The aspect of Zalanthas

[Avril]

I can't seem to find several details - such as the typical color of sand at night, the sky at day, whether or not any silt clouds or stars commonly exist above the desert - in the documentation. Could anyone post a short description about how things look like on Zalanthas? I know some hints exist in-game, either in the form of room or NPC descriptions, but I'd rather not rely on hints alone when, for instance, I praise some templar's eyes to carry as pure a blue as the sky itself.

[ShaLeah]

I don't typically imagine Zalanthan skies to be different really.  The help files on the moons mention their colors and we all know Suk-Krath is much like our sun.  Kruth cards show the symbols of various elements and the tattoo artists are great ways to see what a typical anything looks like.  From experience I can tell you that nighttime in the desert is pitch pitch black if there are no clouds or moon in the sky so seeing the sand is impossible.  I think you should dream up how the sky looks, many of us have, it's one of the reasons I love Arm, despite its detail there is still room for my imagination to soar.

This link is to one of the visions of a sunset, although it's missing Jihae, it's still a nice vision.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/rbrichardson/armsunset.jpg




ShaL

[Rindan]

Walk down caravan way some time.  It has been a while since I have been there, but I am pretty damned sure that it tells you that they skys are infact red.

[lukie]

http://villageoffools.ionichost.com/3dart.html

'nuff said.

[Wintermute]

The Zalanthian sun's supposed to be red as well.

And the sand is red as well, which is part of the Red Desert.

I guess the creators just liked red, heh.  

DISCLAIMER! This is my opinion and view from what ive gathered through my time playing. I think there is some backing, but other people might find something to completely ruin my theory. The sky blue eyed person for example, or the earth-toned man that describes himself as bright-magenta with neon highlights. Its just my view.

Well... this is just Allanak. Im not ready to try and sum up the northlands which has deserts, forests, mountains, and wastelands all within like a foot of each other.

Allanak is a black monstrosity... most of the outer descriptions depict Allanak as a looming black city on the horizon or what not.

The sky is a dull red I imagine, the sun is a red giant, not like our own sun, but what ours will be after having gone into its death stages. Its large, hot, and red, but not really as bright and focused as our sun. Accompanying it at different times of the day is the blood red moon of Jihae, and the silvery (our moon type) Lirathu. The sky is given further color by the sand in the air.

The red sun bleaches the sands a reddish color, just like our sun bleaches white or blonde. So the sands are reddish browns I picture, with blocks of marble, and obsidian and flint and stuff making it not just like a solid red. The 'dunes' however I definetely see as like a red and black version of the sahara or something. This is defined by the red and black rocks found out on them.

So nighttime must be very scary when lit by Jihae, the already reddened sands are coated blood red... I picture like one of those movies where they do the infrared lit dark scene.

So its a pretty red world. but not like santa claus red, more of a dull-brownish colored red... maybe even orangish.

If you've played Diablo II, think Lut Gholein... just slightly reddened.

Anyways... there you go.

JenRED.  :cry:

[John]

I'd like an Imm's view on this. Because if what everyone has said is true, then it's an extremely interesting world, and also makes those sun-haired, sky coloured eyes people appear quite differently.

[Nineveh]

The red sun bleaches the sands a reddish color, just like our sun bleaches white or blonde.

Light does not dye things colors since light is light. It can bleach something (fade the color to white) but it cannot "bleach" it to red, weather the light appears red or not.

I would imagine, however, that the natural ruddiness of the sands would be furthur enhanced by the sun to make reddish sand a sparkling blood-red hue or something. Sort of like white sand under our sun is blindingly bright.

The sky, as it has been stated, is reddish, though I imagine all the dust in the air would create some spectacular sunsets. I would imagine the sky to be more a pinkish color, sice ours varies from a deep blue to a pale sky blue. Maybe like that with a pink cast.

As for how other colors would appear in the light? I don't know. I'd think the color of the sun/sky might affect coloration but only to a very small degree. The sun isn't a flashlight with a piece of red cellophane over it. But I do think reds would be enhanced.

Allanak is big and black from the outside, but its much more colorful on the inside. There are wooden and clay/mudbrick buildings (probably red), yellow sandstone streets, some inner walls are mosiac'd, so forth and so on.

[Swordsman]

OK, I could be wrong on this since it's a while since I looked at the rooms I'm thinking of but ... some rooms describe the sky as blue, and some describe it as red. This kind of makes sense to me because the sky's colour is going to change depending on things like atmospheric conditions. In the far south, there's a lot of dust in the air and I think that would affect the colour of the sky there. I always thought of Allanak as having big black walls, too, but last I looked they were actually red. Guess the imms really like red ...

