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--- ikra [2020-06-10 14:18] – reorganized titles concavenator
+++ ikra [2023-04-09 00:57] (current) – [Diet and food production] concavenator
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 The consumption of mammalian milk, in contrast, is regarded with disgust. Since mammary glands are unconnected to the digestive trait, mammal milk is analogized to mucus or pus. The consumption of eggs, even unfertilized, is also taboo in almost all //'ikra// cultures, with one exception: growing nestlings consume chips of their own eggshell as a crucial source of calcium. Calcium supplements, in form of bonemeal and cuttlebones, are important not only for nestlings but also adults: a chronically calcium-deficient diet will make a female sterile, as her eggs fail to develop a shell and are reabsorbed before being laid.
-Since //'ikra// teeth are scarcely suited to chew starchy or fibrous plant matter, such foods are usually ground, minced, or boiled into gruel. Cellulose-based food, if not used to feed animals or grow fungi, may be treated with yeast-like fungi to release simple sugars.
+Since //'ikra// teeth are scarcely suited to chew starchy or fibrous plant matter, such foods are usually ground, minced, or boiled into gruel. Cellulose-based food, if not used to feed animals or grow mushrooms, may be treated with yeast-like fungi to release simple sugars. //'Ikra// may also swallow gastroliths ("gizzard stones") that, moving around in their muscular gizzard, assist with food breakdown. While any small, hard stone will do, polished gastroliths in bone or porcelain are part of any elegant tableware set.
 ==== Grooming and body modifications ====
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 Takrakaya slaves often have their whole head and neck fully shaved as a symbol of their dependency from the household, as they would die of hypothermia if they found themselves outside in winter. Note that they would not die during the summer, and in any case they would likely cover their head with clothing.
+==== Science and technology ====
+At the present time to which this wiki refers, the scientific and technological development of Tagra may be compared roughly to that of humankind around half of the 19th century. It has, of course, been very uneven: most new discoveries and inventions are concentrated in Chaatai, Kru'u, and to some degree Tsang-ha. Life in most of Takrakaya and the Tayaka lands remains largely pre-modern (and in the 'Akau'a lands, mostly pre- or proto-agricultural). In fact, even the rural population of Chaatai and Kru'u remains mostly unreached by innovations such as electricity and mass production.
+Here are some scientific discoveries that would be well-known to natural philosophers and educated people in all the nations of Tagra:
+  * Tagra is a continent located at one pole of a spheroidal planet, which rotates around its axis and revolves around the Sun; it's likely there are other lands beyond the Wall of the Sea.
+  * The Sun is analogous to the other stars, and is not powered by chemical combustion, but by an unknown process. Other planets have moons of their own.
+  * Mass and energy are conserved quantities that cannot be created or destroyed, but only transformed or conveyed.
+  * Living organisms are composed of cells, too small to be seen; one-celled organisms live in the water, air, and within the bodies of larger organisms, and some cause infectious disease.
+  * All visible matter is composed of corpuscles, much smaller than cells, that bind to each other in specific configurations.
+  * Heat is the movement of these corpuscles, which implies a minimal temperature corresponding to perfect stillness.
+  * The planet is, at least, several hundred thousand or million years old, enough time for sand, mud, and other sediments to consolidate into rock.
+  * All living organisms, including the 'ikra, developed gradually over the history of the planet by gradual modifications that result in adaptation to one's environment.
+  * Tagra used to be warmer in the past, when the 'ikra developed from their ancestors (hence the extent of fossil coal deposits, and the inability of 'ikra to survive winter without technology).
+The commonly used units of measurement are based on the traditional Grikaa units, with factors of conversion modified for easier computation (e.g., to be based on the octal numbering system, and often to include 3 or 5 as factors):
+  * The **rachis** is the fundamental unit of length, corresponding to the diameter of the rachis (central shaft) of an adult 'ikra's flight feathers, or about 3.6 mm.
+  * The **palm**, originally defined as the width of the palm of an 'ikra hand, is now equal to 24 rachides, or 8.6 cm.
+  * The **pace**, originally defined as the stride length of a walking 'ikra, is now equal to 8 palms or 192 rachides, or 69 cm.
+  * The **league**, originally an extremely variable distance, is now equal to 960 paces or 7680 palms or 184,320 rachides, or 664 m.
+  * The **tooth** is the fundamental unit of mass (and corresponding weight), based on the weight of a discarded tooth (historically used as unit for long-distance trade because of its relative uniformity and universal availability), or about 2.1 grams.
+  * The **poke**, originally based on the weight of a heavy sack carried by //'ikra// workers, is now defined as 7680 teeth, or about 16 kg. Half-pokes and quarter-pokes are used commonly.
+  * The **burden**, originally based on the load that could be typically carried by a //krukaa//, is now defined as 64 pokes or 491,520 teeth, or about 1030 kg.