The nation of Pavageaux exists squarely in the middle of and on top of a massive swamp. For obvious reasons, this presents some challenges when it comes to erecting buildings in such an environment. Typically, one of three methods is used:
- A building is designed to float on the water, like a houseboat.
- A building is attached to one or more large balloons, which are filled with swamp gas, which cause the building to float above the water.
- A building is constructed on top of stilts that penetrate the swampy muck and rest on the solid bed at the bottom.
Building structures on stilts presents its own unique challenges. The biggest one is what materials to use. Long ago, it was found that limestone is an excellent choice because it is highly resistant to:
- bacteria,
- decay, and
- mold.
Unfortunately, the nation of Pavageaux possesses almost no limestone. They had to go looking for it. When they found it, it turned out to be on the land of another nation, namely the Bala'orasian Bugbear Bureaucracy. The Pavageauxnians had no interest in starting a war with any of the other kingdoms on Rodinia, especially with a nation of bugbears who inhabit a land reputed to also be inhabited by dragons. So, the Pavageauxnians approached the bugbears and opened trade negotiations. The Pavageauxnians knew what they needed; they needed to figure out what the Bala'orasians needed that they could provide.
A group of bugbears visited Pavageaux's capital, and they were brought to see
Le Calamar. This is an attraction that looks just like a massive squid rising out of the swampy waters. In actuality, it is a construct made of huge sheets of muslin, sewn together, and they periodically fill up with swamp gas that rises up from the water's depths and make the construct swell, move, writhe, and twist in a disturbingly realistic fashion. The bugbears have their own myth of dragons flying above their nation, and they thought they could use the same techniques in order to make even more realistic-looking dragons.
In the end, a trade deal was established. The Bala'orasians provided raw limestone, and the the Pavageauxnians provided swamp gas. The bugbears never told the Pavageauxnians what they wanted the swamp gas for, and they never asked. The bigbears wanted to keep their myth a mystery.
This trade arrangement has existed for decades, and neither side wants it to change.
Image generated by DeepAI. (2024). AI Image Generator. DeepAI. https://deepai.org/machine-learning-model/text2img
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