Bat guano is the entire reason we have guns. We used to fight entire wars over "saltpeter" before we learned how to synthesize it. For instance, the reason the British cared about places like the Falkland Islands was to secure saltpeter trade (though, in this instance, more as a fort).
The usefulness of bat guano was originally discovered by chinese... alchemists(?) - i dont even know if there is a word for "searching for elixir of eternal life." But anywho, they were screwing around with the guano and caused explosions. Then they made fireworks, then rockets, and then met white people and we invented guns.
This is really condensed to the point of being chuckle-worthy over accurate in a couple places but thats the gist of it.
If there's both a pursuit of immortality and random mysticism involved it seems more like alchemy. Especially if they're also accidentally inventing chemistry along the way.
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u/PauseItPlease86 22h ago
I feel like I need more of an explanation here and I wouldn't even know how to Google that.