Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-14909251-20170522044827/@comment-25936766-20170530203547

ChishioKunrin wrote: Pyrrha said that many Faunus have "nearly-perfect sight in the dark", so it's apparently a pretty common thing, but we don't know if it's an all-around Faunus thing where they may or may not inherit it or a "specific animals" Faunus thing. I would be more at easy if it was not a Human who said that...

...........Let me theorize a bit (Do note this will be long).

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A good number of animals have good night-vision, but generally it has the drawback of poorer color vision, so they see things in a paler coloration. More technically, while it can vary, generally species with more cones have less rods, and vice-versa, or at least not enough rods to see in the dark.

At the same time, species without good night-vision, generally, either don't need it, or have other ways to get around at night. Even species with good night-vision, like Cats, have alternate means.

Cats themselves have a better sense of smell than humans, and hearing good enough to hear sounds that are too low or too high for humans to hear. And most importantly, the whiskers, which provide info on the gaps between objects and their location even in the dark, due to their sensitivity to touch; in fact, just sensing the air currents helps them.

Now, of course, a Cat Faunus can't have both whiskers and ears, but even one of them would make them muuuch better at moving in the dark than a human, either from superior hearing, or from sensing the locations of things. Even if the Faunus in question did not have actual Night Vision, they would still fare better than a Human.

So basically, the idea of Faunus-in-General having "near perfect Night Vision" would be a hyperbolic misconception. Faunus-in-General simply are more capable than humans at getting around at night, thanks to their traits and/or superior sense(s).

However, this idea implies that most Faunus, senses aside, do have traits that facilitate moving at night, and while it's not uncommon in nature, it's doubtful even the majority of Faunus have them. Because they only get 1 trait, and not all traits help with that.

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Now, if we follow my previous theorical idea that Faunus Capabilities, such as Night Vision, can be passed down even if the child is not phenotypically a Faunus, then Faunus-in-General could indeed have good Night Vision.

Example: We know Cat+Cat=Cat, in cases like those it's a given. Cat+Human=Either, and in either case they would have good Night Vision. Cat+Dog=Anything, but regardless of what it is, it would have good Night Vision.

So if Cat+Dog=Chimp, that Chimp will have good Night Vision regardless of it's species, because it got it from it's parent(s). Plus, due to the severe Faunus Persecution in the past, Human-Faunus relationships were likely very rare, likely taboo, meaning most Faunus would prefer Faunus-Faunus relationships.

Over time, this means that many Faunus would have, in this case, Night Vision, be they Goats, Monitor Lizards, Serows or Llamas.

However, take note: Capabilities directly dependant on an actual trait (like what Whiskers do) would not be passed down, precisely because they are dependant on that trait.

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In either case, however, I should note that differences in specific senses should not be considered a Trait, at most a Capability. The reason: We have the same senses, the only difference is in their effectiveness at different things.

Both cats and humans have Sight, and can see in the dark, cats simply have more rods (plus other things), but they also have less cones, thus poorer Color Vision. Both cats and humans can hear and smell, cats simply are better in that sense.

Do note, Night Vision is not actually seeing in absolute darkness. Both cats and humans are equally blind in absolute darkness, because there's too little light. Cats simply have more rods, thus they can, leaving other things aside, detect more light in the environment. But they still need light. And the night is not absolutely dark either, because light reflects off the moon.

And even among humans, the senses can vary. Some see better, some see worse, for example.

So overall, things like Night Vision, technically, would not be a Faunus Trait in the way we generally use the term, since Humans also have rods and can see in the dark to some extent. But it would be a trait in the sense that Faunus likely have superior senses in general, including the number of cones and/or rods (Hence part of the reason I call it Capability, to differentiate).