Ice Breaking Technology

Technology is what makes the world go 'round, eh?

— Old Wills in the Tavern

The technology was discovered by accident when a ship was able to smash into an iceberg and take no damage to the hull. The captain and the navigator were arguing about where the ice was under the water and in the middle, the ship slid over ice and kept going to break into an iceberg. The way to make the ship was lost and has not been able to be replicated by any of the sea-faring cultures.

The reason that the sea cultures can't remember how to make it is because the wood was part of a shipment that came from the north, and they had cast spells in addition to treating the wood, and the people who had put the boat together didn't realize that the wood used for the part of the bow had been from that specific shipment. The rest of the ship had used treated wood from the southern area that didn't have the spells added to it.

Several ships tried to make their bow the same, figuring that *that* was how the ice had broken, but one by one their ships were scuttled and they needed to be rescued by those who were watching. Eventually, the countries put out word that no one was supposed to try again since all it was doing was wasting time and lives (for those that died), while also injuring several good soldiers.
One of the Captains who was a part of this told the countries that she was going to be the one to find the technology again, and she went rogue, taking her ship and crew to figure out the missing piece. Supposedly she's still sailing, but others think that she and her entire crew have drowned in their mad case for the technology. (She's still around and hasn't truly died, though several of her crew have.)