Recycle Skill (Look Daddy, I Can be My Own Oasis too!)

[ObsidianSoul]

No,  this  is  only  half  in  joke. :lol:

Rangers  are  the  -one-  class  that  is  bent  almost  entirely  towards  desert  survival.  Why  not  push  it  a  step  further?

In  real  life,  people  have  been  able  to  prolong  their  lives  by  as  much  as  several  weeks,  while  stranded  out  in  the  desert  and  the  sea.  By  recycling  and  reusing  their  old  water,  they  have  been  able  to  stretch  their  hopeless,  bleak  fortunes  and  have  been  able  to  live  long  enough  to  be  rescued.

Why,  one  shouldn't  need  to  live  at  an  oasis  to  survive  on  the  desert.

So  anyway,  at  its  basest  level,  it  involves  the  collecting  and  then  drinking  of  urine.

Clearly the kinds of "need" that have caused people to tap their own stream is far more varied than our popular image would suggest. In fact, even among those who drink their urine, avoiding death from dehydration is not always the motive. For example, in a diversity of harsh climates, both very hot and very cold, people have historically turned to urine drinking to recoup not only moisture, but also other nutrients that the body depends on for vital functioning (such as salt, magnesium, calcium, potassium, vitamin C, and various B vitamins). And so basic is this behavior that the body will sometimes signal a distinct craving for substances rich in that nutrient. (Meaning that in some circumstances your pee might taste rather yummy.)

Okay,  so  here  it  goes:

:arrow: It  can  only  be  used  so  many  times  before  ones  stamina  and  health-points  take  a  hit  --  atleast  until  pure  water  can  be  obtained.  One  cannot  remain  a  completely  self-sufficent  source  of  their  own  water  for  ever.

:arrow: It  will  ward  off  dehydration,  but  it  won't  drive  off  thirst  completely.

:arrow: It  -may-  require  some  sort  of  contraption  to  filter  through all  the  salt,  to  make  it  more  thirst  quenching,  unless  the  ranger  has  been  careful  in  what  he  chooses  to  eat.  (This  might  figure  in  with  the  skill-checks).
(Seeing  as  urine  is  already  pre-filtered  blood,  containing  95%  water,  2.5%  urea and 2.5%  minerals,  I  don't  see  how  this  should  be  required  unless  one  had  a  large  amount  of  salt  coursing  through  their  veins.  Has  anyone  see  that  movie  Water-world?  Knowtice  how  Kevin  Cosner  uses  some  sort  of  crank  operated  device  onboard  his  raft  to  filter  away  the  salt  from  his  "water").

:arrow: It  -may-  prolong  the  effects  of  spice.

Inhabitants of the Kamchitka Peninsula, in Northeastern Siberia, traditionally drank the urine of individuals who had ingested the psychedelic mushroom amanita muscaria. It is believed to be the only hallucinogenic substance that does not alter it's chemical structure upon being passed through the human body. Only well-to-do individuals could afford to purchase and consume the potent fungus. But they generously shared the prized intoxicant with poorer friends and relations by letting them drink bowls of their drug-laced urine. These individuals then shared their urine, and so on, and so on -- ensuring that everyone shared in the high. The intoxicant would also drink his own urine, thus keeping his high going for a few days at a time, without any additional expense.

:arrow: In the same way, it  -may-  worsen  the  effects  of  poison.

In a similar but more deadly vein, arsenic and other toxins can become harmfully concentrated in the urine. In fact, urine drinkers with arsenic creeping into their diet (either through environmental contamination or intentional poisoning) will soon find themselves on a much faster track toward illness and death if they reingest this same arsenic through drinking their own urine.

:arrow: It  -may-  be  used  on  wounds  and  bandages,  as  an  antiseptic.  Also  as  a  clothing  detergent.

Thus it was that the indigenous Siberians used their own urine for washing and bathing, native Alaskans used urine as an antiseptic for wounds, and in India and East Africa, tradition-minded people washed (and still do wash) themselves in cow urine (which can be more sterile than some water supplies).

:arrow: It  may  be  undrinkable  if  certain  foods  are  eaten  and/or  at  low  skill  levels.

Certainly garlic, asparagus, and certain other foods (beans and peanuts, animal flesh, dairy products, eggs) can give the pee a strongly unpleasant taste and aroma.

:arrow: At  low  skill  levels,  it  may  sicken  a  person.

