OtH 1.09 - Food for Thought

Wanted to get this one out this morning, but got a little busy. Still, glad to get it out.

Aarick’s mind was currently blue screening.

“Oh course, I never fully answered your question.”

“What?” he said.

“You were asking about demons,” Reodan said. “I answered the first two ways you might deal with them, but there is a third.

It is actually related to what we just witnessed.

Anytime you go through a major cultivation breakthrough you will touch the spirit world. Almost everyone talks with the spirit of the heavens. Sometimes other major spirits will come and talk too. However, demons will come to talk with people as well.

This is where people have to be most cautious. The demons can take on the appearance of others and will deceive as best they can.”

Reodan waited politely after he finished, not making any sound, evidently content to let his assigned charge work things out.

Right, more ways to deal with demons. Unless they have taken over someone it mostly boils down to not listening to them and watching out for deceptions.

Still freaked out about the size of The Empire though...

There are five empires. Are they all this big? That would be an enormous population. Just the children alone would be almost forty billion. That is a lot of mouths.

How are they feeding everyone? Do people eat less with qi?

Made aware of the thought of food, his stomach grumbled. He hadn’t had more than tea since he arrived.

Aarick looked up, seeing Reodan’s amused face.

“Would you like me to fetch something to eat, sir?”

“Yes, please.”

“Anything in particular, sir?”

“I don’t actually know what might be available…”

“Ah, yes. Forgive me, sir. I will arrange for a selection.”

Reodan moved in a blur of speed outside the room, not even the sound of footsteps marking his presence. The faintest sound of the door opening and closing was the only sign that he had been in the room at all.

He returned to his thoughts.

Well I certainly don’t feel less hungry, but I don’t even know if I count properly yet. Only reason I wasn’t paying attention to my stomach earlier was because I didn’t have time.

Even if people gradually need less food as they cultivate, the children alone should need more food than all of Earth.

I saw no signs of modern agriculture. Maybe the plants are infused with qi? Would that make them grow faster, be more filling, have multiple harvests in a year? Or maybe there are cultivation experts who can make food grow really fast.

And didn’t Reodan say something about the lower areas of the planet being unusable? Where are they able to grow all the food? God, their cities must be crowded. Less total land available and a higher population.

He could picture it. Mountain top cities absolutely covered with buildings and snow. The mountains outside the valley had been odd though.

Is this a subtropical climate? The plants outside did look very lush and healthy, so maybe? The greenery on the mountains didn’t get sparser as they increased in elevation. Would that mean a thicker atmosphere? Would that explain the odd layering of the clouds?

He hadn’t actually noticed any changes to his breathing.

Wouldn’t that give oxygen poisoning? No, not if the oxygen content of the atmosphere was actually lower, or just low enough to not cause issues. I would expect the pressure of the atmosphere of the world to be pushing me down really hard though, and for it to be harder to move.

If the gravity was lower and the air pressure was higher… No, that wouldn’t work either. Either one would be noticeable if it was to the degree where it would make a difference. Gravity cannot be higher, either, for the same reasons. The world could be larger, however. If the world was less dense… sure, that could work, but it wouldn’t give enough room to produce food with subsistence farming. Not with the lower parts of the world unavailable. Maybe less oceans and more large lakes and streams? More land area might make it work. And the lakes and streams would be shallower than the ocean on average. They would have more life in them than the ocean, due to that. Any of the low lying ones would be untouchable, but plenty of mountain lakes could help with the problem.

What is the total population, anyway?

Assume the empires are all about the same size. Forty billion children. That was about 20-25% of the world population at home, I think. So, make a guess with an upper and lower bound. So 160-200 billion? No… people live longer here. Most people can live up to three hundred. Still some drop off in population due to illness, age, accidents, etc… Of course, that was the case at home too… So assume the numbers still work, but they get stretched out more. A decent part of the population is going to live longer than three hundred, and cultivation might make people more resistant to illness and accidents… so…

Eh, factors that bump it up and down both. Average life expectancy was around 80 at home. I think... Not sure what it was globally, though. Just use eighty for now. 100 years is 1.25 of 80, times that by three to make 3.75. Multiply that by my previous estimates… Those should actually work out to some very even numbers… 600 to 750 billion. And considering I don’t know exactly how long people can live, but Lurona is on assignment here for 5000 years and didn’t consider it to be that big a deal. Didn’t act like it was a post for life or anything...

My estimate is probably low…

He sat is stunned thought for a moment.

