, when Aerich leaves Daavya, he is going west. Taking these two observations together, I think the entrance to Castle Daavya is on the west, and the road then turns north. If Daavya is indeed southeast of Bra-moor as I believe, that strongly suggests that the road between them is curved (that is, you leave Bra-moor going south and then turn east to get to Daavya), and I think that also suggests that the post they are headed for is actually north of Bra-moor. I realize it's very speculative, but I think a road to the post is likely to be a "main road" more than one of the dirt roads Paarfi describes, in which case, I think the road to Moortown is a better candidate, which would put Moortown north of Bra-moor along the road that leads to this post. I put the first post 20 leagues (60 miles) from Daavya but due north of Bra-moor, and then connected it to Undauntra's Highway 16 leagues (48 miles) further north. I put Moortown 9 miles due north of Bra-moor along the road from Bra-moor to the first post. This post in the middle of Arylle is probably the one referred to as Stable Point: [Kana] is recruiting [at] Stable Point ... scarcely fifty leagues from here [future home of Castle Black] I based this on it being 169 miles (56 leagues) from Castle Black, which is pretty close to "scarcely fifty leagues." Undauntra's Highway appears to run from Dragaera City to a point 36 leagues (108 miles) north of Bra-moor, and, if it ran perfectly straight, it would be just under 1,000 miles. Aerich tells Tazendra that there are posts every 10 leagues (30 miles), which works out to be about 30 posts between Dragaera City and the post north of Bra-moor. I have a few theories about where some of those posts are, but first, I must establish the southern border of the Pushta. home | contents | previous | next | index Questions? Comments? Please contact me at dragaera [at] bryann.net. Copyright © 2020 Bryan Newell, unless otherwise noted. |