Hello everyone. I thought I would share a bit from Ghosts of the Past. Specifically I would like to excerpt to you the first passage about brown eye syndrome which is where exposure to argun ore (titanium 49, thorium 232, silicon 30, sulfur 36, strontium 87, and krypton 84) or argene (thorium 232) destroys two of the five cones in Beinarian retinas. After writing this passage I discovered the brown eye syndrome is somewhat similar to retinitis pigmentosa which itself has features similar to my neurological sight loss. More than any other passage in any of my books, this is where I share a bit of what my everyday visual world is like.
Later, as Elendir himself develops brown eye syndrome, he is pitied and looked down upon, something that genuinely reflects the way that low vision people today are treated.
Brown eye syndrome gets its name from the way it changes the color naturally blue, green, and grey eyes to brown. Many glaucoma drugs (such as Xalatan; I worked on the Xalantan advertising campaign when I worked for a pharmaceutical advertising agency) also darken light color eyes. As a personal caveat to everyone, the cosmetic drug "Latisse" that is marketed to thicken your eyelashes is first and foremost a glaucoma drug, one of those that darken the iris; using it may adversely affect your interocular pressure to the possible risk of your retina.
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Elendir followed Mukhtar back on the light rail subway. Together they sat quietly in the crowded rail car. The display flashed fourteen stations. Finally, Mukhtar rose and headed to one of the passenger doors. Elendir followed silently.
When the odd pair reached the main street, Elendir’s penta-chromatic eyes squinted. Here, everything was designed with tri-chromatism in mind. Elendir observed a complete absence of neutral colors in the cityscape around him. No whites, no blacks, no greys, no browns outside of the occasional outcropping of soil. A smog-like cloud filled the air. Elendir coughed. This was like no place he had ever seen or smelled before. Nodding and checking if Elendir were still following, Mukhtar headed towards a poorly constructed apartment building sixteen stories tall.
A reddish black dust coated the exterior of the building. Elendir paused to scan the dust with his small computer. Argun dust, the computer concluded…in high concentrations. “This is argun?” asked Elendir.
“Yes. I see it as very red in color; I am sure your eyes perceive it differently,” answered Mukhtar.
“It looks reddish-black to me,” confirmed Elendir.
“What is…black?” asked Mukhtar.
“I beg your pardon?” blinked Elendir.
“Black…what is that?”
“It is the complete absence of light being reflected from an object, when all the light is absorbed. You cannot see black?” puzzled Elendir.
“Beinarian eyes have a special cone for perceiving what I understand are considered neutral colors. Exposure to high levels of argun or its synthesized form, argene, over a prolonged time destroys that cone in our retinas. Another cone in normal eyes sees both very high energy and low energy light…this cone too is destroyed in new residents here…or absent altogether in those whose families have lived here for generations. This is what Brown Eye Syndrome entails…well, in large part,” detailed Mukhtar.
“Why then have I not heard of this before? I have never heard or read anything mentioning any sort of ocular mutations among our people….”
Mukhtar looked Elendir in the eye, “Then perhaps you should come up and all will be obvious.”
Five xiao-shirs passed. Mukhtar rang the doorbell next to apartment 16-23. A dark haired, dark skinned woman 40 cun 寸 tall opened the door, her dark brown eyes looking almost black to Lord Knight Elendir. The woman’s waist length hair was braided into four separate sections that were joined together in five different places. A silver and gold pendant featuring an open book with a calligraphic “s” character in the middle hung gracefully from her neck. Lady Durwen smiled, “Mukhtar. Welcome home. How were your errands?”
Mukhtar glanced at Lord Elendir, “Productive…Lady Durwen. May I introduce you to Lord Knight Elendir of house Ten-Ar? I found him wandering near the ruins of the old Central Nan li Healing Center.”
“Welcome, Lord Knight…please…come in,” beckoned Lady Durwen.
Elendir peered as far as he could as he stepped into the dark apartment. A tint covered the windows, one he had never heard of before. It made seeing anything difficult for Elendir. He stumbled a little as he tried to navigate to the seat offered to him. Another woman, Lady Dell, offered him a glass which Elendir graciously accepted from her. To Elendir’s eyes the liquid looked burgundy yet to the lady’s eyes it seemed bright red. “Kelan juice?”
“Of course. It’s one of the few fruits that grow here in Xi-Nan Fang,” smiled Lady Dell.
“The color of this juice is very unusual,” remarked Elendir.
“Argun dust gets into everything—including the foods we attempt to grow here,” explained Dell.
“I was under the impression that nothing could grow around here…that the radioactivity made it impossible…,” puzzled Elendir.
“Nothing HEALTHY grows here,” clarified Lady Durwen.
