I'm proposing adding the mineral asbestos and several details involving it. It's been mentioned
before but I think it's worth bringing up again.
Asbestos
- Asbestos has been used for a long while and has well known and respected fire resistant properties.
- Dwarves can mine asbestos and, like bauxite, fashion heat resistant stone objects.
- Dwarves can "extract strand" from the asbestos making threads. They can then weave the threads into clothes. (I know the mineral can be simply RAWed in. How about this part?) This also trains strand extraction before admantium.
- Since these threads are a scarce commodity, a separate crafting option "make fireproof x" may be necessary.
Firefighters
- Most dwarves should avoid uncontained burning things.
- Some brave dwarves are given the job of seeking out fires. Unlike others, when fire threatens they grab buckets of water and rush into the inferno.
- For protection, they prefer to wear fireproof clothes.
Other FireproofingAsbestos is a short path to fireproof clothes. [Mine->Extract->Weave->Clothes]
Dwarves being clever with materials have other tricks. Alchemists can take some substances and either create a fireproof dye or fireproof thread themselves.
I propose Firesnake venom as a fireproofing agent. This production chain runs [Trap->Extract->Achemize->(Dye?)->Weave->Clothes].
Asbestos and health
In the real world, asbestos causes a number of problems. This was recognized well in the past. (Read the wiki article.) I think this is a finer grain detail then DF usually deals with. Or Toady will eventually afflict our miners and masons for breathing all that stone dust. Or (my preferred solution), Dwarven beards function as breathing filters trapping airborne debris (and food) , protecting their lungs.
Rylen