The First Flight, 1413
“I can hardly believe it. It didn’t even take sixty years! I’ll finally get to see the meaning of the flag with my own eyes!” His tail was kicking up quite a lot of dust and making tiny dimples in the ground due to his mounting excitement. He climbed into the carriage. The windows were wide and tall, allowing for an amazing view. It was clear that there was no thought given to defensiveness, as they would be very clear breach points. Even a rock would break them at that point, but that was not a consideration either, due to the purpose.
“This is your personal craft, by the way. I’m not letting you forget that you are a king yourself now, Sinakai. You are almost one hundred years in age, and that makes you an Elder by both your tribe’s laws and by the societal normas of this feudal world. Life expectancy due to war, disease, famine, was in the upper forties, to mid fifties. Radio is going to be yet another advancement on the scale of controlling electricity. Hope you’re in for another century of fun.” Matsuko climbed in with him, before closing the airtight door behind him.
The area was filled with many aspects of Sinakai’s home, mixed with a few aspects of the country, to combine, and meld, without clashing. The seats were padded with moss, woven into chairs that were carved from stumps. He didn’t really focus on it the first time, still lost in his thoughts about how the future view was going to be, but now that he had…
“Oh, I...think I might get lost up here.” He couldn’t really describe what he meant by that, but in this situation it wasn’t really needed. Most of the meanings ended up with good aspects, and the negative was trivial. What made it even more homely, was the crew, being they all lizardmen, of every tribe besides Sudea, that he’d known.
It took a while for interbreeding to be accepted, for the sake of their race, but what few did, showed in the scales of the ones around him. His own Mornaigscale yellow was spread throughout, but he also sometimes saw dark blue and green, which were far from anything in his tribe even with the outliers with pigment mutation.
“Well then that means I did my job properly. Let’s get airborne shall we?”
“Mornaigscale One to tower, request information for takeoff.”
“Mornaigscale One, tower’s reading you at visibility: unlimited, winds south south east a six knals per hour.
“Tower I’m reading at visibility unlimited, winds south south east at six knals per hour.”
“Readback is correct. Takeoff received.”
There was not a single jolt nor external sound, but that was also something that would able to be remedied by choice. The view quickly shifted, as the trees around them slowly sank away from view, and the tips of mountains peeked over the horizon, revealing a near perfectly clear sky. Soon the trees appeared to be no larger than stalks of green vegetables, and then sooner faded into shades of green broken up by the texture of the bunches of individual trees.
“Incredible! I can see all seven cities at once!" His eyes shone with a hatchling's glee as he saw the wide berth of the landscape. But they were not finished yet. The craft now began moving sideways relative to him and forward relative to his seat, in a west heading.
Relative to Tiyamas, they were flying faster than them and the fastest ever recorded Mauka sprint, in about two minutes. The landscape was not properly conveying their speed visually, due to the shift in scale. Their true airspeed was a staggering sixty two knals per hour, with the fastest ever Mauka being gauged at forty-five. Instead of taking the thirteen hundred and twenty-one hours, for a normal journey of such distance, it would now only take twenty hours, not even a full day.
To achieve this, the properties of electromagnetism were utilised to turn a set of pistons and gears that were attached to an adjustable propellor deck. They'd been moved from vertical takeoff to travel configuration in which 360 degree movement was possible.
"First stop is going to be your village. It'll be a twenty hour trip so food, drink, and bathing are on board."
Sinakai stopped dead in his tracks yet again, amazed by the sense of speed that was conveyed. "Twenty Hours? That's only two thirds of a day. Yet you say this is one of the slower forms of flying?"
"Oh yes, but I'm not sure how long it will take. Even still, there's a few more early sneak peeks on board. I went to separate craftsman for this. We've got a full days supply of meat on board, fresh vegetables, any meal you can think of from Ukin can be prepared here." He tapped him on the shoulder and set him loose.
"Rrr, I can't decide. Can I have just a little of everything?" The chef chuckled at him before answering gracefully.
"Milord, if I'm being precise, all food on board belongs to you. I know it's startling but we're given coin for serving you of our own choice." The smile didn't fade as he waited for his reaction, knowing from an earlier "warning" from Matsuko that he would still treat it as if he were at a tavern.
"I...see. I have servants? But I don't think I need any...You'll forgive me for not knowing my stand for the first few trips." He sat down at the bar and ordered all of the alcohol on board sampled.
