Astromony and Astrology

The sun, moon, planets and stars are all on a series of crystal spheres around the earth. Or possibly the sun, if Copernicus is right. Hell is below, and Heaven above.

Most people are interested not in precisely whether the sun moves around the earth or the earth around the sun, but how these movements will effect them. Magicians, particularly, find that by taking the movement of the planets into consideration some of the margin for error in their spells can be removed. Significant astronomical events, such as eclipses, are generally best avoided, but if a spell is carefully adjusted to take them into consideration then they seem to add power to it.

The best time to plant crops, to embark on a sea voyage, to marry, astrology can determine all these things. Not quite magic of its own, noone has been able to use it to force change, but practically it certainly seems to work.

The Flood means that navigational astrology has taken on a great importance, as tides are calculated and winds predicted, and it is said that the most skilled of astrologers could take a ship from Albion to Cathay without need for sails or oars, simply by a precise understanding of the currents of the ocean. This has yet to be proven in practise.

There isn't much of one. Astronomers lean towards just working out where things are or are going to be and why, and astrologers to what this means, but there isn't the divide between one being a science and the other magic.

The position of Court Astrologer is currently vacant as the last incumbent fell down a rather long flight of stairs, out of a window and into an ornamental fish pond shortly after predicting impotence for the King.

The astrologer quirk means that you have been taught enough about astrology to know how to understand tables of the motions of the various celestial bodies across the stars and use them to draw up charts, and then interpret them. This can work in combination with skills - either magical knowledge (or, indeed, magic) for a greater understanding of what the various positions of the planets mean, or artistry to come up with some really, really flashy charts and good stories to go with them.

In general this is a great skill if you want to be able to support a wide variety of characters, or improve the chances of your own actions suceeding. For 1 AP you can draw a chart to work out how to avoid a particular action going wrong, for 2 AP you can improve its chances of success. Simply talking to an astrologer will be enough to ensure you aren't, say, going to try to entreat an angel at the same time as a solar eclipse.

You can also do other fun things with it, like try to draw up someone's natal chart, which could give you some interesting information about them…though finding out the time of birth might be interesting. In general talk to a GM if you want to try something weird. Or just turnsheet and see.