Minerals.

[knnn]

Enough of it had to be wood in order to burn so well.   

Overall, I'd say wood is available in large quantities for a huge price due to the danger of harvesting it from the surface.  I don't think it's grown in vats.

They've got cooking oil, but presumably that's some sort of canola/vegetable oil.  I haven't seen any mention of fruits, but they do mention coffee.

[SetStndbySmn]

As Addison suggested labor at the Spire base is something a prisoner of war might be tasked with, I wouldn't be surprised if mining was a division of such efforts- and judging by Grimm's reaction, it is not a fun job.  There's also the possibility that 'vats' can mystically solve such logistical nuisances.

[Rygar]

The divide between layers is masonry, many of the upper layer's buildings are wooden though.  I'm really hoping we're going to get some good info out of future signings/AMAs.  There is so much about TDF that we only learned through Jim's comments, and I really hope we get some cool details for this series too.

[Brightbane]

The divide between layers is masonry, many of the upper layer's buildings are wooden though.  I'm really hoping we're going to get some good info out of future signings/AMAs.  There is so much about TDF that we only learned through Jim's comments, and I really hope we get some cool details for this series too.

Most of Morning's buildings are brick, it's their most common building material. Occasionally they will install a wooden door though. There was a scene in Landing where Espira was disgusted to see that there were entire buildings made out of wood. He said that much wood was worth enough to feed a family for their entire lives

[Brightbane]

But they built most of the second layer of the thing out of wood, yes?  A /Town's/ worth of structures above the first layer, almost exclusively out of wood right?    Cost be damned, that's a matter of internal economics.  Regardless of how much they charge for it, somehow they were able to acquire the wood in the first place. So either they found a way to grow it in a relatively safe location, or else Lumberjack is the most frightening job description in their culture.  Which might be the case; the cost might be a matter of potential Risk in far ranging harvest operations rather than any sort of scarcity from a limited grow footprint.   

It doesn't specifically say what it's made out of. Just that the second layer was filled with "Masonry and wooden construction"

But I wouldn't think a wooden floor 2 miles across would be stable enough to hold buildings. The would would start rotting and stuff and constantly have to be replaced, and the supports would have to be huge. I'm assuming it's made out of some kind of stone

[KeyMasterOfGozer]

It doesn't specifically say what it's made out of. Just that the second layer was filled with "Masonry and wooden construction"

But I wouldn't think a wooden floor 2 miles across would be stable enough to hold buildings. The would would start rotting and stuff and constantly have to be replaced, and the supports would have to be huge. I'm assuming it's made out of some kind of stone

There is no stone material on Earth that could make an unsupported floor 2 miles across either.  Stone/concrete has great compressive strength, but very low shear strength and tensile strength.  It is also very heavy.  You would have to have arches and lots of columns along with steel beams and supports.  Wood is actually much better at tensile strength than stone or masonry.

That said, wood also couldn't support a 2 mile floor without lots of supports, and concrete's great compressive strength would be more suited to having things piled on top of it (like large buildings).

In reality, it's probably best not to think about the details of this, because the engineering details are probably impossible to work out as Jim writes about it.  At least not without inventing some super-material like spirestone, or some other "magical" means.  Maybe they were able to put lift crystals in the floor?

[Gman]

Wood seems to last a long time in this world without rot. It was stated that some of the wooden airships were centuries old and seemed to be in great shape.

[Brightbane]

Wood seems to last a long time in this world without rot. It was stated that some of the wooden airships were centuries old and seemed to be in great shape.

Yeah, but these boats are treated and constantly undergoing repairs. The ship may be 500 years old, but I can guarantee that the wood has been replaced several times over

[Quantus]

There is no stone material on Earth that could make an unsupported floor 2 miles across either.  Stone/concrete has great compressive strength, but very low shear strength and tensile strength.  It is also very heavy.  You would have to have arches and lots of columns along with steel beams and supports.  Wood is actually much better at tensile strength than stone or masonry.

That said, wood also couldn't support a 2 mile floor without lots of supports, and concrete's great compressive strength would be more suited to having things piled on top of it (like large buildings).

In reality, it's probably best not to think about the details of this, because the engineering details are probably impossible to work out as Jim writes about it.  At least not without inventing some super-material like spirestone, or some other "magical" means.  Maybe they were able to put lift crystals in the floor?

Fair points all.  Do we know that it spans the whole two-miles (or even just the habitable square portion) with no column supports?  The Builder-made Spirestone is enough a fictional material that Im fine with is having unusual tensile strength and able to span more, but with the common construction techniques I was picturing a lot of cramped areas in the lower level, and lots of support columns, even simple brick stacks could do quite a lot. 

[knnn]

Fair points all.  Do we know that it spans the whole two-miles (or even just the habitable square portion) with no column supports?  The Builder-made Spirestone is enough a fictional material that Im fine with is having unusual tensile strength and able to span more, but with the common construction techniques I was picturing a lot of cramped areas in the lower level, and lots of support columns, even simple brick stacks could do quite a lot.

The map on the inner cover doesn't seem to show multiple support columns, nor does it show any change in the regular habble layout that would indicate the existence of these columns.  That might just be artistic license though. 
 

[Quantus]

The map on the inner cover doesn't seem to show multiple support columns, nor does it show any change in the regular habble layout that would indicate the existence of these columns.  That might just be artistic license though.

*grumblegrumble* Stupid e-book and it's complete lack of artwork...

[knnn]

*grumblegrumble* Stupid e-book and it's complete lack of artwork...

Priscilla posted a picture of Morning here:

https://twitter.com/priscellie/status/639622457352155136

It looks very similar to the map of the bottom half of Landing (some of the names are different).  There certainly is room for arches everywhere.

...alternatively, what if they just have a bunch of lift crystals embedded into the ceiling at regular intervals?

[Quantus]

Priscilla posted a picture of Morning here:

https://twitter.com/priscellie/status/639622457352155136

It looks very similar to the map of the bottom half of Landing (some of the names are different).  There certainly is room for arches everywhere.

Sweet, thanks.  I think the dark spots on the cardinal points and center are likely some sort of connecting structure, and it's possibly those circles at the 4 crossroad points could be columns as well. 

...alternatively, what if they just have a bunch of lift crystals embedded into the ceiling at regular intervals?

Well, all the pieces are there, narrative speaking.  Crystals would need constant power, but the Spire itself seems to naturally channel and conduct etheric energy, so it could have such powered systems right along side the ventilation and other built-in life support systems.  But if that is the case, I fully expect that system to be disrupted and for an entire spire to fall down, before the 9 books are done.

[knnn]

Sweet, thanks.  I think the dark spots on the cardinal points and center are likely some sort of connecting structure, and it's possibly those circles at the 4 crossroad points could be columns as well.

It's hard to see from the image, but the space at the cardinal points are where the nobel houses are.   The four circles are (I think) the four spiral staircases that go from the base of the spire to the top.

But if that is the case, I fully expect that system to be disrupted and for an entire spire to fall down, before the 9 books are done.

Spirestone might magically be sufficiently strong on it's own, but yes, I would expect habble Landing to collapse at some point if this was the case.

[Brightbane]

I found a quote that says the second floor is stone

The ceiling was perhaps two or three pounces above them,and made of conventional stone, rather than the spirestone. The humans of Habble Landing had halved the height of the tunnels as well