Travel Times and Navigation

A journey in Thesalon is not measured by distance alone.

Travel time includes the hours spent moving, but also the time required to obtain a vessel or guide, wait for a departure window, transfer cargo, clear inspection, correct a route, respond to weather, and enter the destination legally.

The world map shows ordinary gateway-to-gateway complete journey bands. Solid routes are directly supported by established route canon. Dashed routes are derived staged corridors built from the authoritative continental arrangement and confirmed neighboring routes. Inland travel after arrival is additional.

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The Complete Journey

UNDERWAY TIME
+ DEPARTURE WAIT
+ TRANSFER DELAY
+ AUTHORITY DELAY
+ NAVIGATION DELAY
+ SEASONAL DELAY
+ ARRIVAL PROCESSING
= COMPLETE JOURNEY TIME

Underway Time

Underway time is the time required to cover the route using the current transport profile.

It depends on:

• distance;
• traveler, vehicle, or vessel profile;
• effective operating hours;
• terrain;
• wind and current;
• route state;
• damage;
• propulsion;
• required pilotage;
• whether movement continues overnight.

Operational Delay

Operational delay is not an abstraction to be hidden inside the vessel’s speed.

A traveler may spend ten hours underway and two days waiting for a convoy. A river boat may cover the physical distance quickly but lose a day at a closed lock. A vessel may reach Ilyr’s coast and still require quarantine, guide assignment, and a controlled inland transfer.

The route record should state why a delay exists and what the travelers can do about it.

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Standard Intercontinental Travel Matrix

The following table gives ordinary complete journey ranges between the principal international gateways of every continent.

From / To	Caerlon	Vorrak	Suthrane	Veyrskold	Marithel	Ilyr
Caerlon	—	3–5 weeks	4–7 weeks	5–8 weeks	9–14 days	7–11 weeks
Vorrak	3–5 weeks	—	6–10 weeks	5–8 weeks	6–10 weeks	2–4 weeks by sea
Suthrane	4–7 weeks	6–10 weeks	—	9–14 weeks	5–8 weeks	2–4 weeks
Veyrskold	5–8 weeks	5–8 weeks	9–14 weeks	—	3–5 weeks in open season	11–17 weeks
Marithel	9–14 days	6–10 weeks	5–8 weeks	3–5 weeks in open season	—	5–9 weeks sailing; 6–10 weeks complete
Ilyr	7–11 weeks	2–4 weeks by sea	2–4 weeks	11–17 weeks	5–9 weeks sailing; 6–10 weeks complete	—

The matrix is symmetric as a planning baseline. Actual directional travel can differ because prevailing wind, current, convoy scheduling, river flow, war, law, quarantine, and seasonal closure do not affect both directions equally.

Confirmed and Derived Routes

Nine intercontinental pairs have direct source-backed route definitions.

Six pairs currently use derived staged routes built from confirmed neighboring corridors:

• Caerlon–Ilyr;
• Vorrak–Suthrane;
• Vorrak–Veyrskold;
• Vorrak–Marithel;
• Suthrane–Veyrskold;
• Veyrskold–Ilyr.

These derived bands are usable for campaign planning. Their exact gateway positions and charted distances should be validated when the final world route map is locked.

Marithel and Ilyr

Ilyr is farther from Marithel than Caerlon and requires a more difficult arrival procedure.

Use:

Passage condition	Time
Fast underway passage	3–4 weeks
Ordinary sailing passage	5–9 weeks
Ordinary complete journey	6–10 weeks
Slow cargo or disrupted passage	2–3 months

The older 3–5 week standard estimate should not be used as the ordinary complete journey.

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Rules Sources and Scale

The travel system uses several rule layers without treating them as interchangeable.

