Introduction
Hello again, here we have another one of my extra-verbose deepdives into how I think a profession in Chronicles of Elyria ought to work. This time, I’m going to tackle Astronomy. As we know, the stars and planetary bodies in Elyria are very important. The second-ever Developer Journal discusses how they impact your life and your Destiny
Approaching this was a bit complex as historical astronomy was not exactly a profitable endeavor, being more focused on research for the sake of research. And given the time-span we have to work with in CoE, odds are that any traditional astronomical discoveries would never come to a point of being mechanically useful in-game. However, I think I have settled on something that will work.
Of the professions I have done so far, Astronomy has the narrowest purview.
Basics
What an Astronomer does
Astronomy involves the study of the skies of Elyria, particularly the night sky. In Elyria, the stars and planets are powerful forces. Do they influence the future, or simply predict it? No one truly knows for sure, and it’s likely impossible to tell. The simple truth is that Destiny is a real force in Elyria, the skies speak of it, and an Astronomer is one who listens.
That is not to say that all of an Astronomer’s talents are focused on this, they have a few more mundane purposes as well. Yet, most of an Astronomer’s talents are focused on looking to the future.
Necessary Co-Professions
Glassblower - Once the telescope has been invented, the glassblower will be the one who crafts the lenses for this valuable device.
Tinkerer - Many of the small gadgets and devices used by the Astronomer are crafted by a Tinker. Astrolabes, Celestial Globes, Orreries, Sextants, Sundials, Equitoriums, Armillary Spheres, and so on...all are constructions that would be created by a Tinkerer.
Scribe - Having records of the past is tremendously useful to as Astronomer, as it allows you to look at the outcome of different signs in the skies throughout time, to come up with better predictions for the future.
Specializations/Actions
Honestly, many of these specializations are so narrow that I question giving them their own skill-ticker. Personally, I would have just the one Astronomy skill as a high-level skill...then use the same mechanic used in crafting professions to represent your skill in producing a particular recipe to determine how good you are at each of these regions of the skill.
Basic Astronomy Skill
This covers your knowledge of how to use all the gadgets and tools used in Astronomy, and improves your character’s knowledge about Astronomical subjects in general.
Meteorology
At its base level, this is a skill more focused on the nearer skies than on the stars, but its grander applications must look further. We know from some of the Developer Journals that weather and even the seasons can be a bit unpredictable in Elyria. The Meteorology branch is focused on figuring out what sort of weather is coming, so you can prepare accordingly.
As your skill increases, the accuracy and time-span of your predictions increases, and you get better at picking out the signs that actually matter, meaning there is less ‘cruft’ to sort through in figuring out what is going to happen. At the higher end of skill, comes predicting the change of seasons, and how long that season will last, and a general sense for how pleasant or harsh that season will be.
In-game, this will be useful for a wide-range of players. If a farmer knows what kind of weather to expect for the ‘year,’ then he may elect to change what he is planting and how much of it he is planting. And knowing that a frost is coming soon would encourage him to go ahead and harvest now, rather than waiting just a bit longer to get the maximum possible yield from his field. And, from a simple practicality, knowing if it is going to rain soon can help you determine if you need to water your fields manually.
A Commander may rely on their Astronomer to predict when the winter will break and the weather becomes warm enough to travel so that he and his forces will be prepared to set out. And knowing what the weather will be like could be invaluable to a combat force. For example, if you know your enemy is strongly reliant on archers, timing your attack so that you hit them when it is raining would put you at a significant advantage.
Celestial Navigation
This is one of two methods of figuring out where you are in the world, the other exists under the Survival Tree. Celestial Navigation is the art of determining your location based on celestial bodies. In the early game, this will likely be very rudimentary as I would guess that some of the tools needed to make it truly effective may not have been invented yet.
At the low-end, this allows you to determine direction without a compass. At the higher end, working out your exact location on a map, even with no landmarks becomes possible. In the early game, Celestial Navigation is likely to be less useful than Terrestrial Navigation (determining your location based on landmarks and triangulation), but will become absolutely essential once oceanic travel is unlocked.
Astrology
This is why most people would go to an Astronomer, and encompasses the greatest span of an Astronomer’s capabilities. We know that the skies speak of (or influence) Fate, Astrology is the Children of Mann’s attempts to understand what it says. In mechanical terms, Astrology represents an attempt to take a peek at what the Soulborn Engine is up to.
It should be made clear that Astrology is confusing and vague at the best of times. This is both to preserve the mystery of the future, and because player free will is very much a thing in-game. The Soulborn Engine can try to elevate someone to being a hero by giving them quests to lead them towards that end...but if the player doesn’t cooperate...the Engine can’t force them to. As a result, the output of Astrology is not clear. Not because the Astrologer is trying to be confusing, but because the skies are confusing, and what you get is his best attempt at explaining what he sees.
Any form of Astrology is time consuming, and getting more information takes progressively longer. This should be taken into account before you seek an Astrologer out...you’re going to be waiting a while for them to come up with any kind of result. Make sure you are willing to wait for the information they can provide.
