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The blog namespace is for catching stray ideas. These may be less polished than the stuff you see in the Lore namespace.
Other spacer food staples
Thinking about other crops that spacers can grow independently. Intuitively I“d lean toward things that are all or mostly subterranean, with peanuts and potatoes serving as inspirations. Like Leasemeat I imagine them growing in a gel matrix made from reclaimed sewage, though likely treated to account for differing soil preferences.
The cream/butter bladder plants I mention in the 2038 problem may or may not be grown by spacers, though the resulting cream is obtained through trade regardless. The cream from these plants has a flavor that ranges from mildly savory to sweet. Humans liken it to cream cheese. Yinrih don't notice the flavor at all, and prior to first contact there no cultivars that provide a consistent taste, though afterwards varieties are developed to suit the human palate.
Butter bladder plants were domesticated from high-latitude wild plants on Yih, where the butter is intended to provide nutrients to the plant over winter. Since they thrive in dark, cold environments, they're well-suited to growing around the outer reaches of Focus. Moonlitter is a big exporter of this butter to colonies in the inner belt.
The strict weight limits that current human rocketry impose on an astronaut's diet are not a problem for yinrih spacers. Neither is fire a huge concern. The power draw limitations that contemporary human space stations have are also not a problem. However, microgravity is still a variable to consider. Keeping the food still during preparation is the biggest hurdle. Sealed bags are a common substitute for bowls in both the preparation and consumption of food. Heating (and rapid cooling) are accomplished through devices similar to a panini press or George Foreman grill. immersing the food in hot water, either boiling directly or through a process similar to sous vide, is also common.
The food, if not bagged when consumed, is usually in an edible wrap or crust, and like planetside cuisine is almost always salad- stew- or soup-like, with no need for eating utensils.
Staple crops
Wondering what staple common food crops there are, like cereals. Those were instrumental in the agricultural revolution. Maybe yinrih use fungus.
Sweetwater immigrants on Hearthside
The majority of Sweetwater immigrants on Hearthside are Wayfarers (primitive or not). The rest are politically opposed to the Allied Worlds, and don't want the radical lifestyle changes associated with becoming a spacer in the Inner Belt.
Hearthside itself isn't opposed to the AW per se. They have a common enemy in the Partisans but have very different cultures.
Related: The reason why the citizens of Pilgrims' Rest didn't simply move to another part of Moonlitter is because the Moonlitter government decided to appease the Partisans rather than defend their home. Up to that point Pilgrims' Rest had been a stronghold of Moonlitter nationalism, opposing the Partisans but also the growing cultural influence of the AW in the region. They felt betrayed by the polity they fought to keep independent, and decided if they couldn't have an independent Moonlitter, they'd have an independent Pilgrims' Rest.
There was also a fair amount of resentment that Moonlitter had to resort to asking the AW for help evacuating the planet. Tod caught the brunt of this despite him being one of the peacekeepers sent to aid the refugees. Not only does he represent the AW as a peacekeeper, he's also from Welkinstead, who established the military base that caused the Partisans to glass Pilgrims' Rest in the first place.
One of the reasons Tod decided to stay and help long term was that he felt partially responsible, having been stationed at the base in question.
An Atavist Apologia
You are now as intelligent as an animal. The centers of your brain responsible for language and higher thought have devolved. Your speech is no longer productive or recursive. You can only utter the same ten or so isolated cries that express extremely simple emotions like fear and anger or bodily needs like hunger. You are no longer capable of symbolic thought or imagination. You can’t even count past four.
But it’s not all bad. Your crippling existential dread is gone. You live in the moment, incapable of dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. Your hierarchy of needs extends no further than adequate shelter and food, no need for self-actualization since you barely have a self to actualize. You are still a creature that needs to be selfish and occasionally violent to survive, but you’re no longer burdened by moral guilt, as you are incapable of conceiving of being anything else. Life must take life to endure. You either survive or you don’t, simple as that.
Neoshamanism on the Ego
Neoshamanism rejects the concept of the self as a distinct entity. This stems from the Lifebringers' early research into microbiology. They discovered that all living things are not indivisible wholes but conglomerations of trillions of cells. Moreover, there were countless species of single-celled organisms.
Neoshamanism sees the physical body not as one creature, but as an ecosystem. This philosophy would be taken to rather unpleasant extremes by the Unclean Ones, who argued that since _all_ life is sacred, that includes the microbes living on and within you, so you have no right to incommode them by practicing personal hygiene.
This was of course a minority opinion even within the more zealous corners of the Lifebringers, who recognized that life must take life to endure.