Au'ra Physiology: Limbral Rings (What are they?)

[FloppyDingo]

So I was contemplating recently the limbral rings of the au'ra. What are they? Why do they glow? Can the glow be suppressed or are you forever cursed to be unable to sneak up on people in the dark? How do they change color (the aesthetician can do that)? Do you think they just reflect light like a cat's? 

[Valence]

I don't think there is a ton of lore on this, I actually can't think of any...

 

Other than that, limbal rings also exist in humans, albeit to a way smaller degree. I suppose it's just a trait of the eyes that can be especially prominent for au'ra. 

[Mermaid]

As Valance said already, they are a real world occurrence.

 

That aside, do they actually glow? I've never actually seen them in a dark area. When I messed around with them in character creation, I assumed the "glow effect" was actually just a lack of shading. A small area of flat color, particularly a bright one, put on top of something with proper shading and highlighting will look like a glow or highlight. It's likely because of that fact that they don't all look like they're glowing. Yugiri's, for example, do not glow.

 

Lastly, it's probably safe to assume that the aesthetician changing them is not canon.

[Koro Dotharl]

They don't glow afaik. If you get in a dark area you wont see it. They just lack shading so they get very prominent in color.

[Lydia Lightfoot]

It's how you can tell when you need to plug your au'ra in for a recharge. The ring gradually changes from blue to green to yellow to red. When it starts blinking in the red stage, you'd better get to an outlet, stat.