RPG plot help: What does the statue reveal?

[SolemnGolem]

TL;DR - a culture has a huge statue at its capital. Two evenings per year (on the equinoxes) the sunset directly illuminates the statue from exactly west. What plot-groovy secret does the shadow display?

Background: The campaign is set centuries in the future after a technological collapse. It's set at the equator, in Gabon.

Direct sunlight is blocked by a large cloud of orbital debris (the remnants of a satellite war between powers that caused the collapse). However, one Space Elevator located around Sao Tome & Principe has survived and is still operational. It has automated high-tech defense systems that projects a repulsion field due east of its tether, deflecting the orbital debris cloud enough so debris misses the tether comfortably.

From the surface of the Earth in Gabon's medieval-level populace, looking west shows a sliver of golden sunlight every sunset. (Termed the "Arbovi", from "arbre de vie" for "tree of life".) But on two nights, on the equinoxes, the sun directly shines through the wedge gap in the debris and illuminates the landscape in long, dramatic shadows.

The ruling family worships a trio of goddesses for the virtues of Love, Truth, and Courage. There is a huge carved monument to the three goddesses in the capital's central plaza, showing them in poses of thought and deed. The sunlight on the twice-yearly evenings illuminates the statue from the side.

I'm thinking of having this show some secret of some sort for those who know where to look - maybe with the shadows lighting up something on the mountain range to the east, or on the plaza to the east.

What sort of fun things could this be?

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by SolemnGolem

TL;DR - a culture has a huge statue at its capital. Two evenings per year (on the equinoxes) the sunset directly illuminates the statue from exactly west. What plot-groovy secret does the shadow display?

Background: The campaign is set centuries in the future after a technological collapse. It's set at the equator, in Gabon.

Direct sunlight is blocked by a large cloud of orbital debris (the remnants of a satellite war between powers that caused the collapse). However, one Space Elevator located around Sao Tome & Principe has survived and is still operational. It has automated high-tech defense systems that projects a repulsion field due east of its tether, deflecting the orbital debris cloud enough so debris misses the tether comfortably.

From the surface of the Earth in Gabon's medieval-level populace, looking west shows a sliver of golden sunlight every sunset. (Termed the "Arbovi", from "arbre de vie" for "tree of life".) But on two nights, on the equinoxes, the sun directly shines through the wedge gap in the debris and illuminates the landscape in long, dramatic shadows.

The ruling family worships a trio of goddesses for the virtues of Love, Truth, and Courage. There is a huge carved monument to the three goddesses in the capital's central plaza, showing them in poses of thought and deed. The sunlight on the twice-yearly evenings illuminates the statue from the side.

I'm thinking of having this show some secret of some sort for those who know where to look - maybe with the shadows lighting up something on the mountain range to the east, or on the plaza to the east.

What sort of fun things could this be?

The shadow could point to the underground entrance to the Warrens of Mystic McGuffins.

Or to the location of a clue that leads to another clue.

Looking at the statues from the shadow could show something "written" in the silhouette image in some code or dead language.

Or looking from the side at the beams of light in the dusty air could look like something. The air is dusty from seasonal pollen, of course.

[SolemnGolem]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

Looking at the statues from the shadow could show something "written" in the silhouette image in some code or dead language.

Ooh, this could work! In my campaign (as in real life) there are a number of Chinese infrastructure contractors in the country.

It's possible they had been hired to construct the statues centuries before, using a variety of medieval-to-industrial-level tech. One of them could have designed the profile of the statues to cast a shadow showing a wry aphorism or 成语 in Chinese on the eastern surfaces...

[Langy]

Originally Posted by SolemnGolem

Ooh, this could work! In my campaign (as in real life) there are a number of Chinese infrastructure contractors in the country.

It's possible they had been hired to construct the statues centuries before, using a variety of medieval-to-industrial-level tech. One of them could have designed the profile of the statues to cast a shadow showing a wry aphorism or 成语 in Chinese on the eastern surfaces...

Or just graffiti as young men are wont to do; after the PCs work for a few adventures trying to decipher the mysterious clue, they discover that it's just a dirty limerick.

[SolemnGolem]

That fun plot twist was used earlier in the campaign: the PCs heard about a fabled UK SAS weapons cache in the mountains. It was guarded by a voice-activated password system and it had three parts.

They went down into the plains tribes and interviewed elders to get the three parts of the passwords. They were: SUWENNAI, MBITUWI, and NORTAIZ.

When they returned to the cache, they recited the three passwords, triggering a tinny speaker that played a prerecorded snatch of male baritone song...

"(-s') when I'm between your thighs
You blow me away..."

And the plastique explosive booby trap went off.

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Originally Posted by SolemnGolem

That fun plot twist was used earlier in the campaign: the PCs heard about a fabled UK SAS weapons cache in the mountains. It was guarded by a voice-activated password system and it had three parts.

They went down into the plains tribes and interviewed elders to get the three parts of the passwords. They were: SUWENNAI, MBITUWI, and NORTAIZ.

When they returned to the cache, they recited the three passwords, triggering a tinny speaker that played a prerecorded snatch of male baritone song...

"(-s') when I'm between your thighs
You blow me away..."

And the plastique explosive booby trap went off.

Reminds me of the huge cauldron that was found in an arceological dig with a mystrious sentence carved along the rim:

ITIS APIS SPOTANDA BIGONE.

Hans

[SolemnGolem]

Coincidentally, I saw this post about Torghatten, a mountain in Norway where the sun aligns with a hole through the mountain just right to create this picture: http://i.imgur.com/L1yWrzo.jpg This apparently happens twice a year.

There is also a similar philosophy behind the design of this Veterans Day memorial in Arizona: http://i.imgur.com/CrPaC.jpg This apparently happens only once a year, at 11:11 a.m. on Nov. 11.

A very similar plot point occurs in Raiders of the Lost Ark, where a lens fitted on a special length of rod focuses the sun's rays on a miniature model of the necropolis.

[Jonas]

Originally Posted by SolemnGolem

That fun plot twist was used earlier in the campaign: the PCs heard about a fabled UK SAS weapons cache in the mountains. It was guarded by a voice-activated password system and it had three parts.

They went down into the plains tribes and interviewed elders to get the three parts of the passwords. They were: SUWENNAI, MBITUWI, and NORTAIZ.

When they returned to the cache, they recited the three passwords, triggering a tinny speaker that played a prerecorded snatch of male baritone song...

"(-s') when I'm between your thighs
You blow me away..."

And the plastique explosive booby trap went off.

Now I have to ask, was this because they messed something up or was it decided ahead of time that it'd go off?

[SolemnGolem]

The British forces that set it had a twisted sense of humor, so it was intended to go off. There was a designed workaround if the PCs did a little digging, but they missed it.

It wasn't terribly lethal, what with age and the passage of time, but we were still looking at 3d6 damage.

[Anders]

The Evil Overlord's secret sex tape?