I may be good at basic maths, but I'm rubbish at geometry and trigonometry. So, I have no idea how to calculate the distance from Guiverna's lab to her obelisk.
I want it to be placed so that, at mid-morning (i.e. exactly halfway between sunrise and mid-day) the sun forms a halo behind the point of the 70-foot-tall obelisk. So, basically, the sun is behind the top of the obelisk.
I hope this makes sense. And, if possible, show me how you figured it so I can learn.
In the end it makes more sense in the overall story for him to come back to Arans. It was fun being in Sa Dragonera. He'll certainly maintain a residence there, whether it's the estate or just a small cottage. And all things being equal he'd probably have stayed there. But between the desires of House Mercere and his new position as assistant to the Herald, it's probably best for him to be in Arans. He ought to be right there where the Mercere are. And if he's acting as liaison between the covenant and House Mercere, it's probably best if the House is happy with him.
Aside: does the saga allow for portable rings/circles?
It's been a controversial question in the main forums, just like to know. Apprentice characters can do handy things at lower levels with them. Either way is cool.
As for the pause on new characters, I should clarify. Finish the work in progressthatis in developent. Hols off on anything new until we have that all sorted out.
As for portable circles, I a not sure what you mean. On the deck of a ship? Sounds okay. Ask Fixer.
As for how horrible I have been today, I apologize
And I'm a hippocrite.
Yes, it is. Its goal is to provide Andorra with potentially eternal guardians, strong and tough, that should also be immune to the kind of attack that killed the previous covenfolk.
As she sees it, it's her duty, and she already gets a stipend for this anyway..
But she's asking the help of other magi to do that, and so she thinks they should be compensated for their time.
As I see it, you don't need the distance, just to write that it is located at the right distance, like you just did.
Oh great... A can of worms
I agree with Marko for the ship.
I seem to remind Richard Love having great comments on this, I just can't recall what he said.
Re: portable circles.
Just say it's a pain and they're not portable and I'm ok. Whatever the choice is I'm happy. It's hopefully a small question.
The reason I ask is I thought a magus (say a very junior apprentice might use them) could carry small circles pre-carved. I was thinking palm sized for light, fire, and maybe holding concentration effects. That kind of thing.
Then I got to thinking about having a gate or slide in the side of the device so the circle could be opened/broken at will. I think it is a clever mundane tool for a junior wizard.
I believe, unless you live at the equator (!), that this doesn't make sense. Halfway between sunrise and midday won't always see the sun in the same place in the sky. Heck, sunrise isn't always in the same place (it rises north of east in the summer, and south of east in the winter); and it isn't even at midday (it's lower in the sky in winter, and nearly overhead in summer). Now, if you had a specific date and time in mind - say, midday on the summer solstice - then we could probably do the calculation.
Sounds like it's time to make a magical obelisk that moves around to ensure it's always in proper halo position (at least at certain times of the day)!
Even at the equator the sun will move- on June 21st it would be to the north and on December 21st it will be to the south, and directly overhead (no shadow or being behind an obelisk every April 21st and September 21st (these dates vary a day or two from year to year)
Now Mallorca is at 39 degrees north, the tropic of Cancer is at 23 degrees north, so the sun will always be to the south in Mallorca, but it will vary from being (at noon) between 77 degrees from the horizon (16 degrees from straight overhead)on June 21st and being 28 degrees from the horizon (62 degrees from directly overhead) on December 21st.
This would be difficult enough, but instead of noon, you want midmorning, where the apparent location of sunrise also varies with the length of the day...
Just wanted to giver everyone a heads up; I'm going to be on vacation and without access to the internet (or at least not being allowed access to the internet by my wife) starting next Tuesday, 30 June until Tuesday, 14 July. Unfortunately that might mean I'll be missing some awesome City of Brass action and the chance to eat some merfolk, but c'est la vie.
I'm hoping to get Solomon's downtime set so Trogdor can know when Garbriel's coming to town and joining the covenant, which is why I'm trying to nail down the Cerebro spell. Although at this point I think I can just assume I'll have to reinvent so I'll start working the numbers on that.
When I get back I'll have some time off from work, so I want to re-start the Sa Dragonera thread that I started way back when and let die. I'll try and get an intro post up before I leave to give everyone an idea of how it's going to start. It's primarily going to be for the Sa Dragonera Chapter magi, so hopefully we'll know exactly who that is. I don't know when we want to do it, but I think Marko was wanting us to start things after the time jump, so maybe 1242, although a little earlier probably makes more sense.
As discussed at length, this has the potential to be disruptive, and lessen even more the need for magical items.
For what it's worth, IMO:
Fire with ring/circles are, as far as I can tell, OK. The fire is inside the circle, it doesn't leave it
Light sources have been discussed at length, and I find the argument that the light can't leave the circle pervasive. So you'd have magical light inside a circle, but it wouldn't light beyond, anymore that a T: Room InIm spell allows you to see through the room's windows.
Holding concentration runs into the same problem as light IMO.
So I had this for ArachnĂŠ, which, as far as I can tell, is within the bounds of the system and lessens the worst aspect of these.
For exemple, she has Carved Assassins posted in the covenant, maintained by such circles. The limitations outlined here ensure that, instead of, say, having a small ring hidden somewhere with all her Assassins wandering the grounds (Cheeeeeeeeeeese), they are limited to the confines of inscribed circles, which is one of the many reasons for the Eternal Guardianship project, and, IMO, better looking and cooler.
Have a nice vacation!
I should be on a leave on either the third or the fourth quart of august.
That's okay, I can't stand the Lord of the Rings trilogy, either, and I've read all three at least twice. (Dry and boring...proof that he was a philologist first and a writer a distant second.) I did enjoy The Hobbit, though.
Ok, from that information, iesmith.net/tools/solarcalc.html gives that the sun's altitude will be around 32.0° at 9am (local time - timezones of course don't exist yet), and it will be on a bearing 121° clockwise from North. From there the trig is simple. Assuming Guiverna wishes to see the halo, then assume that her viewpoint (that is, her eyes) are 5 feet off the ground. Then we have a right-angled triangle with one point at her eyes; a horizontal edge of unknown length running from there to 5ft up the obelisk; a vertical edge of 65 ft to the top of the obelisk; and we know that the angle at G's eyes is 32 degrees. We want the unknown horizontal length - call it x
Then we know that 65/x = tan(32°) = 0.625; hence x = 65/0.625 = 104.
So Guiverna should put her obelisk 104 feet away from her viewing point, at a bearing of 121.
Well, except from the fact that you used the words "trig" and "simple" in the same sentence , I think I got it. At least I know where to put it if I ever get around to making a map of her Quarter.
The bearing of 121, that puts it 31° south of east, right? (Due east is 90°, due south is 180°, I think?)
