Little Shyning Man the Addom

The Science of Riddley

About the Atomic Bomb
It's about the atomic bomb. Just like the name says.
Blast Map
Wondering what would happen if your town were to be hit with an atomic bomb?
Find out with this map. It calculates the force of the impact as well as the resulting
nuclear fallout and then determines what the damage will be to your region. For
example, if a bomb were dropped on Manhattan, most residents of the surrounding
4 boroughs would not be harmed (depending, of course, on the bomb's magnitude).
Unfortunately, most of these people would be killed in the days following the blast,
victims of radiation poisoning.

Next to his representation as Jesus, the most important role of the Little Shyning Man the Addom is to be split
in two. The "Addom" (atom) is pulled apart, and nuclear fission becomes an instrument of war. His radioactive
nature led Eusa to him. In Eusa 5, the verse claims:

"Foun the syn uv dansing on partickler traks thay dogs & follert harkin
1 tu the uther hot & clikkin & countin thay gygers & thay menne cools
of stone" (pg.31).
The ensuing destruction of the nuclear war that must have followed was enough to ruin most of the area.
Throughout Cambry and the other dead cities, Riddley sees evidence of the blast: white shadows on walls
where people were vaporized instantly by the heat.
Gunpowder
This is what Goodparley and the others were really after. The 1 Little One made a
substantial bang, as they all learned. Gunpowder changed the way wars were
fought in our history, and it will likely change the face of Riddley's world as well.

As the site explains, early weapons used "black powder," made from saltpeter,
charcoal, and sulfer. The charcoal was what the burners were making out of the
"Heart of the Wood." The saltpeter ("Saul & Peter") is potassium nitrate, a
common chemical compound often used as a fertilizer. The greatest source of this
in Riddley's world comes from pig excrement. It's also what the dyers use as a
mordant when coloring their red cloth. The "yellerboy stoan" is sulfur, the final
ingredient. It is a characteristically yellow mineral, fairly soft in composition.
As Granser says,

"When the yellerboy comes hoam wewl make such a noys" (pg. 150).

Interestingly, each ingredient is associated with a color. The sulfur is yellow, the
charcoal is black, and the saltpeter is red.

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