On Thu, 07 Aug 2003 16:24:09 -0700 (PDT), you wrote: > > >On Thu, 7 Aug 2003, lazarus wrote: > >> On Thu, 07 Aug 2003 15:15:19 -0700 (PDT), you 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... >> >> Now that's an interesting idea. The Orb as a GPS device? > > >If I understand GPS, it takes two satellites. What I was thinking was: > >The Orb knows where you are, so it can tell you. Teleportation probably >requires this capability. Vlad in fact refers to "coordinates" at some >point in _Jhereg_, I believe. > >Or you have the Orb send you a wavefront, you bounce it back, and then you >adjust the frequency until you get a standing wave; the Orb does the math >for you and tells you the distance. Or you do the beacon thing above - >say two fixed sorcery mirrors somewhere which you can bounce a wave off. >If the Orb's timing is fine enough (and I guess it would have to be) then >instead of the frequency-adjustment thing you can just do a ping and have >it measure the time. All assuming the speed of sorcery isn't infinite. > So it's sort of a GPS device. :-) Is there any textev for this, or are we speculating? I totally agree that this would be an effective and completely plausible effect, it'd just be neat if we had support for it. It's quite possible that, instead of big lamps in the lighthouses, they could have lamps /and/ psychic beacons ( saying, "Go away, I'm a rock!"). (Hey, neat. Four punctuation marks in a row!) Man, that Orb is getting cooler and cooler. -- lazarus "Folly it may seem," said Haldir. "Indeed, in nothing is the power of the Dark Lord more clearly shown than in the estrangement that divides all those who still oppose him." -- J.R.R. Tolkien