Suit of Roads

The suit of Roads is the second-ranked suit in a standard Galathan Playing Card deck, below the Treasures and above the Fires and Lairs.   Also called the suit of motion, Air or ambition, it represents movement and travel, as well as travellers, goals and drives, and the decisions of the conscious mind.  

1. Epitome - Path

The Path leads forward, carrying all upon their journeys.   Meaning: Travel, especially the journey that is life. Arrival in a place you have never been before. The travellers' drives: Curiosity, wanderlust, adventure.   Reversed: Stagnation. Confinement, either enforced from without or created by an excees of caution. A settled home where adventure ends.  

2. Duality - Door

The Door is the great enigma of travel, both granting and denying passage.   Meaning: The ends of the road: home and destination. A travelling company or travelling companion. A shared road. A partner for life. The bonds of love.   Reversed: A bond soured by competition. Intolerance of outsiders. Suspicion and prejudice of any kind.  

3. Division - Cavern

The Cavern is the end of many a road.   Meaning: A broken path with no way forward. Becoming lost on the way. All options and choices narrow to an unfavourable outcome.   Reversed: A goal shrouded in mystery. The path is unclear when the destination is unknown.  

4. Triumph - Map

The Map mitigates the risks of the road, but sometimes makes promises it cannot keep.   Meaning: The end, or the beginning, of a grand adventure. Discovering a great purpose or simply knowing what you want.   Reversed: A road that you cannot travel. A place you will never see.  

5. Vergence - Bridge

Above, the Bridge spans the chasm, below, it conceals the ambush.   Meaning: Seek and you will find a shortcut, an unlooked for path to achieve your aims. A careless word may reveal what is hidden.   Reversed: A choice has consequences. An ambush awaits.  

6. Gambit - Crossroads

A choice of roads is a choice of fates. The Crossroads is where the course of Destiny is set.   Meaning: A choice of perils faces you. The short road is fraught with deadly danger, the safer road winds slowly. Conflicting aims within a travelling group bring danger.   Reversed: Too many paths, too many choices. A puzzle with too many variables.  

7. Curse - Monstrosity

The Monstrosity guards its territory, but also brings its wrath to civilised areas.   Meaning: A perilous road in hostile territory. Those who travel with bad intentions. An army on the march. An irrational course of action.   Reversed: A warning to be heeded. A fresh view on a deadly problem.  

8. Prentice - Beast

The Beast acts only on instinct, its actions innocent.   Meaning: An innocent abroad. A traveller with no sense of self preservation. The folly of one endangers many.   Reversed: A bold spirit. Trusting too easily. Decision paralysis.  

9. Journeyer - Knight

The Knight errant is a veteran of the highways, armoured against harm.   Meaning: An experienced traveller. The leader of an expedition. A philosopher with long experience of life's road.   Reversed: Restless drive. Endurance in the face of exhaustion.  

10. Adept - Ooze

The Ooze does not hunt, it simply is, and that is danger enough.   Meaning: A major environmental hazard awaits, deadly but indifferent. Your path may cross that of a mendicant hermit. An enemy waits at the end of a journey.   Reversed: A burden you are sworn to carry on your road.  

11. Ascendent - Ship

  Meaning: A journey of great, undetermined length. A legendary traveller. A vessel whose name is widely spoken.   Reversed: A great and ongoing quest. A lifelong undertaking.