Research for chapter 15 - The power of Sun and Heat

We're in the Eldin Province now, and things are bound to change from the idyllic forest landscape of Ordona and Faron. Not only is the climate different, but the people living there, the resources found as well as traditions and culture that build all around them. I've passed a lot of time doing research for the Province, taking bits and pieces from countries found in our world and creating my own, living and breathing Eldin Province. Here a brief list of points that are mentioned in chapter 15, and how I came to them.

The sun

In a country where the Goddess Din is worshipped, the sun is bound to play an important role in the landscape as well as the culture of people living there.
The first aspect is the skin colour of the inhabitants. Have you noticed that in the game, and later it is confirmed in Hyrule Historia, Kakariko could be a town sprung out of a western movie? The rock is red, the sun is hot, and a dark-skinned shaman is striding through the streets clad in leather and an earth-coloured dress. That, of course, immediately let me think of Native Americans. This is why I took Native American words to name all new characters:

• ''Old'' Abequa => stays at home

• Chitto => brave
• Etu => the sun
• Helaku => full of sun
• Len => lion
• Kele => sparrow
• Kay (the builder, briefly mentioned) => glory

I didn't put many names to females, but that will be rightened in future chapters. As for Luana, it is not a Native American name, but a name I invented in my other story, The Dolor Mortis Curse, and I decided to take it over for the novel as well.

The sun has, obviously, a great influence on the climate. Farmers of Kakariko are based on the southern types of farmers found in our world, growing crop like corn, olives, tomatoes, wine grapes and lavender. The cattle is also different, but I'll develop agriculture while visiting other Eldinian towns. Stay in tune for more references to the south of France, Spain, Italy, the State of Mexico and many more!

Sundial on the wall

In a cultural aspect, the sun also appears in the daily life of our Kakarikans. This is how the idea of the sundial came to be. While other towns with frequent rainfall and cloudy skies have to rely on mechanical clocks, the Eldinians use a technique that is as old as the world. A sundial uses the sun and a pole to cast a shadow on a pre-established clock face. While the sun moves slowly from east to west, the shadow moves too, and a different time is showed.

Peasant's Ring, www.hornschnitzer.eu

But sundials do not have to be stationary or attached on walls. Little portable sundials were pretty common in medieval times. I myself own a nice silver sundial composed of a turnable clock face atop which sits a dragon (yeah, I like dragons). The dragon's tail casts a shadow on the clock face, and by subtracting the summertime hour, I get time results that are accurate by half an hour. Other sundials existed, like the ''Peasant's ring'' that uses a hole through which the sun shines. This one is even more accurate.


Under the influence of Twilight, the sun has been shut out of the Province, and this has set multiple problems into motion. Without the sun, crop is not growing, and without crop, people cannot eat. While this seems pretty obvious, there is another very important fact that appears with the lack of sun, which is felt within the people themselves.

Cod liver, yuck!

When sunlight falls onto human skin, it encourages us to produce vitamin D, an essential substance for us to live. When we are either deliberately evading sunlight, or sunlight is taken from us by natural causes, for example during winter, or when we live in the northern hemisphere where the sun shines less, this vitamin lacks, and multiple troubles arise.
First of all, we are more vulnerable to illnesses. Ever heard of ''Lebertran'', or cod liver? Ever wondered why Northmen swear by this awfully tasting stuff? (believe me, I've been through it in my youth) Well, it is a natural vitamin D supply, and helps building up the immune system and prevent illnesses.

vi.sualize.us

But another very important aftermath of sunlight deprivation is a reduced supply of melatonin and serotonin hormones, which are responsible for our mood. Their absence causes a disruption in our internal clock, which controls our natural waking and sleeping pattern. Renado and all the other Kakarikans feel this by entering a state of permanent gloom, depression even. And I can confirm this: when I am working outside in sunlight, I'm way happier as when I'm working on a cloudy day. This is also the reason why Africans tend to be happier and wear the biggest smile on their face.

This is also the reason why Luana makes Helaku a Saint John's wort tea. This phenomenous plant is widely known as a natural antidepressant. I've looked it up on wikipedia, and this is what I got:

pilladvised.com

"St. John's wort (SJW), similarly to other herbs, contains a whole host of different chemical constituents that may be pertinent to its therapeutic effects. Hyperforin and adhyperforin, two phloroglucinol constituents of SJW, are TRPC6 receptor agonist and, consequently, they induce noncompetitive reuptake inhibition of monoamines (specifically, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin), GABA, and glutamate when they activate this receptor. It inhibits reuptake of these neurotransmitters by increasing intracellular sodium ion concentrations. Moreover, SJW is known to downregulate the β₁ adrenoceptor and upregulate postsynaptic 5-HT_1A and 5-HT_2A receptors, both of which are a type of serotonin receptor. Other compounds may also play a role in SJW's antidepressant effects such compounds include: oligomeric procyanidines, flavonoids (quercetin), hypericin, and pseudohypericin."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypericum_perforatum#Medical_uses

Blah blah blah ... As clear as springwater, no? Basically, it helps with depressions. I didn't understand how or why, but it helps. xD

All in all, sunlight is a major factor in the Eldin Province. Knowing this, I'll make sure to spur Link in collecting Eldin's tears of Light so that this disaster has a swift end. ;)

Vulcanic activity

www.deviantart.com

Death Mountain is a volcano, as you probably know from previous Zelda games as well as this one. But a volcano isn't just filled with lava and erupts from time to time when you're unlucky. Around a volcano, an entire microcosm of activities are induced by the constant heat supply. Here a few of them that have been used in chapter 15:

www.eduweb.com

Geysers: those columns of boiling water shooting out of the earth at a given time are a rare, natural phenomenon occurring only at a few locations on Earth. The diagram shows how a pocket of magma underneath the pool of water heats this one up. Hot water takes up more space than cool water, and the pressure arising in the groundwater pool causes a powerful jet of water and steam to shoot out a hole in the ground. This is what causes a geyser.

Due to the fact that geysers are present everywhere on Death Mountain when Link travels there, I decided to include them in my novel as well, even if under slightly more realistic conditions. And by doing so, I got the hot spring in Kakariko as bonus in my volcanic all inclusive pack! Yay!

www.rossway.net

Fumaroles: a fumarole is an opening in the ground, much like the vent shown in the geyser diagram, that emits steam - from heated water - and gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), hydrogen chloride (HCl) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S, very poisonous!).

Sulphur deposit. Source: wikipedia

It is in those fumaroles that sulphur (or sulfur) can be found. It has a characteristic yellow colour and smells of rotten eggs. This putrid smell, by the way, comes from bacteria that break down the organic matter in eggs, swamps and sewers, and thus create a small quantity of hydrogen sulphide in them that carries this smell. I've been forced to smell it for days on end on my hands when I opened a rotten egg while making cookies for Christmas, and believe me, it was an awful experience...

This was it for this chapter, folks! Till next time! Oh, and once the battery of my granddad's camera is full, I'll take a picture of my dragon sundial and post it here.