Effects of a hyper-sterile environment

[19_99]

So the other night I couldn't sleep and I started thinking about the waste-spell and its variants in s-d because you know, what else would I be thinking about. I haven't been around the LJ parts for a while, but now I have some questions so I hope this is okay.

Indelicate questions under the cut:

Comments

Interesting point

[rasmusb]

:)
I have no idea regarding the answer -- but I'll be interested in any that turn up.

[sartorias]

I figured out the waste spell when I was a teen, and then over the years, considered the repercussions and how they handled them. This seemed to me to parallel the mages' developments over the centuries. For example, when they first did the spell, it would be for solid waste, and it would go underground. But if too much went underground, it would feed into the water, and people got sick

[19_99]

Thanks! I am always delighted by how extensive your world-building is. And also how willing you are to share it.

[sartorias]

Oh lord, the problem is shutting me up!

[shadowsinfire]

Interesting question, thanks for asking it!

[howardbrazee]

I'm reminded of a scene in the movie "The Last Emperor", where a servant took a sniff of the emperor's chamber pot. I've read that there are some expensive high tech Japanese toilets that do health monitoring. And I wonder about some of the high-tech chicken farms where waste gets shunted away.

High enough tech (or magic), could include some kind of health monitoring feedback. But it doesn't have to.

[sartorias]

I think their magic detection went more in the direction of Dr McCoy's gadget, rather than poop sniffing!