Helegraph

The helegraph is a method of long distance communication using flashes of light, developed in Harthera. Helegraphy has become a hugely important tool of government, military and commerce, with a national network enabling everything from news and stock reports to personal correspondence being sent up and down the country within a reasonably short period.

The helegraph was originally developed as a method of military signalling, but the modern network replaced the older system of semaphore towers, which were much slower, had a shorter range, and required expensive regular maintenance. All the cities of Hartheraplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigHarthera

The Hartheran Union, commonly named Harthera, is an imperialist maritime nation state dominating the northeast of Anásthias. It is one of the two great powers of the modern epoch, arguably the most technologically and militarily powerful nation in the world, only matched by the vast size and wealth of its neighbour, viridviridOrorrMEOrorrOrorrOrorrOrorr are now connected by helegraph lines, enabling rapid military, economic and personal information to be transmitted within a short time. Helegraphy is also used for communication between ships to coordinate manoeuvres, and for quickly relaying orders between ship and shore.

There are two problems with visual telegraphy systems: firstly ensuring the message is sent correctly, and secondly the fact that anyone can view the signal and intercept it.

For the first problem, each message begins and ends with a carrier code, which is calculated by adding the value of all characters in the message. Helegraph operators copy down each message onto a grid on a chalk tablet, then calculate whether the carrier code and the message match. If there is a mismatch, they ask for the message to be repeated.

Public messages and news bulletins are broadcast uncoded, so any town or village within sight of a helegraph station can receive up-to-date news bulletins from across the nation. For private personal messages and secure state and military traffic, correspondents use a private encryption system. The highest security messages can only be encrypted and decrypted by mechanical calculating machines, only possessed by the government and the major mercantile concerns.

The need for expensive repeater towers and thousands of skilled technicians makes helegraphing costly to maintain, so only the very wealthy and government can afford its services.