General Q and A

Emerald Electronic wrote:

This is I suppose a pretty niche thing to ask for but does anybody know how thick an Achigate's (snail girl's) shell is? I'm asking because I'm currently writing a short story where a tribe of tinies has built a village into one and I don't want it to seem like they should have dug into her flesh by now.

Thanks in advance.

I'd have to charge you to get more information, but it seems that the species Theba Pisana has a thickness of .08 to .20 mm on its shell. The height of the shell is 9-20 mm, ^{source here}; let's assume a 1/100 relation between the thickness of the shell and the height of it. Making that assumption, a 30 m tall shell would have a 30 cm thickness.

Then I asked Slimetoad. He said he imagined them something really thin, but as tough as metal... after I gave him those figures, he said 60 cm would be the quick and dirty answer.

Thanks, I can probably work with those numbers. I could probably fudge them just a bit for the sake of the story by making the snail girl just a bit taller than normal but it's definitely something I can utilize with some creativity. As a but of a follow up though would the possibility of substantial vegetation growth exist due to their sedentary lifestyle?

Darth_Nergal wrote:

So they would be about 5-6 feet long then? :3

Also, one final question. Can someone give me an example of an egg stealing predators in Felarya?

I'd think any feline predator. Neko or Pantuar would work. Though anything can eat eggs. Trust me my stupid dog sucked eggs once while I wasn't looking

Good, that's what I was hoping to hear.

Would it be okay for a member of the Vishmitals to join the Isolon Fist? Keep in mind said Vishmital didn't even know she was a Vishmital due to some amnesia.

Probably not considering the political power struggle between the magiocrats and visitals. If however she's merely a vishmital in genetics only however and not affiliated with the faction it's probably irrelevant, if she doesn't then I doubt the fist will know.

Sorry to double post but I didn't feel like waiting for someone else to go first. I remember there used to be an article on the wiki about a flower that small fairy-like humanoids lived in. They only lived a day and left behind an egg that contained a carbon copy of themselves, having "immortality". Were they removed or merely moved? I can't seem to find them.

They were last seen in the wiki in May 21; at the moment they're in limbo, because they weren't plants per se. They'll be showing up later in fauna, though... or somewhere else.

I have a question, are anti-magical artifacts that are harmful to beings like fairies hard to find in Felarya, if so are there any anti-magic weapons?

I was writing a bio for Selma the Scarlet Elf and was talking about how she and her friend Jasta meet up for swimming and I wondered about something: Do predators keep time? Like days of the week or calendars in general? I know some species it may vary since some are more organized than others, Sphinxes and Fairies being so scholarly compared to mos Harpies and Nagas beign somewhat less, but surely preds have a sense of day of the week. Or is it all just a big blur of eating?

They can more or less keep track of "yesterday", "two days ago", or "last night", with anything longer requiring the use of fingers. They don't have much of a chance to count too high; if there's something that's really important either in the past or future, most would need to ask someone better at keeping track of time for it.

These are my assumptions- if they won't do the trick, I can assume otherwise lol.

I think I may have asked this before, but I don't believe I got a good enough answer: How to different underwater races communicate with each other while submerged? Do mermaids learn how to read chlaena's colour-changing? Can Chlaenas understand mermaid song? What do sea krait nagas ans oceanic nagas even have? Same for ichthys? Or do they all have to go above the water in order to communicate with each other?

I would believe that mermaid song is translated by Felarya, It's an auditory language after all. Chlaenas would have to teach others their language because it isn't oral however. The nagas wouldn't talk underwater at all because they hold their breath, they don't underwater breathe. Ichthys I really have no idea for, it could be assumed that they merely speak normally underwater (despite how you can't really do that) because they live/breathe underwater and they have no lore or biological features that would favour a non-traditional form of communication.

