Climate shift question

[Myasishchev]

I think it would mess with them, but not cripplingly so. It must be something they can deal with if they can stomach the differing magnetic fields of other planets, starships, and space stations.

Also, Garak probably would've mentioned it in his litany of complaints in The Wire, along with the lights being too bright, the air being too cold, and his porridge being too hot.

Incidentally, if bright lights bug Cardassians, why is the Cardassia we've seen so shiny? Did we just get to see it on the rare clear days?

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Well...what I noticed that either Cardassia was shown at sunset--or the normal light of their sky is red. Isn't red a bit easier on the eyes? I mean, under the right conditions you can even get away with staring at the sun for a bit at sunset. (Not that I'm advising anybody else to try it.) So I wonder if light like Sol would be more intense to them.

Another thing in my own stories as to why Cardassians may have more trouble with bright light--they may have become diurnal creatures later in their evolution. Therefore they retain a tapetum lucidum (though not one as effective as, say, your cat or dog). That means bright light can glare.

(Which may be another reason they have hooked eye ridges despite the evolutionary disadvantage you'd expect from the loss of peripheral vision: couple the effects of too much sun with the fact that their bioelectric sense, in more primitive times, would've helped compensate for the narrowed field of vision and reduced hearing compared to other AQ species--and you have reasons why the benefits of having their eye ridges outweigh the benefits of not.)