Completed Cooling Trend

Restoring the quality of refrigeration for the coming Summer

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Considered one of the most mysterious cities in Mizahar, Alvadas is called The City of Illusions. It is the home of Ionu and the notorious Inverted. This city sits on one of the main crossroads through The Region of Kalea.

Cooling Trend

Postby Kuvarakh on May 4th, 2014, 5:43 am

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56th of Spring, 514

It had been some time since the patron deity of Alvadas had stricken the city with anything beyond the usual random shuffling of buildings and streets. East and West being no more reliable a basis than up and down. But at least the weather fit the normal parameters of a mid-Spring day.

It was still somewhat cool. This would change in time for the Summer run on camping trips into the Unforgiving though. Kuvarakh shook his head with only partial amusement at the disregard some folks maintained for the dangers of the wilds beyond the walls. He'd had his own unintentional adventure near the Isur capital of Sultros. But they would come, the campers, as they always did, for tents to trek into the mountains with. The city was already in the foothills. It did not take long to reach cooler elevations.

The people of Alvadas had a fairly wide range of tolerances for the climate. But come Summer, even the real "roughing" campers enjoyed the refreshing coolness of alchemically enhanced canvas tents. It was provided by an alchemist from one of the northern cities, Denval or Wind Reach. It may have even been Lhavit. The wizard there used the ice of the northern region to imbue the gelid cold of glacial ice into wood used to build wagons. These wagons then carted true ice to various towns.

Here in Alvadas, Wanda, the owner of 'Alchemmia Alchae', the only alchemy shop in town, used her share of this ice to duplicate the process for cold storage purposes of her own. But typical of such mundane work, it was passed down to her assistant, Kuvarakh. And typical of him, he spent a few extra activations amassing duplicate materials of HIS own.

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Last edited by Kuvarakh on May 26th, 2014, 5:06 am, edited 2 times in total.
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ALCHEMY.....When evolution is just too slow.

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Cooling Trend

Postby Kuvarakh on May 8th, 2014, 2:24 am

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Kuvarakh found that the Balsa wood he'd used in the process of making the lightweight lead was ideal to imbue with the severe cold of the ice. It was very light, but still dense as wood and good to line a space with to turn into a refrigeration area. It was not as though ice was never seen in Alvadas. But like many things related to alchemy, it always seemed that the characteristic you had imbued into an item stored in the stockroom faded out just when you were going to make use of it.

So, Wanda had purchased a good share of this northern ice. Transferring this into storage material was Kuvarakh's first chore. The Balsa was only the first material he used to store this quality. Wood planks and blocks, as well as bricks held the cold quite well. Then from those items, the cold could be transferred to other materials.

He set up the ring with a couple blocks of ice as fonts, and a metal pail of water as a filter. The presence of the metal was of no concern since there was no metal to be filtered from the wood and bricks. Removing the metal from the djed stream would not detract from the bricks or wood. The filtering of water prevented the materials from picking up any aspect of the ice. It would not do to have the bricks and blocks of wood "melting" in the sun.

The activation itself was routine. As was the one after it, and the one after that. By the time he'd transformed enough to fill the entire room with freezing cold bricks, blocks of wood and planks, half of them had already been purchased. Kuvarakh made a point of keeping the imbued Balsa wood back in reserve.

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ALCHEMY.....When evolution is just too slow.

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Kuvarakh
ties a rope to a tree and hangs the world
 
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Cooling Trend

Postby Kuvarakh on May 10th, 2014, 3:59 am

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The importance in getting this done with all the ice, before transferring the cold to retail products, was simply that the ice would melt during the transmutations and storage, so it needed to be used quickly for the greatest gain. The customers understood this, so this was one of the few times that items were ordered with the knowledge that they would be on backlog for quite some time.

There were sheets of canvas to be cooled, which tent makers would buy for their use making tents that would be cool during the Summer season. Likewise drapes and throw rugs for inside homes. Skeins of yarn as well, used for refreshingly cool scarves and shawls. And for soldiers, pads and leather liners for their armor. Notoriously hot in the Summer, many commanders found this to keep their troops from suffering heat stroke and dehydration.

