Drow Debating

[ZeroVega]

  Alright you guys have me on one point here. The drow did not evolve to have better dark vision and worse light vision. They simply adapted via curse to their new habitat. Fair enough.
    However on Talan's point. Yeah lifting weights and getting used to higher/lower atmosphereic pressure would probably be considered adaptation. However with something like eyes, which have evolved over thousands and thousands of years (in us humans at least) it's in a genetic code to continue to produce rods, cones, an all them other eye thingies that are sensitive/resistant to light or whatever other weird thing is going on. That cannot be changed in one persons life time. (Of course I get what you guys are saying about drow)
    And someone said humans haven't changed that much over the past 4000 years. The average human height during the time of Rome's Golen Age for much of the area from the Mediteranian to Eastern Asia was 4-4.5 feet tall. Europe's average height was 4.5-5.5 feet tall. And down in the southern latitudes would hit between 6-6.5 feet tall. Now compair that to today, where people in almost all of those places grow a near full foot taller. If that's not evolution I don't know what it.

[Talan Va'lash]

A lot of the changes that appear to have taken place over the last 4000 years to the human race, are really the result of changing lifestyle conditions.  A malnourished child will not grow as tall, as intellegent, and their body symmetry will be skewed.

People also have a lot more heart disease now.  that is not because our hearts have evolved to be more suceptable to it, it is because of changes in lifestyle.

And acctually, your eyes can sunburn just like your skin can, it follows that they would also be able to tan over time, and adjust to brighter light.  (um, ok, so I made that part up, but I did sunburn my eyes once or twice skiing... it really sucked.)

[EdTheKet]

ZeroVega - 5/4/2005 3:54 PM And someone said humans haven't changed that much over the past 4000 years. The average human height during the time of Rome's Golen Age for much of the area from the Mediteranian to Eastern Asia was 4-4.5 feet tall. Europe's average height was 4.5-5.5 feet tall. And down in the southern latitudes would hit between 6-6.5 feet tall. Now compair that to today, where people in almost all of those places grow a near full foot taller. If that's not evolution I don't know what it.

  That's nutrition and better overall health due to healthcare. And BTW, the drow on Layo are not cursed, that's the Faerun ones. The ones from Layo were already dark skinned when still living above ground in Relishian Forest.   As for vision, regular elves already have low-light vision, so enhancing that a bit because you spend your entire life in the dark to darkvision isn't that strange.
  Oh, and bear in mind the faerzress

[miltonyorkcastle]

aaallllright!!! jumping on the bandwagon!!!

Note:  when speaking of magical things (i.e. elves), natural science as we know it gets tossed out the window.  

So, however the drow are the way they are, suffice it to say, it is more by magical means, not so much by physical.  In saying that, it is also expected that daylight adaptation is as much a magical adaptation as it is a phyiscal.

This is not to say that there aren't "laws" to govern magic as there are to govern the natural world (like, as some would say, evolution), but what mortal can know the bounds of those laws, if we cannot even master the natural ones?

And that's that.

-milton yorkcastle

[ZeroVega]

*watches helplessly as ICBMs from 5 different people completely demolish his argument into tiny bite sized pieces*
    Well you've got me. Magic/Science (at least as we know it) have no place in the same section. ZV-

[lonnarin]

ZeroVega - 5/4/2005  12:54 PM      Well you've got me. Magic/Science (at least as we know it) have no place in the same section. ZV-

 Now now, you should get into a debate with Brilligimble and the Mutative Trends of the Eyekin Subspecies, or a heated argument on whether or not running backwards 50 times in a circle while hasted can produce time dilation.  What weighs more, a heavy heart or a belly full of turnips?

[Dorganath]

ZeroVega - 5/4/2005  2:54 PM      Well you've got me. Magic/Science (at least as we know it) have no place in the same  section. ZV-

 [Hijack]The book series "Incarnations of Immortality" by Piers Anthony, the reality in which they lived (kind of a parallel pseudo-modern day), mankind had redescovered magic and successfully "fused" it with science and technology. [/Hijack]

[Zen]

Well now back to the Drow Debate, Sunlight adaptation is kinda like what I do here in Wisconsin.

You see I'm from Hawaii, the isle of Oahu. In my youth, many a day were spent surfing or paddling outrigger canoes . When surfing it was not uncommon to stay in the water 10 to 12 hours forgoing lunch for more fun. And the paddleing workouts were about 4 hours long during the hotest part of the day.

Now in the winter in Wisconsin {BURRR} I have adapted to the cold . By this I mean that I stay indoors 8 to 9 months, only going outside to get into a car (with the heater going full blast) or in reverse from the car to a building. I DO NOT snowboard/ski/Icefish/sled/snowmobile or any of the things that one would do outside in the snow. I have gone dearhunting one time but it was only +50f that day, still almost too cold for me.

So my adaption to Wisconsin = wearing about 15lbs of extra clothes and staying indoors as much as possible. So I think that the Drow or Half-Drow surface dwellers have ajusted to the sunlight with a similar method to my cold adaptation.  

[Talan Va'lash]

Stay there long enough and it wont seem so cold anymore.

I used to live in Phoenix AZ.  Took a couple years when i moved to the north east, but i'm rather used to it now, and would probably die in an arizona summer.