Border States COnflict (spoilers)

I wonder how much of the conflict between the border states is due to the increase of trafffic and trade due to the canal project seen in the last book. Sure there might have always been conflict, only due to the influx o money has the scale changeds.

SYED wrote:I wonder how much of the conflict between the border states is due to the increase of trafffic and trade due to the canal project seen in the last book. Sure there might have always been conflict, only due to the influx o money has the scale changeds.

Remember that the canal reduces the value of the Purple Lord monopoly over shipping on the mouth of the Spear River -- it goes around the north end and connects the Empire of the Spear to the Empire of the Axe without having to reach the sea to the south -- and border states we're hearing about are away south.

So I think in their case the problem isn't so much increased trade, it's decreased; people down south will have lost some of their economic prosperity due to decreased traffic on the river. It'll have affected the Purple Lords the most. (Anybody else think it's inevitable that the first event of the actual war is going to be crushing the Purple Lords?) But it will have affected the southern third of the Empire of the Spear at least, and various lords down there might be getting desperate enough about maintaining their wealth and power to listen to a Carnadosian.

The Border States run along the Saram, Morvan, Bellwater and Blackwater Rivers north and west of the hradani lands and the Forest of the Sharmi. The southernmost of them - the two mentioned - border on the extreme northwest of the Empire of the Spear. It's unlikely that what trade they had - and I suspect from the description of the roads in OOS that it ain't much - was noticeably affected by the canal. Even with the robber barons of Bortalik in the way trade with the eastern Empire would always have been cheaper and faster by sea, and bypassing Bortalik will only have improved the situation in that respect. Trade directly across the border will have been strictly local with the Border Weald, and routing that via the Saram, Hangnysti and Spear would actually be worse than dealing with the local road 'net'.

Graydon wrote:

SYED wrote:I wonder how much of the conflict between the border states is due to the increase of trafffic and trade due to the canal project seen in the last book. Sure there might have always been conflict, only due to the influx o money has the scale changeds.

Remember that the canal reduces the value of the Purple Lord monopoly over shipping on the mouth of the Spear River -- it goes around the north end and connects the Empire of the Spear to the Empire of the Axe without having to reach the sea to the south -- and border states we're hearing about are away south.

So I think in their case the problem isn't so much increased trade, it's decreased; people down south will have lost some of their economic prosperity due to decreased traffic on the river. It'll have affected the Purple Lords the most. (Anybody else think it's inevitable that the first event of the actual war is going to be crushing the Purple Lords?) But it will have affected the southern third of the Empire of the Spear at least, and various lords down there might be getting desperate enough about maintaining their wealth and power to listen to a Carnadosian.

The Purple Lords would lose their monopoly, however, I suspect after a period of adjustment net trade would increase.

That dwarf merchant had a wagon and canal merchantr train through the border lands. That can not be expanded greatly.

With the dwarfs building capability, they likely have an extensive canal system. I wonder if it is possible to link the empire of the axe canal system, directly to the water ways of the borderlands or the sothii.

It is said the empire of the spear is unhappy they cant take over the border states with out having to fight the empire of the axe. The thing is we all believe the purple lords are up to no good, so in the future, the empire of the spear could simply expand south instead of just east.

with the increase of traders coming this way,i wonder if the increase in wealth will cause some of the border states to come into conflict, so some get absorbed into each other. Ferenmoss is stuck in unending civil war, but it borders the biggest border state. It is possible they might expand into it, so to stop the fighting once and for all. This would lead to the princedom of Landross being surrounded on threesides pushed against the mountains. such a position might make them want to make a deal.