This would make an excellent tv series (animated or otherwise). Any time things start to get stale, introduce a new group of people. Some aggressive, some peaceful, some pirates aiming to get rich. Maybe throw in a big “all go the same way” cultural movement just to be silly. It would do amazingly for the episodic format or a continuing story format, or even a blend of the two. Maybe a different group of travelers every season, maybe different groups that are shown in turns and eventually meet up or something.

But I don’t think I’d likely want to read it as a book series.. it feels like the sort of concept that would very quickly escape most authors and just sort of meander on forever.. maybe someone like pratchet who does complicated intertwined world building anyway, but it would require a very specific sort of author to do well, where a show series of that sort would necessitate a team of people working on it to sort of keep it in check.