I’m going to break this down into two sections, and discuss them separately.
Personal Astrology
Every Soul born into the world is born with a Destiny...yet few will fulfill that Fate. This form of Astrology allows an astronomer to consider the state of the sky when a particular person was born, use it to reference the current state of the sky, and produce a personalized horoscope for a single individual.
This is not the “You have these attributes and are compatible with these sorts of people” sorts of horoscopes that apply to vast swaths of people you see in a modern newspaper...this is personal and (if properly interpreted) actionable. Mechanically, this is a means to acquire information about your character’s Destiny...in the form of hints that are aimed to guide you to the triggers for quests queued up for you by the Soulborn Engine upon your birth.
As is the norm for Astrology, this isn’t going to give you ‘go here and do this’ instructions. Your tips will be vague and possibly confusing (because the signs provided by the sky are vague and often confusing), but helpful if you wish to seek your Destiny.
Several Astronomical tools are useful here...because it is extremely helpful for the Astrologer to be able to artificially model the state of the sky on the day of your birth, to use as a reference. Otherwise, he may have nothing to refer to but record books listing the state of things at the time.
Obviously, this skill-set is useful to anyone wishing to seek out their Destiny, but not knowing what direction they should go next.
Grand Astrology
While the skies speak on an individual level, they also speak on a global level. This is the domain of the prophet, the one who looks to the skies, and sees glimmers and hints of what is to come, or perhaps what is already happening somewhere else. Mechanically, Grand Astrology is seeking a glimpse at what the Soulborn Engine is up to on a global scale.
As with all Astrology, your output is going to be vague. At best, you might put together that the sky speaks of a “Dark force rising in the south.” And this may be hinting at the fact that the Soulborn Engine just handed an evil player the Necromancy Talent, and they’ve set about putting it to use.
This is primarily useful to people in leadership positions...though advance warning of an impending natural disaster would be useful to everyone. The problem is...Grand Astrology is easy to misinterpret, and is much less concrete than Personal Astrology.
That ‘Dark force rising in the south’ player may realize he has Necromancy, slap together a tiny undead army, attack a kingdom, and get himself killed. Or he may just hole up, hang out with his zombie buddies, and not significantly contribute to the story anymore--because he’s afraid of losing his Talent through death.
And a portent speaking of an impending disaster may be incredibly nonspecific as to where or when it is meant to happen. Or multiple Astrologers may look at the same evidence and reach conflicting conclusions about it.
But, all that said...if a highly skilled Astronomer tells you a dark force is rising in the South...it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to reinforce your southern borders and send out some scouts.
Considerations
Equipment
An Astronomer is very limited without their equipment, and some of their very best equipment is large and immobile (A highly detailed orrery will easily occupy most of a room).
Higher quality equipment gives them more detail about the current and past states of the night sky, giving them more and more information.
Location
An Astronomer wants to think carefully before picking a spot to set up a more permanent workshop. It’s going to be difficult to do your job in a place that is perpetually cloudy, if you are positioned somewhere a large structure obscures your view, or where there is a lot of excess light.
Mountains are good, dry areas are good, but poor environment can be compensated for with better equipment.
Skill Challenge
My proposed skill challenge for Astronomy is actually quite simple. The challenge is that the Astronomy skill only provides the player with information...how they interpret that information is on the player.
To give a fairly easily interpreted example...suppose you were doing a personal astrological reading for a player and your Astronomy skill put together that, on the date of their birth, the planet which indicates conflict was in the southern sky, situated within the constellation of the bear. This could mean that they ought to travel south and kill a bear. But it could also mean that they need to do it during the summer (South representing warmth and summer), or that the ‘bear’ is figurative, representing a difficult struggle.
You can see, through this, why Astrology will be ‘confusing hints,’ because the astrological reading that you get for your character or for the world at large has to pass through the interpretation of another person in order to be given to you...and they have pretty vague signs to work with. Higher skill in Astronomy will, of course, provide more detailed information...such as what multiple portents can mean when they are together, and you will identify fewer red herrings (signs and portents that don’t actually apply to the reading you are trying to create).
Additionally, studying history will be tremendously useful to an Astronomer. If you are working on weather prediction, it would make sense to look at the information you have, then looking back in history (recorded by Scribes and Astronomers) to see what happened the last time the information looked like that. That way, you are using past data to help you interpret the forecasts you are making now.
The same would apply with other forms of Astrology. If the last time all of these signs and portents showed up together a powerful magic user shook the stability of Elyria...and now they are showing up again? Well, it might be time to keep an extra sharp eye out for strange happenings.
Wrap-up
So, those are my thoughts on how I’d like to see the Astronomy skill pan-out. As always, these are my opinions and ideas, which are rooted in how SbS has described the game to work to the best of my knowledge.
Opinions and feedback of any sort are always welcome.
Per request of another poster, here are links to the other feature proposals I have written.
Profession Deepdives
Alchemy Deepdive
Scribing Deepdive
Other Design Proposals
Inventory Labeling Proposal
Mount Differentiation
Utility of Art in CoE
