- 3,321
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For a while now, I wanted to calc one of the very few feats from Fallen London who gives all the information necessary to do said calc. Problem is, one of the parts of the information is... really, really hard to measure.
So, context:
Fallen London's universe, at least that of Fallen London and Sunless Sea, take place in a cavern two miles under the surface. (the specifics are unknown, that is the only statement we have about it) In Sunless Sea, there is an island called Aestival, which was created by a huge hole on the Neath that allowed sunlight to peek through and illuminate the whole island and the zee around it. A prototype of the Memento Mori was what caused said hole on the Neath. Initially, it seems very simple.
It really isn't.
The first problem is the width of the hole. We don't even know the size of Aestival, exactly; there is no specific measurements and we know for a fact that the isles we see on the zee are mostly a representation of their actual size, being actually much smaller than how they truly are in lore. But okay, we can calculate something using the ships or something as a big lowball, but therein comes the second problem: We can't just take the island's size and say that is the size of the hole.
Light spreads. The hole made in the roof to create that big circle of light that covered the entire island does not need to be as large as the island. And there is the second problem: I have absolutely no idea on how to calculate the size of the hole required to illuminate the entire island, assuming the sun was illuminating it directly.
Is it possible to calculate that? It seems to be a hard task.
So, context:
Fallen London's universe, at least that of Fallen London and Sunless Sea, take place in a cavern two miles under the surface. (the specifics are unknown, that is the only statement we have about it) In Sunless Sea, there is an island called Aestival, which was created by a huge hole on the Neath that allowed sunlight to peek through and illuminate the whole island and the zee around it. A prototype of the Memento Mori was what caused said hole on the Neath. Initially, it seems very simple.
It really isn't.
The first problem is the width of the hole. We don't even know the size of Aestival, exactly; there is no specific measurements and we know for a fact that the isles we see on the zee are mostly a representation of their actual size, being actually much smaller than how they truly are in lore. But okay, we can calculate something using the ships or something as a big lowball, but therein comes the second problem: We can't just take the island's size and say that is the size of the hole.
Light spreads. The hole made in the roof to create that big circle of light that covered the entire island does not need to be as large as the island. And there is the second problem: I have absolutely no idea on how to calculate the size of the hole required to illuminate the entire island, assuming the sun was illuminating it directly.
Is it possible to calculate that? It seems to be a hard task.
