Ice Skating in Scarterra
by Me with Midjourney
To have an ice skating culture you need to have frozen bodies of water that people want to traverse and access to quality steel that can be shaped into skate blades.
In Scarterra, Fumayan humans are the pioneers of skating technology and skating culture.
Fumaya has lots of lakes, lots of fairly flat, and fairly long winters. Fumayans have good relations with the Dwarf Kingdom of Meckelorn , so they have access to lots of dwarf blacksmiths or humans trained by dwarfs that are capable of making the quality steel necessary for metal skates.
Utility
In Earth history, ice skating using bone skates to glide across frozen bodies of water dates back well before the civilization being occasionally used by nomads in what is now Scandanavia and Russia as far back as 4000 BCE.
This is pretty much the same in Scarterra. Scarterran nomads have made crude ice skates for crossing frozen bodies of water for thousands of years, and many northern dwelling barbarians are still making these skates today. The development of refined metal ice skates is relatively new only going back a few centuries.
On Earth, the earliest known metal skates were created in the late medieval/early Renaissance starting in Denmark, but skating culture as we know it today mostly emerged in the 19th century where you had industrial production of high quality steel and a leisure class with time to enjoy skating.
Fumaya a has ice skates well more advanced than medieval Danes due to the the presence of friendly dwarf metalsmiths.
Social Impact
In Fumya, ice skating is a popular winter past time enjoyed by many people across social classes though when lower classes go skating, they usually borrow communal skates rather than wear their own skates.
Outside of Fumaya, ice skates are a luxury good for highborn lords and ladies who live in areas with climate and geography that allows for ice skating.
Ice skating is mostly something humans and gnomes do. Most dwarf metalsmiths trained in crafting ice skates have done a little bit of skating, but their own mountain homes don't have a lot of flat bodies of water suitable for ice skating. A lot of mortal races have feet shaped oddly enough that they would need custom skates which would make ice skating outrageously expensive.
Elves have very similar feet to humans, so nothing is stopping them from picking up ice skate except grey elves mostly live in warm areas that don't regularly see ice, most dark elves live in rugged areas that don't have a lot of flat lakes and ponds and wood elves have anti-materialist culture that puts social stigma on a acquiring bulky luxury goods that don't directly aid in survival (such as fancy ice skates).
by Me with Midjourney
Access & Availability
Ice skates are not particularly complicated to make, but almost all things are hand made in Scarterra, and it takes a lot of time and skill to make a functioning pair of ice skates which translates into cost.
A good pair of ice skates probably costs between three and four silver pieces which is more than a week's pay for a day laborer. But since most skate crafters in Scarterra are dwarves, skates are built to last, so it's a one-time expense
Because of the cost ice skating is mostly a pastime of the upper classes, especially outside of Fumaya.
Magic and ice
-Zahmbonee, gnomish ice mage You do not need a magic spell to cross a frozen lake, but one of the lesser known applications of the Water Walking spell is that the spell improves agility and speed on ice supplanting the need for ice skates. Water manipulation spells can accelerate freezing. It's easy enough to make a block of ice to put in drinks, but flash freezing a pond out of season is very difficult and freezing a whole lake is right out. I have made myself useful on frozen lake patching ice fishing holes and mending cracks.by Me with Midjourney
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