Alfheimr Renaissance

I stand with my wife Iselin beside me as we happily receive congratulations as the feast starts going again and music plays. Ciara is first and just giving us a long hug, followed by Kari who gives us separate hugs and congratulations, followed by Caecilia and Jane before Asbjörn and his family. Since the autumn auction, I've been on a first-name basis with the royal couple and their daughters in public settings, and now Iselin is too, which makes her parents prouder. There is a bit of mingling and talking, and after a while, Jane comes up to us again.

"You weren't kidding, were you?"

"About what?"

"About information. No matter how horrible and bad idea it is - you will tell her? Things like weapons, torture, meteors, the plague and even the bloody atomic bomb?" Interesting choice of topics, but I nod and confirm it. "Bollocks! You really will tell her all you know how to create a bloody plague or build a nuclear weapon if she asks. I know you wouldn't tell me, and I at least know what they are!"

"All the details I know about everything. But the A-bomb is unbelievably hard to do for a long long time. The Manhattan project was beyond huge, and that was in 1940 tech level, in the world's biggest industrial nation with an intact infrastructure and the motivation of the Second World War, with some of the most brilliant scientists in the world and era. Before you start messing with radiation you at least need protection and geiger counters, and just making that tube will require a big leap in technology, and then you need he electronics to go with it so that tube can be used. Building vacuum tubes is just the start, and a beyond hard project on its own. If I manage to make those tubes they will primarily be for true Alfheimr radio and telephones followed by scientific instruments. Just making copper wire on an industrial scale will be a hard project, and then you have to build huge complexes with high precision machines just to separate Uranium 235 from Uranium 238. That is hard and difficult to do with modern Midgård equipments. You don't just throw a high speed precision centrifuge together, and the details and materials will be incredibly important. And how do Uranium ore look? Or Plutonium. You could throw that at me and I wouldn't know!"

"I knew you knew a lot about the A-bomb!" Jane gives me a smug smile. And she managed to get me started on a topic again. Damn.

"Anyway, nuclear stuff will probably take centuries, but my Academy and what I create will be messing up a lot of timetables from our history, so a nuclear reactor might be sooner, but until they have that huge need for electric power they will have plenty of water, wind, geothermal and wave power, and I will try to direct Alfheimr towards efficient insulation, geothermal and heat pumps - which all are way easier and more useful than nuclear shit. Refrigeration tech will change food logistics and storage. I pretty much hope to start Alfheimr on a technological and environmental sustainable path before it becomes a crisis, so hopefully they will move past that great filter. In the end I trust Iselin to understand not to ask, and if she does, not to tell or write some things down. But I will teach her and others the dangers of radiation, so I hope to make a geiger counter."

Jane just shakes her head and looks at Iselin who is curious what we talked about, as with a serious tone she say: “Iselin. Don't ask about some things in detail. Robert knows too much and it's better that this world doesn't know, because there are and will be madmen and power-hungry leaders and fanatics. Let some knowledge die with us."

As Jane walks away, I can't quite agree with her reasoning. That the knowledge dies does not change the fact that it can be rediscovered, and probably will be discovered again. When knowledge dies, so do the lessons about what the technology can lead to. What came so close to happened several times. That Midgård has a few people to thank for us not already experiencing Nuclear War. That the third world war has not happened so far. The only safe world is a world without nuclear weapons. It's one of those things humanity just shouldn't have created and stockpiled. VX gas and such is similar. The great secret of nuclear weapons is that they are surprisingly easy to make with the right knowledge in a modern world, if you can get hold of the nuclear material and just want the destruction. Especially if you don't care about efficiency, storage and security. The more Nuclear weapons there are in the world, the more likely one will end up in the wrong hands. Especially from unstable governments with religious people, or dreams of an empire or their own supremacy. Every government that have them in Midgård fall under that description.

