Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 1942515" data-attributes="member: 19675">Things about clean water (and yes, I know I'm repeating some stuff):1) Remember that Tokyo and Rome both hit 1 million inahbitants well before the industrial age.&nbsp; They used aqueducts, riverwater, wells and cisterns to get clean water.2)&nbsp; Clean water isn't neccessarily clean.&nbsp; There are major cities I go to in Mexico, Europe and South America where you still can't drink the tapwater if you're not a local.&nbsp; Locals don't have a problem because their immune/digestive systems evolved &amp; adapted to those conditions- visitors risk a vistit from Montezuma...3)&nbsp; Don't underestimate the amount of drinking of alcoholic beverages.&nbsp; For a long time, water was considered to be less healthy than ales, beers, liquors and wines because you couldn't get sick by drinking them.&nbsp; The water in them is either boiled or purified by the alcohol content.&nbsp; Not that everyone was a drunk- increased tolerances due to constant exposure plus the watering down of these beverages allowed for relative sobriety.&nbsp; The wine in a typical adventurer's wineskin wouldn't be strong enough to get him drunk, but the alcohol content would minimize bacterial/fungal blooms.4)&nbsp; As for beasties in the desert- Desert creatures in the real world either get their neccessary water intake by drinking condensation, consuming plants/animals, or by going into hibernation for long periods of time, like frogs, fish and even shrimp.&nbsp; When the desert gets rain, they stir, emerge, eat, mate and then go back into hibernation.&nbsp; Some creatures, like the Camel, store water in body fat, released slowly as the fat is broken down.&nbsp; Creatures with elemental fire ancestry might require little or no water to survive.5)&nbsp; Subterranean creatures, having evolved into those niches, DO have a higher tolerance for minerals, etc.&nbsp; This goes doubly for creatures with elemental earth origins.6)&nbsp; Magic can account for a lot of the above as well.&nbsp; Water production &amp; detection can be done magically, and could conceivablyl increase the adaptation of a race to an environment.&nbsp; A well enchanted with a permanent &quot;Purify Water&quot; or an irrigation system that passes all of its water through a gate constructed with a Unicorn's Horn (how&amp; why is up to you) would both provide lots of clean water.&nbsp; It could also be the basis of a guild of alchemists (the Cisternist Guild), or the duty of the city's preferred priesthoods.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dannyalcatraz, post: 1942515, member: 19675"] Things about clean water (and yes, I know I'm repeating some stuff): 1) Remember that Tokyo and Rome both hit 1 million inahbitants well before the industrial age. They used aqueducts, riverwater, wells and cisterns to get clean water. 2) Clean water isn't neccessarily clean. There are major cities I go to in Mexico, Europe and South America where you still can't drink the tapwater if you're not a local. Locals don't have a problem because their immune/digestive systems evolved & adapted to those conditions- visitors risk a vistit from Montezuma... 3) Don't underestimate the amount of drinking of alcoholic beverages. For a long time, water was considered to be less healthy than ales, beers, liquors and wines because you couldn't get sick by drinking them. The water in them is either boiled or purified by the alcohol content. Not that everyone was a drunk- increased tolerances due to constant exposure plus the watering down of these beverages allowed for relative sobriety. The wine in a typical adventurer's wineskin wouldn't be strong enough to get him drunk, but the alcohol content would minimize bacterial/fungal blooms. 4) As for beasties in the desert- Desert creatures in the real world either get their neccessary water intake by drinking condensation, consuming plants/animals, or by going into hibernation for long periods of time, like frogs, fish and even shrimp. When the desert gets rain, they stir, emerge, eat, mate and then go back into hibernation. Some creatures, like the Camel, store water in body fat, released slowly as the fat is broken down. Creatures with elemental fire ancestry might require little or no water to survive. 5) Subterranean creatures, having evolved into those niches, DO have a higher tolerance for minerals, etc. This goes doubly for creatures with elemental earth origins. 6) Magic can account for a lot of the above as well. Water production & detection can be done magically, and could conceivablyl increase the adaptation of a race to an environment. A well enchanted with a permanent "Purify Water" or an irrigation system that passes all of its water through a gate constructed with a Unicorn's Horn (how& why is up to you) would both provide lots of clean water. It could also be the basis of a guild of alchemists (the Cisternist Guild), or the duty of the city's preferred priesthoods. [/QUOTE]

Verification