Guild of Navigators

His eyes fixed to the sky, and an arm wrapped in some loose rigging to steady himself, Valentyn watches for the clouds to break through to the stars of the moonless night. The ship rolled forwards towards the deep trough of another wave, meeting it and rising up again, deluging him and the crew with seawater.
vignette

With the ship's compass broken beyond immediate repair, there was little indication of their bearing beyond dead reckoning. The islands of Koros were close, knowing how to reach them and their safe harbour from the ravages of the heavy weather was Valentyn's immediate concern.
A pinprick of light broke free of the cloud, was briefly obscured, and came through again, accompanied by two slightly dimmer points of light. Valentyn cocked his head, briefly puzzled, then his eyes widened and his face froze as he recognised the message that the lights carried.
"Captain! We're bearing too far south! Captain!", Valentyn shouted out over his shoulder, but drew only concerned looks from the nearby crew who were fighting to trim sail. The points of light in the sky vanished behind the swiftly moving blackness of the clouds.
Cursing, Valentyn let go of the rigging, and scrambled aft towards the helm. Sliding around on the deck until colliding and winding himself on the railing.
"Hey, son. You'll go overboard if you try that again." the kindly but stern face of the first mate looked down at the junior navigator. "What's the problem?". Extending a hand, he assisted Valentyn to climb the stairs as the seas tossed the ship from side to side.
"We're off course", said Valentyn, finding his breath again, "I think the winds have changed and we've turned to near the Vingol Reef."
"Are you sure? Our last sighting showed our course heading true." replied the mate as they approached the helm.
"I glimpsed the wandering star and her daughters through the clouds, just a couple of points starboard. That points us south east by today's table." replied Valentyn, holding the officer in a confident stare that also carried no small amount of fear, as he struggled to keep his footing on the pitching deck.
The officer opened his mouth for a moment, as if to question. Then, turning to the helmsman, "Come five points to port," turning to a midshipman, "trim the sails to catch the wind off the port beam. Move, move!". As the crew moved swiftly to carry out the orders and the ship slowly turned, the officer turned to Valentyn, "You'd better be right about this, I..." the officer broke off, looking past Valentyn as the ship crested a wave and started pitching downwards.
Valentyn turned to see what the officer was seeing: sea foam highlighting the rocks brought proud of the waves at the trough as the ship began to ride down towards them.

Public Agenda

Improving the means of navigating and mapping the world, primarily that of ships. The guild trains navigators for ships in the newly developed arts of discovering one's location. They employ astronomers to improve their knowledge of the motion of stars and other heavenly bodies. They sponsor engineers and craftspeople to design and build navigational instruments, including timepieces. Cartographers accompany trading vessels to improve the charted knowledge of lands beyond Unai.

Type

Guild, Professional

Location

Sešin