Chaiton Bridge

Chaiton Bridge was a Taorminite military garrison set up at the only point where the Sarantes river can be crossed north of the Emel Sea or for almost fifty miles north, in order to bring the Taorminite highway to Garn Bel Pallan. The city is built in the typical rectangular grid pattern with three open areas (the market square, public square and sporting precinct), and included a military command headquarters which later became the governor's residence.   Modern Wonder: the Chaiton Bridge The Chaiton Bridge is one of the marvels of the age: a two hundred foot high, seven-level arched viaduct which spans the entire five mile wide river valley without changing height, built of Taorminite concrete and local sandstone.  The road on top is wide enough for four carts to travel side by side.   The city was almost completely abandoned by the Taorminites after the Breaking of the Pact, and the settlement was take over by coastal Rythi from Ephylla, who farm the countryside around the Sarantes and control the movement of trade on the highway.   The population is a mix of coastal Rythi, inland Rythi and some Thoulian nomads, who visit the area in large numbers during the driest parts of the year to graze their flocks.   The climate of the inland region is warm and dry in summer, but quite cold in winter, with limited rains during spring, when wildflowers spring to life across the river meadows and rolling hills. The Sarantes river floods regularly in summer with the snowmelt from the Bazaphde Mountains, and irrigates the farms worked by the permanent inhabitants of the city.