IceAndWave/Glossary

The Glossary

The place where objects, terminology and other things invented for the game are listed and given better definition than may have been possible during game-time.

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Ice-wine

Not so much a wine as an extremely strong spirit, this popular, if expensive, Northern drink is fermented, and then distilled, from tiny berries that grow on small bushes found on certain rocky islands in the north-western ocean. The process of making it very similar to that for making brandy, except for the relative difficulty in obtaining the raw ingredient. The islands that the berries grow on (all attempts to transplant the bushes have failed) are small, hard to find, and reside in seas where arctic storms are a weekly occurence. Each trip out to them is fraught with danger, and it is a rare and skillful captain who returns with a full crew, but the potential profit makes the risk worth it.

Once distilled it is stored in small wooden casks and transported all over the North for sale to nobles, wealthy taverns, and anyone else who can afford it. The Tideholme market is one of the largest, particularly because of the ease of transport to the northern ports of the Blessed Isle from that location. Unfortunately, the drink does not travel well, apparently requiring a cool climate to maintain its strength and taste, so until recently demand in the Realm was small. Cunning use of certain sorceries has, however, greatly eased the transportation difficulties and so demand, and therefore price, has increased greatly over the last year.

In appearance ice-wine is a clear, colourless drink, that is properly served at below freezing - a connoisseur would note the speed at which frost forms on the glass. It is generally described as feeling like drinking liquid ice, the chill it leaves as it goes down the drinker's throat is quickly replaced with a soft burning sensation. Its alcoholic content is high, with a distinct buzz building up quite rapidly as the drinker imbibes more and more. Unfortunately, it is also said to have an addictive quality, although the amount consumed must be fairly substantial for this to occur.

One unusual property of ice-wine is that it is impossible to freeze. Attempts to chill it to solidity, either through sorcery or via travel to the farthest North, have all failed to have any effect on its ability to pour. Drinking it at these extreme temperates would, however, almost certainly be fatal.