Navigators

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Warning: This page concerns archaic world setting information from the I.C.E. Age of GemStone III. It is not canon in contemporary GemStone IV, nor is it canonical for Shadow World as the details may be specific to GemStone III. It is only historical context for certain very old parts of the game and these things should not be mixed.

The Navigators were the I.C.E. Age precursor of the Chronomages, most familiar to adventurers for reclaiming their gold rings. In the Second Era of the Shadow World history, the Navigator Guilds were founded on the difficulty of world navigation, charging exorbitant fees for the use of teleportation artifacts from the First Era. The Navigators were unwilling to provide means of transportation themselves, such as ships, unless it involved charging extraordinary amounts. They would merely advise what should be done when acting as guides rather than teleports, and would not guarantee cargo on the oceans.

The wooden obelisk in what adventurers called "Danjirland" was rumored to be one of their beacons for summoning them, though Navigator obelisks are supposed to be stone, and there is one marked in that spot of the continent map in the Jaiman source book. Another was known to exist to the north in the Seolfar Strake (Lysierian Hills). In principle a third one would have existed near the Spider Temple.

Selias Jodame traveled to what we now call the Lysierian Hills with Tearhaut, a Navigator from the Guides Guild of Vurn-Kye which was headquartered in Emer. It was apparently around the year 6000 Second Era, though the date is difficult to interpret. There was a settlement named Velaskar that was based on local sight seeing tourism, but which would not have survived the Wars of Dominion. The cursed equines of Silver Valley would later emerge under The Graveyard, as the valley had become unstable in space and time due to unusual effects in the area with the flows of essence and maybe planes. (The Navigator warns about this in the story over hazard surcharges.) This may have been similar to the isles of transfer phenomenon, but the events surrounding the Shadow Valley release are poorly recorded.

Quest of the Navigator

One of the earliest quests ever in GemStone III was called "Quest of the Navigator", but there are very few details recorded about it, other than a log of an OOC meeting with Bardon about the rules. The setting was "far away from Kelfour's" and it was judged as a roleplaying tournament. Each night different GameMasters would play different roles, so each instance was different to some extent.

Example NPC:

Anulesa is a woman of immense stature, standing like a pillar draped in flowing, multi-hued robes.  Her face is sharply angular and twisted upwards by what seems to be her own egocentricity.  Anulesa's eyes are dead to you, not as if blind, but rather as if nothing about you could scarcely interest her.

This was an insane, evil NPC who would teleport around in the form of sulfurous vapor and cackle a lot. Points in the quest were earned by roleplaying and staying in character.

Behind the Scenes

Navigator obelisks were supposed to be made out of dark stone and worked by touching them while reciting the phrase: "I require the assistance of a Navigator." The Navigator would teleport to the spot with their compass artifact, and discuss fees or charging hazard rates for emergency rescues. This was referenced as an archaism in the modern lore by Orrisian who works on The Firebird.

Talon Isle

This airship was first flying around when Alusius was trying to convince the governments of Elanith to help him deal with the Elemental Confluence, which allowed him to betray everyone by anchoring it to Elanthia and causing downstream interplanar complications. Orrisian was saying stow-aways from this time period were stranded on Talon Isle, which turns out to have an ancient stone obelisk that connects to the wooden one in Danjirland. It was quickly discovered that this obelisk will sometimes teleport adventurers to the isle, which is strikingly similar in appearance to the Pillar of the Gods from the Shadow World history. This was discovered about a week after the curtain of light warding on the Red Forest failed, causing the Red Forest to permanently return to this world adjacent to the wooden obelisk.

This was also happening right after the Dawn Rose airship, made by the Chronomages, was stolen from the Vaalor who were leasing it. When speaking of the history of the obelisks, Orrisian quoted the phrase for summoning the Navigators, but replaced it with the term Chronomages. He said the ancient network of obelisks dated to before they began using their current name for themselves.

Anachronisms

The Navigators are an I.C.E. copyrighted concept that should not exist in the game after the I.C.E. Age of GemStone III. However, there were cases of the Navigators being used in official documents and storylines at later times, before they were replaced with the Chronomages concept. One of these was an interaction with Thurfel during the Council of Ten story where the Navigators teleported him.

Examples:

See Also