On Thu, 7 Aug 2003, Philip Hart wrote: > > >On Thu, 7 Aug 2003, lazarus wrote: >> >> And how the heck do the Orca navigate without stars? > >That's easy - they know the time, and they know the distance (I bet) >from the Orb (I assume the speed of sorcery is finite). If that's >not enough (and isn't there a reference to compasses somewhere?) they >probably have simple charms that indicate distance to reference >points... > >Otherwise they hug the coasts or know the currents out to the >islands... > In addition, if the Furnace is at all visible through the Overcast, they can get their latitude by measuring its height above the horizon at local noon. Sextants and quadrants aren't that difficult to make, and approximate guesstimates can even be done using just ones fingers, according to this page on navigation I found. Longitide is even easier, since they have a completely accurate clock at all times (except when they are too close to Greenaere). That would be why navigators would be interested in time zones, incidentally.