Reclaiming water from the body.

[Armaddict]

Just wanted to note something:

You can't say they wouldn't have the -technology- to do so.  Technology in these sort of times came about by necessity.  With water being so rare, people -could- motivate themselves to find something.  The 'technology' would, in effect, just be an innovation of an idea to circumvent the problem that brings about that necessity.

This is how the bushmen of the kalahari desert figured out ways to find water in the dry times of the year.  Early morning forages in -grass reeds- to collect dew became prominent, along with finding bulbs in the ground to cut up into shavings, which were squeezed to produce droplets of water.

These are -technologies-, per se, but by no means advanced ones.  They're a crude way to find water in a dry place.  Finding a way to do so with the human body isn't unthinkable, seeing how desecration of a body isn't a big deal.  It may be a crude way to do it, and not too efficient.

In short, I say:  It could happen.

[spawnloser]

Carnage, if no society is repulsed by it, why are there only two racial societies that are able to eat PC and other humanoid bodies?  I'm sure the ability to skin humanoid (including PCs) would have been put in by now too, if the use of humanoid bodies for materials (food or manufacturing) was not anathema.  Just because there is no mention in the docs one way or the other does not mean that is one or the other necessarily, as well...but the other indicators point to everyone being non-cannibals as the more likely way it is.

[fearwig]

Piss into someone else's mouth, then have them piss into yours.

Voila. Recycled water.

Funny enough, if you did it sparingly, you would be reclaiming usable water.

The only problem comes when you are recycling urea and other things the blood actually wants to have filtered out. But as long as you aren't doing it every single time, you could in theory stave dehydration off that much longer that way.

[halfhuman]

I think that if you have a high skinning skill you could totally remove a bladder, sweat gland, or some sort of second stomach that an animal of Zalanthas would use to store water for days of use in the desert, without puncturing it and spilling the liquid.  Whether you'd want to drink the sweat/urine is entirely dependant upon how fucked up/tribal your character is.

I think it's a good idea for rangers and hunters with higher skinning skillz, because it just seems like a kewl idea.

The experienced hunter says to the young hunter:
"Now, son, if you carefully cut around the rib cage of this here Carru, you can remove the bladder without puncturing it.  The urine may not taste the best, but without a templar out here in the wastes it may be the only urine you'll *have* to drink for miles!"

(have=ambiguous )

skin oompa-loompa
You chop off the oompa-loompa's head.
You cut a chunk of meat from the oompa-loompa's side.
You carefully remove the oompa-loompa's blatter, preserving the liquid inside.
OR,
You clumsily puncture the oompa-loompa's bladder spilling precious liquid all over.

[joyofdiscord]

Yeah, I see blood drinking as something that, normally, only the desperate would do.

Blood drinking of other humanoids, perhaps.  Drinking blood of mammals seems like a fantastic and very Zalanthan idea to me, and of the insects too, if it isn't somehow poisonous.  Here in Mexico, every part of the animal is used, and the blood is made into several different dishes, and it's the -base-, not just a seasoning.  Also, my housemate told me a great story from life in his town in Guerrerro.  When slaughtering the cows, the women would collect the blood in a glass and drink it raw on the spot.  He told me the image of the women of Guerrerro with blood moistening their teeth was a strong one that stays with him.

Taboo on blood consumption = North American ick factor.  I would love to see a manner of using blood as a food in Zalanthas.  We already eat scrab antennae, for crying out loud.

[Moofassa]

These are all valid ideas. But i've never thought the people of Zalanthas to have this much knowledge. Not the knowledge of drinking others peoples piss and such. But the knowledge of knowing these things are composed of water. Urine, sure, kinda obvious. But blood, and the water you would extract from a corpse? Im not too sure they would all know that there was water.

As for Ac's post. You're crazy:P Plain and simple, you have a brain the size of rosie o'donalds ass.... On a lighter side to that post, would the people of Zalanthas know about "distilling" in more than just maybe making ale and stuff. Are they aware of being able to "cleanse" the gunge by heating it?

[Xamminy]

How do some of you know that some of these options aren't already implemented?

[fearwig]

Being able to make whiskey or other spirits actually directly implies knowledge of destilling, as in, heating up a substance so that its liquid (alcohol or water) evaporates without burning the substance. That's how stills work, and it's the only way I'm aware of to make anything the strength of traditional spirits.

As such, it would be perfectly possible to use a machine, a still essentially, to evaporate the potable water out of urine, blood, feces, or any other bodily fluid. However, to get the water out of a body as a whole, you'd have to render it down to liquid, or at least small solids, which would be more effort than it's worth.