Scale	Governing procedure	Typical duration
World and regional journey	PF2e exploration travel, World Seasons, route registry, and complete-journey delays	Hours, days, or weeks
Naval chase	High Seas and the GM Core chase subsystem	Minutes, hours, or days
Sailing combat	High Seas mode structure with the selected Smoke & Sail advanced overlay	One-minute rounds
Boarding combat	Ordinary PF2e Remaster encounters	Six-second rounds
Underwater exploration	PF2e aquatic movement plus route and environmental rules	Minutes or hours

Tactical vessel movement is never multiplied across a day to create world travel speed.

Pathfinder 2e Remaster Baseline

For creatures, PF2e exploration travel uses Speed to determine feet per minute, miles per hour, and miles per day.

Speed	Miles per hour	Miles per ordinary travel day
15 feet	1.5	12
20 feet	2	16
25 feet	2.5	20
30 feet	3	24
35 feet	3.5	28
40 feet	4	32

Difficult terrain halves progress. Greater difficult terrain reduces progress to one-third.

Many exploration activities reduce a traveler to half Speed. A group that is actively Avoiding Notice, Defending, Detecting Magic, or Searching may therefore cover less ground than a group performing steady travel.

Vehicles

Vehicle Speed supplies the mechanical exploration baseline, but the complete journey also records:

• propulsion;
• operating hours;
• crew and watch coverage;
• route restrictions;
• weather;
• repairs;
• transfer and authority delay.

Routine travel on a safe known corridor does not require repeated Drive or piloting checks. Checks occur when a hazardous maneuver, route problem, environmental event, or uncertain approach makes the result meaningful.

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Calibrated Maritime Profiles

Thesalon uses nautical miles for sea routes. One knot equals one nautical mile per hour.

Profile	Nominal speed	Effective progress hours/day	Ordinary daily progress
Inter-island local craft	4.5 knots	18	About 81 nautical miles
Reef and shoal pilot craft	3.75 knots	12	About 45 nautical miles, before pilot or tide delay
Coastal merchant	4 knots	20	About 80 nautical miles
Ocean-going merchant	3.75 knots	24	About 90 nautical miles
Slow organized convoy	1.8 knots	20	About 36 nautical miles
Cold-water open-season passage	2.5 knots	24	About 60 nautical miles
Cold-water near-closure passage	1.5 knots	20	About 30 nautical miles
Fast cutter or packet	6 knots	Up to 24	About 144 nautical miles before route caps

Effective progress hours are not the number of hours one person works without rest. They represent the hours during which the vessel makes route progress under its crew and watch system.

Operating Limits

• Ocean vessels require sufficient crew for full watch coverage before using a 24-hour profile.
• Local craft normally stop or reduce operation for darkness, harbor closure, crew limits, or short-route service patterns.
• Reef routes are limited by pilot, light, beacon, and tide windows.
• Convoys lose effective progress to spacing, signaling, regrouping, and the slowest required vessel.
• Ice-edge travel loses progress to lookout duty, route verification, shelter, and repeated reports.
• A final vessel stat block may override a profile, but the route must then be recalibrated against canonical travel-time anchors.

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Wind, Current, and Weather

World Seasons determines the ordinary daily weather pattern. The maritime rules translate that result into a route effect.

Calibrated Wind Bands

Condition	Journey-scale treatment
Neutral	Use nominal profile speed
Ordinary favorable wind or current	Increase effective speed by 25%, up to the profile or route cap
Ordinary adverse wind or current	Reduce effective speed by 25%, not below the profile slow band
Strong favorable event	Increase by up to 50%, never more than 2 knots and never above the cap
Strong adverse event	Reduce by up to 50%, never more than 2 knots and never below the slow band
Doldrums	Wind-only sail progress becomes 0; use oars, tow, current, magic, or wait
Extreme weather	Ordinary travel is closed unless a specific protected or magical exception exists

The direct Smoke & Sail ±2 Speed effect is retained as a ceiling for a strong event rather than the default daily modifier. At common 3–5 knot vessel speeds, applying ±2 knots every ordinary day would produce changes too large for the established route ranges.

