Local Culture wrote:
Thornmouth has a steady supply of fresh water thanks to the aqueducts drawing from lakes, rivers, and springs to the north. They are largely above ground constructs that prominently make their way across the fields and to the back side of the hills like a northern wall, where they then extend to each side and make their way around the base of the hills to the city. However, it is only the upper class that has direct access to the city water in their homes, which is fed up through the hills as well as around it to serve the entirety of the Crescent. The city is also famed for one of its greatest achievements: a sewer system. In reality the foundations of Thornmouth are a network of canals, sewers, and maintenance tunnels. While the lower parts of the city around the docks and markets showcase the waterways assisting commerce, the upper class districts are more elevated on the hills and feature more sophisticated infrastructure.
The sewer system is equal parts sanitation and drainage. While the rich have actual toilets, functional showers, and are experimenting with pressurized and even heated water systems, most still bath communally and dump their sewage from a bucket down the storm drains. A wonder of innovation built by the dwarves, there are many unexpected conventions to be found in sewer operations: including creatures that consume waste to aid in dredging.
While the sewers are large enough to be ‘explored’ as a location under the city, the labyrinth of stone tunnels and clay pipes are very cramped, poorly lit, and extremely dangerous. A larger individual will find trying to traverse the winding tunnels very unpleasant and in some cases impossible. It is rumored that the sewers were built into a system of tunnels that had already been underneath the grove of thorn trees.
The canals manage to stay relatively clean due to being dredged by the tides, but trash and sewage still make their way in (especially in the slums). It is not recommended for anyone to swim in them or be in the sewers at all during high tide.
The sewer system is equal parts sanitation and drainage. While the rich have actual toilets, functional showers, and are experimenting with pressurized and even heated water systems, most still bath communally and dump their sewage from a bucket down the storm drains. A wonder of innovation built by the dwarves, there are many unexpected conventions to be found in sewer operations: including creatures that consume waste to aid in dredging.
While the sewers are large enough to be ‘explored’ as a location under the city, the labyrinth of stone tunnels and clay pipes are very cramped, poorly lit, and extremely dangerous. A larger individual will find trying to traverse the winding tunnels very unpleasant and in some cases impossible. It is rumored that the sewers were built into a system of tunnels that had already been underneath the grove of thorn trees.
The canals manage to stay relatively clean due to being dredged by the tides, but trash and sewage still make their way in (especially in the slums). It is not recommended for anyone to swim in them or be in the sewers at all during high tide.
Waste
The city deals with waste in a number of ways; that which is fertilizer worthy within the city walls is collected by the farmer’s guild, the rest either gathered for burn piles or washed down into the storm drains. The farmlands tend to take care of their own waste in a similar manner, that which can’t be made into fertilizer or fed to livestock tossed into a communal pit. It’s not unheard of for waste to be disposed of in local creeks and rivers, but the kingdom attempts to put a stop to this as pollution problems have occured in the past.
The Farmer’s Guild hires groups every morning rather than maintaining a fully staffed team.
They are also willing to buy, turning profits by selling and delivering to their members.
It is these individuals that also clear the storm drains as they patrol the city streets.
Sewers
The sewers were one of the earliest features put into the city in conjunction with the waterways, making use of a previously existing network of tunnels that had run beneath the sacred grove - pipes and rockwork wind underneath the city, serving waste disposal dredged by creatures known as sludge cows. It is for this reason that the sewers are navigable at all, serving as both wastewater project and creature habitat.
A very convenient waste system indeed, if one questionable - an innovation of the orcs who added their voice to the dwarven sewer project, they brought in sludge cows, amiable if not entirely pleasant creatures that feed off waste and offal. They are aquatic beasts that dredge Thornmouth’s system as bottom feeders and pay little attention to anything else, nearly harmless if one is not within their path.
Sludge Cows
‘Dredgies’
‘Sewer Manatee’
A sludge cow is the less than flattering term given to the pale, algae-ridden beasts that live within the sewers beneath Thornmouth. They are a tragic mix of endearing and foul, vaguely resembling manatee yet clearly more suited to darkness and dredging through the soil at the bottom of waterways. They have long flippers ‘runged’ with clawed tips, scooped noses for rooting in the muck, and smooth plated foreheads with no eyes beneath them. A creature of little thought, they spend their day blindly grazing for waste. A sludge cow is peaceful and seems harmless at a distance, but will eat absolutely anything it finds without hesitation. While heard less frequently, those who work in sewer maintenance have taken to lovingly calling them ‘dredgies’. While they can survive in both fresh and saltwater, they thrive in a brackish environment.
