[WIP] - #718 forward route options

| Q             | A
| ------------- | ---
| Bug fix?      | no
| New feature?  | yes
| BC breaks?    | no
| Deprecations? | no
| Tests pass?   | yes
| Fixed tickets | #718, #439
| License       | MIT
------------
* [ ] Implementation for XML
* [ ] Tests for annotations
* [ ] Documentation?
should be private