High Seas’ guidance to use one major weather complication at a time is retained. A storm may change progress, visibility, route state, or transfer access. It does not need to impose every possible penalty simultaneously.

Damage

A broken vehicle or vessel has reduced Speed under the applicable vehicle rules. Damage can also reduce operating hours, force a transfer, require repair, or close routes that demand a minimum handling capability.

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Navigation Dependency

Navigation is not a universal daily roll. It is a dependency recorded on the route.

Class	Name	Ordinary meaning
N0	Self-evident	Maintained road, obvious crossing, or visible local corridor
N1	Charted	Signs, charts, markers, buoys, landmarks, or public instructions exist
N2	Specialist advised	Independent travel is allowed, but expert help materially improves reliability
N3	Specialist required	A recognized pilot, guide, steward, or equivalent specialist is normally required
N4	Restricted or hidden	Access knowledge, sponsorship, authority, or secrecy is required
N5	Conditional or planar	Tide, ritual, dream, beacon state, thin place, or another activation condition controls the route

Skills

Thesalon adopts Smoke & Sail’s Navigation concept without removing official skills.

Task	Preferred or recognized checks
Long-distance charting	Navigation, Sailing Lore, or relevant regional Lore
Ordinary ship operation	Navigation or Sailing Lore
Wind-powered steering	Navigation, Sailing Lore, or Nature when the task is specifically steering by wind
Reef or shoal approach	Navigation, Sailing Lore, or recognized local Pilot Lore
Severe weather	Navigation, Sailing Lore, Nature, Survival, or an established regional substitute
Naval chase obstacle	The skill listed for the obstacle; Sailing Lore and Navigation are broadly applicable
Forecasting	Survival, Weather Lore, regional tradition, or an established campaign practice

A character who receives Sailing Lore from an official option keeps it. They are not required to replace it with Navigation.

Celestial Navigation

The selected Smoke & Sail long-distance navigation benefit is retained as a campaign option.

A qualified navigator can increase the vessel’s listed long-distance speed according to proficiency when celestial references—or an equivalent Thesalon system—are available.

The bonus cannot override:

• convoy pace;
• compulsory pilotage;
• reef-safe speed;
• damaged-vessel Speed;
• route closure;
• extreme weather;
• a lower profile or legal speed cap.

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When to Roll Navigation

Do not roll repeatedly on a safe, known, current route.

Roll when one of the following becomes true:

1. The route report is missing, stale, or contradictory.
2. A required pilot, guide, chart, beacon response, sponsor, or legal condition is absent.
3. Weather, tide, current, ice, visibility, flood, or living terrain materially changes.
4. The travelers enter a hazardous leg such as a reef cut, major pass, shoal, hidden channel, or conditional route.
5. The group attempts a shortcut, night approach, forced passage, or unauthorized entry.
6. A pursuit or encounter changes the applicable travel mode.

Navigation Consequences

Failure should usually change time, information, position, access, or route state before it automatically causes damage.

Outcome	Common consequence
Critical success	Use the favorable band, reduce delay, reveal a secondary route, or identify a developing hazard early
Success	Use the expected route and time band
Failure	Add several hours, miss a window, reach an alternate landing, or require a safer approach
Critical failure	Wrong approach, one-day delay, route failure, lost legal access, grounding risk, or an emergency scene

Damage occurs when the actual hazard supports it.

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Delay Categories

Delay	Common range	Examples
On-demand departure	0–2 hours	Local ferry, harbor craft, available animals
Scheduled ferry or packet	0–8 hours	Missed departure, fixed route cycle
Daily or irregular ship	0–24 hours	Berth, crew, cargo, or tide availability
Convoy assembly	1–3 days	Protected merchant, refugee, or military movement
Simple transfer	1–4 hours	Passengers, light cargo, animal exchange
Major transfer	4–12 hours	Warehouses, vessel change, river–sea handling
Routine inspection	1–6 hours	Customs, registry, cargo, identity, or gate procedure
Quarantine or legal hold	1–7 days	Health, cargo, investigation, or disputed authority
Minor navigation deviation	1–4 hours	Corrected course or missed landmark
Missed route window	6–24 hours	Tide, lock, ferry, convoy, or pilot opening
Wrong approach	12–24 hours	Backtracking or arrival at another node
Routine arrival processing	1–6 hours	Docking, inspection, final transfer, guide assignment

Some delays overlap. Cargo can be inspected while a ship waits for tide. Other delays do not overlap: a vessel held in quarantine cannot use the same hours as underway travel.

