Wonderful thoughts and musings on the possible ramifications of Darksense being sonar by everyone involved. I just wanted to add a couple of thoughts to the mix (I'm pretty sure these are lifted from a darksence discussion here about a year ago, but don't remember who originated each -- and apologies to oldtimers with better memory than I for the repetition).
First, I really think that the "carrier" of darksense should be darkness. I realize that this conflicts with TrollPack, but I have a VERY hard time with the Trolls primary sense requiring air to work... It just seems Wrong to me. using the element of Darkness to carry the sonar waves also has many MGF side effects... Trolls see poorly in daylight -- they have to use their eyes... very confusing to them. This ties in mythically with the uz fear of yelm -- he Blinds AND Burns. This also makes it possible to use shades to interfere with troll vision, instead of sylphs. (I can't imagine that any uzuz would NOT have summon and command Sylph if darksence moved through the air)
Secondly, it is very difficult for a troll to read human writings, due to ink being imperceptable to darksense (This also explains the common Darktroll mistake of considering books and scrolls to be food.) It can be learned, but I imagine it would be sort of like a RW sighted human trying to learn a foreign version of braille.
Third, how does the fact that trolls primary sence organ is their
nose/jaw (to aim/focus their sonar) translate into troll culture -- a
broken jaw/nose is a
common, but relatively minor injury for humans... but it seems like a
broken nose would be absolutely Awful for a troll... any head injury --
nose, jaw, ear would effectively blind them untill it was healed. This
implys an increased importance (or at least incidence) of healing magic
amongst the trolls, as it seems to be universally agreed that fiticuffs
(or general bashing of each other) is far more common in troll societies
than human. Also, with this in mind... what DOES a troll helmet really
look like? because their important organs are located differently on the
head, I am certain that their helmets are designed differently than
human ones -- but how???
danm.
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