diff --git a/packages/README.md b/packages/README.md
index c49c7df2..fe0c5770 100644
--- a/packages/README.md
+++ b/packages/README.md
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ section. The rules are in [ludic.base](ludic.base/README.md).
 | [ludic.anim](ludic.anim/README.md) | glTF animation clips sampled and cross-faded onto a render3d Skin (uses `ludic_render3d`) |
 | [ludic.character](ludic.character/README.md) | a third-person walking body: gait, steps and slopes, a jump, wading, swimming, sitting, a safe put-down, the orbit camera |
 | [ludic.audio](ludic.audio/README.md) | world sounds with a gain, pan and pitch from a listener port, flat interface sounds, packed clips loaded, the one door to `Audio.*` |
+| [ludic.compass](ludic.compass/README.md) | bearing marks on a strip: gathered from registered providers, gated by tier, sorted by priority, bearings, distances and a radar |
 | [ludic.clock](ludic.clock/README.md) | the hour, the day, the moon and a calendar of seasons |
 | [ludic.crafting](ludic.crafting/README.md) | recipes: what goes in and out, where and how long, making, refunding, hold-to-make |
 | [ludic.effects](ludic.effects/README.md) | timed modifiers that run down in game time (a meal's warmth, a drink's legs) |
diff --git a/packages/ludic.compass/README.md b/packages/ludic.compass/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5efb82e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ludic.compass/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+# ludic.compass
+
+Bearing markers on a strip: where things are from where you stand. Each frame the package asks
+every provider the game registered, keeps the marks the viewer's compass is good enough to show,
+sorts them by priority and culls them to a cap, and answers each one's bearing and distance - for a
+strip across the top of the screen, a radar in a corner, a map, or a guide's arrow. Uses
+[`ludic.base`](../ludic.base/README.md) and nothing else.
+
+```ludic
+import "ludic.compass"
+```
+
+The package never draws and never names a picture. A mark's `icon` and `colour` are the game's
+keys (an index into its icon sheet and its palette), and its `label` is the game's words.
+
+## A mark
+
+| | |
+| --- | --- |
+| `x`, `z` | where it is in the world |
+| `icon`, `colour` | the game's keys for its picture and its colour |
+| `tier` | the least compass that shows it: the viewer's `CompassWorld.tier()` below it, the mark is dropped |
+| `prio` | `COMPASS_TRACKED` (the objective: its distance is shown, and it stays at the strip's edge when off it), `COMPASS_NOTE` (one the player asked for), `COMPASS_PLAIN` |
+| `label` | its name |
+
+## Providers
+
+A provider is a function that calls `compass_mark` for each thing it knows about. The game
+registers them in the open registry, and `compass_gather()` asks them in the registry's order:
+
+```ludic
+def CompassProviders places { gather: fn cp_places }
+def CompassProviders story { gather: fn story_marks }
+```
+
+Then the marks are sorted - tracked first, then notes, then the rest, each band in the order the
+providers gave them - and culled to `compass_config(cap)`. A viewer with tier 0 gathers nothing.
+
+A **capture** lets something else hear where the providers point without touching the frame's
+list, whatever the tier (a guide that points at the objective before a compass is bought):
+
+```ludic
+compass_capture_begin()
+story_marks()
+let marks = compass_capture_end()
+```
+
+## The port
+
+```ludic
+export port CompassWorld {       # every member has a default: at the origin facing -z, every tier
+  x: fn() -> float
+  z: fn() -> float
+  yaw: fn() -> float             # radians; 0 faces -z, and +yaw turns toward -x
+  tier: fn() -> int              # the compass carried; 0 none
+}
+```
+
+## API
+
+| | |
+| --- | --- |
+| `compass_config(cap)` | how many marks a frame keeps |
+| `compass_gather()` | once a frame: begin, every provider, end |
+| `compass_begin()`, `compass_mark(x, z, icon, colour, tier, prio, label)`, `compass_end()` | the frame by hand (a test, one provider asked alone) |
+| `compass_capture_begin()`, `compass_capture_end() -> []CompassMark`, `compass_capturing()` | the providers heard by someone else |
+| `compass_count()`, `compass_at(i) -> CompassMark`, `compass_tracked()` | the frame's marks; the first tracked one or -1 |
+| `compass_bearing(i)`, `compass_dist(i)`, `compass_bearing_to(x, z)`, `compass_dist_to(x, z)` | from the viewer: a bearing in -pi .. pi off its facing, a distance in metres |
+| `compass_heading(dx, dz)`, `compass_rel(heading)`, `compass_wrap(a)`, `compass_strip_t(bearing, half)` | the arithmetic: a world heading, as the strip sees it, wrapped, and across a strip showing `half` either side (-1 .. 1 on it) |
+| `compass_octant(dx, dz)` | which of eight points an offset lies toward, 0 at heading 0 and going toward -x (N, NW, W ...) |
+| `compass_config_radar(ranges, from_tier)` | the radar's range per compass tier (0 none; past the table the last) and the least mark tier it shows (the tracked mark always) |
+| `compass_radar_on()`, `compass_radar_range()`, `compass_radar_has(i)`, `compass_radar_x(i)`, `compass_radar_y(i)` | the radar: carried, how far, whether a mark is a blip, and where on a unit disc (x right, y down, ahead is up) |
+
+There is no save: the marks are the providers' state, asked again every frame.
