From: Lewis Jardine (jardine@rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk)
Date: Tue 06 May 1997 - 13:04:31 EEST
Hi All
I have not been keeping up lately and have missed much,
I assume that the compass debate has decided that Gold is drawn
so if this has already been observed please ignore this post.
towards Yelm. Thus a perfectly balanced needle with one end made
of gold will generally follow the sun's path across the heavens.
I make a massive assumption in assuming that it also follows the
sun's path through the Underworld. Now mount this needle on a
vertical circular disk with marks arround the edge and you have
what is known as a "Sun Dial" in Glorantha. This is a reliable
method for telling the larger units of time. Obviously, the larger
the sun dial is the more accurate it will be (but it will also
require more gold in the needle!). Pocket Sun Dials are just Gold
Compasses and are sometimes known as such or even Sun (or Solar)
Compasses. The devices must be held vertically and are of course
relatively inaccurate.
Another type of compass which is often known by a different name
is the Plumb Line which is drawn towards the darkness of the Underworld.
Of course this tool is useful for builders, although some Solar types
have been known to Gold Compasses at midday (derived using a second
clock) to find the vertical).
I have a question for my fellow scholars arround the Lozenge and that
is do Lead Compasses/Plumb Lines point down towards a central point in
the Underworld (in a manner similar to Aluminium & Gold compasses) or
do they point towards the nearest part of the underworld?
I suspect the latter because they seem to be used by builders
throughout Glorantha and of course those peopels who are on the edge
of the Lozenge would find their buildings falling over if their Plumb
Lines were pointing at the centre of the Underworld (unless it was
VERY VERY deep down...) BTW How deep is Hellcrack as with this
information we could work out the angle of error in the Plumb Line
for different places in Glorantha if the first hypothesis was correct.
Cheers
Lewis
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