But nuclear power and radioactivity is too important and useful knowledge in the long run, as long as it is used correctly, and that is really the most important information to know. The damage radiation does to the body is important knowledge, and Alfheimr does not need its own Radium Girls, and people who get sick and die from radiation or get cancer due to poorly chosen building materials, or just something like asbestos. It is also better that they avoid a bad reactor design and fuel that requires long-term storage of spent fuel, and learn the lessons from Chernobyl or Fukushima. Can they research in peace and quiet before the need arises, maybe they can skip dumb intermediate steps.

The celebration starts again, and will last a week. It doesn't have to be a week, but for larger more important weddings it is tradition for them to last a week, and it is a sign of wealth and status to be able to have a feast that lasts a week. Since I am a regent, and I'm new to this culture, it would be bad if we didn't. And our wedding will be properly done. Thankfully, a long wedding feast is not just long sessions of sitting and drinking mead and eating in a feast hall. In addition to just spending time with the guests and letting guest talk with other guests, there will be all kinds of games, competitions, tours on the island and other activities. There fairly good and steady wind coming from the south, so I give Siri a kite, which is immediately used, and draws a bit of crowd as she learns to use it. Once we come inside I give Myrun, Maurr, Jolfr, Olafr, Digraldi, Danr and Hagan a Risk game each. Asbjörn have a Risk game, and he receives a large wooden box with tabletop miniatures and terrain, and from the look and reaction when he opens the box and sees what it is, I guess Asbjörn really likes the gift. Of course they soon enthusiastically play those games with many volunteers. Jane whisperingly complain it's such a nerdy thing to do at a bloody wedding feast.

As we play I tell the royal couple that hopefully the construction happening behind the merchant house in Borgarsandr will be finished this winter. It will be filled with large ice blocks, and my merchant house have an ice box waiting for them. So they should be able to store food and drinks in that ice box in the coming summer. It will be an experiment I hope they are willing to participate in, to see how well it goes, how much ice is used and how long the ice lasts. They are definitely willing, and there is no doubt their cook will love it. She is amusingly jealous of the mansion kitchen and all the amenities and possibilities. They have of course already seen the ice box we have, and the ice house here. Now during winter, the icehouse is not particularly discrete, and it is easy to see from the pavilion. It is after all located right by the road across the island. The hot box is something Asbjörn already intends to have made. It can be as simple as a wooden box with a lot of hay, where a large boiled pot is placed, and insulated with more hay or hay pillows on top and provides slow cooking over a couple of hours, or just keeps the food really hot. It is actually impressively efficient, practical and labour saving, and something that has already spread to several households on the island. I have already ordered a special ice box and a hot box to have in my ship the Millennium Eagle, because with some heated stones in the hot box, food can be kept warm for a day, and no fire to worry about. Warm food on a cold and rainy day at sea is nice.

I've managed to work out that it couldn't have been Sefa in the shower - which is good and bad - and I've come up with a way to give Haera a subtle hint I know, and am damn curious to see if and how she reacts, before I start worrying about that it might have been Ulfarna. I've been thinking of giving a few more gifts, but I check with Kari and Iselin first to make sure there isn't anything negative or a problem with the gift, or how it might be perceived when given to someone's wife. After their okay, I buy one of Jane's gold dragon rings, and while Asbjörn is busy trying to beat Myrun in a tabletop battle, I give Haera a small black cloth packet.

"Jane also designs jewellery, so I hope you enjoy the gift, because such a gift can only be given once and not again."

Haera reacts a bit to my funny choice of words, but I'm still learning Norse so not uncommon I have trouble finding words or say it in a slightly weird way. Haera unfold the cloth and see the gold dragon ring. I don't think she pretends to likes the ring, but she reacts to the piece of cloth that is the blindfold I wore in the shower. For a few brief moments she reacts to the cloth more than the ring, giving me and the blindfold quick glances before collecting herself and putting on a happy face, thanking for the gift and saying she likes it. She puts the ring on the middle finger of her left hand, carefully folds the blindfold and holds it in her left hand while again admiring the ring. Haera catch my eyes, then look pointedly at the piece of cloth instead of the ring, then back at me, as she smiles:

"It's a precious gift, and the memory of when I received it will be cherished."