Still, have to start somewhere. So, The Empire is probably somewhere between 120 to 125 billion people… at least. Maybe…

Ugh, too hard to tell. I already know this world has existential threats. In my world animals are not usually a large cause of death. Is the population substantially smaller because there is so much death? Or is the population much higher because people have much fewer children on average per year due to their much longer life spans, so the number of children I am seeing is a smaller fraction?

He decided to shelve that for the moment. He could speculate endlessly, but they would only be speculations. The Empire seemed to have a remarkably effective bureaucracy, considering the scale. Just coordinating the creches must be a massive endeavor.

A side effect of really long life, maybe? Incredibly effective bureaucrats? Or maybe just because a single ruler has watched over everything for so long. How good could someone make a government with unlimited power and time?

His musing was finally interrupted by the arrival of food. A late lunch or breakfast, based on the position of the sun.

Incredible smells struck his nose, and his mouth immediately began to water, as the door to the viewing room was opened.

Reodan moved more sedately than before, the smells wafting toward him growing with his increased proximity. A truly enormous tray rested with absolute precision on his left hand, staying absolutely level with the floor.

A seeming eternity later, and he appeared in front of him.

A table appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and he deposited the tray on it.

Spacial storage, or some trick of extreme speed?

Thoughts of amazing magic soon gave way to the equally amazing, and much more urgent, food that rested directly in front of him. Those thought immediately gave way to another, more pressing, concern.

What the hell to I do with all these utensils?

There were a profusion of them.

Some things looked familiar.

A spoon was a spoon, so that wasn’t too bad, though there were a few different types. The ones that were already inside dishes were probably serving spoons, and the ladles in various types of gravy and sauces needed no explanation. One of the spoons was almost flat, and the surface was roughly textured. One of the larger rounded spoons was probably for soups, and the more narrow ones could be for quite a few different dishes. Though why some were made of metal and others were…

Is that carved bone? Maybe ivory or horns?

And that was just the spoons. The forks were in an equally dizzying array of shapes. One was rather close to what he was used to, but most were different and had two or three tines. They ranged in size from a longer thin one that looked like a fondue fork, while others looked more appropriate for carving a roast. There were less knives, but there were still several types.

And then there were other implements. A matched set of lacquered wooden sticks were probably the equivalent to chopsticks. A set of metal and wooden skewers functions were obvious, but he didn’t know what he was allowed to eat with them. There were also a set of tiny metal tongs, and he had the same problem with them. There was also something that looked like an old fashioned metal nutcracker.

Is that is for nuts or some variety of crab? Maybe both?

There was also a tool that looked like it had nothing to do on a table with food. It was a flat metal implement with a handle that made a “T” shape. It looked more like a short metal ice scraper than anything else.

What the hell is this thing for?

And then there was everything on the rest of the plate. The utensils were their own dizzying array, with a finely decorated white and lavender plate in the midst of them. A few smaller empty plates and bowls were also off to the side.

And then there was the food itself.

Some of the dishes looked familiar. Some of the thighs and wings looked suspiciously like chicken. Some of the other meats could be beef, pork, or lamb, all of which he had eaten many times. Some of the stuffed birds could be a game hen, or something similar in size, but a few of them were closer to quail.

One dish featured a section from an enormous bone, three feet tall and a foot wide, sitting upright, with meat for several inches around the edges. However, it mainly seemed to feature the heavily steaming liquid which was in the middle.

Holy crap that is a big bone. How long is the whole thing? Is that bone marrow soup? Or maybe some kind of gravy was made for the meat?

Some dishes held more delicate meats, which looked like fish. And some obviously were fish, with the skin and or head still intact.

A small section of what looked like sushi and sashimi drew my attention.

Oh, god, I love sushi. Hope it is just as good here. Wonder if they have soy sauce?

A large bowl of brown rice with vegetables was surrounded by metal bowls filled with colorful and thick sauces. Cubes of meat poked above the fragrant liquid. Many of them held the distinctive milky look of dishes flavored by milk or coconut cream.

Those look Indian. Hope they are not quite as spicy as native Indian food. Love it otherwise though.

Something that looked like gyros were stuffed with cheese, meat, and what looked like dried fruit.

Beside those were large bowls filled with various soups. Some were hot, while others had the characteristic condensation of a chilled soup.

On and on it went; baked goods, fried foods, and more were available.

He looked up at Reodan.

“I’m not sure where to even begin.”