The relevance of color within Ethnis varies greatly from species-to-species and culture-to-culture; not just because of social value, but because of their ability to see those colors in the first place. Different species and Sophont have differing chromacy. The ability to use Divination also has an effect on color perception.
Chromacy
These chromacy varieties are physiological, but in the case of constructed entities such as Genestructs and Androids it is also often by design. It is easier to control or subvert creatures and creations if they can only perceive certain colors and light wavelengths.
Monochromats
Common among Genestructed Life A misnomer which typically references a construct with Achromatopsia—total color blindness. They perceive color values and saturations, but have no concepts of hue.
They are usually developed for work within a closed system such as a factory or mines, where color differentiation isn't needed for their tasks.
Dichromats
Dichromats have one cone set or cone analog which allows them perceive a certain hue of color. For constructs, this allows them to operate outside of a closed system or program directives into certain colors. For example, many Orga drones will only attack targets painted in a certain color key.
Most Crustarthroflect are dichromatic.
Trichromats
The standard for most Sophont, advanced orga, and so forth. They typically see using red, green, and blue cones, but there are other modded varieties of tetrachromats who can see in altered spectrums.
Verin, Sazashi, and Human all see slight variations of trichromacy.
Tetrachromats
Entities which can see a fourth aspect of the spectrum, typically either ultraviolet or infrared. Many explorers, scouts, and soldiers take tetrachormatic Augments to increase their worth in the field.
Sazakraht , GearHeart, and Undaunted are all tetrachromats.
Pentachromats
Pentachromats are almost exclusively genestructed or augmented to be so. The most common type of Pentachromat is common spectrum + infrared + ultraviolet. Higher ranking military officers will often purchase pentachromatic augments, making them excellent in battlefields and scouting situations.
Luea are pentachromats.
N-Chromial
The catch-all term for any species with a chromacy value outside of the standard pentachromatic color range. Many N-Chromial entities can perceive very specific events (such as oxidation) rather than having a particular broad spectrum of visibility. For this reason, someone may be considered Trichromat + N-Chromial.
Psiolic are considered N-Chromial due to Divination.
Divination
As previously mentioned under
N-Chromial, Divination is considered a type of N-Chromacy. The truth, of course, is much more complicated and the subject of some debate. To some, the fact that the facets of Divination are perceived in a way that isn't strictly eyesight means that they do not count as a kind of vision, and so are not N-Chromial.
The counter argument to this is that it is perceived as sight, and described in the same way as a tetrachromat trying to explain color to dichromat.
Comments