The "Unknown Ice Lands"

Must be taken as only marginally accurate, given translations elsewhere. [UPDATING]

Of all the notes, this specific valley's stands out most prominent.

Adding to the mention of a ruined fortress that may be accessed by the more intrepid of adventurers, here again is the rumor of another; ruins from an age before ruin itself.  The historic magnitude of these two fortresses cannot be overestimated, as they indicate that the original creators of the map sources acknowledged a prehistory of their own.

The fact that one is only rumored may suggest that such prehistory was incredibly distant in their past; physical relics from an unknown age, being described by those whom Ser Alphonsus proposed existed before the memory of contemporary man.  To a point, this becomes confusing, yet results in an epic realization:  

These various civilizations; all but forgotten over two million years before he was born to resurrect their words, themselves asserted that a past unrecorded existed in their own history.

If two and a half million years is what it took for us to forget our past, just how much had they forgotten, and how long did it take?  Just how deep, if we dive fully, will we find history to be?

Again amazingly, Ser Alphonsus calls Ys into the description; a legend known in his time, a somewhat cavalier usage of fancy were it fancy alone. Indeed, he invokes the name with authority instead of any other he may have chosen.  Ys, above all names, to represent a power that should well know all, and yet, surprisingly to it's contemporary and original creators of source, did not know this place.

It is important to note that the names associated with these locations are at times entirely arbitrary, and at times attempts to translate characters Ser Alphonsus believed he'd decoded well enough.  It is difficult to determine which is the case, most of the time.  In general, it should be assumed that the majority of his notation is mere interpretative guesswork informed by his interests.

Whatever the case may be, he routinely places and describes Ys within his narrative; knowing well it was never suggested to be so old.  His usage, however, is consistent; referencing one specific city-state within this most ancient of eras.  

May we one day know it's true name.

[UPDATING]

Alarmingly, this is one of the few known correct translations of a name within his works.

Further research illustrates more thoroughly the severity of the climate, which is extreme enough that it's name is well fit to it's nature.  The warning note was not a flight of Ser Alphoneus's fancy; it was thoroughly discussed in prehistoric artifacts and anecdotes of discovery.

The original units of velocity were unable to be translated, at least until his time (much has changed in the past few centuries); and measures for land speed were not entirely standardized in the contemporary world at large.  It seems he chose to err on the side of caution and communicate his overall impression.

That impression suggests that ice crystal filled, gale-force winds almost constantly, and smoothly, swept the valley; never fully ceasing, and creating a nearly immediately lethal wind chill, as well as highly abrasive blasting by fine ice crystals being carried.  Temperatures here were the lowest within the charted location, and winds the highest.

Notes regarding the impossibility of setting up shelter are understandable.  Under those conditions, the very concept of successfully erecting anything existing before the most modern of extreme weather tents is nearly unimaginable.  That being the case, any successful expedition would have required a combination of heavy, man-portable shelter and digging into the ice and snow.

Very little rest would be possible; and sleep ill-advised.

Numerous requests for anecdotes, journals, and overall documentation are found about his records on the whole, indicating the civilizations long before our memories valued exploring the area; a place so hostile that any claim would lay entirely unchallenged.

It was assumed that any remaining, easily accessible, and worthwhile discoveries would lay in the one place no man could survive within any amount of reason; a place that no great host could travel. There would have been logic in this assertion, if any great attempts had been made to explore more hospitable regions of the Ice Lands.

That not being the case, the requests for information are still somewhat mysterious.

[UPDATING] 

Most certainly named "Mirror Sea" in correct interpretation, Ser Alphonsus, as is a constant in his work, slighted the patently obvious, and visually prominent error.  In the period he studied, it would have likely been known as the "Mirror Sea"; though the original language does indeed jostle our expectations of prosaic order.

This sea presents one of the most unfathomable of hazards I have encountered in history and, should I not have located modern-day analogues, I would have struggled to believe this existed.  Even today, however, at least two similarly mirrored landscapes do exist; one I have personally traveled, and another I have never seen.

It is is charted nearly two hundred miles long and one hundred miles wide; and a mere three miles is all required to cross any horizon.  Not far beyond that distance, it is thought that one may become unsalvageably misdirected and subsequently lost on the nearly endless plane.  This is repeated ad nauseum in various warnings throughout history.

Strikingly, and yet terrifyingly at the time, given the sheer size of the sea itself, navigation is asserted to be  confusing to the point of near impossibility if that were to occur.  While the ice itself is described elsewhere as being quite safe for travel, the visual cacophony for days on end is enough to drive a man mad, should he escape at all.

The surface of the ice is described as being so reflective that one may never know the dividing line between the sky and anything below it, despite what one might assume.  This is indeed an incredible frustration to the human eye; least of all the blinding light, being in effect two Suns during the day.

At night, a perfectly black sky, punctuated with bright, white stars was partially masked by dramatic aurora; further adding to the confusion.  Far from being easier to navigate given the atmospheric clarity, the doubling of stars creates a maze of any astrological knowledge brought to the sea. 

Given incredible geological activity within this continent and certainly this region, it is supposed that the sea becomes just warm enough during daylight hours, via a concert of undersea magma and sunlight itself, to liquify the first, most thin of ice layers; and that this liquification quickly re-freezes in the wind during the day, and the dark of night; a process that is effectively constant and all but never-ending.  It may be thus described as the largest area of "black ice" recorded in history.

As this process is largely constant, the surface of the ice maintains a perfectly mirrored aspect at nearly all times; and no snow falls here without being integrated quickly into the ice cap itself.

The warning present, translated in the sidebar, clearly stresses the dangers of travel here.

[UPDATING] 

Yet another example of hastily translating, writing, or indecipherable source with specific grammar that was not equaled in his time.  Regardless, his point is delivered.  This is no place to travel.  [UPDATING]