Canals

The Thaumatarchy has used Theurgy to carve immense canals linked to the continent's major rivers, facilitating provincial trade routes into Karagon. Much Hegemonic trade is carried out on these waterways on Theurgically driven barges.

The biggest series of existing canals runs from Veldrin (in northern Shayard) to Aekos, with a lesser canal route mostly complete linking the river Aekos and the river Fyrne (in eastern Shayard/western Erezza). Both were created to bring the wealth of Shayard and Erezza (particularly Shayardene grain and Erezziano minerals) to Karagon.

The much sparser wealth of the northern coast generally gets funneled up the river that runs past Nyrnakan (capital of Nyryal) and thence overland to Aekos.

Some dreamers have conceived of a trans-Erezza canal, which would facilitate trade directly between provinces. This is not a project the Hegemony would ever carry out, as it would circumvent Karagon. It would also be enormously ambitious, given the scale of Erezzan isthmus: "It's not Panama or Kra, even at its narrower points – it’s more like a canal from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean through the Pyrenees. This would not stop the Theurges, but it’s not the kind of earthworks they’d do in their spare time." (source)