I love the idea of Zayth, and I love the backstory for the planet. There's just one problem: feeding the populations of the city-vehicles. The books all describe Zayth as being a blasted, hellish war world which the city vehicles roam, scrounging for scrap metal and salvage to continue their endless war with the other cities. And that's pretty cool. The problem is, that if the planet really is that messed up, then where does the food come from to feed everyone?

AkumaKorgar said:

Greenhouses,grow plants in nutrient rich liquid,bacterium and mushroom culture,growing fish in pools,growing small edible rodents,imports from offworld.

No imports from offworld. Well not in any amount thatd be important.

Corpse Starches. Basically they have to recycle their own waste at a relativly fast rate.

On a more normal world, it at least has the decency to be recycled by bacteria and higher organisms in a river before becoming part of anything we eat. People on Zayth probably have to go with a shorter cycle.

Voronesh said:

You are wrong is biological impossible for a community to feed only on its own waste and its own human bodies for a long period of time and that will not change even if it is a tendency in this setting for cannibalism as some player may wish. Greenhouses,plant cultures in liquid rich waters,fish inside tanks,mushroom cultures,raising small animals. Corpse starches can be part of the diet but not a significant part.

Yes you are right.

But also wrong. The Earth as a ecosystem lives on its own waste + additional energy by the sun. I will ignore additional mass by meteros and the like .

Cue this is madness! NO this is 40k!!!!!

Food imports on Zayth would take vast amounts of ships travelling towards Zayth. If you would apply the logic of waste being unsuitable for food processing. Yes bacteria cant turn it into truly nutricious food. Deus ex machina is needed.

Having dozens of transports make regular shipping runs for Zayth would destroy the myth that surrounds that planet. Heck offworlders would be bussiness as usual if you have to feed a population of 100k+ people per mobile hive. What would the people of Zayth trade in for all that food? Think about it.

First of all: this is 40K!!

I think it is more interesting if you have to get the food from the planet itself (not offworld).

You are on a world of war. So find solutions to "produce" food yourself.

-Maybe you are not going to eat other people but why not disposing them under the field where you have the green salat and orange carrots?

-Use a new culture of eatable mushrooms on the dead bodies of your enemies. Most likely the mushrooms will be harvested by Servitoren because of the smell.

-Fresh salmon from nearly waste-free-water! yummi

Sounds like somebody just discovered a new endeavor.

The Glen said:

I can imagine it now: The explorers hear rumours of an extremely hardy xenoform crop grown in the harshest conditions on Zayth. This plant could be worth a fortune to the governor of any agri-world struggling to meet its tithe requirements.

Of course, the follow up adventure would be: The extremely robust Zaythian xenoform you helped introduce to an agriworld is blooming out of control in the pleasant conditions. The Administratum tasks you to find a cure before the planet's biosphere is completely destroyed and rendered useless as an agri-world. Or else...

Besides by the solutions already offer.......the European Union (and perhaps the African Union? I do not know) are discussing the raising & farming of bugs and insects as a better way of feeding the masses (the input/output ration is much better then....beef or pork). And you need less space. And this discussion is lead "today".

I personally startet adding "insect tanks" next to "algea tanks" in my hive/bunker/voidship settings. Make paste out of it our roste it directly, it does not matter as long as you get a full stomach and enough to sustain your body.

In addtion, it would be stylish for the war-cities to travell between rife (or rifening) feels of "Nutrient" (the mentioned mushroom, or similiar things) in non-radition (or less-radtion) zones to substitute their diat.

AkumaKorgar said:

In addition to the various recycling programs suggested so far, there could be greenhouses mounted on the cities. Although this would be an area that would risk damage, if it was outside the armor it would not be a huge risk. Also, greenhouses atop the city would not be exposed to fire. At least, not my understanding of Zayth.

Rustrats, bilgeroaches, and radiator fungus are all nearly inexhaustible sources of protean and vitamins.