The Lunar nobility has a voracious demand for luxuries and other goods that must be imported from elsewhere. These include:
Silk (from Kralorela and Teshnos)
Linens (from Kethaela)
Iron (from Seshnela)
Spices (from anywhere not Peloria)
Wine (from Kethaela)
Magical artifacts (from Prax and beyond)
Hazia (from Prax)
And much more.
The problem is that there are only three cost-effectiveways into the Heartlands:
Across Pent. Hauled entirely over grassland. Super slow and super expensive. Still worth it for some silk.
Up the Janube. River route, so transport is cheap (although heavily tolled). But most of the trade goods (except iron) is much more expensive from Sog City than Nochet.
Through Dragon Pass. Good roads makes it easy to get goods from Nochet to Furthest, where it can then go by river. The most profitable route.
Other routes, like Ralios, are a trickle. Dorastor and the Rockwoods is purely exploratory. High Wyrms Pass is unknown to the Etyries cult.
By magical artifacts, i mean stuff like Truestone, Jrusteli artifacts or things from the Dawn Councils.
As for iron, most Genertelan iron comes from the Iron Hills in Seshnela.
I’m surprised that linen is imported. Greg and I worked out that Esrolia makes the fine linen textiles, not Peloria. Peloria has plenty of sheep and animal hides. We often forget that Peloria’s climate is more like the Great Plains and the Upper Mississippi Valley than it is Italy or France. The best linen weaving techniques are in Esrolia (at least in Genertela).
