Uranium Phoenix's Projects

Weekly roundup 2/1

Added 2026-02-01 19:39:00 +0000 UTC

A reader requested Interesting Tangents get a collection so if you ever want to just browse the posts I've made about history, writing, cons, worldbuilding, etc., you can click it. It'll start with this post, and I'll slowly be adding to it.

Interesting Tangent

In 1491, Charles C. Mann writes a lot about what we know about the complex and numerous civilizations that existed in the Americas before Columbus, including fascinating bits on modern archeology that explains how we know what we know, but also, how even large civilizations could be forgotten. There's quite a bit on how indigenous farming practices looked very different than farming practices across the ocean (either ocean, really). The classic example is the "three sisters" of planting beans, squash, and maize together, done by nations like the Haudenosaunee. However, he also touches on how there's evidence of Mayans cultivating areas that are now abandoned as 'too difficult to grow stuff on' and cool agricultural practices used in the Amazon Rainforest. Probably, you've already guessed that Tlaxhuaco is an amalgamation of a bunch of different ideas from his book, but then trying to apply those techniques to a fantasy world where nature is constantly trying to kill and eat everyone. Walls (the spellward barriers) are one solution, but I thought it would also be interesting to apply a different way of thinking about that problem, hence the Tlaxhuacan spirit constructs and use gardening and modifying ecosystems in such a way that predatory and pest myrvites aren't a problem.

Here's the chapters that got released this week:

Extra-Advanced Tier
Chapter 285
Chapter 286

Advanced Tier
Chapter 275
Chapter 276

Last week's roundup