Talvieno, have I mentioned I love you? I'd love to see that thing finished.
Lol, Splint.
Thought you'd like it. It'll get finished, no worries. Might start on another one for you after, too, if you have a suggestion as to what I should make. I need the practice.
@Talvieno I have actually re-read those chapters a few times and I have gone through the raws. I didn't really see any mention of a scythod's relative dexterity. I don't want to write a half-assed character.
I'm not sure a scythod's lack of vision would be an impairment. If I remember correctly, the reason scythod have no eyes is because their planet did not have enough light for them to see by. The scythod would still need to be well aware of their surroundings and would probably have evolved other senses that are at least as good as our sense of sight.
I imagine that their view of the world revolves around touch and sound. In the specified Vanya chapters the scythod have been shown to hear at least as well as we see, at least as far as distinguishing source location and number. It would make sense for scythod to have echolocation in a basic form at least(see footnote). Also in those chapters it is revealed that scythod feel pain in their scythes. That implies that the scythod have nerves there, meaning they can feel sensations there. A scythod's whole body could be a detector of vibration, the scythod could 'see' vibrations in the same way we see light.
Footnote;
Sound and light are just waves, we see reflected light waves, perhaps scythod could see sound waves. At least one human has been able to learn to echolocate well enough to play basketball. It makes sense to me that the scythod would be able to echolocate.
Edit: I played a little with the Spearbreakers mod, the flashing exclamation point on irradiated dwarves is kinda annoying, it makes it hard to see other status effects. Especially if you're in a savage biome and everything is irradiated. On an unrelated note, one of my dwarves arms rotted off the instant I embarked.
My apologies then. You've certainly done your research. lol I'm both pleased and impressed.
If your writing is as good as your research, I'd be honored if you made a scythod character.
As to echolocation, I honestly hadn't thought of it. I hadn't had them hear anything outside the normal range of human hearing, but that's primarily because of two things: First, I didn't want them to have a replacement for sight - just an alternative, so it really felt like they were lacking something. Second, I honestly didn't think of that either.
Yes, their bodies are extremely sensitive to vibrations and touch. I think in one chapter, Scylk gives a crude weather forecast by telling of the moisture in the air and the atmospheric pressure - which might be a bit over the top, if I'm being truthful with myself. Still, yeah, I think it's entirely possible they can "hear" sounds outside of the normal range of hearing by relying on their sensitive chitin. (Also, interesting note - ingame, they're particularly susceptible to pain. It was unintended, but it's interesting nonetheless - might make for a good story point.) I don't think that it would be enough to call it echolocation, though.
As to their tactile dexterity... Their top, lower arms are scythes with a webbed/pointed tip, and their lower set of arms simply end in curved, clawlike fingers. I think that wielding a scalpel with any degree of precision might be a little more than they could handle... but I suppose it's possible. I wouldn't count on a professional level of accuracy with a scythod surgeon, but hey.
fakeedit: ninja'd. I miss getting ninja'd all the time.
Talonis - I'm sure you're fine.
This is what I use to upload pics:
http://tnypic.net/ Just make an account there. It's free, for one thing, and as long as you have an account, they never delete anything you upload. Easy to link to as well. Imgshack has a tendency to randomly delete/overwrite your pictures, and photobucket has a tendency to BLOCK your pictures after they reach a certain number of views.
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Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2273307 times)