There's definitely an IG justification for creating a sea route or two, and I do think one would be beneficial at this point. I somewhat agree with Chenier's assessment of the situation in the South, though I think there is a possibility for either Fronen or Nothoi to impact a war between Enweil and Riombara.
If Rio stays united, Enweil stands no chance. Rio gained a bunch of cities, while Enweil lost Fengen and Enweilieos (Ete will take a really long time to compensate for this). Rio always had a more active and efficient army, now they also have a massive economic superiority to go with it. Even if Nothoi and Fronen and OG and Thalmarkin joined with Enweil against Rio (not gonna happen), the travel times would still mean that Rio could, if they wanted, loot Enweil to death without the others being able to do much about it.
But in this case, it's not political reasons, it's geographical reasons. The geography of the island really did change. If a new island were drawn like that today, certainly there would be a sea route.
Indeed. It's a request that doesn't stem from how the continental politics evolved, but from the greatly deformed continent that has resulted from the last invasion. It's not like people colonized a remote island and now complain it's isolated, the removal of a passage north from the east really changes possibilities, and not in a way that will stimulate fun imo.
Personally I would love to see new sea routes.
Two ideas: a) weaken the strong position Riombara does have. b) enable leapfrogging along the coast.
a) I (a miracle!) agree with Chenier. I would make it even harsher than Fronepu-Rines....for example Fronepu-Ajitmon. This would enable attacks into one direction while keeping the other direction relatively secure. It would be impossible to keep a strong guard in Ajitmon, allowing both raiding and attacks from Fronepu.
b) leapfrogging: right now we have a purely two-dimensional map in regards to travel. To leave (or enter) Riombara you /must/ travel through a long, thin corridor. If travel along the coast would be possible...for example between two rurals, for example in the north: Pella (Thal) to Qonnor (Sint). This way Sint could attack Thalmarkin (or the other way round) without having to march via Old Grehk. Create a ring of sea routes as that and a lot more possibilities open up: Fangor-Watersdown; Aesh-Kraake; Kif-Worvobaen; Eykfar-Shifgregor....and so on, right around the island.
I personally don't see any reason to add sea routes where geography hasn't changed, though. And RP-wise, sea routes make more sense from city to city, imo, at least for long distances.
