Abbasid Astrolabe

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.

The Abbasid Astrolabe

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 Alamut Hidden Ones Tabid Al-Nubi, Rebekah, Fuladh Al Haami, and Roshan tasked an apprentice with locating, recovering, and reassembling the artifact's scattered nine pieces to help their fight against the Order of the Ancients operating in the Abbasid Caliphate.

History

The Astrolabe ready for calibration

After a treasure trove was buried outside Baghdad, the Astrolabe used to mark its location relative to the seasonal celestial bodies was disassembled into its nine pieces. Though separated, the components were still held in high regard, with even a Byzantine Empire ambassador selecting a piece as a gift 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. 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.

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

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.

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. 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.

Having recovered all of the astrolabe pieces, the Hidden One reassembled the device. By controlling the instrument's rete and alidade, 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.

Gallery

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  The Astrolabe's limb
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  The Astrolabe's tympanum
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  The Astrolabe's throne
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  The Astrolabe's star pointers
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  An Astrolabe greeble
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  An Astrolabe greeble
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  The Astrolabe's ecliptic circle
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  An Astrolabe greeble
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  The Astrolabe's alidade

Behind the scenes

This astrolabe defies traditional manufacturing practices in ways that realistically would have rendered it unusable. First, its star pointers are seemingly attached directly to the limb rather than being part of the rete, the rotatable overlay that represents the horizon and is used to locate astronomical entities. As well, the sickle-shaped piece and the two crossbeams that appear to hold the limb and ecliptic circle serve no function, as the actual device was held together only by a central pin and instead obstruct potential reading space of the device's front. This is then further occluded by the ecliptic ring, which has a plate added to its back when it should only be an unfilled ring.

Perhaps most glaringly, its tympanum, the flat plate against which the measurements are taken, is uncharacteristically blank. A proper plate would have the regional constellations engraved in a stereographic map projection that used the horizontal coordinate system. These plates were interchangeable with ones included as separate accessories that displayed different star arrangements should observers change their latitude. However, if the device was meant for a single use in a specific locale, as is the case with the above instrument, the celestial markings would not be made in a replaceable plate but would be carved directly onto the the mater, which has not been done.

Appearances

• Discovery Tour: Medieval Baghdad