Tri-Boar Trail
The Tri-Boar Trail is an ancient, paved roadway built by an unknown civilization. It was re-discovered by a farmer plowing a field just west of the modern city of Westport. Once the overburden of silted soil was cleared, the roadway was found to be extremely well-built, and was immediately restored for use as a main thoroughfare. The roadway has deep foundations of layered crushed rock, topped by fitted flagstone pavers. Drainage ditches were originally dug on each side of the 15-20 wide road; these have been restored and maintained over most of it's length. The currently known roadway stretches from just west of Westport, through the neighboring ungoverned province, and on into the principality of Allenstadt, ending just east of Rifton.
Although most of the roadway is of very high quality once it has been unearthed and restored, in some areas it has been destroyed by landslides, or undercut by river course changes over the centuries since it was built. Where possible, locals have restored the broken sections of road, though not as well built to same quality as the original. The largest such gap is where an ancient bridge crossed a narrow canyon known as the Cragmaw. Being unable (or unwilling) to spend the money to replace such a large bridge, the modern engineers built a detour to the north of the gap, down into a lower elevation where a rocky ford over the stream was found. This detour adds between one half to a full day to travel time, depending on the current depth of water in the ford.
The name "Tri-Boar" is derived by the three pig silhouettes found on each of the ancient mile-markers which lined the original road. The numbers on the mile markers form unusual sequences. Sometimes counting up from 1, then restarting at 1 at some distant location. In other areas, the numbers go up to a certain value, then suddenly restart at a different number and begin counting down. Some scholars believe the transition points indicate ancient political borders of some sort, with the number counting the miles to or from a border.
The three boar icons have inspired parents living near the road to create stories about it for their children. The most popular of these are "The Three Little Pigs" and a nursery rhyme sung while associating each of the child's toes to a particular pig, such as "this little piggy went to market".
A chef in Westport was inspired to create a dish in honor of the road, the "Triple-Pig". It is a stuffed porkchop, filled with a thick slice of smoked ham, the chop then wrapped in bacon. The dish is popular with merchant caravanners who ply their trade along the Tri-Boar Trail.
Type
Road
Owning Organization
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