My point was that the mechanics of air flow are fine, but I don't want the terms with which the game refers to the process as "oxidation" (etc). I want stale air called "phlogisticated air" (note: I had put "dephlogisticated" in my prior post, but that's the ash, the air is "phlogisticated," or "full of phlogistion").
I would side with Chthonic on this, or at least, have a notion of "depleted air" (what is being depleted, exactly, being unclear).
Given that Toady is not using any technology beyond the 1400s....
He's using a world where civilizations can be formed and maintained that are capable of subsisting on subterranean agriculture, which is something well beyond the capabilities of medieval societies, and frankly, a little difficult and costly for modern societies to attempt, as well, as it would likely require hydroponics and geothermal power for lighting.
He may not be using something beyond the exact scientific "feel" of the Rennaisance (specifically, he is opposed to, among other things, "Dwarven Locomotives"), but there is a necessary allowance for certain unrealities.
The ancient Chinese believed that air was a void, and that wind was created from trees. As such, in their list of five basic elements, there was no "air", there was, instead, "wood". It was only with later, better understanding of the world around them that they could correct that mistake. A creature that lives underground, where there are no trees (excepting, maybe, tower caps, which are just mushrooms that have wood-like caps), nobody would have ever made that sort of mistake, especially since there can most definitely be wind inside caves. Saying that we should hold that a subterranean people would have to hold that ancient notion of how wind works as part of the development of their understanding of the world, in spite of the sources of their understanding of the world being radically different is... well, even more unrealistic than dwarves using magic air-making fungus.
Dwarves, as I said in the last post, would likely adapt/evolve some manner of innately understanding when air is dangerous to breathe. Creatures that are adapted to living near the dangerous gasses of volcanic vents or deep in caves can do this in nature. Even if they didn't have an innate early-warning system, like a sensitivity to carbon monoxide or methane that would manifest in a throbbing of whatever organ was developed to detect that kind of gas, they would certainly use canaries in their coal mines.
You can call it "gland-swelling air" if you want, but dwarves wouldn't need a system of understanding a need to breathe fresh air in terms of "fire elements". Their understanding would far more likely involve "life-supporting air" and "air that carries death".
In short, rather than carrying on about sanguine temperments, if we aren't going to have "depleted air", I'd rather we have an entirely fabricated philosophy/mythology about how science works that would befit a subterranean race.
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Topic: Feces and Urine (Read 36850 times)