Difference between revisions of "IceAndWave/Glossary"

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m (Synethote - wood elemental)
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: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.
 
: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.
 
;<b>Synethote</b>: Roughly the same size and shape as a riding dray, only with a skirt of swirling vines where legs should be, these elementals are usually summoned by sorcerors in need of rapid travel or who wish to revitalise tired farmground. They travel by means of green vines springing up from the ground in front of the elemental, rapidly growing to maturity and then joining the roiling mass while the vines towards the rear turn brown and fall off, rotting away into mulch over the course of an hour.
 
 
:Synethotes have a short life-span, going from first sprouting to final dissolution over the course of 28 days, but they neither tire nor slow during that time, and a sorcerer can thus travel many thousands of miles on a summoned vine-horse. Their mode of travel means that a vine-horse can only pass over land that is earthen to some degree, a field of volcanic rock or a barren desert is impassable to one, but they can cross muddy-bottomed rivers albeit at a somewhat lessened pace.
 
 
:The trail of rotted vegetation that a vine-horse leaves in its wake is extremely fertile, and on open grassland it can be seen for several years as a continuous line of particularly strong growth. This trail is also laced with the miniscule green crystals that are synethote seeds, which can lie dormant for decades before a sufficiently strong expenditure of Essence causes one to spring forth as a wild elemental. Sorcerors who bargain for service, rather than compelling it, are invariably asked to plant a fist-sized seed and to tend to it for a month. What springs from this seed is a synethall, identical to its progenitor but stronger and with a much longer lifespan.
 

Latest revision as of 20:15, 10 November 2005

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.

Entries

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.