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From: Jerome Blondel <bwbfc_at_hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 04:36:48 -0000


Hi

I said
>>in Glorantha, the stars seem to me basically useless for positioning.

Peter Metcalfe
>Which is the case in the Real World. What the stars are useful is
>direction finding.

I meant that on Earth the stars' elevations change with latitude so you can know your N-S position.

Alex Ferguson
>I consider this a "feature" myself, rather than a "bug". If
>one could readily "triangulate" one's position from a
>conveniently small sky dome, it would "feel wrong" to me.

Indeed the sky dome is not a cheese-cover. I like the idea that navigators can use the red moon though. Measuring the shift between her and Kalikos could help find out if you drift too far east or west when voyaging north-south. But it matters that the shift be measurable.

Asking directions from the mermen and other fish is still an option.

>Celestial or magical means of accomplishing that would have an excessively
>"steampunk" feel to it, IMO. (Which doubtless means the Mostali can – mayne
>they use Zenith as a GPS...)

Undoubtedly... They probably navigate with gridded maps of the lozenge with Magasta's Whirlpool as the origin, and Zenith sends position and accurate weather reports every hour.

Jerome



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End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #447


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