Shulamit says, "Hoo HOO! Today we are researching a heavily engraved nautical compass!"

Shulamit holds up a nautical compass, showing it off. "Polished to a fine shine, this nautical compass is an ornate display of brass and crystal. The compass body bears a free moving magnetized needle which swings over a decorated brass base plate. Small decorations adorn the base plate, with markings for magnetic north as well as the other cardinal directions. A delicate crystal cover protects the needle and brass from damage, while also bearing extra markings for artistic flourish. The entire assembly is contained within a brass box which allows the compass to move freely so it can always stay flat, even on harsh seas. Decorating the outside of the box are scenes of nautical treachery, filled with ships, pirates, terrifying sea creatures, and lots of scenes of drinking."

Afesotinuilar says, "We still pulling from Gunurash, or is this some other planet?"

Shulamit says, "Oh, hoo. This is from Prugita!"

Shulamit says, "We've moved to Prugita, although still studying fossils from Gunurash at points."

Afesotinuilar noisily drags an Elgan chair across to rest beside the examination table before climbing up and getting settled in.

Shulamit says, "Prugita being a watery planet, which is where...those slaver beings keep the nice beings held because they can't swim well. But neither are originally from there, so some species came before. Left? Died?"

Zarrach says, "Or evolved."

Shulamit says, "Hoo, or evolved. But into what?"

Zarrach shrugs helplessly.

Afesotinuilar says, "Somethin' that don't like selakki, I bet."

Shulamit ponders the situation.

Shulamit says, "The selakki are a problem, yes."

Shulamit says, "Wonder if the fossils will show us even bigger selakki."

Shulamit shudders violently.

Shulamit says, "Or smaller?"

Afesotinuilar says, "Th'selakki are native at least, so maybe they used t'use compasses t'get around."

Shulamit opens its mouth before closing it, confused.

Shulamit says, "They have...hands?"

Afesotinuilar says, "Maybe they had 'em on necklaces, or on them selfie-sticks in their mouths."

Zarrach blinks rapidly a couple times in confusion. "You meaning there was a devolution?"

Shulamit rustles its canopy, deeply confused but writing down notes. The drone that has been silently recording now records Afesotinuilar passively.

Afesotinuilar says, "S'been years an' ye still don't recognise good, honest Scatterhome dakatalk. Lets just take a look at th'compass, ay?"

Shulamit gathers up its notes, before realizing it has no older notes. "H...hoo. Right. This is the first we've studied it, so nothing to add from previous sessions."

Shulamit scratches its head in confusion.

Shulamit says, "Surprisingly the colors are still on the compass, although faded."

Zarrach says, "It's pretty embellished. Like it belonged to someone important or just a showpiece."

Shulamit nods.

Afesotinuilar says, "It looks polished. How did it hold a shine after all this time?"

Shulamit says, "There was some polishing of the crystal when putting it together, hee hoo."

Shulamit says, "Although it was less dirty than one would fear!"

Zarrach says, "Brass doesn't oxidize if it's not exposed to oxygen, it did get dug up."

Shulamit says, "Oh hoo, thought the shine was about the crystal face."

Shulamit says, "Which was the part that got cleaned up."

Afesotinuilar says, "But ye found it in bits n'pieces, right? It wasn't all assembled like this, ye reconstructed it. Does that mean ye cleaned it up like this too?"

Shulamit ponders the situation.

Shulamit says, "Yes. A lot of it was cleaned, but parts were dug up more cleanly than others."

Shulamit says, "The magnety...bits...that make the compass compassy were the worst off."

Zarrach says, "Cleaning it up also would've revealed more than just keeping it dirty."

Afesotinuilar says, "I'm not in th'system, so I can't check - was there rock or dirt or stuff on the pieces when they got collected?"

Shulamit says, "I think the dig site members mostly just wave a metal thing over the soil, and that's how they get the magnetized ones. Let me see hoooo."

Shulamit says, "The metally bits are somewhat dangerous, being sharp and metally. The crystal disc had to have a bit of make shift crystal to fill it in. The brass box was dented, and the backing brass disc was also dented. All were only minorly dirty."

Shulamit says, "All were cleaned and polished and slightly undented."

Afesotinuilar says, "Fer a pile o'old metal crap that got buried in presumably sand an' dirt, that's surprisin'"

Afesotinuilar scratches his head in confusion.

Shulamit says, "The dig site members sometimes clean things up more, hoo."

Zarrach says to Afesotinuilar, "All the things you can experience in this galaxy, and *this* is what you call strange?"

"Heh heh heh," Shulamit chuckles.

