#soil probably had shitty drainage

[since-times-long-forgotten]

can’t keep my fucking plants alive

[ekebolou]

Oh, wow, @dharmagun​ now look what you’ve done

I’ve gone and developed whole-ass ideas for how everyone goes to the bathroom in Kostas. And it’s all your fault.

(dude, I’m having blast)

Bathroom talk under the cut

I don’t know a good way to include your reply, so I’m going to just talk back :)

So, yes - underground water in the Capitol! That’s one reason this otherwise fairly fertile area wasn’t very densely settled - there’s enough water, but it can be hard to get to (and it’s an easily-accessible plain that basically got razed over and over again as different conquests of Ainjir happened, and those happened a lot)

So, this part of the country comes down from higher land in the northwest, flattens out a bit, and then you’ve got lots of hills to the east and southeast.  It’s kind of like the Snake River Plain (but no river), or maybe more the Upper Rhine Plain (but still no river) since there’s jungle to one side and low mountains/hills to the other - I dunno, honestly pretty far outside my expertise as to the geological/ecological logics of this and I should probably stop talking about it, especially because most of the ecology I originally based on China but wikipedia didn’t have great info on Chinese aquifers - BUT ANYWAY there’s a shitload of basalt under the Capitol, columns & caves, etc, and palace is on the higher side of the land because it was originally built around an Artesian well (the old song goes that the King was on an unsuccessful hunting trip during a very troubled time time and laid down for a nap and got up and was blessed by finding a new stream of fresh flowing water where he had taken his rest, and thus blessed & future peace secured & rights of kings, blah blah blah - somebody added a ribald verse about ‘ground penetration’ and what other streams might possible run down the King’s sleeping leg and the original song is rather rarely remembered these days)

GOING ON, the city’s development was rather haphazard (in part because it wasn’t always the capitol, in part logistics), but before Keadar-Ainjir’s coup, it was to varying degrees illegal to screw around with the King’s water - it all depended on how into enforcing the rules about well-digging and dumping and whatnot any given ruler was, and whether they were even there or not.  But there was no easily-accessible nearby stream for dumping, and water infrastructure was poorly developed, so the city was both not very clean except in certain areas, and had a very hardworking and well-developed strata of people responsible for waste management (that not everyone had equal access to, of course).  

Then Keadar-Ainjir takes over and SHIT GETS REAL (in more ways than one, lol - fun aside, other than needing to kill every member of the royal family to complete his coup, it was a good idea for him to take the Capitol by storming the Palace because it had the best access to water, and if they got reverse sieged they could hold out until reinforcements came).  This city is a paper-heavy society fro the get go, so people are using chamber pots/dry toilets and paper, and everything is getting hauled out by night soil people for use as fertilizer (mainly on non-food crops - Ainjir is a major cloth producer and supplier, but there’s also hemp, bamboo, dyestuff, etc - but there’s still probably a fair amount of pathogen transfer going for local edible produce).  There’s pumped water for cleaning (hands, occasionally butts) and vinegar (yet another delightful city-smell), but no city-comprehensive sewage system outside of the public baths and royal fountains.  

This would of course NOT DO for a campaign-trained general, who knew the value of not shitting where you eat, so the major mining projects that brought up most of what he used to build the Academy also created a city-wide sewage and drainage system.  They don’t have a systems as grand and far-reaching as the Romans, but something like what Romans and Minoans had: indoor plumbing, waste water separation, public access to water for multiple uses (maybe not pressurized showers - the Academy has a deliberately jury-rigged version of pressurized showers that’s part of the Academy Dayz stories).  It doesn’t work as well in the originally-shitty parts of old town, as a lot of the piping is above-ground and depends on rainwater collection to compensate for lacking underground access (they couldn’t dig under the shitty old town without destroying it).  Nice old town had good enough systems in place, and just got a little update.  

In Ainjir, this elaborate system of wastewater management in the Capitol is fairly unique; other places have it, but one a much smaller scale.  Adineh, Wulsh, and the conglomeration of republics to the south have their own systems, which are honestly more evenly distributed (except in Wulsh, where it can get very spotty).

BUT, all of this to say: people in the Capitol are a fairly clean lot, between the public baths, sewage system, indoor plumbing, etc.  People, especially in the public privies, still use the plentiful paper (another fine use of the broadsheets) to go about their business, and (if you’re not nasty) wash hands afterward with a water-vinegar mixture from a basin  (you are supposed to smell a little more like vinegar than like shit coming out of the restroom - fancy people smell like perfumes - but the systems have been in place long enough that people sort of expect that sharp tang to hit them if you’ve just excused yourself to tcb, and it’s a little suspicious if you don’t).  Fanciest people use water from specially-spouted (long, thin spouts and very round reservoirs) pitchers or very, very special little water pumps (thankfully these are rare, since they mess up the dry/ wet ratio of the waste which can affect composting).  

Peeing in the street is still a problem, though. They installed a bunch of little ‘privacy areas’ but it’s basically just to make it harder to stare rather than handling the waste - it goes in the common street gutter, rather than the side of someone’s house though, so that’s good. 

BUT NOW what am I gonna do about butchers and tanners and other city livestock management? Thank God hats aren’t super popular - and if they are, they’re made out of straw or cloth - or there would be a lot more mercury in the system.