+
+## Tests
+
+```bash
+ludic test packages/ludic.compass
+```
+
+A viewer and two providers: the order and the bands, the tier gate and no compass, the cap,
+bearings and distances as the viewer turns and moves, a capture, the radar's tiers and blips, and
+the eight points.
diff --git a/packages/ludic.compass/bearing.ludic b/packages/ludic.compass/bearing.ludic
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9fd60caa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ludic.compass/bearing.ludic
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# bearing.ludic - the frame's marks as the strip reads them: how many, each one, where it bears
+# from the viewer's facing and how far it is. A heading is the world's (0 toward -z, a quarter
+# turn toward -x), a bearing is the heading less the viewer's yaw, in -pi .. pi.
+export function compass_count() -> int {
+  if cmp_list == null { return 0 }
+  return len(cmp_list)
+}
+
+# the i-th mark, or an empty one past the end
+export function compass_at(i: int) -> CompassMark {
+  if i < 0 or i >= compass_count() { return new CompassMark }
+  return cmp_list[i]
+}
+
+export function compass_wrap(a: float) -> float {
+  var r = a
+  let turn = 2.0 * CMP_PI
+  while r > CMP_PI { r -= turn }
+  while r < -CMP_PI { r += turn }
+  return r
+}
+
+export function compass_heading(dx: float, dz: float) -> float { return Math.atan2(-dx, -dz) }
+
+# a world heading as the strip sees it
+export function compass_rel(heading: float) -> float { return compass_wrap(heading - CompassWorld.yaw()) }
+
+export function compass_bearing_to(x: float, z: float) -> float { return compass_rel(compass_heading(x - CompassWorld.x(), z - CompassWorld.z())) }
+
+export function compass_dist_to(x: float, z: float) -> float {
+  let dx = x - CompassWorld.x()
+  let dz = z - CompassWorld.z()
+  return Math.sqrt(dx * dx + dz * dz)
+}
+
+export function compass_bearing(i: int) -> float {
+  let m = compass_at(i)
+  return compass_bearing_to(m.x, m.z)
+}
+
+export function compass_dist(i: int) -> float {
+  let m = compass_at(i)
+  return compass_dist_to(m.x, m.z)
+}
+
+# where a bearing falls across a strip showing `half` radians either side: -1 .. 1, or past it
+export function compass_strip_t(bearing: float, half: float) -> float { return bearing / Math.max(half, 0.001) }
+
+# the objective: the first tracked mark of the frame, or -1
+export function compass_tracked() -> int {
+  for i in 0 .. compass_count() { if cmp_list[i].prio >= COMPASS_TRACKED { return i } }
+  return -1
+}
+
+# which of eight points an offset lies toward: 0 the heading 0, then a quarter turn in two steps
+# at a time toward -x (for a world where 0 is north: N, NW, W, SW, S, SE, E, NE)
+export function compass_octant(dx: float, dz: float) -> int {
+  var deg = compass_heading(dx, dz) * 180.0 / CMP_PI
+  if deg < 0.0 { deg += 360.0 }
+  return int(Math.floor(deg / 45.0 + 0.5)) % 8
+}
diff --git a/packages/ludic.compass/gather.ludic b/packages/ludic.compass/gather.ludic
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..041870ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ludic.compass/gather.ludic
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+# gather.ludic - a frame's marks: begin, every provider marks, end sorts and culls. While a
+# capture is open the marks go to whoever is listening instead, whatever the tier.