Swordsman

[Crazy Fox]

I might be totally wrong, but I think I've read that the blueness of the sky has to do with moisture trapped in the atmosphere, as well as the other atmospheric conditions we have on Earth.  Some parts of Zalanthas are obviously lacking those, but there is still an atmosphere of oxygen.  As to what that would look like by itself, I'm not sure.

The sky in sand-dune and scrubby deserts on Earth that I've seen is a very pale, pale blue when it's cloudless.  Almost white-blue.  And it can sometimes be brownish, although that could possibly be drifting pollution from cities (though the place I'm thinking of is not nearby pollutant cities).

[Cyrin]

It'a amazing I don't remember this from Dune since I remember every-God-damned-thing else.

If I remember correctly, the sky was a very deep blue because of the lack of moisture in the air.  I always figured that's the Zalanthian sky looked like myself.

[Crazy Fox]

Here is the best picture I can quickly find of the desert sky I mentioned on the California/Arizona border:

http://www.mikesfilmcrew.com/images/mikes_dune_12b.jpg

It's not a red-dune desert, but it has those crescent sand dunes I remember seeing mentioned somewhere in Zalanthas.

[Gem]

Actually, the earth sky is blue because of a variety of factors.  It's been a few years since I took earth science, so any science majors, please feel free to correct me.  

Factors:
1.  Earth's Sun.  It's a yellow giant (it actually looks greenish in space, but thanks to hollywood, everyone thinks it's yellow out there too).

2.  Ozone.  The way earth is built, with all the different atmospheres, including the ozone.  By the time our yellow sun's light gets through, it has been filtered.

3.  Taking the previous 2 factors into consideration, the next one is natural.  Color.  Remember the basic science, where all the colors of the light bounces off a surface, except one?  For example:  a green shirt.  All colors in light, except green bounces off this particular shirt, making it appear green.  The same occurs with our sky.  

Now, on Zalanthas.  Factor in the red sun, the atmosphere/ozone, and just the color bouncing scenario... All this probably adds up to make red sky.

Side note - the only time moisture would truly affect the appearance of our sky is when they condense to form clouds.

[Cyrin]

I understood it to be the fact that the nitrogen in the atmosphere was responsible.

[Nineveh]

I found this nice simple explanation:

http://www.sky-watch.com/articles/skyblue.html

[crymerci]

So since Zalanthas has a red sun and not a yellow-green one, we can probably guess that it emits more red light than ours, and less blue light?

Or should we all just agree that we have no fucking clue what color the sky in Zalanthas is?    

[Rindan]

On Caravan way in Allanak, it describes the sky as blood red.  I don't see much of a reason to disbelieve it.

[Savak]

Crimson and dripping with blood.  THE SKY IS FALLING.

Yes, the sky is generally perceived as a dusty/rusty red in most parts of Zalanthas.  This is somewhat obscured and colored by the constant haze of sand/dust/silt/ash, depending on where you are.  The "Red Desert" is somewhat akin to parts of the Australian outback in appearance, while the Badlands approximate reasonably well in -appearance- to the Badlands of the North (Montana, Canada).  The Scrublands of Zalanthas are fairly similar to the scrub of southern Africa (Botswana, Zimbabwe, northern South Africa..).  For those who have been near large forest fires or volcanic eruptions, that is my personal comparison with the silty haze overlying most of Zalanthas -- to contrast, in RL most dry, deserty areas that the majority of the playerbase is likely to be familiar with have a relatively crisp, clear sky.

But, that said, Zalanthas is Zalanthas...and it's not Earth.  We don't have 'real' pictures for every Zalanthan setting because we LIKE the fact that everyone can combine their imagination with the text descriptions we offer to create their own ideal mental vision of Zalanthas -- and in most cases the differences in people's minds make no difference at all to how they play within the atmosphere of the game.

If, however, there are specific places/areas/rooms in the game which you don't think the descriptions give justice to and you're confused about some important aspect, please let us know.  The best way, I think, is to add it as a "typo" and we'll review it.

-Savak

[vroy]

I found a nice complicated explanation at:

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/feb2000/950527598.As.r.html

check out the articles that are linked to this.  They specifically ask about red suns/skies.

if I recall (and I'm dating myself) it seems Gabriel or Brax addressed this issue in the DS mailing list and his theory was that since the sun was color shifted from yellow to red that the sky would be color shifted from blue to olive.  Seems there was also an interesting discussion on what color plant life woud be if it were absorbing a different wavelength of light (bluish purple?)

here's a link for why plants are green:

http://www.pa.msu.edu/sci_theatre/ask_st/081496.html