Week 6 Asbestos

ASBESTOS

by Villfuk

METRICS
Cycles > Cost > Instructions
Cost > Cycles > Instructions (No Pistons)

REAGENTS
Elemental Lead
Elemental Earth
Cinnabar Fragment

PRODUCT
Asbestos

Asbestos is a group of naturally occurring fibrous minerals. Its ability to be woven into fabric and capacity to resist fire amazed our ancestors: good-quality asbestos fabric was once considered as valuable as gemstones, and rich nobles often amazed guests by cleaning their asbestos upholstery with fire. The rise of industrial alchemy brought yet more uses for the mineral. Supple, heat-resistant and immune to many caustic substances, asbestos found substantial application in the design of early transmutation engines.

Now, scarcely a century later, our perception could not be more different. First it was the miners who were struck down with mysterious lung diseases; then, to the horror of the Great Houses, the alchemists met the same fate. Originally mistaken for tuberculosis, people soon realized that the affliction was caused by fine asbestos fibers becoming embedded in the workers' lungs. And the danger was not limited to those who mined and worked with the mineral: thanks to its sheer usefulness and ubiquity, all of us were at risk.

Today, after decades of petitions, campaigns and lawsuits, virtually all universities—and most Great Houses—ban the use of asbestos except in extremely limited situations. A small amount is produced for various purposes nonetheless; some still research the material, hoping to find ways of breaking it down without harming the human body. Others have attempted to synthesize non-toxic alternatives. No matter the goal, production is limited to trace quantities by the use of specialized transmutation engines.

download: Weeklies2025_Asbestos.puzzle (where do i put this?)