Anmar musing - Plif

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This is mostly musing, and I'm not including it in one of the threads because it's not directly applicable.

Plif. Probably the most overlooked country in the Great Valley, but one that I would put as being extremely important for the future of Palarand and Anmar.

Why?

Wax. Specifically, the Wax-Tail reed. One of many important needs for technology, and not even "Modern Technology", is a substance that can be moulded and hardened. Collectively, they're known as plastics. You can make plastic from casein, the protein in milk, but it's subject to softening if immersed in water. Other plastics are nitrocellulose plastics (then 'celluloid'), but they're dangerous when exposed to heat, or allowed to age (unless stabilized). Then came cellulose acetate plastics. Those are stable and safe (they will burn, but not explode). The wax itself will probably be usable in basic chemical modification to create harder surface coatings and lacquers. (What kind of wood finish does Palarand use? Oil? What kind? Shellac, made from a bug?)

I can see Plif needing to become VERY aware of sustainable farming, very quickly. Their reeds are going to be a source, not only for the wax, but for the cellulose from the reeds themselves. That means that they'll have to figure out how to add fertilizer back to the marshes to compensate for the loss of the rotting vegetation. That cellulose will travel to Kendeven and be processed, and then further up the river to create the plastics necessary for photography, movie film, overhead projectors, electrical insulation in devices, eyeglass frames (not kidding), and anything requiring a flexible, moulded shape. The wax will end up reprocessed to create longer lasting lubricants than tallow grease or lanolin-type oils.

Why these? Acetone, nitric acids, cellulose, and the related products are relatively easy to come by, even with 1850's technology, low toxicity, and absolutely necessary for later steps. They can also be made _now_ without having to seek out sources of heavily oily/waxy plants (like Jojoba), or 'ground oil'. Coal tar products will also become common. There's a cancer risk to them - at least as skin treatments - but that can be mitigated by taking care with processing. At a minimum, they'll be useful as wood preservatives for things like the semaphore towers. I'm assuming that they don't have creosote bushes.

So, in many ways, I think Plif may end up more important to the future of Palarand and Anmar than the other Valley states. At least, in resources.

Comments

Plif and vegetation

Hi there,

yes, growing things are about to come into sharper focus in all sorts of ways.

There is some hope that the reported presence of a rubber-tree like bush in Einnland (the Yolli bush) will promote trade and bring Einnland out of its relative isolation.
The there is the hitherto unreported west bank of the Bray and its undeveloped agriculture.
And perhaps more can be made of the 'Uplands' that belong to each country.
For population growth is about to start up, one deems.

River valley soil will be very different in character to upland soil, but at least the Uplands are in less danger of flooding in the rainy season.
And, maybe, as Jaxen struggles his way across the Palumak range searching for Einnland, he comes across other remote valleys with useful plants ....

Thanks for your continued interest!

Julia.

Wax and Plif

Plif has the Waxtail grasses because it is on an exposed estuary and subject to seasonal storms. The extensive marshes are likely therefore to be salt or brackish.

It may be possible to create controlled flooded areas to expand production beyond what is there in Garia's time, but I suspect that the total supply is going to be limited to something less than the Industrial Revolution will require.

The wax is already used extensively along the whole valley for waterproofing both clothing and other materials that might suffer during the annual rainy season. There is also some use for 'lost wax' casting. Brydas makes a reference to that process when he shows Garia the new Sheriff's badges.

It is inevitable that other sources will be sought as the uses widen. I'm not sure if you can get waxes out of Coal Tar residue but some sustainable method has to be found. I wouldn't want their society to depend on petroleum or whaling, for example, as the demand grows greater.

An interesting point. Thank you for raising it.

