Treasure Study: Compass of Octopon

A bright Monday to ye, mortals! Today I bring ye a page from a long-lost codex, whose only copy I hold safe in one of mine archives.

When we plundered Andy Richter’s vault, we secured a primo prize, the “Compass of Octopon.” Lost for a millennium, this supreme artifact lights the way to other treasures. The page here depicts it in surprising detail—produced around A.D. 900, in Sicily, I suspect the author or illustrator indeed glimpsed the compass personally. While the codex’s author clearly favors a Visigothic hand, the writing upon the medallion be in an older Roman style, as if copied from the item itself. ‘Tis a detail which most scribes would o’erlook, were they to produce the depiction fully from imagination.

As ye may notice, the word “compass” appears nowhere here—for, at the time, there were no such thing as “compass.” O’er in China, they used needle & lodestone for geomancy, but not yet for navigation. Around A.D. 1000, sailors began such use, & it spread across the seas swiftly. Centuries then passed, ‘til the advent of the term “compass” for a lodestone-needle set ‘neath a wind-rose in a box. & so here they used the charming term “mystagogue”—which means “a guide to secrets,” taken from a term for one who inducts an initiate into a mystery cult. As the item passed into legend, “mystagogue” fell away in favor of “compass” in English.

At the top, then: “MYSTAGOGUS OCTOPONIS,” i.e. “The Mystagogue of Octopon.” Octopon were a fabled sea-kingdom, ruled by a kindly king, which suffered devastation not unlike Atlantis. A gem is set in its center, with an intaglio carving of a skull. On the compass itself, the text reads: “Treasure, Secrets, Money, Whatever Ye Like, I Find—When By The Word Commanded.” That is, when the secret word be uttered, the item casts a beam of light in the direction of hidden treasures. Most useful for ones such as we, on a quest for hidden treasures! ‘Twas this compass which guided us toward the Temple of the Red Scare this past Friday.

Below the depiction of the compass itself, we find a little scene: “Captain Ren, Aboard the Wraith, Using the Mystagogue.” ‘Twas said the kindly king of Octopon bore a son, Ren, who sought to repair the apocalypse suffered by Octopon, using the compass & his magickal ship, “the Wraith.”

Little record of Ren remains, if he existed at all. Only this depiction—& a mention in the 12th-Century Gesta Piratarvm, which names his companions “Tula, Ioz, et simiavis,” & tells briefly o’his struggles against the rival pirata, “Bloþ.”

Thank ye for reading! & we humbly thank that growing clan of mortals who can & do support our works here with coin! GRATIAS!

I shall write ye come Wednesday with news of our next episode, at SPACE CAMP! Til then: be safe, be well, & beware dark waters…

Cheers,
Amœnus Franco
Wizard, Writer, Jitatin’ Monkey-Bird