[kritharaki]

Rating plants ive personally owned/ own on a scale of 1- 10, 1 being sucks i hate it and it also died for no reason and 10 being i love it and it is flourishing with my at times shitty care

1. Dracaena fragrans nr1

The one that looks a bit like a bamboo palm tree. Solid 7/10 i think she is pretty and you usually can tell exactly when she needs water because her leaves curl. However has had little to no growth since i got it and i cant figure out why, -3 for that

2. Dracaena fragrans nr2

The one that looks like a palm without a stump. 10/10 ive been trying to kill it for over a year and it refuses to die. That could be spite. But she is very recomendable i think... top five things she survived so far being 1.overwaterd cause if i have water leftover she gets it 2 sunburned. I forgot her outside after repotting. 3 being dropped. Standing in the darkest corner of my room 4. Being dropped. Again. 5. Forgot to water it for like two weeks cause ive moved it to another room . I would give it a -5 for personality because im mad at her but that is personal between me and her.

3. Succulents

All of them. No matter if purple or greenish. 2/10 some people love them, i hate them. idk what im doing wrong but so far ive had five? And only one of them still is alive. Either they rot or dry out. Idk who recommends them to beginners i hate them.

4. Cacti

Nice. 9/10 i dont like them because they are spiky and im an idiot, but they really are not easy to kill. One time i overwatered one and it got mushy, but since it still is alive over two years later i guess it doesnt count. They really are a great starter plant i think because they survive on very little care, and if you grow out of being a beginner you can get to the more challenging ways of caring for catci (that still are quite simple i think)

5. Monstera deliciosa

9/10, i think they can be quite tricky but only if you dont believe in yourself. They also are easy to propagate which always is a huge plus. U get more plants out of one. Its genius i love it. I got mine at ikea and on god it has doubled in size in like a year???? They should get extra points for looks because they are really nice and green

6. A yucca palm

9½/10 Idk..... ive had to repot it once but idk if it has even grown since i got it. Its a very nice and easy planta nd it looks good but doenat have much action to talk about. I wouldnt know how to kill it either so id consider it a nice starter. The very bottom leaves get yellow and krispy but that apparently is normal so no need to worry, thats just how it grows.

7. Gummy tree

6/10 i worry about it all the time even though it doesnt do anything that should worry me. But it has very few leaves so it cant loos that many which gives it a feel of walking on thin ice. Stressful. Very pretty tho should get extra points. Also remind me to ask my grandma for tips because hers is literally 60 years old.......... so maybe its like the monstera you just gotta believe in yourself

8. Orchids

I have got two, a purple ikea one and a papophilium or some shit. 4/10 They are really pretty especially the pap,,, paep,,,, the expenisive-ish one❤ but i hate them. What do they want. No that isnt true the ikea one... well ive accidentally overwatered it right after buying it because i didnt realize the pot it came w had no drainage which then lead to me removing both soil and half the now moldy roots. And orchids dont need soil so id just put it in a cup of water every once in a while...... that is really easy to forget tho and now shes dry and shrively :( the expensive one i accidentally let it stand in a saucer of water and now theres mushrooms in the soil thingy which is bad i think. Gets extra points for also surviving being dropped twice

9. Spider plants

My beloved. 10/10

I got one from ikea but then decided the single plants in the pot were to overcrowded so i took them out and seperated it into three. I probably ripped half the roots but they survived and now are flourishing. One of them has an offshoot going on rn, which leads me to the other two i have, my mom got me them as cuttings from her office plant and i left them in just water for at least third a year oops. They started getting a lil moldy so i planted them and now they are going strong again. Love. They also are really easy to propagate because offsphoots are everything but rare in an older(ish) plant, and also really easy to grow from there. Another one id consider a good beginner plant because all they want is water and a place on the windowsill. The latter is optional too but they do get nicer there i think. Ig they also wouldnt say no to the occasional fertilizer but again they do not need it i think.

10. Pileas

7/10, almost killed my big one by putting it into a too big pot AND shady place at all the same time. In the midst of winter. Cant recommend it. Have now put it back into a smaller pot and shes flourishing again. The small one i have i cant say much about. She does her job and is very smol. Also worth mentioning is you dont have to water pilea babies more than big ones it makes them mold <\3. I think its an easy plant if you dont fuck around to much. Propagating them can b really easy too because the offshoots just. Grow there. And u ideally have to cut them and put them in water. The last time i tried this was winter. Bad idea doesnt work. Trying it again rn ig ill update this section accordingly.

11. Clusia rosea

6/10 ive too put her into a too big pot cause i dont have an intermediate one so she looks stupid now. Has grown a lil since i got it 2 years ago, but thats fair cause i dont really care for her that greatly. Mediocre to me idk

12. Peperomia polybotrya

0/10 so far its getting yellow and i cant figure out why. Need to google how to care for them.

13. Venus fly trap

7/10 Doesnt work anymore idk why :((..... a bit sad but ive moved her to the bathroom that usually helps. They really are a cool gimick and theoretically very easy to take care of, you literally just gotta make sure its in water amd standing in a sunny place at all times. I think mine might be lacking fertilizer or maybe just humidity. We will see, ill update this section too

14. Nepenthes

9/10, mine had a rough start cause i interpreted 'keep in humid place ' as 'spray with water every day' so i overwaterd her. She lost all her pitchers but i now know they just do that in winter. Unless u have a growlight. She has been moved to the windowsill in the bathroom now and is flourishing there :))

15. 3 bonus tips

1) dont propagate plants in winter unless you have grow lights or want them to die. Or live somewhere really warm maybe

2) cheap plants r not inherently worse than expensive plants (now i dont own any expensive plants but since my cheapish once work fine........yk) but especially plants from like. Chain stores like ikea often need to be repotted shortly after buying..... ive heard its a marketing thing cause if you dont do it they just get yellow and ugly and youll have to buy a new one yk. But repotting them is manageable i think so its fine you just gotta know it ig.

3) if somethings going wrong for no reason and you have a window in your bathroom put the plant there it usually helps a lil. And if it doesnt well than at least the plant dies in a peaceful place...... jk theres probably several great checklist online tho that might help you find the cause of it so dont despair <33