Cast maps

For travellers between cities, the greatest dangers presented by the wilds come not from large animals and plants - most of which can be avoided with a competent guide and sufficient caution - but from navigation. The fluid nature of Reality can add unexpected days onto a journey and the chances of becoming lost or worse - stumbling into Dream - increases as a traveller goes further from civilisation.

Along them most common routes, waystones - large, iron-containing boulders - serve as anchors for Reality. Away from the waystones, navigation becomes a far more complicated affair but, despite the danger, there are several cultures that live nomadic lives outside the cities.

Cluster maps

Found in west Olmiveiran cultures - mainly Kisia and western Riras - cluster maps are a form of sortilege divination (cleromancy) that relies on the interaction between the cast pieces and Dreamtides to describe the landscape. They comprise a collection of small objects such as shells and small bones, nuts and seeds, stones, keys, and arrowheads, and a casting cloth, which may be painted or decorated.

The navigator says a prayer or makes an offering to the god Crausam, then - without anyone looking - casts the collection onto the cloth. The pattern of the casting, the grouping of pieces, and the meaning of the individual elements informs the navigator about the land ahead. In addition to routes, tracks, and landmarks, and experienced caster can also see sources of food and water, hazards, and even weather patterns.

The components of a cluster map are collected by and are personal to the user; while others can use and interpret the map, the tool is fundamentally a form of divination and the user’s relationship with it affects the level of detail they are able to discern.

Thread maps

A much simpler cast map found in eastern Olmiveiran cultures is a thread map, or pelpeguar: a strand of cord with knots or beads at regular intervals. It is cast onto the ground and the shape of the cord describes the path that the traveller needs to take. A pelpeguar does not give any information about the landscape, only the route, but requires significantly less training and can be used in addition to a cluster map.