Being a treatise on VSF and Mars, and on 19th Century colonial warfare in general

(with a nod towards Messrs Gilbert and Sullivan, lest I take myself too seriously)

Thursday 2 October 2014

Fnuuk and Jee-oo

Some of the longer-term readers of this blog (two years and counting!) might recall that I decided that My Mars needed a bio-engineered form of bamboo that was used for things like musket barrels that I called Jee-oo.

Having just got my hands on the new production of Space:1889 by Clockwork Publishing* it appears that they have also come up with a bamboo-type plant.:
"... but across the steppes close to the equator grows a plant called ‘Fnuuk’. Known as the bamboo of Mars, it grows as tall as 25 feet and even forms real forests. Whilst the colder steppes of the Northern and the Southern hemispheres are easily accessible by mount or wagon, travelling the Fnuuk groves is true torture as the leaves of the Martian bamboo are as sharp as knifes."

Clearly Hill Martians use Fnuuk for poles and other building materials, and I could also believe it is used to create temporary zarebas such as those seen during the recent unpleasantness in the Sudan. Thankfully Colonel Burnaby was able to rescue Gordon (Hurrah!) without the need for a major rescue expedition which would have been an extremely difficult undertaking due not least to the geography of any route to Khartoum.

I am therefore happy to report that the latest publication of the Royal Martian Geographical Society has confirmed that various strains of Jee-oo appear to be domesticated forms of Fnuuk. I shall therefore be using the names interchangeably in future.




* This is essentially a translation of the Uhrwerk-Verlag production in German, which uses the Ubiquity system from Exile Games. The German release has been out for over a year, I think, and the artwork for their Venus and Mercury sourcebooks looks stunning - I can hardly wait for their publication!

12 comments:

DLI said...

Indeed Sir , those clever explorer chaps are still finding lots of really useful stuff ;)
Bravo Sir :)

Joseph said...

I am sure that scraps of Fnuuk and/or Jee-oo would be excellent candidates for use in some form of strong Martian particle board as well...It is the little things that bring the Red Planet alive, nicely done!

J Womack, Esq. said...

I'm just glad that my Martian factor has secured exclusive rights to the harvest of Joo-ee in the Crown Colony over the next seven years. I foresee a vast fortune for the Honorable Martian Joo-ee Company.

Clive G said...

Absolutely, dashed clever fellows.

Clive G said...

Indeed it could. And "betaan" is widely used too (see that post with the Jee-oo!). As you suggest, it's these little pieces of colour that hold the story together. I love 'em!

Clive G said...

And I foresee vast smuggling possibilities! *grinning*

Paul O'G said...

Good to see that the Imperial Naturalist Society (sponsors of the Royal Martian Geographical Society's Botanical and Zoological sections you know) is finally starting to make sense of these things!

Clive G said...

Ah, yes those wallahs have recently moved their collections into the new British Museum (Natural History) in South Kensington.

In fact, at first reading, I couldn't think why you were referring to Imperial Naturists. It really is time I got some new glasses!

Clive G said...

Interestingly, the Austrians were also opening a Natural History museum at about the same time, with a heavy concentration on minerals and geology. That could be an interesting plot device, with lost of Austrians and Hungarians wandering around Mars with little hammers ...

Paul O'G said...

Indeed! Or maybe being hired by unsavoury characters to steal the rock samples of a rival college so that one's own patron can claim the discovery of a new mineral.

PatG said...

Steady on there! When I read the title, I first thought that a very scurrilous insult was involved!

Clive G said...

I'm sure I have no idea what you mean!