Oceanography (sage study)
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Oceanography is a sage study in the field of Earth & Sky which defines the study and management of bodies of water, including lakes, inland seas, bays and oceans, with knowledge of ocean currents, tides, travel and all forms of living on the surface or beneath the waves. It does not include the study of marine creatures found under Sea Life.
Oceanography applies to any part of the Earth that is covered in water; as it derives from druidical study and not scientific, the knowledge is gleaned from observation, familiarity with patterns of movement and the relationship naturally developed between the druid and the environment. It is our own lack of druidical comprehension that limits the sort of knowledge that a druid might possess of the great watery world beyond the scope of merely our visual acuity.
Sage Abilities
The sage abilities below are those acquired by a character through the study, according to status.
Amateur Status
- Catch Fishing: describes the angling skill of catching fish with a line or net.
- Net Fishing: skill at fishing with a net.
- Reading Tides: knowledge of tides, currents and eddies along sea and lake shores, largely by observation and the feel of the water.
- Sailing: the management of a vehicle on the surface of the water, driven by wind, with rigging, rudder and keel.
- Swimming: provides the character with the basic ability to swim.
Authority Status
- Aquatic Cartography: furnishes a conceived map of the ocean world, though not it's inhabitants, providing the character with knowledge regarding which parts of the world are richly vegetated, where continents end, and places where the dark depths defy all possibility of exploration. This last remains unknown to everyone on the surface, but the character at least has knowledge of its limits compared to other parts of the ocean.
- Free-diving: a form of underwater diving that enables the character to reach depths up to a hundred feet by controlling the body's need for breath.
- Ride Current: improve the movement speed of seagoing vessels by 5% where major currents exist, by taking advantage of their vicissitudes and strengths.
Expert Status
- Endure Storm: proves sense to determine the safest passage through an ongoing storm, reducing the effective wind speed of that storm by a force of 1.
- Locate Wrecks: through accumulated readings and knowledge of ocean currents, the character is able to discern where there should be accumulations of submerged shipwrecks beneath the ocean's surface. Such an accumulation is likely to contain more historical artifacts than whole kingdoms combined.
- Ocean Sight: enables the character to see under the water at distances equivalent to the illumination of full moonlight.
Sage Status
- Breathe Underwater: enables the character to breathe underwater as a normal action.
- Evade Storm: gives several days warning of a storm emerging before a travelling shift, as sensed in the winds, the colour and nature of the sea and the signs of life both in and out of the water. Effort must be taken to avoid the storm, which of course will be moving as effort is made to avoid it.
See also,
Beachcomber (sage study)
Druid Sage Abilities
Sailing (sage ability)
Sea Life (sage study)