Zarrach says, "Cleaning it up, even if it was only minor debris and damage, would make sense. When it was in service, there's a good chance it was some poor sap's job to keep it shiny."

Shulamit says, "The dig site intern."

Shulamit says, "Maybe Akmara sneaks in and cleans as well."

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

Afesotinuilar says, "I didn't say strange, I said surprisin'. I suppose yer right though, can't trust an intern t'take geological survey notes."

Shulamit says, "The things that come from the Locorin swamp are worse off, so perhaps the weather on Prugita is less...moisty than we thought, once buried."

Shulamit says, "Or, when they got buried, less moisty!"

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

Afesotinuilar says, "How rough are we bein' w'this thing, by th'way? Is this a 'grind up th'glass t'see if we can work out what it's made of' situation?"

Shulamit says, "Hoo hoo, gentle touches today!"

Zarrach bends down to look at the outside of the compass and the nautical scenes. "Funny that even however far back in the past this is, pirates, big ships, angry creatures and drinking was still a thing. How little things have changed, despite the differences."

Afesotinuilar nods.

Afesotinuilar says, "That makes sense, good good. I'd hate for Akmara t'find out we broke it on th'first day."

Shulamit says, "For all that things have changed, going to the stars, there shall always be drinks and tall tales!"

Zarrach says, "The creature on it doesn't look like any planetside animal i've ever seen though. Not that that's saying much."

Afesotinuilar says, "Oh, that's interestin'. Can ye make out who's doin' th'drinking? Some sorta alien maybe, or is it just some foppish Loroi or somethin'?"

Shulamit says, "Maybe this was a captain's compass, and the more functional ones were kept elsewhere. Or used so much they went, hoo...plonk. Dusty."

Shulamit says, "Hoo, the drinking scenes seem to be too small to fully make out other than mugs of beer."

Afesotinuilar looks about himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Zarrach says to Shulamit, "Could be this one was installed somewhere on the ship. Something this fancy doesn't seem like it'd get handled other than to keep up appearances. If ships then are like ships now, there's some one on it who is very concerned about appearances and "maintaining discipline" because somehow how shiny your stuff is tells people how deadly you are or something. I never paid attention to those days."

"Heh heh heh," Shulamit chuckles.

Acknowledging Zarrach's point to be true, Shulamit nods its head gravely at him.

Shulamit says, "I don't think it was the hoo, every day thing. Something to look nice."

Afesotinuilar says, "That alone suggests some stuff about th'people that used it, rightj?"

Shulamit says, "They had some sense of fancy?"

Zarrach says, "Maybe."

Afesotinuilar says, "Possibly stratified society, possibly unequal distribution of resources, had some sort of law and order to which some people refuse to bend to."

Shulamit nods slowly.

Zarrach says, "You could be talking about any sufficiently advanced society there."

Shulamit says, "Hoo, true. We don't know if these items are from their age of sail, or from when they were already going to the stars. We don't have enough hoo, parts to analyze yet for dates."

Shulamit says, "Most species with water on their planet do sailing, hoo hoo."

Afesotinuilar says, "Also true! I hadn't thought o'that."

Zarrach says, "All in all it's a pretty doodad from an age where most of your worries came at you from mostly two axes."

Shulamit says, "Axes? Fire and...?"

Shulamit scratches its head in confusion.

Afesotinuilar says, "Know any Amaian stuff we could compare it to? How's Song going w'their Delphi digs."

Zarrach says, "Axes, plural of axis. as in X and Y."

Shulamit says, "Ohhh."

Afesotinuilar breaks into hearty laughter.

Shulamit says to Afesotinuilar, "Hoo, let me ponder our collection of Delphi."

Afesotinuilar says, "Here I am thinking two choppy axes is a perfectly reasonable thing t'be worried about."

Shulamit says, "There's no dig on Delphi yet I thiiiiink?"

Shulamit says, "Jerzah, Gunurash, Tabby Outpost, Krell, Artia, Benu Wen, Prugita?"

Zarrach says, "Dunno if 'dig' would be the right word for Delphi."

Afesotinuilar says, "Unless the ol' LC is keepin' it under wraps."

Shulamit says, "Well, hoo. There is the desert."

Shulamit says to Afesotinuilar, "Hoo, true."

Afesotinuilar says, "Yeh, the got some big wilderness regions in th'Anemoi canyons."

Shulamit says, "But if that is the case, I wouldn't know so can't speculate."

Shulamit nods solemnly.

Zarrach says, "Oh right. Keep forgetting that it's not an entirely water world."

Shulamit nods its head slowly at Zarrach, looking very wise.

