Travel in the Tablelands
	We have all seen wizards and elemental clerics of the air merrily riding the currents over our heads, but flying is hardly a common method of travel. Most Athasians must choose between two slower, more tiresome options: walking or riding.

Walking

Walking is by far the most inexpensive and reliable mode of transportation, but (unless you are an elf) it is also one of the slowest and most dangerous. On a good road, an average human or demihuman can walk about two miles an hour for a maximum of ten hours a day. This means he can travel about twenty miles a day. At this rate, it takes him about nine days to travel the 170 miles from Tyr to Urik. Although this might not seem like a terribly long trip to one who has not attempted it, let me assure you that it is a real test of endurance. First, travelers must carry enough food and water to make the trip. At the least, a human needs one good meal and a gallon of water each day to survive. Even this assumes that he spends the hottest part of the day sitting in the shade and limits his traveling to the cool hours after dusk and before dawn. Therefore, he must load himself down with nine gallons of water, weighing about one hundred pounds, for his nine day trip. If he knows where the oases are along the route, and wishes to take the chance that there will be nothing to prevent him from using them, he can get along with much less water. Of course, he will need a few pounds of food. unless he wishes to take the time to hunt or forage each day - which means he will be able to spend less time walking and must therefore carry more water. In addition, he'll need a weapon to defend himself, for even if he does not run into any unfriendly strangers, the desert is full of hungry beasts - most of which he cannot hope to outrun on his own. Further, of course, he must consider the unexpected. What happens if he is delayed by a sandstorm, or loses track of (or is chased off of) the established trails. What happens if he has some (or all) of his supplies stolen by scavengers, or is injured in an accident? It should be obvious by now that the answer to most of these questions is simply: he dies. Walking is fine if the traveler is interested in transporting himself and/or something small and light from one place to another. It is far from safe, however, is very slow, and is anything but an ideal method of moving cargo.

Riding

There are two forms of riding: mounted, or in a wagon. Mounted is the fastest form of travel. Usually, mounted travelers ride kanks, for these giant insects are hardy, swift, and docile. They move at an average rate of four miles an hour, and cover forty miles or more a day. The kanks could probably cover half again as much distance, but few riders can endure more than ten hours of kank riding. Kanks need no water when on the move. They feed themselves by foraging at night, and they can carry a hundred pounds of equipment or supplies in addition to their riders. Their greatest advantage becomes apparent in an emergency, however; even fully loaded, kanks can run at forty miles an hour for distances of ten miles or more. It is no wonder that most explorers and adventurers prefer kanks over every other form of travel. Wagon travel is used primarily by caravans. Any beast of burden can be used to draw a wagon, but most wagon caravans prefer mekillots. Standing as high as twelve feet at the shoulder and weighing as much as ten tons, these monstrous lizards move along at a plodding pace of two miles an hour for fifteen hours a day, pulling behind them fortress wagons loaded with dozens of guards, passengers, supplies, and cargo. When attacked, these fear-some lizards turn into gargantuan terrors, stomp- ing, biting, and tongue-lashing their opponents to death. At the same time, it is nearly impossible to kill a mekillot for its hide is so thick that many weap-ons simply will not penetrate it. Despite their toughness, mekillots have several disadvantages. First, they are carnivores. Toward the end of a long journey, they begin to cast hungry glances at their handlers. In fact, more than one driver has disappeared when he went to check the mekillots. Second, they must drink every four or five days. This process takes an entire day. The typical mekillot will drink about two hundred gallons of water before it quenches its thirst, but its stomach holds only fifty gallons at a time. It requires several trips back to the well for the beast's body to store all the water it needs. Third, the huge wagons drawn by mekillot teams can only travel on well-established roads or on extremely flat terrain like salt flats. Otherwise, the wagons tend to roll over or bog down. Finally, the only thing that a mekillot can outrun is another mekillot. Parties traveling in these huge wagons are committing themselves to a fight if something should decide to attack them, for fleeing is out of the question.