Liquids

Liquids are special items in Rhizome. While other items are produced as discrete objects, liquids come in amounts. That amount can be functionally infinite -- say water in a rushing river -- or extremely finite, in the form of oil in a flask. Liquid is measured by its weight, with different weights of liquid forming different volumes. Liquids cannot be simply held in your character's hands, and must be poured and filled from containers or into and out of the room you are standing in.

Pouring liquid into a room will leave a puddle, a pool, a pond, or a lake of that liquid depending on how much you provide, much like how rain will leave puddles of water lying around. The exception is pouring a liquid into a room that naturally contains an infinite amount of it: pouring water into a river lets the water rejoin the river.

Liquids also have quality, derived from the source of the liquid in the room or the quality of the materials that were consumed to produce it. Crafting liquid always produces a set amount of that liquid, and requires a container to craft it directly into. You can drink potable liquids directly from a puddle (yuck) or from a room with an infinite source like a river. Hydration from a drinkable liquid is a function of the mass you drank, plus its quality. Liquid types cannot be mixed together, with the exception of poisoning drink with venom.

Liquid in a container adds its weight to that container, and some liquids can be quite heavy. Puddles on the ground will evaporate at a certain rate depending on the current weather. Crafting can consume liquid as a required input, and liquids -- specifically water -- are necessary to farm plants.

Command                            What it does
fill <container>                   Fill from the source underfoot (a river, a spring)
fill <container> from <source>     Fill from a named source, puddle or container
pour <container> into <container>  Pour one container into another (same as filling)
pour <container> out               Tip it onto the ground, where it pools
empty <container>                  Same as pouring it out
drink                              Drink from the room's source until you're no longer thirsty
drink [from] <container>           One gulp (250 g) from a container