The Grain Spiral

The millions of residents of New Crobuzon consume vast quantities of food. This necessitates a huge expenditure of time, logistics, and resources. At the foundation of this effort: vast swaths farmland. That’s where the Grain Spiral comes in. Sprawling over the majority of the peninsula, this breadbasket of the city is full to bursting with farmland, cattle pastures, milk dairies, and all manner of food production facilities. It is here that practically all of the food which graces the plates of the city’s masses originates.

Thousands of farmers and support staff live scattered along the countryside of the Grain Spiral. These people have just as great a need for community and supplies as the people of the city, so dozens of small towns also dot the landscape. Much of the Spiral is supplied with water thanks to one of the most advanced irrigation systems in the known world. A great portion of the mighty Gross Tar River is diverted from its natural course, forced a lengthy distance inland, where it feeds the irrigation canals. The fact that the Gross Tar is heavily saturated with swamp algae, sewage, and refuse actually works to the Spiral’s advantage, acting as a fertilizer for the crops.

Type

Field