Blind: part 2

The Blind became the dominant culture on Euterpe, for they were the only civilized culture. Others they called Lightstruck. For hundreds of years the Blind controlled the resources of the world, except for the untamed equatorial regions, too rampant with plant life to be civilized, those areas were still controlled by various feuding groups of Lightstruck.

By this time the Blind have, as a culture, forgotten about the sensation of vision. Children who, through some grievous error, grow up without having their eyes removed universally become quite insane, and even if their eyes are removed at a later point rarely recover to being fully functional members of society. Yet some among The Blind do find it interesting how the Lightstruck are able to survive, in such brutal environments, with their debilitating vision intact.

Let's call him Dr. Strings, a figurative translation of his native name with we would find quite unpronounceable; if you want an idea of it though it sounds not completely different from the sound you would get if you compressed to a fraction of a second a yodeler covering the opening 24 notes of 'War Pigs' where each note has an internal substructure of the guitar riff from 'Bohemian Rhapsody' played backwards over either 'Moonlight Sonata' or 'Smoke on the Water'; depending on the declension. Though if we created such an abomination is a sound lab in an attempt to communicate, it's even odds whether he would be able to figure out that you were addressing him or would think that you were inviting an ivy plant to a funeral for your goldsmith's second favorite pet, conditional on the acceptance of an earlier made wedding proposal by your twin cousin. Needless to say there are elements his native language's grammar that we don't yet fully grasp.

Dr. Strings studied the Lightstruck and their superstitions, they for example claimed they could know when Thunder would sound several seconds before it did, a claim that Dr. Strings was surprised to find verified on several occasions. Though the statistical majority of their 'predictions' could be discounted as good guesses, based on hearing, through sounds distortions, an incoming low pressure system. The Lightstruck though claimed they could, use their eyes to see an aura that predicted the thunder. Even if this were true, it could hardly be of use, Dr. Strings etched in his record.

Most of the day the Light struck slept, and most of the night the Lightstruck sat around facing out from their settlement into the tall thick plants, only at dawn did they go out and gather food, and then at dusk, when they awake, they set the settlement in order before they began their night of forest facing. The temperature swings between night and day were mild because of the thick atmosphere, but most life was nocturnal, and cooler temperatures are better suited for activity. Dr. Strings knew enough about eyes to know that they respond to energy from the daysky, he postulated that for the Lightstruck living strickly nocturnally was a way of protecting themselves from the dangers of eyes.