Waste systems

[Quantus]

Spires likely force an extra ordinary level of recycling. If one spire has a honey monopoly, could another have certain stone monopolies? People have paid a lot for certain types of stone when designing stuff specifically.

That would make sense.  I mean, they used lots of wood in Albion, but they dont consider it an abundant material, or the preferred one really, and the Aurorans thought it even more rare/scarce.  Its just the best they had since they cant recreate Spire/Cinderstone.  If its that costly to simply haul wood up from the surface I imagine the volumes of Stone that you could move spire-to-spire would be cost-prohibative.  But if it were a more local resource (like wood is for Albion) then they might do more stoenwork.  From a purely asthetic POV, I could see Spire Olypia using a lot of Marble construction, for example, as a contrast to the warmer woods of Albion). 

[kazimmoinuddin]

We know there are spires and jungles, but has there been any mentions of seas or mountains. If all the bad stuff is in the jungles, then the mountains would be safer to visit, so easier access to the stone there.

[DungeonDragon18]

I'm thinking that the surface might not be uniformly dangerous all over the entire planet; the jungle around Albion and Aurora certainly is, which is why wood is so rare, but there could be deserts where there isn't much wildlife, where humans could set up quarries or mines to get stone, clay, and metal with relative ease.

[Dashkull]

Id think they had some kind of other solution to the the waste problem than miles and miles of pipes through stone. Not that that is not possible, but obviously plenty of NEW dwellings have been built, and if so they would have no way of connecting them now with the old sewer systems, since the means of shaping the spirestone seems to be lost in history.

My guess is they have something that quickly dilute/converts the waste into something else. IE: you go in a pot, press a button and a kind of chemical solutions rushes in and combines with the waste and alters it into something less toxic (sand was mentioned, it could be broken down into water, etc.) Then whatever the byproduct is of the chemical reaction is either pure liquid and runs out through some (above the stone) pipes into large tanks to be collected for use, or if its solid, just gets collected once a day or every few days and thrown in the trash or a place to be recycled for further use.

Or, since this is steampunk, the waste is combined with a chemical to liquefy it completely, then a heating crystal evaporates it and the steam is pushed through some turbines to generate power or some other gadgetry before exiting the habble through the ventilation tunnels.

[knnn]

So here's another question:  What do they use instead of toilet paper?  Historically it was:

- Sand or rocks (not really available in a Spire).
- Leaves (also kinda hard to find).
- Smooth piece of wood (expensive).
- Roman Sponge (this is a sea-sponge.  Don't think they'd have that).
- Bidet (possible, but a little advanced technology and you still need to wipe with something).

[Fedd]

So here's another question:  What do they use instead of toilet paper?  Historically it was:

- Sand or rocks (not really available in a Spire).
- Leaves (also kinda hard to find).
- Smooth piece of wood (expensive).
- Roman Sponge (this is a sea-sponge.  Don't think they'd have that).
- Bidet (possible, but a little advanced technology and you still need to wipe with something).

They can somehow synthetically create meat. I assume it is technology left by the Builders right? If I were going to build a shelter such as a spire and include tech to make food, tech to make cleaning supplies would naturally follow. Maybe there is a toilet paper vattery of some sort.

[knnn]

They can somehow synthetically create meat. I assume it is technology left by the Builders right? If I were going to build a shelter such as a spire and include tech to make food, tech to make cleaning supplies would naturally follow. Maybe there is a toilet paper vattery of some sort.

The inner monologue of whats-her-name when she sees the library indicates that books are very expensive.  This doesn't quite jive with having mass-produced toilet paper.

[TBGH]

The use the thin leather-scrapings from the meat vat after they dry out . . .

Really I've got no idea.

[Arjan]

The inner monologue of whats-her-name when she sees the library indicates that books are very expensive.  This doesn't quite jive with having mass-produced toilet paper.

Unless they are hand written. Labour costs alone would make them very expensive.

[knnn]

Here's the quote:

Gwen stared for several silent seconds and then realized she was attempting to calculate the approximate value of the books, based solely upon their materials.  The paper for each book was representative of more wood than its volume would suggest.