Maps

Oh the places you'll go...

Maps are often considered some of the most valuable resources available to anyone who travels around the world. To get to where you need to go without the use of a global positioning system, you have to know where it is, and most importantly how to get there. Explorers chart maps to unknown regions and then sell the information to the highest bidder. Cartographers the world over required skills most people wouldn't think about. They're not just skilled artists capable of Imagining the land from high up above with alarming accuracy. They are skilled in the ways of navigation, as a map is useless if it doesn't the right information a navigator uses to reach their destination. It's easy to underestimate the power of a sheet of paper. Such things are mundane but a well-crafted map can make all the difference in the life or death situation brought on by a grave navigational error.

A Proper Map

A proper map will always contain the following things

Accurate depictions of landmasses, including potential landmarks like small islands.
Accurate portrayal of jet streams for Airships, usually depicted in red, blue and yellow based on time of year when the streams change
Illustrated numerical values to account for Coriolis Effect, longitude and Latitude, and average wind speed and direction in the form of a wind-rose.
Star Charts with appropriate zodiac symbols, and overlays for different parts of the world.

Cartography is a particularly underrated skill. Anyone can paint a picture. Add a sea monster here, a cute little gust of wind... tracing the land and marking the borders exactly as they should be? Marking exact place of every known settlement, every known airdock? Marking the roads, the jetstreams, the windrose... making a proper map is something else entirely
— Cartographer aboard The Icarus

Creation

With the rise in use of Airships in the world. Cartographers had to figure out a successful way to map the sky as opposed to the ground below it. This began a massive reform in the process of making maps. The solution was to create several semi transparent overlays that one lays on the primary map. Maps often come in several layers and these overlays can be anything from wooden stencils, to thin and pliant glass sheets.

Layers

The first layer is a map of land masses and oceans in the area that is being mapped. This layer features longitude and latitude lines as well as other elements that are isolated to traveling by land or by water. The next layer is usually an overlay of the sky depicting the sky regions above the areas mapped. This overlay is usually only used by those who travel by air. The final layer is a set of star charts that usually come with smaller overlays depicting constellations. This overlay is used by all those who travel as an effective means of determining where you are and where you are going. Other overlays do exist such as positioning of the Moon and Sun and are usually only used for those who travel on particularly long trips. The main reason for this is because one must know the time of day, wind variables and the positioning of celestial bodies to know exactly which direction to travel to meet the destination. This is used almost exclusively by Airship to have to consider The Coriolis Effect to reach their destinations.

Trademarks and special additions

There are many other things that can come with a map. Oftentimes, a cartographer's selling their map will include tools that are the same make and model they personally used when crafting it. This can include a spyglass, a compass, an abacus, recorded data on weather, landmarks, social and cultural information, and data on flora and fauna native to the areas mapped. It isn't uncommon for someone buying a map to leave a cartographer's Guild with their arms and pockets full, but their wallets empty. Navigational tools are importance and by no means would a guild swindle their patrons. There are some less than reliable cartographers who sell their poorly made maps and subpar equipment to anyone stupid enough to not venture to a guild to obtain what they need.

Cartographers

Cartographers are often valuable members of a ship's crew. Explorers often higher than to map out new regions they find, or correct mistakes on maps they currently have. There are many explorers who isolate their work strictly to the creation and addendum of maps.

Paper Towns

No cartographer would sell a map without first adding a form of Maker's Mark to the finished product. This usually comes in the form of a landmark, star formation, settlement, or some other feature of the map that is entirely fictional and made up by the cartographer who created the map. These Paper Towns, as they are called, serve as an effective way to call out anyone who would steal their work. These creations are usually a secret that is kept very close to the cartographer and is rarely ever revealed

Map Mechanics

In this game, maps offer a source of income and a means of discovering new locations. The party will always be adding new things to a map if the area is unexplored or has been explored but has a subpar map. Maps can be obtained or created by cartographers, which is any character whether they are a player character or a non-player character, that has the Cartographer trait. Anytime players encounter errors in an existing map or discover things not on an existing map, if they have the Cartographer trait they may fashion their own map with these new additions. For every change or addition to their new map they gain experience and money that can be used for a vast assortment of things. This includes upgrading characters crew members as well as any airships they are flying. While it is our world there is much of it that is left unexplored due to the changes in geography and the time period that the game takes place in. This game allows players more freedom than what they do and where they go. The only restriction is the presence of a map improper navigational information that allows them to reach their destination. Is the players do not have a map they roll on a random number table to determine how close they are to their desired destination and to determine where they actually end up. This is the exploration mechanic and is used anytime a proper map isn't present when they are traveling. If I have a proper map they can still choose to explore the area the map covers. What does a discover something new to add to the map depends heavily on how explore the region is. Most explored regions will yield the least amount of new discoveries but these discoveries will often be the most rewarding as they are well hidden for a reason. Venturing out into unknown territory can yield many benefits but the odds of finding something new will decrease with every single new discovery they make. The way this mechanic works is simple. Is the Players wanted to get to a particular destination they need three things,

A general idea of where their destination is, referred to as a rumors. Rumors come from legends and local lore as well as knowledge that such a place exists.
Navigational information used to find the location. Even if they have a good idea of where the location is it may still prove very difficult to find especially if it is a mythical location. While this is not nearly as difficult to deal with when trying to find a nation such as Japan or Russia it is absolutely essential find more specific and isolated locations.
The final piece of the puzzle comes in the form of star charts and other attachments that depict the location in question. This is more for mythological locations as well as pretty much everybody knows where the nations of the world are simply by looking at a globe.

When finding these three elements it's important to know that you do not need all three to find your location. Finding all 3 simply makes the guarantee you will find your location where that is missing one or two will decrease the odds of finding a location upon searching for it. Notice that these coins are primarily focused on more specific areas that are isolated to a very particular region. A good example would be the Vermilion Garden. Finding it involves not only trying to get navigational coordinates and also the proper information on how to get to location but also the knowledge of the location self which many people outside of Ukraine do not even though about the garden. When it comes to Nations and much larger regions the purpose of this mechanic is to get the players to understand the field of play. Having a map of the region question as well as various points of interest for the players to investigate is essential to making the sand box work. More information on how sandbox is ran see the rules for the off the cuff role-playing system.

Entry for Summer Camp 2019

Answering: "Describe the functions and uses of a commonplace item in your world."

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