So
merfolk: song is most likely translated because it's an auditory language
chlaena: body language would have to be taught, it's essentially reading
nagas: can't breathe underwater so can't talk underwater
ichthys: no idea, it could probably be handwaved with regular speaking

Considering the underwater races are somewhat civilized, even having an entire city with a multi-sized species market it wouldn't be to far off to assume they have some form of shorthand for more prolific or important topics. At least in the areas outside R'lyzrmore.

Stabs wrote:

They can more or less keep track of "yesterday", "two days ago", or "last night", with anything longer requiring the use of fingers. They don't have much of a chance to count too high; if there's something that's really important either in the past or future, most would need to ask someone better at keeping track of time for it.

These are my assumptions- if they won't do the trick, I can assume otherwise lol.

Oh so not all that well. Okay so need to adress it as days then. Thanks for the help, Stabs!

Stabs wrote:

They can more or less keep track of "yesterday", "two days ago", or "last night", with anything longer requiring the use of fingers. They don't have much of a chance to count too high; if there's something that's really important either in the past or future, most would need to ask someone better at keeping track of time for it.

These are my assumptions- if they won't do the trick, I can assume otherwise lol.

Based on historical precedent on Earth, I would expect that creatures who belong to an agricultural society, or at least to a society that does some sort of "farming", would have a concept of time similar to ours, including things like calendars, and that those calendars would have units of time that correspond well with the growing periods of the things they were farming. Although I don't know if dridders or faries "farm" things, if they do I would expect them to have a "human like" conception of time. The further you got from their respective civilization/ruins-of-such the more likely that you would run into members of those species who did not have such a conception of time. I would also expect that those groups that interact/trade with humans a lot, especially off world humans, would understand and possibly use a calendar.

Oldman40k2003 wrote:

Stabs wrote:

They can more or less keep track of "yesterday", "two days ago", or "last night", with anything longer requiring the use of fingers. They don't have much of a chance to count too high; if there's something that's really important either in the past or future, most would need to ask someone better at keeping track of time for it.

These are my assumptions- if they won't do the trick, I can assume otherwise lol.

Based on historical precedent on Earth, I would expect that creatures who belong to an agricultural society, or at least to a society that does some sort of "farming", would have a concept of time similar to ours, including things like calendars, and that those calendars would have units of time that correspond well with the growing periods of the things they were farming. Although I don't know if dridders or faries "farm" things, if they do I would expect them to have a "human like" conception of time. The further you got from their respective civilization/ruins-of-such the more likely that you would run into members of those species who did not have such a conception of time. I would also expect that those groups that interact/trade with humans a lot, especially off world humans, would understand and possibly use a calendar.

Whoa that is a very good summery. I think it needs a thread somewhere. "How Preds keep time" Or something. I think Fairies would, at least the one's in Kortriki Town and the Fairy Kingdom, but I was more interested in Scarlet Elves. I know they build cities but I don't know if your logic can help me determine whether or not Selma would have a concept of days of the week. Though like I said this needs to be somewhere on the forum.

PS: Love your work on bios! Just wish you had done one for Centaurs!

jedi-explorer wrote:

I was more interested in Scarlet Elves. I know they build cities but I don't know if your logic can help me determine whether or not Selma would have a concept of days of the week.

Yes, unfortunately unlike on Earth, on Felarya the presence of permanent settlements or even cities does not mean that the inhabitatants probably have a calendar, because on Felarya they my not be farmers, and they probably don't have a "monthly" lunar cycle, nor a "yearly" movement of the fixed stars as the planet wobbles... because Felarya isn't a planet and changes the area of space it looks at on an irregular schedule, so neither any moons nor the stars stay the same. I don't think it "wobbles" either.

jedi-explorer wrote:

PS: Love your work on bios! Just wish you had done one for Centaurs!

Do you mean this thread? If so, if you have an idea about what to use for centaurs, post it there so that others can see it. I probably didn't create one for centaurs because there are no centaur characters in the wiki and thus there was no basis for me to decide what people thought was important to know about a centaur character.

Oldman40k2003 wrote:

jedi-explorer wrote:

I was more interested in Scarlet Elves. I know they build cities but I don't know if your logic can help me determine whether or not Selma would have a concept of days of the week.