The first round of food was accompanied by a pale stout-mead. With steamed, and grilled vegetables. The vegetables were of all shapes and sizes, giving off the aroma of many fruits, spices, and the tell-tale scent of caramelisation of proteins. Accompanying the berries, fruit, vegetables and terrestrial meat, of a Nocri, with freshly caught marine life, an Ayanuma, a finned swimmer from a nearby lake, with the marine meat being both cooked and presented raw. It was a presentation and setting that attempted to combine the best of both worlds. The cooked berries and fruits represented the union of older pure hunter gatherer culture to one where they became more stationary and had more time to focus on texture and flavour.
"Matsu this is amazing! Where and when did all of you prepare for this?" He licked his muzzle at the sight of such juicy and full looking meat.
"Fourteen Hundred. We've been training for this for the past thirteen years. Our youngest of the group is twenty-six, and he spent half his life with us." The chef was very pleased by Sinakai's reaction, the complement causing his unseen tail to wag slightly at the tip underneath the bar.
"Amazing, then I have no doubt the food is in good claws." He still had trouble getting used to say 'my' for the food that was not yet served.
He picked up the drink in one hand and a handful of slices of cooked Nocri with the other hand. Approaching it like dry field meat, he attempted to tear off what he thought would be a tough chew. Instead, he was greeted with a morsel that dripped down his chin onto his scales. "By the First Egg, what did you do to get this meat so tender and flavourful?"
"It's surprisingly easy excluding one step. We first placed tiny holes all within, then we set it in, like pores. Then we immersed it in wine for two days. The wine came from our own vineyard, back home. After that we set it to smoke like dry meat, until the inside could not lose the moisture it gained. Finally we sliced it for you today after bathing it in berry juice steam, mixed with (garlic), (pepper), and honey."
"I never knew meat could be so juicy. Thank you very much for preparing this." He gave a bow with his head and continued to enjoy his newfound treat, finding especial delight when suggested to take a drink, eat, then drink again.
What startled him even more was the shocking display of red...green, as yellow as his own scales, and the most beautiful purple he'd ever seen outside of flowers. "What are those? Are they meant to be eaten?"
"Solvuneans call it Courti Nach. There is so much one make with milk! It's like eating a slightly sour berry, but with enough sweetness for it not to matter, with the aspects of meat combined with milk. Going down it feels smooth and fabric like, with a very nice cooling sensation as well. Much like your upcoming post meal sample. The red one has a heat on the tongue, quite odd at first but we all love it, except the seascales. They however, love the Mornaig coloured one, and the green one and the white one."
"Then I'll start with the yellow, one then the red one, followed by the green."
"As you wish Milord." With a sharp knife, he sliced a wedge in each of the selected cheeses, with a miniscule cut, that allowed for it to be slowly savoured. He certainly appreciated being served as such, it really did make him proud of his accomplishments so far.
Now, in addition, he had his own airship that could take him anywhere and it was stocked with food and alcohol.
With the red coloured courti nach being the most enticing, he chose to save it for last. With his first bite of the green coloured one. "Mmm hmm, this is certainly a strange food. It's made from milk yet it tastes more like meat and salt!" He then downed a bit of his wine before tasting it again. The bittersweetness of this particular wine complemented the savory-sourness of the courti to elevate both flavours together in such a way that he couldn't help but produce a hefty rumble of satisfaction.
"Glad you like it! If you like them all then we'll add them to the field rations. We're discovering new courti making methods every year."
"Do these varieties have names yet?" It would be easy enough to refer to them by their colour but he had the intuition after hearing about new methods being discovered, that such naming could quickly get out of hand.
"Yes I've started the tradition with your village. The yellow is called Ukinmorn yellow lyae, and it is prominently and proudly displayed in the markets, as well as having a showcase of its own at the new mega market building."
Utility
Industrial transport of large quantities of ice blocks from the north allow for mass refrigeration to be a possibility.
Manufacturing
A steel frame construction is designed to hold a dedicated amount of gas, along with vents to be able to add heavier gases to control descent.
Children Technologies
Access & Availability
The knowledge given to them by the two scientists is archived with moving paintings, (1428), and with their voices, shortly before the end of their lives, (1446), and is freely available to the public.
Complexity
Electromagnetic propellers allow for airspeeds of 65 knals per hour, instead of the 10 knals per hour of the Maukaless carriage, allowing for much more complex technologies to develop, such as rudimentary refrigeration and freezing, imported from the northern ice sheets.
Discovery
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