====== Great Inland Waterway Initiative ======

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//[[places_on_arda:#West_Arda_Trading_Company|TC#1]] with Lock Tankers//

The various nations of the Free Imperia have cooperated with [[imperial_officeholders_and_appointees|Imperial Engineers]], the [[field_engineering_corps|Field Engineering Corps]], and the [[fortification_initiative|Fortification Initiative]] to cut thousands of miles off cross-continental shipping routes, particularly from the [[imperial_timber_operation|Imperial Timber Operation]] in the NE through rivers to the Westernmost [[free_imperia_navy|Imperial Navy]] Ouptost near Thanihazad.
The functional engineering solution was to connect the navigable headwaters of different watersheds via flying Lock Tankers, which carry shipping from one to the other. These Lock Tankers are essentially giant stone troughs, with a tree fort at one end, produced by the [[fortification_initiative|Fortification Initiative]] and enchanted with the 9th level wizard spell Sky Castle, allowing them to fly at a walking pace.  The tanker submerges the trough in fortified Sky Lock reservoirs, takes on or discharges shipping, then flies to the next Sky Lock.