> Being how Glorantha is flat would the experiance of the passing sun not be
> dramatically different based on what longitude you are at?
Such an argument could be made. However, the Inner World is a mere five time zones across, and the way to the gates of Dusk and Dawn is at least that far.
Then there is the problem with magical heights - the inner world reaches maybe 10 km above sea level, somewhere on the way you start to enter the Middle Sky where absolute distances are less meaningful.
> For those living in the middle latitudes the following:
> In the far east, the sun must appear to shoot up, or rush in from the
> hazy eastern distance in the morning, pass by fairly quickly and then
> appear to be moving slower and slower in the western sky until for a while
> the sun would not appear to be moving at all, finally the sun would dip
> down quickly. Regardless for much of the day the suns power would slowly
> diminish. The concept of noon would be non existence. Long shadows would
> spring up in the morning and at a rate almost disorienting to us terrans
> shrink and then grow again in the other direction, though after a certain
> point the lengthening would be very very slow indeed.
This might be the case near the Gates of Dawn, provided the sun moves west from there at once. There are some Eastern Isles supposed to be as far out or even farther as the Gates of Dawn, but they are hardly part of the Inner World any more than say Altinela in the distant north of Genertela or the Luathelan archipelago.
> In the far west, the sun would suddenly rise up dim in the far eastern sky
> and gradually grow stronger and swifter all day in ever increasing orders
> of magnitude until with all his glory he would pass swiftly overhead and
> in a relatively brief time dive down quickly to a misty far away point in
> the west where he would disappear again.
Somehow, this is counter-intuitive to the denominators "Lands of Dawn" and "Lands of Dusk".
So, how about this: the sun lingers on those horizons because it doesn't appear to go straight up/down, but outward to meet the sky?
> In the center of the world this effect would be less but still apparent.
In the center of the world - i.e. all over Genertela and Pamaltela - there is no measurable parallax. The sun will reach Pole Star's position at noon anywhere, and it will be directly above your "meridian" at noon, whether in Kralorela or Seshnela. In Summer, it will appear to the north of you, in winter to the south.
In this regard, Glorantha is a tropical world - nowhere will the sun creep along the horizon, as it does in arctic areas.
It won't be possible to remain north of the sun in summer without leaving the Inner World - possibly not even visiting Altinela. Sailing Sramak's River might make that possible, but that takes Sendereven magics (and even they prefer to take to port in Altinela).
> To the extent that you are watching this spectacle from a far northern or
> southern point the suns progress would appear more steady. Its strength
> would feel more constant. But shadows would not lengthen as appreciably
> and would rather be marked by their fairly swift movement from one
> direction to the other as the day progressed.
> Or is there some mythic magical intersession that allows all Gloranthans
> to experience the passing of the sun in similar ways? I am hoping no.
Let me put it this way: the Dawn was a universal event, but it may have taken place at different times. The Darkness in the East Isles was different from that in Genertela, and there appears to have been a sun-lit Gray Age there.
> I'm not terribly mathematical so I don't know how to balance the changes
> in curvature would do to the perception of the distance of the sun. But
> it is inconceivable that the Gloranthan sun is anywhere near as far away
> as our sun or anywhere near as big.
As I said above, as soon as you leave the Inner World, absolute size becomes less meaningful.
If you still want to do calculations, consider this: the Crater in Peloria defines the minimum circumference of the Red Moon. (in my personal theory, it defines the visibility limit of the moon from the surface around the upper pole of the moon, and the inside of the crater is a vast sphere whose surface can be seen in the sky)
Assuming that the moon (as seen from outside of the Glowline) is about as big as the sun, you could make assumptions about the diameter of the sun which passes above the moon.
Now, from within the Glowline, the moon appears a lot further up, and IIRC smaller. Still, the sun is far above it, and retains its apparent size. This means it is very far away and very large.
One question about sun and moon is: are there Lunar eclipses? Theoretically there ought to be daily eclipses in a curve on the surface of the northern world, depending on the height and northerly course of the sun.
To our knowledge, no such eclipses have been observed south of the Crater, or even within the Lunar Empire. Within the Glowline, there is no reason this should happen, because the sunpath will never reach the place occupied by the moon in the Upper Sky. Outside of the Glowline and north of the Crater latitude, you might look at the Crater (with the Red Moon vertically above the Crater) and see the sun pass north of you in the sky. You might expect an eclipse once a day, for at least two weeks a year.
I don't recall what the official position on the existance (and possibly seasonal variations) of these eclipses was. I seem to remember "not in the Inner World" from discussions during the editing of "Under the Red Moon" when I was involved in some of the geometry experiments.
> This too would dramatically impact
> the perspective of the suns passage especially from the far north and
> south where after a certain point the passage might appear far lower in
> the sky very quickly though it would never appear as low as it does for us
> on a globe.
Again, that's leaving the Inner World, where distances and size are dependent on other factors than mere measurements. In my Glorantha, these size effects even happen when putting on "too much" magic - when there is an overdose of myth or magic, a single individual may appear bigger than an elder giant, and possibly able to take on a True Dragon on the usual scale of dimensions (i.e. maybe at a size disadvantage of 1:10) even though that dragon just left an immense valley at his resting place (which appeared as a mountain range before). So, if you are sufficiently magically powerful to get there, you may be tall enough that the sun would have to appear lower.
> I like all this. It would force me to rethink the attitudes, myths,
> temperament etc. such as the Brithini and the Varelans and especially the
> folk of the East Isles.
As long as it doesn't become counter-intuitive, with the lands of Dawn experiencing hardly any morning and the lands of Dusk hardly any evening, speculate away.
There might also be ceremonial reasons for the sun to linger in the respective eastern and western lands, accepting the homage of morning or undergoing the preparations for the Underworld. And yes, there ought to be entire cultures dedicated to these tasks.
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