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Originally Posted by Raellus
The agriculture around Tucson relies heavily on CAP water. A warlord or a covetous regional gonverment could easily disrupt the flow of CAP water to S. Arizona, making feeding the survivors of Tucson, at the very least, a very difficult proposition. Such a scenario would make a pretty cool adventure seed for a Thunder Empire-set campaign.
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I like the idea very much. However, I hadn’t taken CAP water into account for agriculture in Thunder Empire. The irrigation water in SAMAD comes from local wells and is distributed by hand from hoses and water buckets into plots that are about 100 square feet (20’ x 5’). A Chinese gardener from North China of the mid-1800’s would feel very at home growing food in SAMAD in 2000. This method is very labor intensive, but it preserves the resource that is in scarcest supply: good ol’ water. In fact, the more I read about Chinese agriculture of days gone by, the more parallels I see between SAMAD and late Manchu China. The similarities are so striking, that I have begun to refer to the intensive gardening practices and the way they shape the society as a sinification of southern Arizona.
Of course, not all food is produced this way. The Iraqi and Central Asian EPW prove invaluable partners in agriculture. Several of them have experience growing cereal crops on semi-arid land using modern or semi-modern techniques. The Huachuca library, built during 1996 and 1997, has invaluable information on Spanish techniques for managing agricultural land at risk of desertification. The initial trials are not especially successful; fortunately, the society isn’t depending on the first harvest. The second round of plantings goes much better, and oats become a part of the Samadi diet. (Corn-oat bread, anyone?)
There are some other techniques in use borrowed from First Nations (that’s what we’re calling Native Americans these days, right?), Africans, and peoples of the Indian subcontinent. All of them specialize in substituting labor for water. As an added bonus, the health of the soil increases dramatically as a result of the labor invested. The drawback, of course, is that the economy reverts to an agricultural economy in which 75% of the population is directly involved in food production in one fashion or another.
I like the CAP reference because securing the canal and its associated machinery has the potential to revolutionize agriculture in southern Arizona. In 2001, SAMAD has enough trained and seasoned manpower to think about taking on major projects
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raellus
Not to split hairs but the Bubonic plague is a relatively easy disease to avoid/prevent and/or treat- all one has to do is stay as clean as possible and avoid the likely carriers (rodents, house pets). If infection occurs, antibiotics, if delivered early enough, can usually kill it. I don't see BP causing the scale of mortality that your write up describes. A reappearance of the more virulent airborne-transmitted Pneumocic Plague strains, however, would do the trick. It spreads much more easily (a cough or sneeze), is more aggressive, and harder to treat. A mutated version of PP would be a real killer.
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Fair enough. Rather than argue about whether the conditions for administering antibiotics on a wide scale in Phoenix exist in mid-1998, I’ll go with the pneumonic plague. I don’t even need a mutated version. Once the downward spiral kicks in hard, the Valley of the Sun becomes a nightmare in short order.