Thread: Cidri Genesis
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Old 05-26-2019, 01:50 PM   #46
TippetsTX
 
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Default Re: Cidri Genesis

Quote:
Originally Posted by JLV View Post
Of course, that doesn't really answer the navigation issue -- where everything is done by magnetic compass and dead reckoning, I suspect mapping would be a tremendous issue (and generally rather inaccurate) and trans-oceanic navigation extremely difficult (they'd generally want to hug the sea-coasts, and if there weren't extensive island chains (a la the East Indies) trade routes probably wouldn't be established at all). Which is not to say it would be completely impossible, though even the Polynesian navigators (who famously relied on the sea itself, it's taste, the feel of the water itself, the flow of the currents against their hands, the known prevailing winds, etc.) used the stars quite a bit too.

But maybe they have a new branch of magic -- we'll call it "geomancy" for the purposes of this discussion -- which has spells for navigation, mapping, and so on...
Fortunately, we're dealing with a world that was quite literally created by 'intelligent design'. I believe the Mnoren architects must've considered factors like this and tried to account for them in some way so maybe the approach here should be to think like a Mnoren... how would you (asking all of the brainiacs here) address these challenges.

One idea I had was inspired by another RPG setting that I love (the system, not so much); RIFTS. Although ley lines are supposedly naturally occurring phenomenon, what if the Mnoren intentionally created a network that channeled lines of magical energy in such a way as to create a literal and (at night) visible grid that could be used for navigation... essentially the lines of longitude and latitude would be physically manifest.

Too 'on the nose', perhaps?
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