And as one would expect, the reverse was made available during Winter. Warmed lining to keep frostbite at bay while these same troops were on patrols in the snow and ice. But for now, it was time to transfer the cold. Kuvarakh set a stack of canvas in the center of the ring and placed equal number of normal, and cold-infused, blocks of wood in the fonts and filters. This would make sure that the canvas did not take on any "woody" characteristics while still gaining the cool temperature.

He started the activation as he always did, by pricking his finger and sliding it along the ring to generate the sense of having the ring moving below his flesh. This always gave his connection to the djed stream a sort of "running start". He focused on his metaphorical whirlpool affinity for envisioning the stream itself. It fit the circular flow of the djed stream within the transmutation ring and gave him an image to modify with effects that represented the qualities he wished to reject or retain.

Sometimes the changes to the whirlpool involved layers and depth and textures and actual "bands" of effect. This was much simpler. There were pieces of driftwood floating around the imagined maelstrom, which were easily submerged and discarded, or cast off the tops of waves to vanish beyond his vision through the force of his directed will. Once the floating wood was removed and the water was generating a spinning cloud of frosty steam, Kuvarakh removed his finger from the ring's keystone, ending the activation with a bright flash.

He would take a twenty chime break and then do the next batch.

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ALCHEMY.....When evolution is just too slow.

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Kuvarakh
ties a rope to a tree and hangs the world
 
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Cooling Trend

Postby Kuvarakh on May 13th, 2014, 10:58 pm

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Of course, the remaining ice was protected from melting by the initial creation of wooden bins to store it in. Bins built from the cold-infused wood from the first activations. But after several rounds of canvas and armor padding, he moved on to other things. There was similar demand for upholstery material for cushioned chairs, as well as sheet sets and blankets and the like. And though the activations themselves were not strenuous, due to their simplicity, the press of demand kept him at it day and night.

Wanda did not actually make this demand of him, knowing it would be unfair to exploit his Nuit condition of not needing sleep. But Kuvarakh enjoyed the look of gratitude on her face when she came in each morning to find many bell's worth of material already transformed that she had not expected. They had been caught somewhat short of cold infusing materials during the Winter season and were now catching up on the expected demand for Summer.

Kuvarakh preferred to pace himself, and keep at it beyond the strictures of shift requirements, rather than sit around during off bells, only to have to work at exhausting speed during the recognized work day. Having no need of sleep gave him this option. Also, getting a day or two ahead of schedule gave him the chance to visit the Towers mansion on days he would otherwise be working.

It only took until about a third of a season to fill all the initial crush of requisitions. Then it became a piecemeal filling of orders as they came in. It was sort of enlightening to some customers to find so much focus on "cold" items during Winter. They naturally assumed that warmth-infusion would be the order of the day.

Kuvarakh did not mind explaining to them that, while purchases tended to lean toward the warm during the cold season, it was the nature of the trade to capitalize on the cold when it was available, so as to have the already-imbued materials on hand when they would be sought after, which wouldn't be that far away now.

But there were still always one or two that came in during the Summer, skeptical of the wisdom of infusing materials with warmth during the hot season. He would simply hold out his arm and tell them to feel the material of his robe. They would sigh with longing at the glorious cool of it, asking if such material was for sale.

Kuvarakh laughed with genuine mirth. "Of course. We made bolts and bolts of it last Winter, when the cold was readily available. And customers asked us then why we were bothering to make cold items during the cold season."

Understanding came quickly then. "Aaah, I see..." the customers would unanimously respond. "And, so next Winter, I will be seeking the warm cloth you're making during the Summer, when the heat is readily available."

Kuvarakh nodded, smiling, "The seasonal cycle of seasonal cloth for seasonal wear." he chuckled. Some catch phrases just never got old.

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ALCHEMY.....When evolution is just too slow.

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Kuvarakh
ties a rope to a tree and hangs the world
 
Posts: 700
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Cooling Trend

Postby Shai on June 13th, 2014, 8:05 pm

However hopeless the situation appears to be

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There yet always exists the possibility of putting up a stubborn resistance


Kuvarakh :
Alchemy 1
Planning 1


Alchemy: Infusing Cold
Business Strategy: Capitalizing on the Seasons

Note: I didn't see much in this one Kuv, if you feel I missed something please send a PM and I'll come back to this. :)



Check :
If there are any concerns with my grading please feel free to toss me a PM. I am more than happy to explain my reasons or reevaluate them if you feel I've been unfair.


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