averagemoe
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 492
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I've been wanting to bring this up for a while. It's about the main entrance text for the Naming Office in The City Beneath.

Any proud Imperial Citizen would almost say it was a shining star among the Imperial institutions, except, given that the Empire is underground, few of its citizens ever saw a star, and those that did probably decided that it's a rather inefficient lightsource and made a mental note to look into replacing it with something better as soon as the proper work order is processed.

This doesn't really read like a complete hypothetical, so that implies that if a citizen did venture up to the surface, they could see a star. And given the sentiment that they would think it's "inefficient", I'm guessing this isn't referring to the sun at the Vertex. So presumably, the Eighth's night sky is full of little lights that probably aren't really distant other suns.

So what exactly are they? In Devilishly Dangerous Dungeons of Doom, the Golem Keeper exclaims "Oh, my feathered stars". Does that mean anything, or was she just making a weird attempt to keep her language clean? Is it possible that the Empire really could replace them?

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[Last edited by averagemoe at 02-10-2024 08:21 PM]

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
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As far as I can tell, the Eighth likely doesn't have "stars" in the same sense as we have them in our night sky. There just isn't enough room in the universe for there to _be_ a second star other than the Sun, and the entire climate of the Eighth is determined by the fact that the Sun is at Sun Island (and also simultaneously at the "crust" of the eighth, south of Ephelna, comprising the so-called "wall of fire" while the sun is up). Rasarus, being in the middle of the surface, is as far away from the sun as possible on the X-Z axes.

So, what other sources of light could exist in the night sky, that could potentially "twinkle" or remind a viewer of what would otherwise be a faraway sun? Something in the middle of the air? A powerful enough light on the other surface, still powered despite hanging from the ceiling? We just don't know yet.

That's something still open to interpretation, or investigation in either a normal usermade hold, or possibly even a Smitemasters' Selection someday.

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[Last edited by Chaco at 02-11-2024 12:04 AM]

Nuntar
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 4963
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Considering what we know now...



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Dragon Fogel
Level: Smitemaster
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A wackier possibility just struck me.