Palladium...North Star?

[Oberoth]

My character in the most recent campaign has the Astronomy&Navigation skill. Knowing a little about how to use a sextant and navigate by the celestial sphere myself, I had to ask the question, does Palladium have a north star? We Earthlings are lucky nature provided a star almost directly above our north pole. No matter how much the sky turns, it will always be in the same spot(Roughly). This also begged the following questions as well. What are the constellations of Palladium? Does it have a moon(s)? Are there any other planets in it's system? All of these things make celestial navigation, and seafaring possible. I couldn't find anything in the books I have. Did Kev forget these details, or did he leave them out for a reason? Perhaps I just don't have the right book, or missed this info.

[drewkitty ~..~]

If following the KISS principle...

Yes there is.


If not following the KISS principle.

maybe, but if there is then it's not quite directly north.

[Library Ogre]

If there's not a pole star, Palladium has the advantage of being a single continent, in a single hemisphere, and even a single quadrant.

[J. Lionheart]

The "North Star" we have on Earth is pretty much a function of axial rotation. Ours is especially nice, but really in a sky full of stars, one is bound to be closest to the point of rotation, and therefore be usable as a reference. The real boon for us Earthlings is that fact that our North Star is very bright and therefore easy to find.

Palladium does have a moon, and I would say a single moon at that. It is mentioned repeatedly due to its magical effects for spells like Cauldron of Obedience, Golem, and the Lycanthropic curse. The moon is also in a position such that it is completely blacked out (new moon) from time to time, so is in an orbit similar to ours.

I don't believe constellations are spelled out in any of the books. Sounds like a Rifter article to me!

As Mark mentioned, Palladium is in a single quadrant, within the Northern hemisphere of a spherical planet, so there is the added bonus that the constellations and reference points will be pretty much the same for everybody, albeit in slightly different positions relative to the horizon and such.

[Oberoth]

Thank you for your replies. A Rifter article is a good idea, and is worth further thought. After some cursory research on the north star I found an unsurprising fact.

From good ol Wikipedia..

Due to the precession of the equinoxes the direction of the Earth's axis is very slowly but continuously changing, and as the projection of the Earth's axis moves around the celestial sphere over the millennia, the role of North Star passes from one star to another. Since the precession of the equinoxes is so slow, taking about 26,000 years to complete a cycle, a single star typically holds that title for many centuries.

In 3000 BCE the faint up star Thuban in the constellation Draco was the North Star. At magnitude 3.67 (fourth magnitude) it is only one fifth as bright as Polaris, the current North Star.

Gamma Cephei (also known as Alrai, situated 45 light-years away) will become closer to the northern celestial pole than Polaris around 3000 CE.

Though the possibility of Palladium having a Pole star is pretty good, it is not 100% certain that said star would be visible to the naked eye. Also, if the pole star was in the southern latitudes, it would not be visible to continental Palladium. Perhaps said star would only be used by sea faring explorers. Then again, perhaps there IS another continent that has not been discovered yet. The new world anyone? Sounds like a good campaign idea to me.

[The Dark Elf]

Too much science, not enough magic.

Yes we do have anorth star - her name is Aco

[Library Ogre]

Too much science, not enough magic.

Yes we do have anorth star - her name is Aco

Aco isn't the North Star. Aco is the darkness between the stars.

[Prysus]

Greetings and Salutations. That depends on which Rifter Index you use. If you use the one in the Rifter Forum (here on this site), you'll likely never find it (because I don't see it listed). It's in Rifter 23, page 23, written by Carl Gleba (the Rifter Index has it listed as a Rifter Subscription Offer). The Nexus Nine index appears to have it listed though. It has references to constellations in the north, west, east, and south, as well as comets and "temples" (planets). I don't see any references to astrology though, but maybe I just didn't look hard enough (and I didn't reread it, only glanced at it). It's possible someone is making reference to a different issue I'm not aware of. Hopefully some of that will help. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys.



P.S. Odd note: In my copy, for some reason on the Table of Contents page, it refers to itself as Rifter 22 (not 23!). I just found that odd.

[Avatara]

Actually if you go by one of the phase world books (can't recall which one, but it had planet creation rules in it) It has a section on the Palladium world. According to that books Palladium is just a pocket dimension. Yep the great battle over the megavers seat of power to the old ones is some stupid pocket dimension. Personally I absolutely hate that Idea but it sadly is in the books. So remember remember KS's Favorite setting is inside Galstaff's sorcerer of light's bag of holding.

[Oberoth]

Thank you all for your replies. Rifter 23 has all the info I was looking for. Except I'm still left wondering where exactly is the equator on palladium? This sounds like a no brainer, but a full world map(Including such things as the equator and the prime meridian) is not available to my knowledge. This sort of detail is not necessary, but it would be nice to know, so Latitude and longitude of certain locales could be found.

[Prysus]

Actually if you go by one of the phase world books (can't recall which one, but it had planet creation rules in it) It has a section on the Palladium world. According to that books Palladium is just a pocket dimension. Yep the great battle over the megavers seat of power to the old ones is some stupid pocket dimension. Personally I absolutely hate that Idea but it sadly is in the books. So remember remember KS's Favorite setting is inside Galstaff's sorcerer of light's bag of holding.

Interesting. Greetings and Salutations to all. I believe this is a reference to Rifts Dimension Book 7: Megaverse Builder, page 65. This is written from the prospective of Plato of Lazlo (a dragon) and his limited view (limited because he spent very little time there and did not see a lot of the locations) of it. As an individual I'll say a lot of his information is flawed. I'm guessing this is either intentional (since the dragon is from Rifts, and spent only a short time there) or a result of the author's personal views (which he mentions at least once that something mentioned is something he used in his games, even though it is not what Kevin has ruled on the matter). Reading it, I see it as an interesting read, but from a highly misinformed perspective (I could pull out quotes from the PF Main Book that often contradict things written in it). On an additional note of fun, Carl Gleba wrote Dimension Book 7: Megaverse Builder and is also the author of the Rifter article (Palladium Astronomy) mentioned above. That should be all for now. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys for now.

[J. Lionheart]

Thank you all for your replies. Rifter 23 has all the info I was looking for. Except I'm still left wondering where exactly is the equator on palladium? This sounds like a no brainer, but a full world map(Including such things as the equator and the prime meridian) is not available to my knowledge. This sort of detail is not necessary, but it would be nice to know, so Latitude and longitude of certain locales could be found.

Couldn't tell you exactly, but it's south of the continent somwhere. It might be out in the ocean a ways, or even beyond the edge, but it isn't specified.

[The Dark Elf]

Too much science, not enough magic.

Yes we do have anorth star - her name is Aco

Aco isn't the North Star. Aco is the darkness between the stars.

Hehe true. I was thinking - does she actually have the deific power to "darken the night sky" or does she just get Juggernaught to stand in front of the sun

[Stone Gargoyle]

I'm actually beginning to lean towards the Palladium World as being the deific realm of the Old Ones. I mean, we have the Old Ones pretty much dominating the ancient history of this world, yet rarely if ever mentioned in the histories of any other planet even though they "dominated the megaverse."

And by Dragons & Gods, Gods can create deific realms to house their pantheons which are worlds in their own rights. So, perhaps Palladium is simply that realm for the Old Ones. It would explain the Great Wall at the edge of the sea, the lack of a globe, etc., etc.

That actually makes a scary amount of sense. But if that were the case, why would any of the gods in Palladium combat them?