[TML] "Dies the Fire"

[shadow at shadowgard.com]

On 9 Dec 2007 at 20:46, Richard Aiken wrote:

> On Dec 9, 2007 8:02 PM, Stuart Frew <stuart at frew.net.nz> wrote:
> >
> > > So . . . a fantasy world that really IS a "flat earth."  The Sun would
> > > always be about at dawn, right?  So would you call it Dawnworld?
> > > There'd be a permenantly Light and Dark side to everything, wouldn't
> > > there?  Wait one.  Shadow squares, like with Ringworld?
> > >
> > I believe that the sun could (technically, if you ignore the physical
> > effects of motion on the sun) bob up and down through a hole in the
> > middle.
> >
> > So the sun would always be on one side but it could rise and set.
> 
> I'm not Leonard, so I don't know.  But that'd have to be an AWFULLY
> thick disk, wouldn't it?  I'm thinking the disk must be less than one
> Earth diameter thick (not as small as half, but a lot less than full,
> I think).  Otherwise, the surface gravity gets too high.  Since the
> star is a LOT bigger across than this distance, you'd end up with
> about half of it visible from both sides of the disk.

I seem to recall the thickness required as being in that range (more 
than 4000 miles, less than 8000)
 
> > How do the weather patterns form, is the disk spinning at all?
> 
> I'm thinking the disk would have to be spinning.  The original
> primordial mass would have been spinning.  Stopping that would have
> been a needless waste of energy.  Besides, the centrapedal force of
> the spin would be part of what's keeping the disk from collapsing into
> the star.

Not even *close*. To do that, it'd have to be spinning faster enough 
to counter the effective "sideways" field. Which would throw 
everything on the surfaces towardss the rim.
 
> As far as weather goes, I don't think you'd naturally get seasons.  No
> axial tilt.  Seasons really would be "magical" in nature.  The Earth
> Goddess and Old Man Winter - or rather the Builder AIs in charge of
> simulating Earthlike weather conditions -  really would fight over who
> gets to rule where!

One of the first "clues" that something was odd was that the flowers 
and bushes were in all stages of growth (sprouting, budding, 
flowering and fruiting) at once, even though the area seemed to have 
a "temperate" climate.

The fact that the "sunnyside" and "shadyside" microclimates of hills 
were of very long standing takes a bit longer to notice.

BTW, for folks doing fantasy, if your vampires are only affected by 
*direct* sunlight, they'll just *love* the antisunward side of ranges 
of hills and mountains that run starward-antistarward. The sun will 
*always* be behind the hills/mountain if you stay close enough which 
could be *miles* for the taller ones.

> As for weather, it would likely be tame.  The corealis force (if any)
> would be very diffuse, I think.  You don't have a planetary spin, only
> the orbital one.

The disk doesn't orbit. But I assume it rotates about once a year. 
See another post for that.
 
> Or not.  I think it would depend on the size of the disk's seas.  If
> they're roughly Earth-sized, you get tame weather.  But seas scaled to
> the disk - (a sea bigger than the asteroid belt!) - would give you
> WILD weather indeed.  Hurricanes to make Force 5 monsters look like
> summer breezes!

Oh, I'm sure they come in various sizes. All the way up to OMG!
("What do you mean, the map says the ocean is a million miles 
across!?")

Note that *potentially, you could have one *hundreds* of millions of 
miles across. Bu no land dweller in his right mind is going to try to 
cross that even if there *is* an island chain that stretches across 
it... (Frankly, I'd except any such chain to be eroded away *fast* by 
hurricanes the size of planets...)





--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com