Compasses

Records of old Solacium are few and far between, with most traces of their civilisation lost during the Great Sundering. While there are scholars who specialise in accumulating such records of the old world, and forging them into a rough history of the extinct civilisation, the regular denizens of Iridica in their day-to-day lives know very little about the world that was. One thing, however, that is common knowledge, is that the Iridescence did not exist before Sunder's wrath fell opon the world.
With the lightweavers and their connection to the Iridescence being of pivotal importance to the world of navigation, very few people outside of the academic community have any understanding of how the Solacians navigated the vast plains of their empire.

The most well-studied navigational tool, thanks to surviving records, were the constellations. Vast formations of stars which hung in the night sky in a similar fashion to the Iridescence, but devoid of movement; fixed points by which ships or land vehicles could get their bearings and plot their course.
Other documentation refers to navigation using Solacium's sun, though with it constantly moving through the sky at varying rates depending on the seasons, these claims are viewed with a healthy degree of scepticism.
The most outlandish records, however, refer to devices known as "circinus", translated using the common tongue into "compasses".

According to those who specialise in studies of Solacian artifice, a compass was a simple device, comprising of a metallic needle pinned loosely over a central disc in such a way that it was suspended in a state of perfect balance. By some arcane means, the needle was enchanted to always point to a fixed location on Solacium, and, even more remarkably, every one of these compasses made in the empire - regardless of the craftsman responsible - all pointed to the exact same location.
Initial mentions of such devices were dismissed as the fanciful tales of Solacian enthusiasts, until the first such compass was discovered in the wreck of an old skyship, wedged between reefs in the Coral Kingdoms. While the enchantment upon the needle seemed to have faded, with the device now just pointing aimlessly with the movement of it's handler, its overall design matched the descriptions of the old tomes, confirming the truth of the devices' existence.
In the centuries since, several more compasses have been discovered in wrecks and ruins of the old world across Iridica. While some are fairly utilitarian in design, others seemed to have been more ornate, wrought from elegantly engraved brass with pearlescent discs set in the centre.
One common design feature on the discovered devices however, are a series of letters marked around the edge of the disc at equal points: 'B', 'Or', 'A,' and 'Oc', which apparently stood for Borealis, Orientalis, Australis, and Occidentalis.

Complexity

The actual physical structure of the compass seems incredibly basic, though Iridican arcanists have been unable to recreate the enchantment which gave them their function.

Discovery

The first compass was discovered in the Coral Kingdoms amongst the remains of a Solacian skyship named Cometes Aureus in the year 1773 AS. The wreck was found wedged in between reefs, and very little remained from the rigours of time and the encroaching local corals. The compass itself was recovered by salvagers along with a small number of artifacts from what was assumed to be the captain's cabin. The compass was initially misidentified as something akin to a coaster by the salvagers, but it was purchased by a collector of Solacian artifacts, where it gained recognition as the first navigational device discovered of the old world.