Ice is Nice

[u/OceansCarraway]

The secrets of preserving ice have always been known to the Aelish...so much so that they might not as well be secrets. However, their ability to engage in widespread ice storage has been only partial-until very recently. Enough peace, enough agricultural surplus, enough free hands, and enough interest in constructing finer things had been coming together to enable things like sidewalks-so there was plenty of initiative in place for them to pursue other, smaller, but no less technically challenging projects. While the average builder was working on a housing project of some kind, or a rebuilt wall or road-for the rough terrain of Aelbaion would often challenge any engineer, doubly so if it was overgrown with greenery in some capacity-there was still plenty of work to be done on storage applications.

Ice forms naturally in the mountains of Aelbaion, and stays there under similar conditions. Even in the summer, there are little pockets of cold where the ice never melts. Said pockets of cold can be harvested during the summer, and re-seeded in the winter. The right of estover, for a tenant or serf on a lords land to take wood for their needs can sometimes be extended to ice; it is only done for important people, or to specific families, who will hold these rights to take and harvest ice as needed. In later days, the right of ice-taking will be deed out to specific facilities, such as ski lodges. But that is for later. In the meantime, the requirement for the tenant holding estover to renew that which they take is without question. Water is diligently maintained in these places in time for the winter, and not all ice is taken. This maintains much of the original supply of ice.

When it is time for harvest, ice is cut from blocks in the mountain ponds and brought down to specialized storerooms called icehouses. These ice-houses are smaller in size, typically located a ways away from buildings where people live, and are sturdily built with thick walls of stone and minimal windows. They are built out of the way of the sun, with groves of shade trees and obscuring backdrops. Light sources are typically carried in by people using them, as well as plentiful bales of hay. Hay is cheap, widely available insulator, and the Aelish will bring their ice down, place it on racks or shelves, and cover it with hay. This adds weeks of storage time to the ice, at minimum.

Far more helps to keep the temperature down. The first is that the Aelish have independently redeveloped the 'wind catcher', a feature where winds passing by are used to cool down the building. By entering through the top-most funnel and moving through the building, this airflow can be used for significant cooling work. Simultaneously, a stream of some kind-artificial or natural-is typically moving through bottom floor of these structures, taking away heat. While the earliest icehouses were built over streams, and many still are today-the burbling of a brook is a charming feature indeed-it is now possible for watercourses to be hewn from rock by the arrangement of sufficient labor. The broken terrain of Aelbaion can be broken open still further and then rebuilt to carry water. By cooling from the top and the bottom of the house, and blocking all sources of heating from entering it, the Aelish can make the ice house work as a long-term storage of ice itself. The most current versions have the airflow and the 'water line' meet, producing an even more potent cooling effect.

Ice is highly desirable as a product: it is beneficial for cooling-and the purest forms of ice make for excellent beverage refreshments. Making ice from the purest waters provided by the Lady is a sign of immense piety and good use of Her wisdom-and so the Church has been setting up ice caves. No one except for the major lords has the resources to pull this off, and while the great lords of the mountains have access to ice, they are operating on more mundane scales. In these caves, the Church is setting up small tours for buyers, packing whole crates of ice, and cutting multiple channels for waterflows that mesh with the upper airflow. The most beautifully-adorned facilities have turned their waterflows into salsabil-style fountains, which take up little space and demonstrate the skill of the artisans involved. Ice from these caves is taken to the Church's medical facilities, where it is used to help cool down fevers and treat heat illnesses, as well as improve the comfort of those stricken. Nowhere in recorded Aelbic history has this been done at scale, and while the treatment of fevers ice has been a historical practice, the actual costs of using this much ice has never been recorded before. Demand is shooting up.

All told, it looks like Aelbaion will need a lot of ice. Open ears turn to rumors of an ice engine.