Joy Nicholson <jjnichol at MIT.EDU> 04/13/06 08:45 AM To Jon_Lincicum at stream.com cc Jot Powers <books at bofh.com>, dragaera at dragaera.info Subject Re: Speculative Planetary Statistics for Dragaera (Math help?) >> At a guess, I would say the effects of the atmosphere on our heroes maybe >> less due to a lack of oxygen (which I think would tend to inspire deeper >> breathing), than to the presence of some other contaminant (CO2?) >> introducing a mild poisoning effect (which would encourage shallow >> breathing). >> > >I imagined the opposite. The atmosphere is more oxygen-rich, >therefore taking normal/deep breaths results in hyperventlating. Here's another clue, Issola Pg 51: [cite] The air smelled funny, sort of sweet with a queer kind of tang in it. [/cite] This may, indeed, indicate an abundance of Oxygen, rather than a lack, but to me this actually sounds very similar to what they think happened at the ancient greek oracle at Delphi. Recent evidence has suggested that the visions of the preisteses at Delphi were due to a peculiar concentration of a complex hydrocarbon similar to ether that would act as a mild sedative and send them into a trance-like state. These fumes were produced from underground fissures (which explains why the Oracle stopped being used shortly after an Earthquake that is presumed to have shut off the underground vents). The documentary I saw on this described the smell of the ether as a "sweet perfume-like odor". Or maybe this is reading too much into a single line of text. Majikjon