Baseplate Compass
A magnetic needle and a transparent baseplate for working with a paper map. Nothing about it can be jammed or lose signal.
Scenario
Two worlds are trying to occupy the same address.
An incursion is not an invasion. Nothing arrives, nothing lands, and there is nobody to negotiate with — two realities have simply begun overlapping, and physics is resolving the argument the only way it knows how. It presents locally as buildings that are in two places, compasses that disagree with themselves, and about four hours of warning that most people will spend filming it.
What kills you
Geometry, and the four hours you spend not believing it.
Rules
When the sky stops agreeing with the ground, a needle that only knows magnetic north is the last honest instrument you own.
A magnetic needle and a transparent baseplate for working with a paper map. Nothing about it can be jammed or lose signal.
Every network runs through infrastructure that is now in two places at once. This one runs through your arm.
A receiver with a crank so it never needs a battery you do not have. Most also charge a phone, slowly.
Navigation that cannot be edited by whatever is happening to the satellites.
Every road in the country, with no signal, no battery and no server behind it.
Four hours of warning is generous, and entirely wasted if it is spent deciding what to pack.
A pack sized for what you can actually carry for hours, not what fits. Comfort under load beats capacity.
In a city where two street plans are overlaid, being found matters more than finding your own way.
Carries far further than a voice and costs nothing in energy. Pealess designs work when wet.
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