Abbasid Astrolabe

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.

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I wanted to ask you something. Which is... what's your name?
This article title is conjecture. Although the article subject is canon, no official name for it has been given.

This article is about the instrument itself. You may be looking for the memory.

"It is said that this Astrolabe will guide the bearer on a path to an invaluable treasure hidden somewhere in the desert around Baghdad."

―The Hidden Ones of Alamut on the astrolabe, 860s.^[src]

The Abbasid Astrolabe was an astronomy instrument that encoded the route to a hidden treasure located in the Wilderness outside of Baghdad. In the 860s, the Hidden Ones of Alamut operating in the city, namely Tabid Al-Nubi, Rebekah, Fuladh Al Haami, and Roshan, tasked one of their members with recovering the nine pieces of the artifact and locating the valuables to acquire the resources to help fight the Order of the Ancients branch operating in the Abbasid Caliphate.^[1]

History

At some point the Astrolabe was divided into nine pieces,^[1] which were still held in high regard, with even an ambassador from the Byzantine Empire selecting a piece as one of the gifts prepared for the Caliph. That piece was obtained by the Hidden One posing as an assistant to the market inspector and switching it out for camphor powder, a highly desirable gift so as to avoid a diplomatic incident.^[2] The Caliph, in return, gifted the ambassador with a tiraz, an item coveted by an art collector that offered an astrolabe piece to the Brotherhood in exchange for it. Intercepting a thief that had managed to get away with one of the ambassador's crates, the Hidden One got the tiraz and made the trade with the collector.^[3]

Other high-profile individuals that had managed to acquire a piece of the Astrolabe included an expert in navigation at the House of Wisdom,^[4] a teacher at a notable school for qiyan,^[5] one of the Caliph's wives,^[6] and the heir apparent.^[7] The umm al-walad and teacher both approached the Hidden Ones, offering their pieces in exchange for their help in solving their respective problems.^[6]^[5] The piece belonging to the heir apparent was stealthly stolen during a dinner at the Prince's Palace,^[7] while the navigation expert relinquished his piece when the Hidden One sent to retrieve it proved themselves a "like-minded scholar".^[4]

Another Hidden One was also dispatched to recover a piece, though he was careless and ended up imprisoned for thievery, though later both he and the piece were saved by the one responsible for the other pieces.^[8]

The Order of the Ancients did not ignore the Hidden Ones' efforts in reassembling the Abbasid Astrolabe, attempting to gather the pieces for themselves as well. One piece was meant to handed to an agent by a courier in the Caravanserai that served the Silk Road, near the Zagros Mountains, though the Hidden One posed as an assistant to the Master of Letters and retrieved before the hand off could occur.^[9] Another agent of the Order of the Ancients had managed to steal a piece, though he was injured while attempting to escape and was taken to the Great Bimaristan, where he passed from his injuries. The Hidden One then infiltrated the hospital and collected it.^[10]

Having recovered all of the astrolabe pieces, the Hidden One reassembled the device. By controlling the rete (outer ring) and the alidade (hands) of the instrument, the Hidden One first calibrated it on a small constellation of a dog before aligning the astrolabe with a larger constellation of a bird and revealing the path to the hidden treasure. Deciding to set out at once, the Hidden Ones managed to recover the hidden cache in the wilderness outside Baghdad.^[11]