Yes, unfortunately unlike on Earth, on Felarya the presence of permanent settlements or even cities does not mean that the inhabitatants probably have a calendar, because on Felarya they my not be farmers, and they probably don't have a "monthly" lunar cycle, nor a "yearly" movement of the fixed stars as the planet wobbles... because Felarya isn't a planet and changes the area of space it looks at on an irregular schedule, so neither any moons nor the stars stay the same. I don't think it "wobbles" either.

jedi-explorer wrote:

PS: Love your work on bios! Just wish you had done one for Centaurs!

Do you mean this thread? If so, if you have an idea about what to use for centaurs, post it there so that others can see it. I probably didn't create one for centaurs because there are no centaur characters in the wiki and thus there was no basis for me to decide what people thought was important to know about a centaur character.

Ah well first off all thank you for that bit on races that have cities may not necessarily have calendars. I never thought that a non agricutural race may not have a calender just because of that. I think I must have been foolish not to remember the reason calendars were invented in the first place. ^^;

Ah I did have one drawn up for my centaur Fay that was sorta makeshift but I lost her bio when I changed computers. I suppose I could re-write and submit it there?

Where can the Battal Oak be found?

You summon Eric, man, I'll be extrapolating in case he doesn't make it.

As far as I know, Felarya isn't round like a planet, right? So say you're on Shillapo Island: would you be able to see the main continent from there even with how massive that distance of sea is?

Nyaha wrote:

As far as I know, Felarya isn't round like a planet, right? So say you're on Shillapo Island: would you be able to see the main continent from there even with how massive that distance of sea is?

According to "theories [that] are widely regarded as solid and credible, though unproven" Felarya is a flat disc-like object with "wraparound" borders. If Felarya was airless like Earth's moon, then in theory you could see the shore of the main conttinent from Shillapo island, as a line of darkness just above the waves. But Felarya isn't airless, so "atmospheric haze" comes into play; just as distant mountains appear bluer and fainter on Earth, so would distant lands on Felarya. The main continent is probably far enough away that you could never actually see it from Shillapo due to this effect.

Meanwhile in wikipedia...

Visibility under the cleanest possible atmosphere won't exceed 296 km for 520 nm (green), as it turns out, due to scattering alone, but even in extremely clear arctic or mountainous areas, it rarely goes beyond 70-100 km^{[citation needed]}. I think that's a good first approximation for how far should you be.

Then again, that'd make the Giant Tree in the center visible only from 70 km away... and... well, I think I'd rather we had the 296 km range, if not greater... it'd allow the giant tree to become a celebrity all around the continent. For the record, we're defining visibility as a contrast of at least 2%, assuming a perfectly black tree on a perfectly white background. Creatures with different eyesights might be able to see the tree from farther or closer.

Also, there are things in the tree that glow, plus one more thing:
Some of the distance between a far-away observer and the tree is in "outer space". The current leading theories on Felarya's atmosphere state that it's significantly thicker around the Giant Tree than in other places. Since an observer standing below the altitude of the tree would be looking up over the treeline (of the normal-size trees) in order to view the top of the Giant Tree, a straight line from their location to the apex of the tree would leave Felarya's atmosphere and then re-enter it.
And also, not all the air in Felarya's atmosphere can be at the same density - at high altitudes, due to basic physics it must be significantly less dense than at sea level.
Thus I postulate that due to its size and the fact that there is much less than 296 km of full-density air between a hypothetical person and the crown of the tree, it should be visible even from a very great distance, just as objects like the International Space Station and Earth's moon are visible to us on the ground.

I have question about Tonorion made Artifacts. I know if you stripped one of it's plating and made it into make shift armor it would null magic but what if one took Tonorion's scythe-like mandibles and tried to make a weapon? Could it, in theory, have the same effect? Like would it null magic just as armor made from their hide would or would it be purely offensive and just cool looking?