I think if you are going to farm Kypiq, they should be free range, making sure there is a nice shady spot, plenty of water and food and avoid added hormones and antibiotics because that just going to cause health problems in the general public and breed superbugs resistant to antibiotics!!

Milk and eggs contain animal proteins, the same as animals do. If Kypiq are physically intolerant of animal protein, they probably would have a hard time with milk and eggs as well, and consequently would be unlikely to keep animals for the purposes of producing milk or eggs.

Most grains are annual plants, although some are perennial. I believe maize is an annual. What would be the policy of Kypiqs to plants that will die but are not yet dead? Fully mature maize is the sort that is dry and hard, and it is used to make masa, hominy, and corn meal. Maize seeds that are not fully matured can be eaten as soft vegetables (e.g., sweet corn, if bred for that). Hand-harvesting seed heads (cobs) before full maturity does not automatically kill the plant, in my experience.

The greater Kypiq issue with cultivated plants may be the disruption to the existing life that intentional cultivation requires. Simply digging into the soil might be considered taboo, because it invariably kills some of the life that might exist in the disturbed earth, and the Kypiqs might be aware of that. Perhaps this issue leads to a variation of belief and practice among Kypiqs.

If I was a Kypiq I'd farm silk. But that's not a plant, you'd need the insects that make the silk.

Although... those insects have to eat. So then the question becomes which is the best crop to feed said silk making insects.

Posted By Tiffany at 11:54 AM - Sat Jun 16 2018

If I was a Kypiq I'd farm silk. But that's not a plant, you'd need the insects that make the silk.

Although... those insects have to eat. So then the question becomes which is the best crop to feed said silk making insects.

My own speculation was that the Kypiq use spider silk. As I recall, Vye liked that, but I'm not sure if it was either confirmed or denied. Spiders in RL are carnivorous, so if the source is spider silk, then I think Kypiq would be religiously incapable of bringing the spiders their food. Encouraging the food to go to the spiders, however, would be an entirely different thing.

If the silk source is similar to RL silkworms, i.e. caterpillars, then the Kypiq could simply rely on the silkworm mothers to lay their eggs where the best silkworm food is. That is the best way of keeping with a non-interventionist philosophy, which Kypiq-style Faedin seems to possess. Whether and to what extent Kypiqs encourage the growth of silkworm food depends on their attitude toward disrupting the natural order to engage in cultivation, which I brought up as a possible concern previously in this thread.

Posted By HajimeSaito at 01:50 AM - Sat Jun 16 2018

I think if you are going to farm Kypiq, they should be free range, making sure there is a nice shady spot, plenty of water and food and avoid added hormones and antibiotics because that just going to cause health problems in the general public and breed superbugs resistant to antibiotics!!

While I applaud your appreciation of organics, you need to remember the technology level of Elyria is not modern day Earth. There are no GMO's or growth hormone livestock. Basically everything is going to be organic... (dubious research pending of course)

Posted By Poldano at 02:01 AM - Sun Jun 17 2018

My own speculation was that the Kypiq use spider silk. As I recall, Vye liked that, but I'm not sure if it was either confirmed or denied. Spiders in RL are carnivorous, so if the source is spider silk, then I think Kypiq would be religiously incapable of bringing the spiders their food. Encouraging the food to go to the spiders, however, would be an entirely different thing.

You have made an interesting point in both your posts Poldano. While the Kypiq themselves may have "vowed to kill no living thing if it can be helped." does this mean that they will not respect the natural circle of life?.

If they are going to keep carnivorous spiders in captivity to produce silk, would it not be their responsibility to provide them live food since they can no longer freely hunt for themselves?

If the eggs are unfertilized and thus not a chick, are they breaking breaking the Faedin by selling them to persons who do eat animal protein (since the Kypiqs likely don't eat the animal protein themselves)? Technically there was no chick so the egg wasn't a life interrupted....

Does harvesting the produce from a plant kill the plant (ie picking the cobs off the stalk) and if the plant was about to die anyway is it still murder?

Food for thought (pun intended Snipehunter...)

Posted By Lady ShyHeart at 12:10 AM - Sat Jun 16 2018

What about farming people?

Every culture has its merchants, thieves, and bandits :P

Then a fair assumption would be to say Kypiq are not opposed to utilizing animal byproduct. I would think so long as it doesn't bring harm to the animal and in some cases perhaps could help the animal. Hmmmm, interesting. :O

Remember the pigs can be used to find truffles for the Kypiq. The wool from the sheep could be used and of course the chickens could be used for their feathers and quills. Just some thoughts on how the Kypiqs can use the livestock.

Kypiq are going to be a interesting race wait and see what people do with the race and their land and it may change their habits greatly. Time will tell

Your interventions are always welcomed and informative Snipehunter.

I also thanks all those that shared insight and took part in the thread, most of the posts are interesting and insightful.

I realized that the whole time i had in mind a Kypiq farmer away from the Kypiq home forest, probably because i wont play Kypiq but i envision Kypiq helping in the agriculture through out my domain. Maybe also because the forest does not sound like the best place to farm, apart from clearings, there is no space for fields and not that much light for plants to grow.

Then i remembered that Kypiq is an ingenious lot, and apart from the zealots traditionalist that Snipehunter just described, some must have searched for ways to develop some farming up in the trees. That's when i started searching hanging flower pots.

Kypiq are masters of zip lines, pulley, ropes, pots can be made of cords, barks, calabash, stone, bags of silk or forged ...... I had the image of hanging fields made up of hundreds of hanging pots in a complex wire network close to a spider web, to let the Kypiq farmer go from one pot to the other, raise and lower them or even move them horizontally to maximise the clearings....

Silk worm may be a problem because to get the worm out of the silk they boil them alive. Kypiq value life but if they sold an animal to someone who then sold it to a butcher would that count? Or if a beast broke its leg would they let it suffer and die or would they euthanase it, out of kindness?