Salt Road

Lead a medieval trans-Saharan salt caravan from Timbuktu to the pans at Taoudenni. Distance is the antagonist. Load the camels heavy and you go slow and thirsty; load them light and you come home with nothing. Ration water between wells that may be dry, march the cold night watches to save it, and navigate by landmark, dead reckoning and the Pole Star — getting lost is real, and survivable. Five crossings of escalating risk, each ending in a ledger of profit, losses and who came home.