#sdvthoughts

[stardewthoughts]

Lewis

These are some ideas/headcanons/whatnot about Lewis that I’ve had. This is no end all be all, just my ideas, please share your own

To preface, I dislike Lewis, for a handful of reasons, but I will try to remain objective

firstly, Lewis doesn't know or care about like half his job. I know no 2 places are the same and often have differing roles and responsibilities and such but here are the general duties of a mayor

to be CEO (chief executive officer)

to execute and enforce the laws of the city/municipality

to hire municipal managers and employees

to preside over meetings/cast votes

to provide public services to the town and ensure they work

to give information and recommendations to the city council on improvements to be made

To serve as the official spokesperson for the city government and build a sense of community

To speak with constituents and listen to their concerns and questions

Lewis seems to only cover the easier or more enjoyable parts, he decides things for the town then has others do them, he sends information and reports into the local city/governing body, he acts as a spokesperson more to build up pelican towns name than that he actually believes half of what he says as well as speaking with the townsfolk (some more than others lol) he half-asses at public services, the town has power, water and waste management, but no public transport in a town where (as far as i remember) only 2 people have some form of vehicle, or no industries to help keep the town alive (mining, lumber and such) he's a paper mayor at best

but here's the thing, just looking around, you can tell it wasn't always like this, there is lots of decayed mining infrastructure, and with how the forest near marine's home grow's, its closer to a new regrowth forest, which could hint at a small scale logging business, as well as all the broken down or decayed infrastructure. at one point the town was thriving, likely early in Lewis's career, but now everything is broken and supposedly the town is lacking in funds. the one commonality, Lewis

now I'm not saying he was the only factor, but he holds a lot of power to change said issues, its literally in his job description to fix the town but he relies on the goodwill of a private citizen to fix and build up the town, or is willing to sell land to a megacorporation that would flatten pelican town to build a factory in a heartbeat. now for disliking Lewis I don't think its laziness or pure greed-corruption that led him to what he is today, I think somethin may have happened, early on, he may have lost a loved one, or some similar heartbreaking experience, that left him depressed or distraught, and while id say he's possibly worked to manage it, it changed him, the happy man who wanted t help his hometown became a sad man alone in a big house who couldn't make the hard choices anymore and began skimming by life.

all that doesn't change what he's done but may explain it

[stardewthoughts]

sdv ideas/au/etc

please let me know, and thank y'all who were kind enough to like and comment on my other things, i appreciate y'all

[stardewthoughts]

In addition to all I said something else was brought to my attention, on top of everything else, the chickens that were bred by Shane developed highly ornamental features while retaining a high egg production

blue chickens

ok, so let me preface this with, i'm no chicken expert nor biologist, this is just something i find fascinating and i'm still a biology nerd just not employed for it lol

ok so first of all, lets lay out some facts, shane who for a majority of his time in stardew valley has been depressed and highly alcohol dependant, while working a dead end job in a soul crushing company, managed to breed chickens with not only an unusual colour but unusual physical traits, seen in functionally no other hens. that is both objectively impressive and kinda insane, but when broken down its much more impressive

firstly, creating a new breed of anything takes years and a lot of patience, on average it takes 5-7 generations to have chickens breed true (reproduce creating offspring with the same traits as them) without setbacks and on average one generation would take 6-7 months, which would mean roughly 4 years of work

on top of the time it would take, shane would have to have a very good grasp on genetics, to realize what combinations would produce whatever outcome he wants, and while he likely discovered a mutation in the colour pigment that he took advantage of, he'd still have to meticulously plan pairings and keep track of genetics and generations, trying to avoid major inbreeding while keeping the blue gene dominant in the gene pool.

but there's one thing off, true blue pigment is extremely rare in animals, with only one known species producing it, Obrina Olivewing butterfly. so how the hell could the chickens be blue?

its quite simple, Rayleigh scattering

(definition)

-Rayleigh scattering refers to the scattering of light off of the molecules of the air, and can be extended to scattering from particles up to about a tenth of the wavelength of the light. It is Rayleigh scattering off the molecules of the air which gives us the blue sky

its rayleigh scattering that also causes blue jays to be blue, seeing as the predominant pigment in their feathers is melanin making them truly brown/black in colour. ironically real world blue chickens aren't really blue, the blue genes are more of a dilution gene for black pigment

now i'm not knowledgeable enough to tell you how to make a blue chicken but my hypothesis would be a mutation/modification in feathers(possibly naturally iridescent feathers) that caused more blue to reflect, this mutation being bred through the lines, being crossed bac to produce more blue, till the chickens became solid blue.

on top of the strange color, these hens have also developed more rooster like tails, this being much simpler to explain, likely being a mutation causing increased feather growth akin to a rooster, within hens

this shows how much work and dedication shane put into his hens, and is one of the reasons he's my favourite characters, this man, who likely (to me atleast) has no science background, managed to create chickens defying what was believed to be the barrier of poultry colouration