Re: The DragonFlow, Part 1B: LinkSpace Part 3

In <URL:news:local.spelljam> on Thu 16 Feb, Blackmaer wrote:
> The DragonFlow, Part 1B: LinkSpace  Part 3
> 
> Again, please let me know if this all sucks, and I'll stop posting.  Sorry 
> if it gets a little boring, but after all, LinkSpace IS the most boring 
> sphere in the DragonFlow.  I’ll shorten it up some.
> 
> Decundus
[snip]

I like this!

I'm always on the lookout for new interesting cultures, and new
materials. Hardweed sounds really fun!

You might want to throw in some bits about life on the islands,
what sort of things are done there rather than on ship, etc, in
addition to the dry docks where ships are made from shaped dried-
out hardweed. Maybe what the floating islands are made of, their
origin, whether they might get bigger or smaller, over time, or
new ones form. Maybe whether the climate changes over the world
or over seasons, and the islands stay in one place or move with
the currents.

I'm assuming you boil-down hardweed to get the waterproofing
material. If this is an island activity (most people don't like
fire on ships) this is one reason for not living completely
shipboard. Of course, it probably makes a really nasty stink!
[grin]

If you can't get metal, you might want to mention the use of
tools made from hardweed, even armour and weapons, 'lacquered'. I
think lacquer was originally made from some sort of insect, which
maybe could be harvested from islands.

You say hardweed will "keep indefinitely, as long the weed is
kept moist". I assume this means before it is shaped, then
waterproofed - interesting that it is not attacked by bacteria or
mould! Does this property also apply if you take (raw) hardweed
to another crystal sphere?

Can anything eat hardweed?

Also, how fireproof are ships made out of hardweed?

Does anything happen if the waterproofing is damaged on the
hardweed ships? Might this be one good reason for making them in
sections? Or, is it more like something you soak the dried
hardweed with, rather than a waterproof coating?

If hardweed grows below the islands this might be a major
breeding ground for fish, maybe a bit like a coral reef. Some of
these might be poisonous, and harvested for such. Do the tritons
and mermen live here? Underwater fishing in the hardweed under an
island might be an interesting plot idea. Maybe pearls in rare
shellfish that grow attached to some of the larger hardweed
strands?

If there are some metals, or other interesting minerals,
dissolved in the water, which is likely if creatures can live on
this world, then maybe some (rare) plants might extract and
concentrate these?


Just a few thoughts...

-- 
Dreamer
dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/