Vampires don’t like sunlight but moonlight is actually also sunlight
Tell that to the werewolves.
Moonlight is only about 14% reflected sunlight, with a different spectrum (some wavelengths gets more absorbed than others, some more reflected, etc). If the two spectra of moonlight and sunlight were compared side-by-side with no mention of their origin, they basically appear as two completely different light sources, one peaking at the yellow wavelengths and the other peaking at the blue-green wavelengths.
To summarize; moonlight is not sunlight, it is reflected sunlight with a lot of its information lost or altered.
Does this mean that, with the right set-up, you could make light sources which mimicked moonlight accurately enough that it sets off someone’s lycanthropy? I’m not sure what such a device would be useful for, but it’d be neat nonetheless.
Technically, yes. In practice, whether it’s simple to do so or not will depend on the exact mechanisms that causes the transformation. I suspect the easiest way would be to get a lamp that mimics sunlight and shine it onto a surface of lunar regolith trapped behind a thin layer of transparent material to protect against oxidation.
this is amazing thank you
Okay but consider that the moon and the earth drift apart juuust a little bit each year—assuming that one’s lycanthropy is triggered by the AMOUNT of moonlight since what lore I know of consists of transformation on the full moon—eventually we’re going to be far enough away from the moon that the symptoms of lycanthropy will disappear forever
Actually no! I just heard a bit on NPR about this two days ago :3
The Moon is slowly drifting away, but it’ll eventually reach a static orbit and stop; it’s not going to fly off into space. What will happen though is kinda weird. When the Moon stops drifting away, the Earth-Moon system will become tidally locked. After that point, only one side of the Earth will ever face the Moon again. So it won’t be that lycanthropy will disappear forever; it’ll just only happen on half of the Earth :] :] :]
That raises another question though; will having the full moon always out, even during the day, mean that lycanthropes will always be shifted, or will the direct light of the sun overpower its effects during the day :?
HOLYSHIT, TIDALLY-LOCKED LYCANTHROPY PLANET
THIS IS THE BEST HIGH FANTASY KINGDOM DIVISION IMAGINABLE
THE KING OF ALL WOLVES!!!! A BORDER WITH BORDER CONFLICTS AND ROGUES WITH DUAL IDENTITIES!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
The moon is drifting away because it’s ashamed to be seen with us.
Dang it, stop giving me more awesome roleplaying world ideas!