The problem here is that a diet high in salt leads in turn to urine output that is high in salt. And slurping down urine that is high in salt leads to diarrhea.

So  there  you  have  it.  It  certainly  wouldn't  -replace-  water,  no  way  --  a  man  going  into  the  desert  without  a  few  waterskins  on  hand  would  certainly  have  a  death-wish.  But  it  would  instead  prolong  a  water-supply.

Oh,  and  it  would  definately  a  culturally  accepted  source  of  water  for  tribals.  Commoners  might  have  to  be  a  bit  more  discreet,  though.

Also,  it  shouldn't  be  a  skill  one  sees  popping  up  onto  their  skill-list  until  late  into  their  careers  as  ranger-survivalists.

[ObsidianSoul]

Okay,  the  more  I  think  about  it  the  more  I  realize  just  how  valid  a  skill  it  would  be.  Really,  a  skill.  And  it  could  mean  the  difference  between  life  and  death.

There  are  uses  such  as  bladder  control,  like  how  much  water  you  can  carry,  and  how  well  you  are  able  to  time  and  control  its'  release,  and  how  clean  and  thirst  quenching  you  can  make  it.  And  which  part  of  the  stream  might  contain  poisons,  or  bad  minerals  (like  salt)  that  you'd  rather  not  guzzle  down.

I'm  truely  convinced  that  this  would  make  a  -completely-  valid  skill.  And  not  just  be  there  to  usurp  Vivaduans,  either,  heh.  

Oh,  and  I  hear  that  the  British  Upperclass  once  used  it  as  a sort  of  mouth-wash. :shock:    :lol:

[Spud]

Skilled ranger survivalists know where to find water so they don't need to drink their piss.

I don't think they'd go out unprepared and not bring water in the first place.

[ObsidianSoul]

Hmmn,  I'm   just  doing wee  a  bit  more  brainstorming  here,  while  I  wait  for  supper:

:arrow: There  should  be  a  -long-  delay  while  this  skill  is  preformed.  Perhaps  between  five  and  ten  minutes  IRL  (fewer  as  the  skill  goes  up  into  higher  levels)  to  add  tension  and  drama  (!),  while  the  character  dehydrates.  This  would  also  prevent  the  skill  from  being  abused,  and  used  too  much.

:arrow: The  colour  would  range  from  "a  deep  orange  liquid",  to  a  "yellow  liquid",  to  a  "pale  yellow  liquid",  to  a  "clear  liquid",  according  to  the  characters  level  of  thirst/dehydration  or  as  the  skill goes  up.

:arrow: The  collected  urine  would  go  to  rot,  if  it  isn't  recycled  soon  enough  --  rendered  useless  and  undrinkable,  to  prevent  characters  from  stock-piling  and  hoarding  it.  :shock:

[Spud]

Are you suggesting urine be made an item you can fill into waterskins..and whatnot? I somehow, just don't see that happening.

Means we'd need a command to urinate.

Also, for a skill that only skilled rangers would eventually get, everyone has to randomly cut into their playtime to take a piss?

I don't think people wanna rp urinating that much.

[ObsidianSoul]

Are you suggesting urine be made an item you can fill into waterskins..and whatnot? I somehow, just don't see that happening.

Means we'd need a command to urinate.

Also, for a skill that only skilled rangers would eventually get, everyone has to randomly cut into their playtime to take a piss?

I don't think people wanna rp urinating that much.

Nah,  -this-  would  be  the  command,  right  here.  I  don't  think  we'd  need  any  other  command.  Besides,  unless  it's  very  critical  to  the  character,  or  in  some  way  important,  Roleplaying  things  like  pissing  or  crapping  is  both  unnecessary  and  pointless.

A  novellist  wouldn't  mention  that  one  of  his  characters  happens  to  be  a  homosexual  unless  he  actually  decides  to  put  that  certain  character  into  a  scene  which  involves  that  character  humping  another  guy.  If  it  doesn't  affect  the  story,  whats  the  point  in  even  bringing  it  up?  It  would  seem  a  bit  extraneous  in  my  mind.

So,  on  that  same  vein,  why  should  everyone  and  their  brother  RP  their  character  taking  a  shit  --  unless  that  shit  is  a  severely  life-changing  event  in  itself?  It's  not  really  RP  if  he's  crapping  just  for  the  sake  of  crapping.  That's   not  character  growth,  or  any  means  of  progression   into  that  role  at  all  --  that's  taking  a  crap.  It's  not  important  to  show  that  he's  taking  a  crap  unless  he  has  some  severely  debilitating  crap  at  that.  Or  he's  shitting  steel,  or  she's  shitting  (pardon,  ladies),  something  nasty  and  bloody  because  she's  just  been  jabbed  by  an  evil  'rinth  elf  with a  tainted  knife.  Do  you  get  my  point?