They have been domesticated by the orc for hundreds of years to use in waste disposal.
The Canals
The canals were built in conjunction with the sewers as a means of transportation. They are integrated with the sewer system and all water eventually ends up here; while some waste enters the canal due to street cleaning and less than ideal citizen behavior, the brackish water tends to be kept clean by both tides and the sludge cows. It’s still recommended that you don’t swim in the canals!
In some parts of the city there are lock systems that raise the water level so boats and cargo can continue higher into the hills and onwards to the castle at the base of the Crescent.
Rooftop Cleaners
While most businesses and families are expected to look after their own buildings, the city does hire a small team dedicated to maintaining the rooftops of the city center and the docks.
The seagulls can cause some damage, adaptable birds that find chimneys and warm roof tiles are enough for their needs - unfortunately they have been known to cause fires. There is a reason the city primarily uses stone and clay architecture, but that far from makes the city one lacking in flammables. The ‘rooftop’ cleaners are often mockingly called ‘gull masters’ as they’ll even keep an eye on the marketplace and docks during the day, making sure none of the gulls lurking nearby do harm to stalls or citizenry. They can rarely give much attention to other districts as these places are where the gulls tend to congregate.
Woodshifters - Forest Maintenance
Woodshifters are the arborists that cut back forest overgrowth primarily in the slums and outside the western wall. While not necessary for the job, those with knowledge of magical plants are given favor and often made the head of teams and given more lasting positions. The Farmer’s Guild comes out on a weekly basis to open working positions to the public and do a full check of the slums, western walls, and forest district; what is cut is taken to the guild to be made into fertilizer or burned.
Water
The water of the city is primarily routed from volcanic springs and fed up through the hills to the Crescent District, where the water flows down from there into the city - the inner-city aqueducts were something limited until recently, but thanks to funding from The Lotus is beginning to see extending infrastructure bringing running water to more of the city.
The northern fields are watered in a most unusual way in recent years; a small team of younger engineers have come together to develop what can only be called sprinklers. These sprinklers come in the form of mechanical flowers, the marriage of fae and dwarven engineering. In the early mornings these flowers are released from water spires and float over fields dispensing rain before landing gently. These flowers are then collected by workers and returned to the spires throughout the day, small ‘tracking flies’ used to find those unaccounted for.
These flies resemble fireflies, drifting and blinking much the same as they seek the docking bay of unreturned flowers. When located they settled into the unit and blink steadily until found and returned to the spire.
These spires also make use of the same lunar algae to dispense mist for certain crops.
There are still some farms that use more traditional forms of irrigation, in particular those most distant from the city.
Muckers
The algae tenders of the farmlands. Thornmouth has algae nurseries that are experimentally being used as an energy source for magitech innovations. It’s also used for food and wastewater treatments, but takes a lot of care to keep from becoming a problem.
The Dead
When someone dies it is expected that such is reported to authorities; the bodies are then collected by the city for formal identification purposes before being released to family or loved ones. If nobody claims them, they'll be cremated and ashes placed with others within a collective city crypt (with no marker save maybe a name added to the exterior wall). There is a city morgue on the grounds next to the guard barracks.
The city morgue does not keep bodies for long though, nor do they provide preparation services *save* for cremation (please provide desired ash receptacle). In the case of investigations, there is a mortician on site for autopsy purposes.
Graveyards
When it comes to burials there is a focus on saving space due to limited land and the fact of the high water tables making inner city burials difficult in the lower city. It’s also not something in high demand due to cultural practices in the east long having tended towards cremation. So while the city provides plots to those who can afford them in the city cemetery, these are limited and expensive - it's much more affordable for those who desire burial to seek out privately owned graveyards or even grave groves (for fae custom). These are scattered and numerous, but primarily placed outside of the city.
In the grounds nearby Oberon’s Rest that have recovered from the iron rain that fell there, a grave grove has been established - a small forest for fae burials, who plant their dead with seeds to grow ‘grave trees’. The great tree of the Rest is the grave tree of Oberon himself.
What inner city graveyards exist are separated by costs and appeal - not just economic status, but cultural or religious in some cases. The graveyard in the slums leaves much to be desired, while the nobles have their own near the castle that looks akin to an expensive garden park well patrolled by private security.