+export function compass_begin() -> void { cmp_list = new []CompassMark }
+
+# a provider's verb: a thing at (x, z), shown from compass `tier` up
+export function compass_mark(x: float, z: float, icon: int, colour: int, tier: int, prio: int, label: string) -> void {
+  if cmp_list == null { compass_begin() }
+  let m = cmp_new(x, z, icon, colour, tier, prio, label)
+  if cmp_capturing {
+    push(cmp_caught, m)
+    return
+  }
+  if CompassWorld.tier() < tier { return }
+  push(cmp_list, m)
+}
+
+# highest priority first, the providers' order kept within one; then the cap
+export function compass_end() -> void {
+  if cmp_list == null { compass_begin() }
+  let out = new []CompassMark
+  for p in 0 .. 3 {
+    let want = COMPASS_TRACKED - p
+    for i in 0 .. len(cmp_list) { if cmp_band(cmp_list[i].prio) == want and len(out) < cmp_cap { push(out, cmp_list[i]) } }
+  }
+  cmp_list = out
+}
+
+function cmp_band(p: int) -> int { return Math.clamp(p, COMPASS_PLAIN, COMPASS_TRACKED) }
+
+# once a frame: ask every registered provider, in the registry's order
+export function compass_gather() -> void {
+  compass_begin()
+  if CompassWorld.tier() <= 0 { return }
+  for i in 0 .. COMPASS_FROM_COUNT {
+    let f = CompassProviders[i].gather
+    if f != null { f() }
+  }
+  compass_end()
+}
+
+# someone else wants to know where the providers point (a guide's arrow): until the end every
+# mark is theirs, whatever the tier, and the frame's list is left alone
+export function compass_capture_begin() -> void {
+  cmp_capturing = true
+  cmp_caught = new []CompassMark
+}
+
+export function compass_capture_end() -> []CompassMark {
+  cmp_capturing = false
+  var got = cmp_caught
+  cmp_caught = new []CompassMark
+  if got == null { got = new []CompassMark }
+  return got
+}
+
+export function compass_capturing() -> bool { return cmp_capturing }
diff --git a/packages/ludic.compass/index.ludic b/packages/ludic.compass/index.ludic
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c016bdd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ludic.compass/index.ludic
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# ludic.compass - where things are from where you stand: marks gathered once a frame from an open
+# registry of providers, gated by a tier and sorted by priority, turned into bearings for a strip
+# and blips for a radar. The game draws both.
+module ludic_compass uses ludic_base
+numbers float
+import "ludic.base"
+import "ports.ludic"
+import "marks.ludic"
+import "gather.ludic"
+import "bearing.ludic"
+import "radar.ludic"
diff --git a/packages/ludic.compass/marks.ludic b/packages/ludic.compass/marks.ludic
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..855b2922
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ludic.compass/marks.ludic
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# marks.ludic - a mark, the providers the game registers, and the frame's list
+export const COMPASS_PLAIN: int = 0          # priorities: an ordinary mark
+export const COMPASS_NOTE: int = 1           # one the player asked for (a mark of their own)
+export const COMPASS_TRACKED: int = 2        # the objective: its distance is shown, at the edge too
+
+export property CompassMark {
+  x: float = 0.0
+  z: float = 0.0
+  icon: int = 0          # the game's key for its picture
+  colour: int = 0        # the game's key for its colour
+  tier: int = 1          # the least compass that shows it
+  prio: int = 0
+  label: string = ""
+}
+
+# a provider says where its things are by calling compass_mark; the game fills the registry
+# (`def CompassProviders story { gather: fn story_marks }`) and they are asked in its order
+export property CompassProvider {
+  key: string = ""
+  gather: fn() -> void = null
+}
+
+export open registry CompassProviders of CompassProvider as COMPASS_FROM
+
+var cmp_cap: int = 64
+var cmp_list: []CompassMark = null       # this frame's, sorted and culled
+var cmp_capturing: bool = false
+var cmp_caught: []CompassMark = null     # what providers said while someone was listening
+
+# how many marks a frame keeps (the lowest priorities go first past it)
+export function compass_config(cap: int) -> void {
+  cmp_cap = Math.max(cap, 1)
+  compass_begin()
+}
+
+function cmp_new(x: float, z: float, icon: int, colour: int, tier: int, prio: int, label: string) -> CompassMark {
+  let m = new CompassMark
+  m.x = x
+  m.z = z
+  m.icon = icon
+  m.colour = colour
+  m.tier = tier
+  m.prio = prio
+  m.label = label
+  return m
+}
diff --git a/packages/ludic.compass/package.ludic b/packages/ludic.compass/package.ludic
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ccdead75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ludic.compass/package.ludic
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# ludic.compass - bearing markers on a strip: marks gathered each frame from the game's providers,
+# gated by the viewer's tier, sorted and culled by priority, as bearings and distances, and the
+# radar's tiers. Uses ludic.base and nothing else. See README.md.