Moving  on  after  that  huge  derail,  I  have  a  few  more  idea's  to  throw  around.

:arrow: If  the  container  is  too  small,  there  will  be  over-pour.  If  the  character  is  wearing  gloves  those  gloves  will  be  given  the "smelly"  adjective,  and  will  require  cleaning  solution,  or  soap,  to  remove  the  nasty  stench  (and  stigma).

:arrow: The  water-container  that's  used  will  also  be  made  smelly.

:arrow: If  the  urine  rots  while  in  the  container,  then  that  container  may  be  ruined,  and  require  salvaging  --  otherwise,  useless.

:arrow: Walking  around  with  the  stench  of  urine  on  you  might  perhaps  attract  animals  of  the  carnivorous  type  more  easily,  and  maybe  from  a  longer  distance  than  normally.

[jstorrie]

Suggestion:

skill survival

For rangers and possibly a subclass or two, survival is an abstract representation of food/water management, proper shading, wearing bug-nets, and all-around wilderness savvy. High survival lowers the hunger/thirst drain while outside by a bit (though still leaving it significantly higher than the hunger/thirst drain in settled areas.) Leet maxxed survival might do something really hot, like lower the stamina movement cost outside by 1.

[My 2 sids]

As long as people realize this would be as fantacy was using the Way.  Drinking one's bodily fluids for rehidration is like drinking salt-water... it just doesn't help.

[Beux]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine_therapy

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/aug2000/966885196.Bc.r.html

HOWEVER:

As far as dehydration goes:

http://rasmus79.blogspot.com/2005/10/drink-urine-or-seawater.html

I did watch a science show once though, where they were testing to see how well Urine could be cleansed of salts, and after many hours of boiling and purifying (evaporation, then catching the condensation as it cools) - they managed to get it to a drinkable state with very little salt left in it.

[Anonymous]

As long as people realize this would be as fantacy was using the Way.  Drinking one's bodily fluids for rehidration is like drinking salt-water... it just doesn't help.

I  -don't-  think  this  would  have  been  asmuch  an  issue  in  ancient  times  as  it  is  now.  After  all,  there  were  no  salty  fast-foods,  there  were  no  cheese-burgers  and  deep-fried  "freedom"  fries.  See,  the  salt  content  in  the  urine  only  depends  on  the  amount  of  salt  you  ingest.  I  thought  I  had  that  quoted  out  in  my  first  post.

Besides,  there  was  this  fairly  well  known  religious  leader  who  talks  very  vaguely  from  drinking  from  ones  own  wells',  or  cisterns,  "so  that  one  may  never  feel  thirst  again",  and  is  said  to  have  instructed  his  followers  in  this  practice.  I  sure  as  hell  know  that  it  wasn't  prayer.

There   was  once  this  "dude"  also  went  on  a  -DRY-  religious  fast  that  lasted  fourty  days.  I  sure  as  hell  know  he  didn't  entirely  abstain  from  liquids,  as  not  a  -soul-  on  earth  could  live  more  than  a  week  or  two  without  water  in  a  dry,  temperate  climate  and  not  begin  to  feel  some  immense  pain.  I'm  pretty  confident  in  knowing  precisely  what  he  did  in  order  to  survive  FOURTY  DAYS  without  water.  Well  let  me  just  inform  you  that  we're  never  without  water,  and  it  doesn't  take  a  very  resourceful  person  to  realize  this  when  they're  half-way  to  dying  from  dehydration.  It's  base  survival.

BTW,  this  "dude"  was  Jesus,  just  incase  you  were  all  wondering.

[Tlaloc]

Moved this to Code Discussion, where it belongs, even if it's a half-joke, heh. Remember: Submissions is for something else entirelly, and not proposed code.

[UnderSeven]

Personally having not read any of the posts at all, all I can say is those bullets make this all totally legit.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Me and my partner were talking about this yesterday.

Urine is uretha, water, and salt. THe longer it stays in your body, the more uretha is extracted. If you hold your piss until you simply can't anymore, it generally comes out clear, or, just water with a hint of salt.

