Economics
The Ice Cleavers
Funded by the Liga Synarr and using the Pecuniary Stream to aid transport, the Ice Cleavers calve great swaths from fee floating icebergs and bring the cut ice to cities to use. Mostly for refrigeration of food, the massive blocks of ice helped retard the decaying process that denaturing food accelerates.
The Original ice cleavers were cetaceans during the age of the Cetacean Hordes. Ice was a sign of the Khanate’s power over the environment. One of the Khanate’s accomplishment with their icy monopoly were the ice lenses. These were immense sheets of ice anchored over populated areas. The transparent ice would act like a lens and focus what little light penetrated the depth on the settlement below. These halo-like cones of light would also serve as beacons for travelers in the midnight dark of the Shelf.
Now there are two divisions of the ice cleavers: the northern group of Orcans, and a southern group of Narwahl. Both carve away at the polar ice caps and drag their prizes back to society. Specially designed pole-arms with a serrated edge and sturdy hook are the tool of the trade. to cut the ice free, then pitoned netting and rope would be used to pull the ice into the Pecuniary Stream. Since the stream originates north of the Tropic of Cetacean, it carries the cold arctic water southward, helping to keep the cut ice from dwindling away through melting.
There are rumors from the southern group that, after a particularly deep excavation into the antarctic ice cap, they spotted something frozen even deeper in the ancient ice. Something immense. Something dense. Something intact…
Rumors are also coming from the north. They, too, have found something in the ice, at least they think so. Rumors are spreading of “ice as clear as shore water”, ice that “cannot be cut”. And as quickly as it can be extracted from the polar ice, more freezes back around it, keeping it enshrouded.
Endless Blue 