Driving

From Mizahar Lore

The skill of Driving is a very important skill to commerce, the movement of people, and the ease of long distance travel for large groups of people. Without training horses and other animals to pull carts, wagons, and carriages, the formation of cities would have been sigificantly harder. Wood, stone, and even whole crops depend on trained drivers managing teams to relocate the goods from where they were grown or harvested to population centers in order to keep those centers supplied with these types of goods. Zeltiva's great ships wouldn't be built without wood being delivered on a routine basis from surrounding forests. Syliras's crops wouldn't be dispersed throughout Sylira and beyond without the use of great teams of draft horses. Even places like Falyndar wouldn't receive trade goods from beyond their boarders. There is no single one location driving is learned. Instead, it is a universal skill taught and practiced throughout the whole of Mizahar. Driving includes a multitude of vehicles, their hitches, and numerous combinations of animals harnessed and used to pull them.

Skill progression

Novice (1-25)
	At this stage, the first facts a new driver must learn are the parts of a harness, both for a simple carriage set up and a collared hitch. Once the parts are learned (and what they are used for), a person learns how to apply the harness to an animal, and then hook that animal up to a vehicle. They learn how to steer from side to side, and then move both backwards and forwards safely. At this level, a driver can drive a one horse cart, travois, or chariot with a calm light horse or pony.
Competent (26-50)
	This levels allows for a person to add a second animal to a hitch and move up to a larger wagon or vardo with four wheels. A driver at this level can even drive a war chariot. The driver becomes competent at utilizing collar harnesses verses carriage harnesses. They can drive draft or larger sized animals. Also, the driver learns more than simple wheeled vehicles - meaning they can pull timber out of the woods without the use of a vehicle at all, manage such complicated things as barges pulled along canals by teams. With this skill level, a driver can now work with larger heavier animals like draft horses doubled up into teams. Drivers also begin to learn to train young animals to harness at this level. At this stage chariots of two horses can be driven in chaotic circumstances with little trouble.
Expert (51-75)
	Expert drivers can move up to four horses (or elephants etc) with hitches of both carriage and collar varieties. They can drive long distances and through difficult complex terrain with ease. Their teams of horses trust these drivers and go normally and willingly where such animals wouldn't always feel comfortable or safe. At this point, drivers can easily navigate dangerous situations such as swollen rivers or barge crossings keeping their animals calm and eager to work. Full blown war chariots of four horses hitched side by side can easily be used, maneuvered through battle conditions or in competitions.
Master (76-100)
	Drivers can manage six or more animals in incredibly complex hitches. They can move impossible loads with ease and utilize terrain that lacks roads or stable surfaces. With the aids of magical crafted items (such as horseshoes that allow horses to walk on water) they can easily drive teams across surfaces never designed to hold loads without much of a protest from their teams. These drivers instinctively know what animals to place with what animals to maximize their power, intelligence, and abilities. They are seen as almost supernatural in their ability to coax work, speed, and precision out of their hitches.