+package "ludic.compass"
+version "0.1.0"
+kind source
diff --git a/packages/ludic.compass/ports.ludic b/packages/ludic.compass/ports.ludic
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a397bd52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ludic.compass/ports.ludic
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# ports.ludic - what the compass asks the game: where the viewer stands, which way the strip
+# faces and which compass is in the pack. Unbound, it stands at the origin facing -z (yaw 0) and
+# carries every tier.
+export port CompassWorld {
+  x: fn() -> float = fn cmp__zero
+  z: fn() -> float = fn cmp__zero
+  yaw: fn() -> float = fn cmp__zero           # radians; 0 faces -z, and +yaw turns toward -x
+  tier: fn() -> int = fn cmp__every           # 0 no compass: nothing at all is gathered
+}
+
+function cmp__zero() -> float { return 0.0 }
+function cmp__every() -> int { return 1000 }
+
+const CMP_PI: float = 3.14159265
diff --git a/packages/ludic.compass/radar.ludic b/packages/ludic.compass/radar.ludic
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f830a8b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ludic.compass/radar.ludic
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# radar.ludic - the radar's tiers: a range for each compass tier (0 is no radar), which marks it
+# shows, and where each falls on a unit disc with ahead at the top
+var cmp_ranges: []float = null
+var cmp_radar_from: int = 2     # marks of at least this tier are blips; the tracked one always is
+
+export function compass_config_radar(ranges: []float, from_tier: int) -> void {
+  cmp_ranges = new []float
+  for i in 0 .. len(ranges) { push(cmp_ranges, ranges[i]) }
+  cmp_radar_from = from_tier
+}
+
+# how far the radar reaches with the viewer's compass, 0 without one; a tier past the table has
+# the last range
+export function compass_radar_range() -> float {
+  if cmp_ranges == null or len(cmp_ranges) == 0 { return 0.0 }
+  let t = CompassWorld.tier()
+  if t < 0 { return 0.0 }
+  if t >= len(cmp_ranges) { return cmp_ranges[len(cmp_ranges) - 1] }
+  return cmp_ranges[t]
+}
+
+export function compass_radar_on() -> bool { return compass_radar_range() > 0.0 }
+
+# the i-th mark is a blip: a radar is carried, it is shown there and it is in range
+export function compass_radar_has(i: int) -> bool {
+  if i < 0 or i >= compass_count() or not compass_radar_on() { return false }
+  let m = cmp_list[i]
+  if m.tier < cmp_radar_from and m.prio < COMPASS_TRACKED { return false }
+  return compass_dist(i) <= compass_radar_range()
+}
+
+# where on a unit disc: x right, y down, so ahead is (0, -1) and the edge is the range
+export function compass_radar_x(i: int) -> float { return -Math.sin(compass_bearing(i)) * cmp_radar_frac(i) }
+export function compass_radar_y(i: int) -> float { return -Math.cos(compass_bearing(i)) * cmp_radar_frac(i) }
+
+function cmp_radar_frac(i: int) -> float {
+  let r = compass_radar_range()
+  if r <= 0.0 { return 0.0 }
+  return Math.min(compass_dist(i) / r, 1.0)
+}
diff --git a/packages/ludic.compass/tests/compass_test.ludic b/packages/ludic.compass/tests/compass_test.ludic
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fbcda331
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ludic.compass/tests/compass_test.ludic
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+# compass_test.ludic - a viewer at (vx, vz) facing yaw with a compass of `tier`, and two providers:
+# the places (a camp ahead, a sign west, a far legend) and the objective. The tier gate, the order
+# and the cap, bearings and distances, the tracked mark, a capture, the radar's tiers, the points.