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Route States and Time

World Seasons route state	Time treatment
Preferred	Use the fast or lower standard band
Open	Use the standard band
Restricted	Increase underway time by about 25–50% or reduce operating hours
Guided or convoy only	Add specialist or departure wait and use the applicable profile
Transformed	Replace the transport mode rather than stacking a generic penalty
Temporary	Use the temporary route’s own profile
Closed	No ordinary travel estimate
Unknown	Obtain current information before presenting a dependable range

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Caerlon

Caerlon’s ordinary travel calculations emphasize roads, river corridors, bridges, reconstruction, and the difference between the maintained west and damaged east.

• Heartplain movement normally begins with the PF2e travel table.
• Rivers can carry people and bulk cargo faster than damaged roads.
• Bridge or road damage is recorded as delay, transfer, or route-state change.
• The Scoured Marches commonly move from N1 into N2 or N3.
• Highharbor is the fastest major intercontinental connection in the current world matrix.

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Vorrak

Vorrak separates physical movement from permission.

A route may be open in terrain terms while remaining unavailable without a host, escort, tribute procedure, recognized guest-right, or military permission.

• Blackwood routes require local recognition and may not behave like fixed roads.
• Grimspine crossings depend on pass and weather windows.
• Red Waste travel depends on water stages and carrying capacity.
• Covert sea routes are not used as public standard times.
• Authority delay remains separate from underway time.

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Suthrane

Suthrane’s travel system is measured by water.

• Upstream and downstream river times must be recorded separately.
• Flood can improve boat movement while closing land routes.
• Locks, ferries, temple procedures, and river–sea transfer add time.
• Desert corridors are determined by water stages, not straight-line distance.
• The Sacred Water Route to Marithel is a mixed river and sea journey rather than continuous open-water sailing.

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Veyrskold

Veyrskold has the largest ordinary seasonal variance.

• Stable ice can create temporary roads faster than summer routes.
• Black thaw can be slower and more dangerous than deep winter.
• Fjord routes require current reports, pilots, and sound conditions.
• Cold-water voyages depend on lookout duty, shelter, and repeated route verification.
• The Ropefall–Stormrim route expands from 3–5 weeks in open season to 6–10 weeks near ice closure.

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Marithel

Marithel is the primary calibration region for maritime travel.

Established exact anchors include:

Route	Distance	Canonical time
Windrider–Sand Island	18 nautical miles	3–6 hours
Convoy Bell–Gate of Wind and Law	20 nautical miles	4–8 hours underway
Windrider–Lanternhold	25 nautical miles	4–8 hours
Windrider–Galeport	35 nautical miles	6–12 hours
Coinmast–Windrider	45 nautical miles	8–14 hours
Windrider–Lawkeel	50 nautical miles	10–18 hours
Wreckscale–Reefcourt	60 nautical miles	1–2 days
Windrider–Grainwake	110 nautical miles	1–2 days
Caerlon Sea Road	900 nautical miles	9–14 days; 3–4 weeks in slow convoy
Ropefall–Stormrim	1,600 nautical miles	3–5 weeks open; 6–10 weeks near closure

All calibrated maritime profiles were validated against these anchors without rewriting the canonical route ranges.

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Ilyr

Ilyr’s routes are not merely cleared lines through terrain.

Travel depends on:

• river state;
• living paths;
• wetland depth;
• stewards;
• ecological permission;
• quarantine;
• guide assignment;
• migration and burn periods.

