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This article or section refers to elements from the Dune Encyclopedia. There are separate pages for this subject as it appears in the other canons, the reasons for this are explained here
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A paracompass is a direction-finding device of Zensunni origin adapted for use on Arrakis. It consists of a plastic cylinder from 5-7 cm in diameter and 5-7 mm thick. The clear exterior case can be separated to expose the dial face, the powerpack and the reset mechanism. The flat, calibrated dial is mounted above the powerpack, which uses its para-bichlorotoluene (para-B) crystals to filter and amplify minute magnetic fields. The reset mechanism is used to "lock on" the chosen force.
History[]
The paracompass is an adaptation of ancient direction-finding devices. Sources in the Rakis Hoard, cross-referenced through the Guild Libraries, trace its origin to Harmonthep, whose magnetic field was notoriously "random." There the Zensunni manufactured the first crude paracompass, a liquid-filled, heavy, and awkward instrument. The design evolved as the Zensunni moved, until the magnetic characteristics of Arrakis, coupled with the static disruptions caused by Coriolis storms, fostered the precise simplicity demonstrated in paracompass examples recovered from sietch sites on Arrakis.
Design and Use[]
The Fremen used paracompasses to maintain their bearings in spite of sandstorms and dune shifts. Children were trained in compass use from an early age, and learned the relative positions of various magnetic sources because their survival would often depend on their accuracy with the instrument. The Kitab al-Ibar tag, "Know always that which pulls you; a human led blindly is easily led astray," is testimony to the importance of the "pull." Everyone who could walk the sand possessed and mastered the paracompass. Outline knowledge of major magnetic sources, and even a rough calibration of their absolute strengths, was available on some of the sinkcharts published in villages. In spite of some drifting since the Imperial era, the references remain approximately accurate. Extant working models of the paracompass have been tested and found to work faultlessly.
Working examples of the paracompass show almost no deterioration of the melange-based plastic casing. When the casing has been broken and the powerpack exposed, the para-B has degenerated into a large volume of pumice-like material. As anticipated, the chemical combination of para-B with moisture and small traces of spice creates a fast-expanding and quick-stabilizing foam.
Powerpacks used para-B crystals as the ring-shaped core of a special conductive coil made up of discs separated by insulators. The crystals are carried through the drilled centers of the discs. The characteristic stable ion properties of the crystals allow them to detect magnetic fields. They respond by generating electronic impulses which are transferred to the conductive disc around the active area and then sent via micro-connectors to the minicoils that wrap the connectors. These coils cause the dial face to rotate, giving a direction setting. The dial is calibrated in standard radian increments. The 0-2 radian mark is polarized to be attracted by the minicoils.
The reset system is ingeniously simple. It lets the user select the magnetic "pull" that is to be the reference point, and then read directions relative to that source. The reset button, when depressed, seats in one of the notches that surround the rotating powerpack. The dial can still rotate freely relative to the powerpack. When the dial is properly lined up with a known magnetic "pull," the user releases the reset button so that the powerpack and dial will rotate together from then on.
The powerpack's crystals remain sensitized to the alignment of forces at the moment the powerpack is released to rotate. The level of intensity produced by a particular "pull" remains embedded in the crystalline "memory" until the paracompass is reset the next time. If the user had set his compass to the magnetic "pull" source he had intended, he could count on reading accurate relative directions from his paracompass until the next time it was reset.
See also[]
Further references[]
Anon., "Kitab al-Ibar," Rakis Ref. Cat. 1-Z288.