in which murderbot is a very normal terracotta soldier and ART the dragon spirit of a chinese junk who dwells in the ship's keel. they meet in the ming dynasty perhaps, when ppl are sailing places extra willy-nilly.
*Nüwa is the mother goddess in chinese mythology, known for creating humanity from yellow clay and repairing the sky.
thank you @mutualrapport for hosting the event! original prompt below.
[drawn for the prompt: an AU of ART and MB's first meeting and conversation - e.g. another look at their first meeting from a fantasy, historical, or (non-canon) sci-fi lens! Any perspective is fine. The only constraint is that it cannot be set in the canon universe. Any visibly non-canon AU- fantasy, human, historical, etc. - anything goes!]
As water soaks into the pores, it permits evaporation to carry the heat of the vessel's immediate surroundings out and away.
"In India, a 3,000-year-old technology is hitting the shelves—and flying off them—as South Asians struggle with rising summer temperatures.
Terracotta’s porous surface makes it a uniquely timeless passive cooling system. As water soaks into the pores, it permits evaporation to carry the heat of the vessel’s immediate surroundings out and away.
This principle has been cooling Indian homes since the Harappan Civilization that lived in the Indus Valley from ancient times. Yet it still has a role to play in the India of today, where companies are leveraging terracotta’s passive cooling to chill everything from buildings to food.
MittiCool is a company that manufactures terracotta refrigerators—capable of keeping items cool and preserved for 3 to 5 days in optimal conditions—all without power or ice. Currently sold out, it works by placing a tray of water in an upper chamber that seeps through the pores in the terracotta and cools the 50 liter interior space.
Another way that terracotta can replace electric cooling systems is through something called the Venturi effect. It states that as air moves from a large space into and through a narrow space, it must not only cool, but also speed up.
For this reason, Indian homes and verandah have been shaded by terracotta screens known as jaali for centuries. If air is to pass through the jaali it must necessarily speed up, leaving its moisture content behind in the pores of the terracotta. That moisture can then evaporate, repelling heat and cooling the area behind the jaali.
CoolAnt is a design studio that’s using terracotta materials and designs to skin buildings and homes to mitigate the effects of the harsh summer sun. The same principles at work in a jaali could be applied at scale to a whole building facade.
Pictured: A closeup of one of CoolAnt's terracotta cooling facades. Photo from CoolAnt.
“We’ve harnessed its hydrophilic properties and observed average temperature drops of 7 or 8°C [14°F] across more than 30 sites,” in India, CoolAnt studio founder Monish Siripurapu told Scientific American.
Scientific American had reported that just 20% of Indian households can afford to run an air conditioner, while just 35% can afford to run a refrigerator. That’s a substantial home-life challenge when summer temperatures routinely climb above 100°F in most of the country...
Civilizations have dealt with extreme temperatures for millennia, and their best methods shouldn’t be overlooked in urban and suburban planning today."
朕為始皇帝。後世以計數，二世三世至於萬世。
"I shall be the First Emperor. The generations that follow shall be numbered Second, Third, and so on through ten thousand generations."
受命於天，既壽永昌
"Having received the Mandate of Heaven, may there be longevity and prosperity."
- 秦始皇 QinShiHuang ~221BC
In the distant past, all lived under Heaven (天下), united under the great Sovereigns. But the world descended into five centuries of decline and chaos, and the realm of 天下 fractured into seven warring kingdoms. From this crucible emerged the western Kingdom of Qin. Forged by barbarian invasions from the west and enemy kingdoms to the east, the once-backwater land of Qin became a centralized martial state, harnessing the advancements of civilization in the form of crossbows and combining them with the horse traditions of the steppe barbarians. Thus, the state of Qin began its conquest, starting with the Kingdom of Han in 230 BC.
The King of Qin, born Ying Zheng, was trained under the harsh discipline of Legalist philosophy and guided by the merit-seeking reforms of Lü Buwei (呂不韋). When Ying Zheng took the throne, his conquest subdued the Han Kingdom, followed quickly by Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and finally Qi. By 221 BC, at 38 years of age, Ying Zheng ascended the ancient mountain of Taishan, where generations before had gone to commune with Heaven. There, he performed the rites of Fengshan and proclaimed a covenant with Heaven, whereby justice, wisdom, and peace throughout this new Empire of Qin would be rewarded through the unification of all under Heaven. This new dynasty was marked by the symbol of the tiger and embodied by the element of water. The Qin kingdom, having previously collected all Nine Ancestral Cauldrons (九鼎), carved this covenant into a seal from the mythical jade pieces of the Three Sovereigns (三皇) and Five Rulers (五帝). Here, Ying Zheng shed his name as a mere king (王) and combined the names of the ancient sovereigns into the new title: Emperor (皇帝), taking the name Qin ShiHuang (秦始皇帝), the First Emperor of Qin.
China (Qin) would no longer be a collection of chaotic and competing kingdoms. Qin ShiHuang centralized the structure across the land, removing borders between the kingdoms and connecting them through standardized roads, weights, measures, coinage, and written language. He carved new infrastructure projects through rivers, creating a connective tissue of canals and waterways that united lands which could not be connected by roads alone. And while Qin Shi Huang broke down the internal borders of the kingdoms, he established new ones along the frontiers in a network of walls and outlooks that would eventually become the Great Wall.
But the intensity and focus with which Qin Shi Huang stitched together his new empire became the very weight that would so quickly tear it apart. In his pursuit of immortality, Qin Shi Huang died in 210 BC at the mere age of 49. In his wake remained an unforgiving system of Legalism, which demanded absolute obedience and dedication, and those who failed to meet its standards were subjected to severe punishment. Several rebellions ignited in response to forced labor, excessively strict laws and punishments, and harsh taxation. Within a mere fifteen years, the grand unification project of China fractured once again, and all under Heaven was plunged back into violence and chaos.
A dynasty may rise and fall just as the river swells and recedes, carving valleys where none existed before. Tigers who once ruled the lowlands may one day disappear, and ancient cauldrons, once so precious, may vanish into legend. Even the grandest armies of one hundred thousand may one day crumble, for these are the things of the earth that come and go. But the dream of Heaven that was lifted that day upon Mount Taishan endures forever. And for the next 2000 years of Chinese Civilization, the path carved by Qin ShiHuang was developed and followed.
The example of the First Emperor's dynasty was clear: as quickly as Heaven can grant its blessings, they can just as swiftly be taken away. To rule Tianxia was never about power, class, wealth, or lineage; it was to bear the weight of Heaven itself, and anyone willing to carry that Mandate can unite the realm. The title of Emperor would be grasped by peasants, warriors, kings, beggars, men and women alike. Just as the timeless words engraved upon that ancient seal once said:
受命於天，既壽永昌 "Having received the Mandate of Heaven, may there be longevity and prosperity."
Sources:
Records of the Grand Historian; Sima Qian
The First Emperor of China; Jonathan Clements
To Rule All Under Heaven; Andrew Meyer