The Green Coast is the primary controlled foreign gateway. Intercontinental arrival time does not include all inland travel through the river, wetland, plateau, or canopy systems.

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Calculating a Journey

Step 1: Select the Route

Record:

• origin and destination;
• route ID;
• distance;
• current route state;
• navigation class;
• mode and profile;
• required transfers;
• required authorities;
• known alternatives.

Step 2: Determine Underway Time

For maritime routes:

daily progress = effective knots × effective progress hours

For creature travel, use the PF2e exploration table and terrain multiplier.

For rivers, roads, ice, desert, wetland, and living routes, use the applicable regional profile rather than borrowing an unrelated maritime rate.

Step 3: Apply One Current Environmental Effect

Use World Seasons and current route information.

Select the primary effect:

• speed band;
• operating hours;
• navigation requirement;
• transfer access;
• route-state change;
• closure.

Do not automatically stack all of them.

Step 4: Add Operational Delay

Add departure, transfer, authority, navigation, and arrival delay that does not overlap.

Step 5: Present a Range

Every canonical route should provide:

Range	Meaning
Fast passage	Favorable conditions and minimal ordinary delay
Standard passage	The usual player-facing planning range
Delayed passage	Common bad conditions, congestion, inspection, or missed transfer
Closure threshold	The condition under which no dependable arrival estimate exists

Example: Highharbor to Windrider

The Caerlon Sea Road is about 900 nautical miles.

An ocean-going merchant uses continuous watches and a calibrated passage band. Route handling, departure, and arrival procedures are part of the canonical range.

• Fast: approximately 6–9 days
• Standard: 9–14 days
• Slow convoy: 3–4 weeks
• Closed or unknown: major storm closure, quarantine suspension, or military interruption

Example: Marithel to Ilyr

The Ilyr Medicine Route is about 2,500 nautical miles and ends at a controlled living-coast gateway.

• Fast underway: 3–4 weeks
• Standard sailing: 5–9 weeks
• Complete journey: 6–10 weeks
• Slow or disrupted: 2–3 months

The complete journey is longer than the sea crossing because ordinary entry can include quarantine, guide assignment, and inland transfer.

Example: Veyrskold to Ilyr

The standard route is a very long staged corridor through eastern waters and the Vorrak–Ilyr connection.

• Fast: 7–10 weeks
• Standard: 11–17 weeks
• Slow: 5–7 months

Different legs can experience northern ice and southern tropical weather during the same journey.

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Player-Facing Route Format

A route entry should be readable without consulting the entire rules system.

HIGHHARBOR TO WINDRIDER

Standard time: 9–14 days
Fast passage: 6–9 days
Slow convoy: 3–4 weeks
Mode: Ocean-going vessel
Navigation: N1 charted; N2 during severe weather
Departure: Regular merchant and convoy service
Primary delays: Sunset Gulf weather, convoy release, inspection
Closure: Major storm, quarantine suspension, military interruption

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Database Record Requirements

Every route should record:

• route ID;
• origin and destination IDs;
• charted distance and unit;
• distance confidence;
• physical corridor;
• transport mode;
• traveler or vessel profile;
• nominal Speed;
• effective operating hours;
• fast, standard, delayed, and closure ranges;
• navigation class;
• accepted skills;
• pilot or guide requirement;
• departure frequency;
• transfer delay;
• authority delay;
• arrival processing;
• seasonal route state;
• favorable and adverse bands;
• closure conditions;
• alternate route;
• elapsed-time reliability;
• current report date and source;
• canon confidence.

Conditional and planar routes must record experienced time and external elapsed time separately when those values can differ.

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Foundation Status

The Transportation Foundations sequence is now complete:

1. Route Hierarchy
2. Geography of Movement
3. Transfer Networks
4. Communication Networks
5. Transportation Law and Authority
6. World Seasons
7. Travel Times and Navigation

Later regional and route pages should inherit these systems rather than recreating them independently.