The Tarstone Road

• The name for the long broad highways that crisscross Anglia. They are apparently the remnants of an ancient civilization.
• The roadbed is usually made of shaped stone, a hardened, rough, nearly permanent light-colored stone. On top of the roadbed is a graying layer of 'tarstone', which appears to be made of hardened pitch, combined with gravel.
• Modern stonemasons & alchemists cannot reproduce either material. Earthmages can make them, but in only in small quantities (and since they are largely midwifes with better things to do, they seem disinclined to do so).
• Travel, trade, the location of Lordly Manors & cities, and even borders are largely shaped by rivers and the Tarstone Road.

See also: Frontier Cities, Western Tarstone Road