Blogpost Bandwagon: Elements
It's Blog Friday somewhere in the world, and this time the theme is ELEMENTS. It's late, so I turned to google for some inspiration, or at least a definition.
Element noun 4. a part in an electric kettle, heater, or cooker which contains a wire through which an electric current is passed to provide heat.
Fine, I can work with that.
A podcast (Imaginary Worlds, maybe?) once told me of a writing practice technique where, to situate a character in a fictional world, you describe how they prepare a cup of tea. The process will say a lot about their culture - technology, mores, politics.
With that in mind, a few short ideas on:
How to boil water
Relics for Cairn
Kettleprawns, 3 charges
- Male and female Kettleprawns are kept in separate containers. When placed in a potful of water together, the water boils for 10 minutes. The fertilised female survives, the cooked male may be eaten. Kettleprawns are cultivated on sandy islands where trees are sparse. Harvesting must be done by hand; this dangerous work is typically undertaken by children.
Steam Projector, 5 charges
- A metal wand worn on the belt as a sign of middle-class status. May be connected to one of the brass pipes that runs through each building in the underground city. The wand is designed with a valve that closes after 5 uses.
- Recharge: City prefects carry a crank which can reopen the wand's valve. Presenting 10 Good Citizen tokens or 1 GP will induce them to recharge the wand. Geothermal energy keeps the water in the city pipes boiling.
Scorchpalm Capsules, 3 charges
- A pouch of capsules, each the size of a chestnut, and containing flies infected with the scorchpalm disease. Consuming the capsule infects; the hands of an infected person become hot enough to boil a kettle on for an hour. A series of mantras are traditionally recited to assist those infected to retain consciousness throughout (WIL save if not recited).