Re: theme for a fantasy campaign
 

What limits the total action of amylase? It is an enzyme, which is to say a catalyst, and not consumed in the reaction it catalyses. But a given amount of amylase can't gluco-convert an arbitrary amount of starch, so I gather that some process degrades it over time or as it acts. Do you happen to know what?

Re: theme for a fantasy campaign
 

Enzymes are slowly hydrolyzed by water, so their activity will decrease over time. But I don't know how slowly.

Re: theme for a fantasy campaign
 

It's highly likely that a sympathetic mold could be used to crack those carbs in the Acorns into sugars.

Re: theme for a fantasy campaign
 

Don't most enzymes have to get refueled, so to speak, with phosphates via ATP?

Do the mold.

Re: theme for a fantasy campaign
 

That must have been a misinterpretation then. The phrase "the women survive just fine" seemed to imply that you thought it sexist to point out that such a society would have to adapt security considerations to make up for the fact that many of the same personal which would be otherwise assigned to defensive needs would in this society be busy fishing and trading to far away to defend against a surprise attack.

Now in fact the lifestyle described by Whhs is analogical to that of a number of littoral societies and so can be made to work. Some of these were protected by a strong and reasonably competent state, but not all. The Norse, and the Hanse come to mind. Much of the security needs can be provided by fortifications; there are seldom enough men at sea to make a fortified harbor easy prey if the inhabitants are determined to resist, and even in times when female warriors were extremely rare exceptions in most cultures and therefore would not be trained in arms, manning a wall could be done especially against mere marauders. Furthermore, societies like that, if they have a reasonably fearsome reputation can convince predators that the voyagers will be rather put out on their return.

Re: theme for a fantasy campaign
 

I don't think so.

Re: theme for a fantasy campaign
 

Most Enzymes are activated or deactivated by either phosphorylating or de-phosphorylating them. Which is what kinases do. This tends to either a)change the shape of the enzyme so it can interact with the substrate or b) allow a dimer to form by "glueing" the pieces together.
I'm fairly sure amylase is limited by pH. It deactivates once protonated.

Re: theme for a fantasy campaign
 

Well, there's two separate issues going on here. There are enzymes that are switched on by being phosphorylated and switched off by being dephosphorylated. This is a way to control their activity - not all enzymes should be on all the time. Frequently these are key enzymes that can activate an entire metabolic pathway by feeding it material.

Then there are enzymes that work as ATPases. They hydrolyze ATP and use the energy released to push the equilibrium of a reaction in a certain direction. They are quite common - life is a constant fight against the tendency to reach chemical equilibrium with the environment.

Re: theme for a fantasy campaign
 

Given that Elves know magic (this is a Fantasy campaign) maybe a minor charm kickstarts the process.

Re: theme for a fantasy campaign
 

I wish I had a quiet house so I could read this whole thread. I don't know if this was mentioned or not, but I imagine there are secret societies within secret societies in the world of magic. SOME group must be dedicated to "maintaining the balance". The world NEEDS trolls for some reason we don't understand. Maybe they keep some destructive and prodigious animal in check by eating most of them. Mages may work for a given kingdom and they may even engage in warfare with mages of other kingdoms. But they first and foremost treat each other with professional respect. They are likely to buy spell components from the same traveling merchants. And they could work together in secret to maintain the balance of life and magic. They screen their acolyte wizards to make sure that they are NOT unstable and 'just in it' to learn demon summoning so they can summon a demon in a misguided attempt to acquire power and glory. Even the necromancy working for the oppressive tyrannical kingdom has enough sense NOT to summon a demon lord just because his King tells him to.

I was thinking specifically of the 'order of the white lotus' in the "Avatar: the Last Airbender" TV series.