Hello everyone. I thought I would share a bit from Ghosts of the Past. Specifically I would like to excerpt to you the first passage about brown eye syndrome which is where exposure to argun ore (titanium 49, thorium 232, silicon 30, sulfur 36, strontium 87, and krypton 84) or argene (thorium 232) destroys two of the five cones in Beinarian retinas. After writing this passage I discovered the brown eye syndrome is somewhat similar to retinitis pigmentosa which itself has features similar to my neurological sight loss. More than any other passage in any of my books, this is where I share a bit of what my everyday visual world is like.
Later, as Elendir himself develops brown eye syndrome, he is pitied and looked down upon, something that genuinely reflects the way that low vision people today are treated.
Brown eye syndrome gets its name from the way it changes the color naturally blue, green, and grey eyes to brown. Many glaucoma drugs (such as Xalatan; I worked on the Xalantan advertising campaign when I worked for a pharmaceutical advertising agency) also darken light color eyes. As a personal caveat to everyone, the cosmetic drug "Latisse" that is marketed to thicken your eyelashes is first and foremost a glaucoma drug, one of those that darken the iris; using it may adversely affect your interocular pressure to the possible risk of your retina.
--------------
Elendir followed Mukhtar back on the light rail subway. Together they sat quietly in the crowded rail car. The display flashed fourteen stations. Finally, Mukhtar rose and headed to one of the passenger doors. Elendir followed silently.
When the odd pair reached the main street, Elendir’s penta-chromatic eyes squinted. Here, everything was designed with tri-chromatism in mind. Elendir observed a complete absence of neutral colors in the cityscape around him. No whites, no blacks, no greys, no browns outside of the occasional outcropping of soil. A smog-like cloud filled the air. Elendir coughed. This was like no place he had ever seen or smelled before. Nodding and checking if Elendir were still following, Mukhtar headed towards a poorly constructed apartment building sixteen stories tall.
A reddish black dust coated the exterior of the building. Elendir paused to scan the dust with his small computer. Argun dust, the computer concluded…in high concentrations. “This is argun?” asked Elendir.
“Yes. I see it as very red in color; I am sure your eyes perceive it differently,” answered Mukhtar.
“It looks reddish-black to me,” confirmed Elendir.
“What is…black?” asked Mukhtar.
“I beg your pardon?” blinked Elendir.
“Black…what is that?”
“It is the complete absence of light being reflected from an object, when all the light is absorbed. You cannot see black?” puzzled Elendir.
“Beinarian eyes have a special cone for perceiving what I understand are considered neutral colors. Exposure to high levels of argun or its synthesized form, argene, over a prolonged time destroys that cone in our retinas. Another cone in normal eyes sees both very high energy and low energy light…this cone too is destroyed in new residents here…or absent altogether in those whose families have lived here for generations. This is what Brown Eye Syndrome entails…well, in large part,” detailed Mukhtar.
“Why then have I not heard of this before? I have never heard or read anything mentioning any sort of ocular mutations among our people….”
Mukhtar looked Elendir in the eye, “Then perhaps you should come up and all will be obvious.”
Five xiao-shirs passed. Mukhtar rang the doorbell next to apartment 16-23. A dark haired, dark skinned woman 40 cun 寸 tall opened the door, her dark brown eyes looking almost black to Lord Knight Elendir. The woman’s waist length hair was braided into four separate sections that were joined together in five different places. A silver and gold pendant featuring an open book with a calligraphic “s” character in the middle hung gracefully from her neck. Lady Durwen smiled, “Mukhtar. Welcome home. How were your errands?”
Mukhtar glanced at Lord Elendir, “Productive…Lady Durwen. May I introduce you to Lord Knight Elendir of house Ten-Ar? I found him wandering near the ruins of the old Central Nan li Healing Center.”
“Welcome, Lord Knight…please…come in,” beckoned Lady Durwen.
Elendir peered as far as he could as he stepped into the dark apartment. A tint covered the windows, one he had never heard of before. It made seeing anything difficult for Elendir. He stumbled a little as he tried to navigate to the seat offered to him. Another woman, Lady Dell, offered him a glass which Elendir graciously accepted from her. To Elendir’s eyes the liquid looked burgundy yet to the lady’s eyes it seemed bright red. “Kelan juice?”
“Of course. It’s one of the few fruits that grow here in Xi-Nan Fang,” smiled Lady Dell.
“The color of this juice is very unusual,” remarked Elendir.
“Argun dust gets into everything—including the foods we attempt to grow here,” explained Dell.
“I was under the impression that nothing could grow around here…that the radioactivity made it impossible…,” puzzled Elendir.
“Nothing HEALTHY grows here,” clarified Lady Durwen.