Of Fire That Once Was – and the Fish No One Found

The Bratfish

 

Fireless Cuisine of the Frostborn

For thousands of years, the Frostborn have prepared their food entirely without fire. Heat is considered uncontrollable, dangerous, and alien. Raw fish and raw meat form the foundation of their diet, complemented by algae, iceberries, and fermented sea plants.   Yet even though the art of cooking with heat seems long forgotten, a persistent rumor surrounds the diet of their ancestors.  

The Legend of the Ember Caves

It is said that the ancestors once knew and enjoyed warm meals—prepared in special stone structures that controlled fire without releasing its heat into the surroundings. No surviving examples of these mystical “fire jugs” or “ember caves” remain, but they appear again and again in songs and legends.  

The Searfish – Poison and Delight

Most infamous is the tale of the Bratfish: A creature so poisonous in its raw form that it was said to be deadly—yet delicious when properly heated. Only through precise cooking was it supposedly made edible. Some accounts speak of butter-soft flesh, others of a sharp flavor and sizzling texture during preparation.   To this day, no proof of these culinary wonders has been found. Expeditions occasionally search for the legendary fish, but no one dares to consume an unknown, potentially lethal creature—especially in a society that fears fire as others fear drowning.  

A Fish Never Found

The Frostborn know the waters around Nyrian and their inhabitants in great detail, so a new species would have long been noticed. One reason for the Bratfish’s absence may be that the species is already extinct.   Old tales claim:

The fish was always rare and precious

Difficult to catch, nearly impossible to store

Only edible through the mysterious act of “searing”

Today, all that remains of the Bratfish is the memory of the impossible: a dish that cannot be prepared, from a creature no one has ever seen. Rumors say its scales shimmered like Lyrr in a storm, and its flesh smelled like melted algae oil on hot stone—whatever that may mean. Other foods were allegedly heated as well, but the Bratfish remains legendary.
  What endures is a saying that embodies disbelief and wonder: “Fry me a fish — the Bratfish lives!”