Erazm Bridge Consortium
| Type | Consortium |
|---|---|
| Industry | Bridge construction |
| Founded | 1679 |
| Headquarters | Driftwood, Alrig |
| Products | Erazm Bridge |
The Erazm Bridge Consortium is a consortium of among other organisations, the Alriggian Republic, the Jingdaoese Empire and the Holy Ralgon Empire. The consortium intends to extend the Imperial Autobahn 1 over sea towards the old territory of Alrig, which is seeing new development. The bridge was designed to allow ships to pass underneath the central pylons, thereby assuaging concerns that sea traffic to and from the bay's interior would be obstructed by the new construction zone. Shipping to and from the Florian Republic is not affected by either the construction of the bridge, nor by the finalized bridge. The bridge was militarised during the Verionian–Raspur War and outfitted with artillery and missile launchers as a safeguard against possible aggression.
Alriggian participation
Alrig possesses neither the financial means nor the technological ability to construct infrastructure on this scale.
Jingdaoese participation
The Jingdaoese Imperial Palace is the greatest financial supporter of the project, although no transparency is offered concerning how much Jingdao actually pays. The Jingdaoese interest in the bridge lies both in the Alriggian-Jingdaoese trade relations which are expected to improve. Another motivation for Jingdao is the idea that a strong Alrig counters the influence of the Florian Republic.
Ralgonese participation
The Ralgons have, thus far, provided the most manpower for the project. Under direct orders from their ruler, Shiro, the Ralgons sent five Construction Battalions (a truly considerable number) to Alrig in order to refine raw materials sent by their Jingaoese counterparts to Alriggian factories to hone them further using their famed craftsmanship. Raw material refinery, alloying, and construction took place at the remarkable speed characteristic of Ralgon construction.
Advanced construction materials, to include defensive features for the massive bridge, came directly from the Ralgon constituent country of Adrestia, which had produced a surplus of such supplies in recent years. Notable new developments to Ralgon construction include blast-resistant underwater pylons to protect from most types of submarine attacks. The bridge itself was made using a secret compound manufactured by the Ralgon army in Alrig that coats most of the bridge's exterior. Made partially from rare earth materials, the sheer amount of material required for the bridge's "shell" used proved very costly in both finances and resources to secure. Orignally designed to withstand direct attacks from elder dragons, the incredibly heat-resistant, blast-resistant materials themselves contributed to most of the real cost of the bridge's development and construction.
Although the bridge proved to be an expensive project indeed, the Ralgons on their own part refused to release to the public what their true compensation (and costs) for their help was, since the currency flowing from Jingdaoese to Ralgon hands was far too small to justify a project on this scale, even if most of the raw materials were sourced in Jingdao proper. It is also rumored, although unconfirmed, that the recipe for the blast-resistant construction material were shared with Jingdao as a "gift" for use on similar projects, with the knowledge that the materials used were generally scarce enough (and ineffective enough on comparatively small objects) to fully inhibit use on a very large scale over a short period of time.
Private partners
The Alriggian transport companies OldSport and TransGreen are logistic partners of the consortium. OldSport provides building materials to construction taking place from the west side of the bridge, which departs from the developed side of the bay. TransGreen brings building materials to the east side of the bay, where infrastructure is less reliable.
International reactions
Raspur Pact: Although not officially condemning the Erazm Bridge project, nor publicly expressing concern, the Permanent Commission of the Pact did nonetheless feel obliged to monitor the planned construction programme - lest doubts regarding the feasibility of the bridge prove to be well founded and the debris shed by any resultant collapse create a navigation hazard for merchantmen of the trade fleets plying the route from Arak to Port Farrar.
