Fluids
Water answers thirst. Rivers, lakes and wells give it; two shards can make it. Not all of it is safe: hot water costs health, icy water costs stamina, dense water barely quenches.
Four numbers
Every water carries the four shard axes; rain is all four at 0.
| Axis | On a fluid | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Caloric | Temperature | Ice at −5 or below, cold from −4 to −2, hot above +2, steam at +9 |
| Kinetic | Flow | Still at 0, a river at +2 or +3, rapids from +5, a waterfall from +8 |
| Density | What is dissolved in it | Brine from +5 |
| Cohesion | What it leaves behind | Hard water from +3 |
Lava is a fluid of its own on the same axes: Lava while it has any heat, Rock at Caloric 0. Full names table: Reference: Fluids.
Where water is
Rivers and lakes
Surface water runs across sector edges and never blocks you: it cuts through walls, and no room is built on it. Rivers run downhill; lakes are still. Both are deepest in the middle: a river knee-deep down its middle, a lake waist-deep at its heart.
| Ground | Rank |
|---|---|
| Mountain | 3 |
| Corridor Zone | 2 |
| City, Garden | 1 |
| Alley, Labyrinth, Plaza | 0 |
| Drop in rank downstream | Kinetic | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| None | +2 | river |
| 1 | +3 | river |
| 2 | +5 | rapids |
| 3 | +8 | waterfall |
| Shown as | |
|---|---|
| Map | Water, darker where deeper; brine and hard water greener; rapids and waterfalls streaked; white marks point downstream; hot water warmer; ice and steam their own colour |
| Terminal | ~ |
| Sound | Still water laps, rivers murmur, rapids rush, waterfalls roar, louder nearer; steps splash, wade, slosh by depth and crunch on ice |
Wells
A well is built only over underground water (broad pools and narrow rivers), and gives whatever lies beneath it, inside the room; its doorway gives nothing.
| Per sector | About five; about one sector in twenty-five has none |
| Biomes | City, Garden, Mountain |
| Never over | Water hotter than Caloric +2 |
Water by ground
| Ground | Its water leans |
|---|---|
| Mountain | Cold: Caloric −2 |
| City | Hard: Cohesion +2 |
| Garden | Mineral: Density +1 |
| Elsewhere | Rain |
A fluid can override the lean.
Lava beneath
Lava lies deep underground and adds its heat to the water over it: all of it to underground water, half to a river or lake, never past +8. Heat adds to what the water was, so cold water stays colder. A river over lava runs warmer for as long as the lava lies beneath; over the hotter lavas, hot. A Foundry is built only over lava (Crafting).
Drinking
At a well, or standing in a river or lake:
| Action | |
|---|---|
| Drink from cupped hands | 3 thirst, no vessel; only water a vessel could take: Caloric −7 to +8, Density 4 or less, Cohesion 5 or less |
| Fill a vessel | As much as fits, if its range takes the water |
| Drink on a vessel | 1 unit = 1 thirst, 1 second; moving stops it and keeps what was swallowed |
| Water | Effect per unit |
|---|---|
| Dense (Density +3 or more) | Answers a quarter of its thirst |
| Hot (Caloric above +2) | 0.25 * (Caloric − 2) health: 0.5 at +4, 1.5 at +8 |
| Ice (Caloric −5 or less) | 1 stamina per 4 units |
| Steam (Caloric +9) | Cannot be drunk |
Heat never takes health below 5, nor ice stamina.
Vessels
A flask, canister or jug holds one water and nothing else.
| Range | Caloric −7 to +8, Density up to 4, Cohesion up to 5; anything else is refused with a reason |
| Adding water | Mixes with what is there, weighted by units |
| Emptying | Pour out, the only way water leaves; never into your pack |
| Old water | Water left in a satchel or box from before vessels can be taken out and poured away |
Warmth
Water in a vessel drifts toward Caloric 0, never past it:
drift per hour = 1 × clamp((6 − vessel material Density) / 6, 0, 1)
A vessel forged of Density +3 drifts half a point an hour; +6 or more seals it; an unforged one drifts at the full rate. Adding water settles what is there first. Hovering the water shows its Caloric now and how long it will scald.
Weight
A unit weighs 20 × (1 + 0.03 × Density) g: 20 g for rain, 22.4 g at Density
+4. A one-litre flask (1,000 g) takes 50 units of rain or 44 at +4. Brine (+5)
goes in no vessel. See Reference: Food and water.
Making water
A hot and a cold shard of equal magnitude make rain anywhere; see Items.
Wading
Depth is measured from the water's edge.
| Depth | Each step costs |
|---|---|
| 1, ankle-deep | Nothing |
| 2, knee-deep | 1 stamina |
| 3 and deeper, waist-deep | 2 stamina |
In running water each step rolls d12 + your own Reflex (not gear's), which must beat the difficulty; a 12 always holds. With the current is its way or 45° off, against is the other way, across otherwise.
| Difficulty | River | Rapids | Waterfall |
|---|---|---|---|
| With the current | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Across | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Against | 8 | 10 | 12 |
| Result | Cost |
|---|---|
| Keep footing | Nothing, except against the current: the depth's cost |
| Lose footing | Depth's cost, +1 against a river, +3 against rapids, +1 across or with rapids and waterfalls |
| Lose it climbing a waterfall | Thrown back to where you were; depth's cost +5, or 4 health if too spent (never the last point) |
| Lose it going down rapids / a waterfall | 3 / 6 health. This can kill you |
Wading costs nothing extra for heat: no river or lake runs at Caloric +6, where it would scald a point of health a step knee-deep or deeper.
All of this is on top of walking. Wading never takes stamina below 5, and ice is ground: free to cross. Stamina returns only by resting in a Meditation Sanctum or praying at a grave (Character).