> There was a Tales of the Reaching Moon article which invoked
> the old Archimedian argument for why the Lozenge appears round.
> That is, the eyes effectively emit light to see, which immediately
> begins to ascend Skyward, so things appear to disappear beneath
> the "horizon," as they do on Earth. Of course, as the amount of
> elemental Dark increases in the vicinity, it annihilates more and
> more of the light being emitted from the eyes, so it becomes more
> and more difficult to see, and more difficult to see further.
I've always liked this notion, too. I remember having an argument with my father when I was about 5. He was explaining to me that what I was seeing was light that was emitted from the light bulb and reflected off of things. I told him he was obviously wrong. He turned off the light asked me why I couldn't see. I told him that all the darkness was in the way. My logic dumbfounded him. IMG, I would have been right!
Going further with this non-canonical notion: With darksense, do trolls not perceive a horizon? I like the notion that darksense can perceive things that are "over the horizon" for light-based sight. It makes trolls even weirder, but probably too powerful without noting some limitations. Their darksense could still be subject to the other restrictions that being darkness-based imposes (like that the darkness must be connected). But it would make it impossible to sneak up on trolls if they can perceive what's on the other side of the mountain at nighttime. And I think there must be examples of sneaking up on trolls at night time.
If light moves in rays and sound moves in waves, maybe darkness moves in oozes. If so, then it might take time for darksense to propagate through darkness. That could explain why you can get strategic, but not tactical, surprise over trolls at night. That is, a troll at the center of a plain could "ping" the entire plain, it you wouldn't get a return off of everything before the sun rose. This would help explain why (a) trolls seemed so much more mighty before the dawn and (b) the shadows of Dagori Inkarth are so valuable to them.
On top of that, darksense could be directional. That is, you have to "ping" outwards in a certain direction. I don't really like that notion, because it would make trolls dark-blind when they dark-stare a long time in one direction, then quickly turn around. But I mention it because it might appeal to someone else.
Chris Lemens
Powered by hypermail