Penny

Eventually you'll find other

Eventually you'll find other sources - any waxy plant can be used in fractional distillation, for example. It's not so much expanding production, as it is sustained farming techniques. That is, even if it reduces production for a year, switching to harvesting partial sections and adding some sort of fertilizer. (Probably animal waste for the first couple of years, then probably just nitrogen fertilizers. They're not that hard to make) Plif will be the most important because 1) It's next door, 2) they already use the wax, so that means the reeds that are destroyed to extract the wax are available, 3) cellulose plastics are easiest to make with the equipment they have available. They'll be listed in any of the reference books in that genre, because they are so basic. (Heck, my _animation_ history book had information on the production of nitrocellulose plastics used in the film and animation industry)

Increasing production can be done in wetlands, you just have to identify the areas you want to go into. Growing up around the Gulf Coast, there are LOTS of areas that people can go into, but won't, because it's too mucky even for the hunters. Plif is almost certainly like that. They'll just have to figure out how to reach those areas, and how to maintain and harvest them. It doesn't require damage to the wetlands themselves, or trying to artificially expand it. Just don't harvest all of a section, then wander off and wait for it to grow back naturally. Harvest _part_ of a section, then move and harvest part of the next. Just like forestry. (Grasses you can do a bit more to, of course)

Coal tar? Yes, you can use fractional distillation to extract paraffins from coal tar. (paraffin wax)

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ef400470v

The interesting thing about distillation and what we think of as the petrochemical industry is that you can make shorter chain organic molecules from almost any long chain organic molecule, as long as you provide the necessary heat and pressure. You can even make longer chain molecules from short ones, but it's a more expensive process. The benefit here is that it doesn't matter that it's a more expensive process - it's the only game in town. The biggest upside to the added costs? Incentive to recycle and reuse rather than trash. Any plastic can be reprocessed if you want to do it. (Thermal Depolymerization is the most efficient form of this. You can toss anything organic in it, and get out sterile water that can be treated or used for non-potable uses, light oil, minerals, and natural gas. It's smelly, but so is a tannery.)

So, in this case, I'm looking for the next 10 years - the kick starter of industry. If they get the basic distillation process down, they'll be able to have high energy/low mass fuel for balloons, or maybe blimps. That'll get them high enough to start making mapping plans to explore beyond the valley walls - and even flash signals across the valley over longer distances. With _enough_ fuel, they can put engines on a zepplin and use it for trading over short distances beyond the valley walls. None of that requires too much more than they already have. (No, hydrogen is NOT that dangerous in a blimp. Even the Hindenberg just burned slowly, from the top down. It didn't explode. Everyone ran away from it. We abandoned the technology far too early. I'd love to see what they could do nowadays, with the better engines and fabrics we have)

Eventually, they'll find either plants like the jojoba, that have a high wax/oil content, and can be grown easily in a commercial setting, or a source of petrochemicals. Either way, they'll be a lot more focused on reusing the resources by then.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

Where would Gary get proper or good advice?

How would Gary get proper advice on what information to bring back?

Sponsor one time scholarships/grants and have this advice generated through college semester projects?

He probably went to some

He probably went to some apocalypse sites, for one. For another, Garia had a LOT of conversations with people over what sort of information would be useful.

Remember, almost everything that would truly be useful would be more than 15 years old, and freely available. Project Gutenberg could be grabbed from a good high speed connection in a day or so (at most). Even buying stacks of books at the used bookstores (engineering texts from 1984, math texts, etc) would work. cut the covers off, stack in a high speed scanner, scan both sides of each page, and you're done. Despite some of the arguments and discussions, the main point is to give Palarand what they need to advance while avoiding Earth's mistakes. Not to make sure that Palarand can have HDMI cables in 30 years. Sibling, not Clone.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

Gary has NON-EARTH requirements

Here, some items might be scavanged. Resource locations are generally known.

On Anmar, much has yet to be discovered.
On Earth most current reference books and textbooks are available in electronic format.

Why not pay for expert advice?

We don't know exactly what Gary did. Gary may have recruited some folks. More English teachers arriving with CRC handbooks, other reference books, and other skillsets would be grand for Anmar.

We'll know when the next chapter posts if, Gary recruited anyone.

Gary has NON-EARTH requirements

Here, some items might be scavanged. Resource locations are generally known.

On Anmar, much has yet to be discovered.

On earth most reference and textbooks are available in electronic format.

Why not pay for expert advice?

We don't know exactly what Gary did. Gary may have recruited some folks. More English teachers with CRC handbooks and other reference books would be grand for Anmar.

We'll know when the next chapter posts if, Gary recruited anyone.