Zarrach says, "Travel vids i see make it seem like it is. Anyway."

Afesotinuilar says, "S'not all postcard-perfect oceanscapes."

Afesotinuilar nods his head slowly, looking very wise.

Shulamit says, "Yes yes. They sure make it look like it!"

Afesotinuilar says, "Atilan s'kind of a dump anyway, not a big tourist city in my books."

Shulamit says, "Hoo, they sell good gear there, I think. But! That is not this."

Shulamit points at the nautical compass that the drone has dutifully kept its camera on.

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

"Hmm," Afesotinuilar says.

Afesotinuilar says, "Well, th'need fer a compass suggests movement over a large geographic area."

Zarrach presses a finger to his lips in contemplation. "I wonder if Prugita's magnetic north has changed since this compass was made."

Shulamit says, "So it's fancy, probably wasn't used for day to day things given its decoration, but is still useful. Oh hoo, it might have!"

Shulamit says, "Planets all have their own times for how long that takes, don't they?"

Shulamit scratches its head in confusion.

Afesotinuilar looks about himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Zarrach says, "Mhm. It varies from planet to planet."

Shulamit says, "Perhaps when we get another compass, we can do an expedition to find new islands on Prugita, if the Nabians let us."

Afesotinuilar says, "We wouldn't be able to tell - either north is north or north is south, and we don't know what th'symbols on th'compass mean."

Acknowledging Afesotinuilar's point to be true, Shulamit nods its head gravely at him.

Shulamit says, "W might be south east."

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

Zarrach says, "You'd have to get current maps of the area. A good topography map will have calculations for magnetic deviations based on how many years difference between your current date and when the map was made."

Afesotinuilar says, "I dunno if th'field works at an angle, but I'm no scientist, I just stare int'th'face o'dead gods."

Shulamit stares at Afesotinuilar, tilts its head quizzically, rubs its chin thoughtfully, raises its eyebrow and says, "I see..."

Zarrach says, "The things you learn in ... uh. School."

Afesotinuilar says, "Yeh, school."

Shulamit says, "Hoo hoo! My schooling was light. And green filled!"

Afesotinuilar says, "Atrians been alive forever - when was yer last magnetic field reversal Shu?"

Looking deeply uncertain, Shulamit utters, "...uh..."

Shulamit says, "I was not planted on Atria, hee hoo."

Zarrach ponders the situation.

Shulamit says, "I was planted in Whittler's Hollow."

Shulamit says, "During its creation! I grew a long time."

Afesotinuilar says, "Oh, I knew that. Whittler's has a great, stable field, that's good Elgan work there."

Afesotinuilar nods sagely.

Shulamit acknowledges the point with a grave nod of its head.

Shulamit says, "Very stable."

Zarrach says, "...artifical though."

Shulamit says, "Grew very tall."

Shulamit says, "Hoo yes. Hence I don't know the feel of the changes very well."

Afesotinuilar says, "Sorry about th'bits o'radiation leaks at th'start."

Zarrach says, "Wait are we talking about magnetic fields or ... some other field?"

Shulamit says, "I'm sure the radiation did nothing, hee hoo."

Shulamit stretches upwards, bark creaking.

Afesotinuilar says, "Planetary magnetic fields, yeh."

Comprehension flashes across Zarrach's face.

Zarrach says, "If it wouldn't cook every one in the rock, I'd wanna see what this compass does without the magnetic field on."

Afesotinuilar says, "Oh! One way t'test a shift hypothesis - go t'Prugita an'make sure th'needle points either north or south."

Shulamit purses its lips together thoughtfully.

Zarrach says, "In relation to our compasses, that is?"

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Shulamit says, "I think our duties to not kill a bunch of people outweigh scientific discoveries, hoo."

Afesotinuilar says, "Where's yer Kronish spirit o'discovery, Shu?"

Shulamit says, "Hoo, inside a Krona somewhere and not me!"

Shulamit acknowledges the point with a grave nod of its head.

Zarrach says, "Not looking to add mass casualties to my list of achievements.... least not by way of solar radiation."

Shulamit says, "So hoo. I think we've gathered muchly from this, shall we put it away before we do decide to go test it by turning thingies off?"

Shulamit tilts its head and listens intently.

Zarrach says, "Yeah, before someone's impulse control fails."

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

Afesotinuilar says, "Oh, yeh okay. Ye know we don't have t'strip a planet o'its field, right? We can just go out int'space."

Shulamit carefully packages up the compass, nodding to Zarrach and Afesotinuilar before placing the compass back for display out in the museum proper after.