(urth) Concrete

[Jeff Wilson]

On 10/29/2010 3:42 PM, Sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org wrote:
> Howdy listers, lurkers, and layabouts,
>
> As I've mentioned previously, I'm working on some illustrations related to New Sun...
> I have another question for you scientifically "hard" minded readers.
>
> Concrete.  Is there some reason that I've not yet thought of that
> would prevent concrete casting from being a viable technology on Urth
> in Ymar's or Severian's time  It strikes me that concrete casting is
> a method that humanity would not lose, and I can't think of any
> reason why it wouldn't be used on Urth.

Speaking as a playtester for GURPS LOW-TECH (coming to a gamestore near 
you!): concrete is ancient; many Roman buildings include concrete and 
mortar construction, but it is very time consuming and labor intensive 
to make. Once motorized mixing is available (there are any number of 
still-moving machines on Urth), the chief expense becomes transporting 
the component earths from where the may be found (a problem with the 
roads closed in the Commonwealth) *if* they may be found after chiliads 
of construction.

I think the oubliette can be explained by having the ship-towers 
grounded in a field that is the remains of the old port, and the Citadel 
was made by putting up the unsmeltable walls and the inside covered over 
and built on like San Francisco after the 1906 quake. The oubliette and 
tunnels beneath it may not be literally and directly beneath the tower, 
but to one side, extending down from the lowest entrance hatch.

If the ships landed in pits, then there might be only a couple feet of 
crumbling concrete rubble in most places of the former ground level, 
easy enough to break through with the remaining bits of tech in the 
Commonwealth if it wasn't cleared away at the time the unsmeltable slabs 
were put up.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
Computational Intelligence Laboratory - Texas A&M Texarkana
< http://www.tamut.edu/CIL >