06-01-2015, 06:39 PM
(06-01-2015, 04:03 PM)Hetuni Wrote:(06-01-2015, 02:23 PM)Ryuujin Wrote: -snip-
If I remember correctly, Avali have down, which is an extremely good heat insulator... And this is where I also feel the similarity to humans should end, due to them not having that kind of heat insulation naturally. Take for instance what would probably be most birds on Earth--the main reason they ever go out of the colder climates is for food, and not because they get very cold.
What I'm trying to get at here is their survivability in temperatures somewhat below the freezing point, would they have at least enough protection to be there for decent periods of time (Say what we relate to 24 hours.) without just freezing to death?
Seems like there's some unspoken context here. Where exactly did you get the idea they were particularly sensitive to cold anyway?
When I mention that Avali are somewhat resistant to freezing injury on the wiki that's in the context of having tissues literally frozen solid (equivalent to human frostbite) rather than exposure to sub-freezing temperatures. The mention in a bit of flavour text in one of the codices is referring the super-arctic hemisphere of the planet (Which at it's core isn't all that far above absolute zero), I'd also mentioned their probable core temperature range, I don't remember explictly listing what the lower temperature range they can survive in is (I havn't even fully calculated it myself).
I just had a brain storm!
For a long time I've been very bothered by the fact the homeworld would spend long periods of time in total darkness. Temperatures would vary wildly between night and day and this bothered me a LOT.
It just occurred to me that if Avalon was not a typical moon, but rather more like a trojan, locked at the planet's L1 point, and still tidally locked, you'd have a (relatively) hot desert side (permanent day), and keep the super-arctic tidally locked side (permanent night). This'd keep the average surface temperatures stable, and also provide even more stable surface winds than I originally envisioned.
It'd also lead to some slightly more interesting surface environments (You'd have a super arctic side, a very very arid desert side. With a neat temperature gradient from one side to the other. As you approach the equatorial line between the two hemispheres, you'd have extremely intense surface winds that always from the cold side to hot side (In the upper atmosphere this cycle would go the other way, from hot to cold), probably carrying with it clouds/snow. There'd probably also be a lot of jagged glaciers in this region