So it's really one of those short-answer-no-long-answer-yes questions. The bigger deal is that Zalanthan culture is simply not Fremen culture, and it's mostly cultural allowances that produce this "water reclamation" technology. The bottleneck isn't ability, it's will to carry through with it. This would be treated as cannibalism on Zalanthas.

Remember that Zalanthas is probably more the equivalent of Arrakis circa the third book, at the very closest, as it becomes more like a normal world. It's got trees, and relatively abundant wildlife, and so forth. It is very dry, but it is -not- as dry as Dune, and while water is of supreme importance to many of its people, it is not the source of religion, the source of honor, the source of debt, et cetera. It's not even the primary currency. It's not nearly as important as it is in Dune, so culture won't make the same allowances for its gathering.

[joyofdiscord]

These are all valid ideas. But i've never thought the people of Zalanthas to have this much knowledge. Not the knowledge of drinking others peoples piss and such. But the knowledge of knowing these things are composed of water. Urine, sure, kinda obvious. But blood, and the water you would extract from a corpse? Im not too sure they would all know that there was water.

It seems you are confusing the modern-day overabundance of scientific data with actual practical knowledge.  Modern Westerners have plenty of the former, but often lack the latter, especially when coming to primitive survival techniques.  Zalanthans, along with many real world peoples, have LOTS of the latter, and don't need the former to get there.  You might as well ask if Zalanthans know that they need oxygen for cellular respiration, and if not, why do they bother breathing?

Do they "know" that there is "water" (H20) in a fruit?  Not exactly, but they eat them anyway.  Did people long ago "know" that there was beta carotene in carrots?  No, but they ate them anyway.  Also, I doubt blood would quench thirst, as it would provide more nutrients in need of water for digestion than actual free moisture.  It would still be a valid food source, though, and if the people in the harsh world of Zalanthas hadn't thought of consuming it, I would suspect them of mental handicaps.  Why does it occur to us so natural and obvious to cook up muscle flesh to eat?  Because we do it.  That's the only reason.  All Zalanthans need to know is that consuming X thing, in some appropriate raw or cooked state would ease their hunger, not make them sick, and hopefully taste decent (and lots of people like the taste of blood dishes in real life).  The exact chemical composition is immaterial.  Read up on some of the real world societies which are -much- more technologically primitive than Zalanthas, and are able to take advantage of these kind of food sources.  The Kalahari bushmen were already brought up as an example in this thread, I believe.  They have more knowledge than -anyone- on this board does about surviving in the desert, I guarantee it.  It's because they live in the desert.  Zalanthans live in the desert.  Just because we as comfortable, modern North Americans are relatively clueless about surviving from nature doesn't mean we need to project that cluelessness onto Zalanthans, of all people.

[Kennath]

As my first post on this wonder ful meessage board I'd like to say.... DO IIIIIIIT! I may consider a cannibilistic character later on. I've played on alot of other muds and I find that the idea of Arm is to be extremely harsh and post-apoc. You can learn from any SAA agent that in a survival situation drinking blood is almost ESSENTIAL in living (chapter 3 SAA survival guide, I think) So, everyone, grab your knifes and ropes, blood draining/drinking party!

[Agent_137]

The question is more, "Does this deserve to be hard-coded," not "Can we do this?"

Bear in mind, if you're ever in a situation where you -need- to drink some blood, wish up. I'm sure the immortals will be happy to help.

Afterall, that's one of the reasons they are here: To help bridge the gap between the Reality that is Zalanthas and The Code that is Zalanthas.

[Maybe42or54]

I've drinken blood in game, and like in RL, I gagged it back up.

[Savak]

There ARE areas within Zalanthas in which water is so scarce the locals have tried/will try anything conceivable to salvage it; in other areas it is merely rare and expensive, but accessible.  The average player may not grasp this feeling, however, because 1) most players spend most of their time in a city/area with access to water, and 2) travel CAN be relatively quick, codewise, so one can go back & forth to places that -do- have water.

However, most real Zalanthans don't have that ability.

Instead, some may drink blood, press flesh, distill whole corpses, salvage urine &/or sweat, keep beasts that can convert such things for them for harvesting, or consort with magickers -- usually in a clan/tribe/regional/spiritual setting.  All have their potential downfalls, but that certainly doesn't mean they aren't utilized.

-Savak

[Maybe42or54]

After all, Every great tavern is close to a stable.