My face gives no reaction I can prevent as I excuse myself and leave, and I'm now pretty sure who it was in the shower. And that it cannot happen again. Holy feck. What the hell made Haera take that chance? Is it the first time? Does Asbjörn know what his wife might do? How the hell do I even bring up the subject?! Definitely after the wedding feast. If even then. I think Asbjörn loves Haera, but that might lead to a damn divorce between them. What if they have a fallout and Haera tells him? And that I didn't tell him? Feck!

I continue with the rest of my special gifts to women, and give Liv a small cloth wrapped package with a silver butt plug, saying it's for the project we have and open it in private. Unn and Gauthild are curious but Liv discretely peeks into the package, gets a 'huh?' look on her face, before her face lights up and she smiles as she thanks me, before excusing herself. I thank Gauthild for the wedding ceremony and give her a small spyglass telescope, to more easily see distant objects. A different kind of sejd as a thank you for her sejd during the ceremony, and she is fascinated by the telescope as I show her how to use and take care of it. Gauthild absolutely know how much similar monoculars went for at the Auction.

Liv returns and whispers: "It's a wonderful gift. It fits nicely and I will think of you when I wear it."

Most residents on the islands come by and congratulate us. All dressed up and having made themselves pretty. We have been prepared for this as everyone said it was pretty much guaranteed to happen. We thank everyone and give each adult one ounce of silver, and each child gets half an ounce of silver. Ida who is a local, record who have received it so all gets it and no one is forgotten, or gets it twice. It's very unlikely anyone will try that, but better to make sure. We also give each adult a mug of mead or cider, and each child a mug of cider or berry drink. Since I'm known to avoid mead, cider has risen in esteem. Yeah, it got some alcohol, but it taste so much better.

We didn't have to give anything, or could have just given some coins or offered some mead, but there aren't that many people living here and it's worth the silver just for the PR.

Show, don't tell.

The guests are impressed with the pendulum clock, and that I let the staffs common room have its own, which somehow also makes a bell across the hall ring to wake them up in the morning. Digraldi understands that pendulum clocks compete with the sundials he sells, but he understands that pendulum clocks are far more advanced and much more difficult to make and expensive. He is happy with how many sundials have been sold to my merchant empire and other traders, and there is a demand for more decorated models, which he is currently making. Our talk reminds both him and us that we should get our share of the silver, and he sends his maid to get it. Digraldi take the opportunity to inquire about an agreement about candle lanterns, so we make a deal. He will make the agreement with the glass manufacturer. There will probably be an agreement on oil lamps and lanterns in the future, but they require a lot more work, especially the storm lanterns, which frankly should be stamped out parts from a press. I also wants to improve the oil lanterns in the coming summer, both in light output and trying to reduce the smell. Most might not care, but I sure do. Digraldi will be manufacturing many parts for the coming spring auction, and I have plenty of other projects for him, so I assure him that he will get a lot of orders to bring back home after the feast week. He will be very busy.

As I leave, Bodil glides up beside me and as she updates me about different things, I learn that Myrun have been curious about the servant system receivers in the staff room. She or her maid have look at the device in the staff room, while the other have pressed the button in the main hall. Myrun is curious and smart. She hasn't said anything, but I think she guesses it's something special because of how it sounds and how the text wheel changes instead of one of several small bells jingling. Everyone has seen the servant system boxes that are in pretty much every room, including on a post in the pavilion, and they have been shown and told what it is for. They are strange, but at least Asbjörn and Haera know about systems with cords and bells, and they themselves have a simpler system in the castle, so it's not that different except in the design and that they don't see any cords. The copper wires are built in to protect them, but a similar thing could have been made to hide cords. What is surprising and different is the receiver box. Very few guests have actually gone in and look at that system, but of course the visiting maids and guards have, and Myrun was curious.