Compass Formation

In the current age, each group exploring a wedge has about 12 people in it. In the formation's early days, the groups were made up of 5-6 people.

It's preferable they bring binoculars for this formation. A walkie talkie, however, is mandatory for communicating with the other groups. If for some reason a group loses all their walkie talkies, they must rely on an older form of communication: the smoke signal.

All scouts carry a gun and most carry a knife of some kind as well. Though they're not necessary for the compass foundation, they are often necessary for survival out in the wild, so it comes to the same thing.

In the early days of the compass formation, the scouts rode bicycles to split into four directions. These days, they ride horses.

Most often, the scouts follow the strict instruction of the Lead Scout, but the compass formation is an exception. Since the scouts split into four groups, each group must be commanded by a Section Officer (except the Lead Scout's group, of course). The officers are obviously following a basic set of guidelines laid down by the Team Leader, but they will also have the authority and flexibility to make decisions separate from them for their own group.

The compass foundation's training is hands on with new apprentices typically joining the Lead Scout's team until he or she deems them fully capable. Since the main requirement is simply the ability to follow orders and adapt to the terrain or new instruction, most scouts pass their training phase quickly.

When the scouts split into the compass formation, each wedge of the compass includes two people whose horses are loaded with supplies for the sake of the journey: food, water, horse feed, ammunition, and batteries in case a walkie talkie should die.

Every scout must also carry a form of light in case their exploration takes them beyond nightfall.

While all the scouts carry walkie talkies, while they're in the compass formation, only the Section Officers stay on the same channel as the Team Leader. The rest of the scouts will switch to different channels that match up with their group in case someone is separated.

Since the scouts are a vital function for the security of Willowmoor, they lack for nothing. They do have to be mindful of internal upkeep such as making sure the wedges rotate the directions they take on. Some directions have been known to spawn more strife and quick thinking than others, so it's important that the Lead Scout keeps one group from becoming too overwhelmed.

Because there are so few scouts, every one of them is expected to participate in the compass formation when it's deployed. For more details on the rigorous requirements of joining the scouts, see the Scout profession.

The compass formation earns its place in the annals of Willowmoor history as the tried-and-true method for exploring the vast world beyond. In fact, it works so well for covering large swaths of land that it's inevitably kept secret from other settlements nearby lest they steal the idea for their own scouts.

The formation also left a lasting impact on the scouts themselves since it's their most commonly used exploration tactic. The image of a compass even becomes their symbol.