Freelance Treasure Hunting, Monday, Period 5, Class #2
"Good afternoon," Vala greeted the students cheerfully as they entered, still wearing her customary clothing, "and I hope you all had a profitable weekend. As you know, last week we discussed what treasures are valuable to each culture. This week, we'll begin to learn how to find them."
"The first thing you have to figure out is whether your information is reliable. You can determine this easily if you know your source, but if you don't, you'll have to do a little research. This generally involves the library and looking up information yourself, talking to a village elder about the local legends for the area, or finding a scholar who knows about the myth behind the treasure you're looking for."
"Once you have your reliable information, or information you are willing to believe is reliable--not nearly the same thing, in case you were wondering--if you're lucky, you will have a map that tells you where the treasure is. If you don't, you'll have to come up with a map of your own, based on the information you've gathered from other sources. This map can either be of the terrain, generally including landmarks such as temples, statues, or landing fields, or physical features such as rocks, streams, and mountains. You want a map that uses items that won't erode or move over the course of time, because it makes it easier not to get lost. These, of course, are more expensive than the regular maps and you should take that into account when you are budgeting for your expedition."
"As a last resort when it comes to figuring out where you are, there is also the option of celestial navigation--using the stars to pinpoint your location. That's all well and good on this planet, but on other planets, the stars won't be familiar and the constellations will be missing. Don't forget that, or you could end up lost in a desert when you're meant to be in the woods, having lunch with a charming man and his mother. Er, not that that ever happened, of course," she added quickly.
"For this class, I'll ask you to explain your favorite way of verifying information, and then I'm going to let you loose with the maps--you have one of Fandom, and one of the night sky in the northern hemisphere of this planet. If you have a town map, I would like you to explore with it--mark what is at each location, or pick one location, and write down something valuable that you find there, so you can find it again. If you're using the star maps, I would like you to go out at night and attempt to find as many constellations as you can. As a tip for those of you who are interested in dating, this is an excellent activity for that sort of thing. Please mark them off as you find them."
[ooc: OCD is up! in a second. Handwaving is, as always, possible, if not as much fun.]
"The first thing you have to figure out is whether your information is reliable. You can determine this easily if you know your source, but if you don't, you'll have to do a little research. This generally involves the library and looking up information yourself, talking to a village elder about the local legends for the area, or finding a scholar who knows about the myth behind the treasure you're looking for."
"Once you have your reliable information, or information you are willing to believe is reliable--not nearly the same thing, in case you were wondering--if you're lucky, you will have a map that tells you where the treasure is. If you don't, you'll have to come up with a map of your own, based on the information you've gathered from other sources. This map can either be of the terrain, generally including landmarks such as temples, statues, or landing fields, or physical features such as rocks, streams, and mountains. You want a map that uses items that won't erode or move over the course of time, because it makes it easier not to get lost. These, of course, are more expensive than the regular maps and you should take that into account when you are budgeting for your expedition."
"As a last resort when it comes to figuring out where you are, there is also the option of celestial navigation--using the stars to pinpoint your location. That's all well and good on this planet, but on other planets, the stars won't be familiar and the constellations will be missing. Don't forget that, or you could end up lost in a desert when you're meant to be in the woods, having lunch with a charming man and his mother. Er, not that that ever happened, of course," she added quickly.
"For this class, I'll ask you to explain your favorite way of verifying information, and then I'm going to let you loose with the maps--you have one of Fandom, and one of the night sky in the northern hemisphere of this planet. If you have a town map, I would like you to explore with it--mark what is at each location, or pick one location, and write down something valuable that you find there, so you can find it again. If you're using the star maps, I would like you to go out at night and attempt to find as many constellations as you can. As a tip for those of you who are interested in dating, this is an excellent activity for that sort of thing. Please mark them off as you find them."
[ooc: OCD is up! in a second. Handwaving is, as always, possible, if not as much fun.]