If you were dying of thirst, you could drink cleansed piss and be alright.

[Anonymous]

Critics of urine therapy note that there are no scientific studies which validate urine therapy. Urea, an ingredient in urine, may have some medical value, but urea is already an ingredient in some contemporary medicines. In recent times, the Port-a-John corporation of Utica, Michigan, USA has developed a filter to collect medically significant proteins from users of their chemical toilets. Some pharmaceuticals contain ingredients extracted from human or animal urine.

WHOA! Careful  what  medicines  you  take!  You  might  be  eating  an  encapsulation  of  your  Grannies  old  urine!

Thank  you  for  that  link. :wink:  :lol:  

[Dalmeth]

I  -don't-  think  this  would  have  been  asmuch  an  issue  in  ancient  times  as  it  is  now.  After  all,  there  were  no  salty  fast-foods,  there  were  no  cheese-burgers  and  deep-fried  "freedom"  fries.  See,  the  salt  content  in  the  urine  only  depends  on  the  amount  of  salt  you  ingest.  I  thought  I  had  that  quoted  out  in  my  first  post.

Actual solute content in urine varies with the amount of water you have ingested.  Besides, salt has been used heavily in foods for quite some time.  Remember that salt is a preservative, and salting meat was a common way of storing it.  Besides that, any human, even in the modern era, who constantly eats fast food and is in a situation where they might be forced to conserve water is in serious trouble from the start.

Hell, any human who constantly eats fast food is in serious trouble anyway.  Go to a good restaurant or cook at home you lazy bastard.

[Anonymous]

Hell, any human who constantly eats fast food is in serious trouble anyway.  Go to a good restaurant or cook at home you lazy bastard.

Pfft,  you  think  I  can't  make  concious  choices  of  what  I  choose  to  eat?  I'm  not  stupid  about  what  I  choose  to  put  in  my  "temple",  you  know.

And  enough  with  the  flaming  --  I'm  just  trying  to  encourage  a  decent  discussion  here.

On  the  subject  of  salt  though:

A  ranger  who  forages  his  own  food  will  not  have  to  ingest  a  lot  of  salt,  will  not  require  his  fresh  food  -to-  be  salted,  and  will  be  pretty  f*cking  careful  about  how  much  salt  he  puts  on  his  tongue.

[ObsidianSoul]

Code Select Expand

>You  give  the  sallow-faced,  yellowed-toothed  man  50  coins.

>The  sallow-faced, yellowed-toothed  man  hands  you  a  tattered  waterskin.

>The  sallow-faced,  yellow-toothed  man  gives  you  a  tattered  waterskin.

>With  a  blank  expression,  the sallow-faced,  yellowed-toothed  man  says  to  you  in  Northern-accented  sirihish:  
"Drink  up  it  fast  friend.  You  don't  want  it  evaporating  on  you,  now."

>You  take  a  sip  from  the  tattered  waterskin
This  clear  liquid  tastes  fine,  but  has  a  strangely  bitter,  vaguely  salty  after-taste.
You  are  very  thirsty.

>The  sallow-faced,  yellowed-toothed  man  flashes  a  broad  smile  at  you,  showing  off  a  set  of  impressively  yellowed  teeth.

This  would  be  sooooo  cool  to  have.  DIE  NEWBIE! :twisted:

-'SidianSoul

[Arrak]

We don't pee because we want to, or just because we feel like it. We pee because we have to.

Animals have to urinate to dispose useless, and potentially harmful chemicals from their system, mainly nitrogen. Most of these chems are poison unless diluted with large quantities of water. Since just dumping diluted nitrogen would get any organism dehydrated, it's first combined into ammonia, and then urea. As far as it comes to humans, evolution has found it effective enough to dump urea with water. No additional packing has been needed. Simply put - we pee compactly packed nitrogen. There is a more sophisticated form to pack nitrogen. I cannot remember what it's called, but sharks have that. In that form. The compoud is so unreactive, that sharks don't pee. Ammonium is stored inside their flesh instead. I don't know why nature developed this, but it did. That is why shark's meat tastes like piss. It practically IS piss.  Some desert mice are also adapted well enough to have no need to pee. Their urea is exposed with shit, instead.

If we plan to get H2O back to our system, we MUST get rid of the nitrogen first, not to mention other chems, too. Drinking piss could give us a couple of hours more to live, but I bet we would start smelling like it, and eyeballs would start turning yellow. Eww.