Methods of Travel

So far as I know, there are only a few ways frequently used to cross the Sea of Silt: flying over it, wading through it, or levitating above it. There are other means employed from time to time, and certainly new methods of travel will be thought of in the future, but for now these remain the principle options of silt crossers. Flying Flying is the least dangerous of these methods, for the traveler avoids the hazards of the sea itself by moving above them. This method also affords the luxury of increasing the distance at which one can see hazards, such as approaching storms or flying predators. Unfortunately, this option is not available to most humans and demihumans as they lack wings. Also, if your means of flight should fail you, the sands below lie waiting to consume you when you are forced down. Of course, it is possible to use magic or psionics to fly, but the number of people blessed with these abilities is rather limited. Those who do choose to fly over the Sea of Silt would be well advised to make sure that they are going to reach their destination with plenty of time to spare. As mentioned above, if their ability fails while they are over the Sea of Silt, they will fall into the dust and sink like a rock.

Wading

Wading is usually employed only near the shore, for the dust is too deep in most parts of the sea for humans and demi-humans to touch the bottom. At the best, it is a slow and tedious process, for the traveler must use a long pole to probe the sea bed ahead of him - or risk falling into an unseen hole - and moving through the silt can be quite exhausting. When someone steps into one of the many pits that dot the floor of the sea, he simply disappears - unless he is accompanied by friends who have some method of retrieving him, like a rope tied around his waist. It appears that such unfortunate victims suffocate within four minutes of their disappearance, for I have heard numerous accounts of searchers finding their companion dead within five or six minutes of his vanishing beneath the surface. It should also be noted that the greater the size of the creature, the farther into the Sea of Silt he can wade. I am thinking, of course, of the giants - particularly those who make their homes on the islands in the Estuary of the Forked Tongue. They have worked out paths that allow them to wade to and from all the islands in that area, much to the consternation of the nobles whose crop lands they raid. I have spoken at length with several giants about the nature of their paths. As far as I can tell, it appears that at a depth of fifteen feet, the dust grows sufficiently compressed to support some weight. By carefully walking over the same areas generation after generation, the giants have compacted the silt and created a sort of trail beneath the dust at a depth of about twelve feet. I should add that many advanced clerics who worship the element of earth have developed the ability to pass through stone, earth, sand, and the like as if they were walking through air. Of course, this ability also applies to the Sea of Silt, but the cleric must take care lest he be caught somewhere on the dust bed when his supernatural powers expire. If this were to happen, he would, no doubt, suffocate just like anyone else. Some humans employ various techniques to wade through the Sea of Silt as giants do. I know of at least one place where a village trades with giants on an island in the sea by walking out to it on long stilts. They stick to established paths, of course, and any misstep can be fatal. At least one dwarven community employs large vehicles to traverse the sea. Although these lark constructs look almost comical with their greatly oversized wheels and relatively small carriage section, they do function very well. To provide locomotion, dwarves in the belly of the craft turn a series of cranks that cause the wheels to rotate, thus propelling the vehicle. A number of human communities have employed similar craft, either self-built or purchased from the dwarves, and use them as merchant vessels. In many cases, such craft are powered by slaves who are chained to their work stations and forced to turn the wheels to the beating of a task master's drum.

Levitation

Levitation is the last of the three most commonly used means of crossing the Sea of Silt. Let me clarify that I am not employing the term "levitation" in any specific sense, as wizards and psionicists are wont to do. By levitation, I mean any manner in which a person can cause something to float naturally or supernaturally - whether it be himself, someone else, or an object. By this means, a would-be traveler uses his abilities to give something (an individual, a group, or an object capable of carrying a group) the ability to "float" on or above the dust. After this is done, the floating object also needs some means to propel it. I have heard of two methods: setting up a sail, or using long poles to push off the sea bed. The trouble with sails is two-fold First, when there is enough wind to use a sail, the Sea of Silt is invariably covered with such a haze of dust that it is impossible to navigate. Second, someone using a sail can only travel in the direction the wind is blowing I have heard of geniuses who have experimented with keels and rudders, trying to use various combinations of opposing forces to control the direction in which they move. Unfortunately, however, the dust lacks the cohesive tension to make such contraptions work effectively. Poles work better. Usually, they must be about twenty-five feet long, and have some sort of square or circular pad on the end. The poles are pushed down through the dust until the pads reach the compressed layer of silt at fifteen to twenty feet, and then the craft can be pushed forward. Of course, levitation suffers the same major drawback as flying. Although an object capable of carrying one or more people can be levitated, when the spell or lifting power wears off, that object sinks just like anything else. Add to this the disadvantage of having to propel the craft or person being levitated, as well as the navigational difficulties that one is bound to encounter on the many windy days in the sea, and it seems to me that levitation is a much inferior way of moving across the great basin of dust.