Geography (sage study)

Geography is a sage study in the fields of Earth & Sky and Humanities, granting the character knowledge of political boundaries, specific features and cultural infrastructure related to the land. The study of oceans and seas is ascribed to Oceanography, while studies relating to the land's underlying physical structure and phenomena is ascribed to Geology.

In the medieval era, the average person's knowledge of geography was limited and shaped by a combination of local experiences and a bare collection of source materials. Most individuals had a very rudimentary understanding of the world beyond their immediate surroundings. Maps as we know them today were scarce, and the concept of a global perspective was largely absent. An individual with an exceptional skill in geography would stand out as a rare and valuable asset. He or she would have access to maps, although these would likely be crude compared to modern standards, and unquestionably an ability to interpret and create navigational charts based on landmarks, stars and other natural indicators.

This geography expert might have acquired their knowledge through a combination of sources, including rare manuscripts and accounts from travelers and traders. As the character gains firsthand experience through extensive journeys, their insight into distant lands, cultures and trade routes makes them an invaluable advisor to leaders, merchants or explorers seeking to expand their horizons.

Sage Abilities

The sage abilities below are those acquired by a character through the study, according to status.

Amateur Status

• Know Bioregion: identify common animals and creatures dwelling within the surrounded locus.

• Locate Self: precisely determine location within locus once features of the landscape can be observed.

• Locus Infrastructure: gives knowledge of the infrastructure and layout of the surrounded locus.

Authority Status

• Cartography: enables the character to draw accurate maps, sufficient for others to use in navigation or making their way to a precise location.

• Evaluate Land: grants knowledge regarding the quality and quantity of water supply, soil, game and general health of the surrounding area, telling the best place to build structures, till and irrigate land, lay roads and place defenses and observation towers.

• Prepare Journey: grants knowledge of climate and geography that offers the easiest and safest routes, including foreknowledge of which fork to take in a road, along with knowing what sort of clothing will be needed and what foods will be available to eat there. Also provides a thorough knowledge of way stations and inns for use along the journey.

• Value Trade: suggests the best goods to buy locally that can be transported abroad for a profit, as well as goods that are locally overvalued due to the distance they've travelled. Know where things come from.

Expert Status

• Contact Forestal: allows the character to seek knowledge or communicate need with a forestal, summitsal, desertstal or like being, by correctly facilitating trust with said person.

• Find Site: enables the character to walk directly towards known places of importance, such as shrines, identified dungeons and ruins, possessing a clear idea of where these places ought to be. Enables the location of lost places that are nearby but unknown, through the examination of local clues.

• Promote Emigration: empowers the character to gather would be emigrants to abandon their present land in search of new, unclaimed lands wherever the character leads them.

• Weave Map: enables the character to render a highly accurate rendering of any site or place that's been visited, especially for the use of other persons.

Sage Status

• Forestal: allows the character to become a forestal, summitstal, desertstal or like person, who is granted a part of the natural world by other forestals and becomes one of their number. The character is typically granted an area of land some 2½ square miles per point of knowledge, variously called an Ilan, a Landa or a Lend. Over this Ilan, the character possesses druidical authority that is in no way political. He or she is met by the natural intelligent beings of the Ilan — faeries, treants, centaurs, unicorns, ki-rin and so on — and assumes responsibility for their welfare in exchange for their fealty. The forestal's only agenda is to maintain the land as an entity onto itself, discouraging destructive settlement but allowing use and fertility of the soil. If unable to do so, the forestal may call upon surrounding forestals for support; refusing to maintain the Ilan is sure to earn the enmity of other forestals. Together, it is believed by many that it is the forestals who are the true rulers of the world, as they contain the enemies of nature within the boundaries of the vast wilderness.

• Communal Rapport: Doubles the strength of the 6th level druid spell, commune with nature when the Forestal is within his or her Ilan. Gives a continuous commune with nature effect to a distance of one mile when within the character's Ilan.

See also,
Druid Sage Abilities
Earth & Sky (sage field)
Humanities (sage field)
Illusionist Sage Abilities
Mage Sage Abilities