+import "ludic.compass"
+import "ludic.base"
+program CompassTest {
+  numbers float
+
+  var vx: float = 0.0
+  var vz: float = 0.0
+  var yaw: float = 0.0
+  var tier: int = 4
+  var objective: bool = true
+
+  function fk_x() -> float { return vx }
+  function fk_z() -> float { return vz }
+  function fk_yaw() -> float { return yaw }
+  function fk_tier() -> int { return tier }
+  bind CompassWorld { x: fn fk_x, z: fn fk_z, yaw: fn fk_yaw, tier: fn fk_tier }
+
+  function places() -> void {
+    compass_mark(0.0, -100.0, 1, 10, 1, COMPASS_PLAIN, "camp")
+    compass_mark(-50.0, 0.0, 2, 11, 2, COMPASS_PLAIN, "sign")
+    compass_mark(0.0, 300.0, 3, 12, 4, COMPASS_PLAIN, "legend")
+    compass_mark(10.0, 10.0, 4, 13, 1, COMPASS_NOTE, "my mark")
+  }
+  function goal() -> void { if objective { compass_mark(80.0, 0.0, 5, 14, 2, COMPASS_TRACKED, "the dock") } }
+  def CompassProviders places { gather: fn places }
+  def CompassProviders goal { gather: fn goal }
+
+  function fresh() -> void {
+    compass_config(64)
+    compass_config_radar([0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 120.0, 260.0], 2)
+    vx = 0.0
+    vz = 0.0
+    yaw = 0.0
+    tier = 4
+    objective = true
+  }
+  function labels() -> string {
+    var s = ""
+    for i in 0 .. compass_count() { s = s + compass_at(i).label + ";" }
+    return s
+  }
+
+  test "every provider is asked, the tracked mark first, then the player's, then the rest in order" {
+    fresh()
+    compass_gather()
+    expect_eq(compass_count(), 5)
+    expect(labels() == "the dock;my mark;camp;sign;legend;")
+    expect_eq(compass_tracked(), 0)
+  }
+
+  test "a mark shows from its tier up, and without a compass nothing is gathered" {
+    fresh()
+    tier = 1
+    compass_gather()
+    expect(labels() == "my mark;camp;")
+    expect_eq(compass_tracked(), -1)
+    tier = 0
+    compass_gather()
+    expect_eq(compass_count(), 0)
+  }
+
+  test "past the cap the lowest priorities go" {
+    fresh()
+    compass_config(2)
+    compass_gather()
+    expect(labels() == "the dock;my mark;")
+  }
+
+  test "a bearing is from the viewer's facing, a distance from where it stands" {
+    fresh()
+    compass_gather()
+    expect_near(compass_bearing(2), 0.0, 0.001)
+    expect_near(compass_dist(2), 100.0, 0.01)
+    expect_near(compass_bearing(3), 1.5708, 0.001)
+    expect_near(compass_bearing(0), -1.5708, 0.001)
+    yaw = 1.5708
+    expect_near(compass_bearing(3), 0.0, 0.001)
+    expect_near(compass_bearing(2), -1.5708, 0.001)
+    vx = -50.0
+    vz = 100.0
+    expect_near(compass_dist(3), 100.0, 0.01)
+    expect_near(compass_wrap(7.0), 7.0 - 6.2832, 0.001)
+    expect_near(compass_strip_t(0.5, 1.0), 0.5, 0.001)
+  }
+
+  test "a capture hears every mark whatever the tier and leaves the frame's list alone" {
+    fresh()
+    compass_gather()
+    tier = 1
+    compass_capture_begin()
+    expect(compass_capturing())
+    goal()
+    places()
+    let got = compass_capture_end()
+    expect(not compass_capturing())
+    expect_eq(len(got), 5)
+    expect(got[0].label == "the dock")
+    expect_eq(compass_count(), 5)
+  }
+
+  test "the radar: its range by tier, the blips in it, and where each falls on the disc" {
+    fresh()
+    tier = 2
+    compass_gather()
+    expect(not compass_radar_on())
+    expect(not compass_radar_has(0))
+    tier = 3
+    compass_gather()
+    expect(compass_radar_on())
+    expect_near(compass_radar_range(), 120.0, 0.01)
+    expect(compass_radar_has(0))
+    expect(not compass_radar_has(1))
+    expect(not compass_radar_has(2))
+    expect(compass_radar_has(3))
+    expect_near(compass_radar_x(3), -50.0 / 120.0, 0.001)
+    expect_near(compass_radar_y(3), 0.0, 0.001)
+    expect_near(compass_radar_x(0), 80.0 / 120.0, 0.001)
+    tier = 9
+    expect_near(compass_radar_range(), 260.0, 0.01)
+  }
+
+  test "the eight points go round from the heading 0 toward -x" {
+    expect_eq(compass_octant(0.0, -10.0), 0)
+    expect_eq(compass_octant(-10.0, -10.0), 1)
+    expect_eq(compass_octant(-10.0, 0.0), 2)
+    expect_eq(compass_octant(0.0, 10.0), 4)
+    expect_eq(compass_octant(10.0, 0.0), 6)
+    expect_eq(compass_octant(10.0, -10.0), 7)
+    expect_eq(compass_octant(1.0, -10.0), 0)
+  }
+}