Mag-Caster

The Mag-Caster is a device used to communicate over long distances, utilizing high frequency electromagnetic waves. With the exception of the power source, the device is entirely non-magical and relies on physical laws in order to function. The path to its invention was filled with quite a bit of controversy, with the Orcs of Veracrul assassinating numerous scientists over the years that made discoveries in physics that made this device possible.

For most of the Iron Age, Electricity was thought to be a form of magic out of reach of most mages without breaking physical laws with the assistance of Aether. Electricty was thought to be naturally generated only by lightning bolts and creatures corrupted with the aether of Vikuon, the God of Thunder.

For thousands of years, humans knew that rubbing a chunk of Amber against animal fur will cause small objects like feathers to be attracted to the fur. Charging amber with mana can cause a similar effect. People in the kingdom of Irrelith named this strange non-magical interaction Electricus, and that word eventually evolved into electricity.

In the early 1100's I.A., alchemists discovered that electric eels could generate electricity, but this class of fish lack a Mana Lung and did not appear to be corrupted with any known form of aether. Early writings from this time period theorized that electricity wasn't a type of magic, but a byproduct of something else. It would be well over a thousand years before more serious research into electricity occured.

During this time, numerous different types of Aethercite was discovered that could help a mage generate various forms of electricity. Numerous other pieces of aethercite were discovered that amplifed Magnetic magic as well. People knew for thousands of years that some metals attracted other metals without the use of mana or aether.

In the year 2790 I.A., an Irrelith scientist was experimenting with ways to generate electricity independent of mana. He stacked a small disk of copper, a piece of felt soaked in salt water, and a disk of zinc on top of each other, repeating the pattern a dozen times. He published his findings on this "Vikuon Pile", and a few weeks later, he was assassinated by Orcs, who determined that this technology should be forever out of reach of humans and elves.

He wasn't the only one assassinated. The inventor of the "Solar Jar" was also assassinated. This scientist was working on a way to store electrictiy without the use of mana. Several other scientists were killed, including one that was working on a theory that unified electricity and magnetism as the same force, and theorized that this force sent waves of radiation across incredibly long distances. Most scientists just accepted that the Orcs were taking this very seriously and stopped researching the subject.

Alvino Volmore was an Elven scientist from the Kingdom of Galleska. In the year 2904 I.A., Working on the research of earlier scientists, he started to work in secret on a way to send messages long distance in an instant without the use of mana. This was a useful technology to develop because the current methods of sending messages long distance was very expensive.

Entangled Crystals were a type of aethercite created from Gallium and Indium. They are also a type of Memory Stone. The crystals are manually grown and calibrated, which is a very expensive process. In practical use, charging one of the crystals with aether and leaving a memory behind will also charge the other crystal. Charging the second crystal with mana will reveal the memory or message inside. The problem with entangled crystals is that a new message can be recorded only a few dozen times before the crystals shatter.

There are also Entangled Letters, which involves enchanting two pieces of paper to send messages long distance. This technology has its own set of problems, requiring very specific rune arcs to be written and specific forms of expensive ink to be used. There are also specialized "Letter Keepers" that are paid to keep track of many hundreds of entangled letters so messages aren't mixed up.

Alvino believed that a much simpler solution could be created with the use of electromagnetism. He was quite fond of living however, so in order to not draw the ire of the Orcs, he published a paper on using Sodalite Crystals to signal across long distances by means of a mana 'transmitter' and 'reciever' made of other forms of aethercite. He named the device a Lightning Magic Caster, or a Mag-Caster for short. Alvino encrypted his true meanings within the research and if someone knew what they were reading, they would quickly discover that the paper was research on electromagnetism and building a device to send and recieve signals.

It didn't take long for several other scientists to join Alvino's research and build a working device. Amelia Sunglow and Giovanni Accardi, Each of the three worked on a different aspect of the device, each publishing their findings under different misleading titles.

Amelia worked on recording sounds and turning it into a useable electrical signal. There was research from several long dead scientists that she gathered from. The Process of transduction was simple and would convert sound into a tiny electrical current through the use of magnets, a flexible diaphram, and coiled wires.

Amelia quickly discovered that a Microphone and Speaker use similar parts and developed materials and methods for both. She published her findings under a false name and her research papers claimed that she found a new method for turning Sapphires into Emeralds.

Giovanni worked on powering the device and getting the signals to the transmitter and reciever. He also worked a way to amplify the electricty created by Amelia's device. For the Power he used Quartz crystals charged with Mana. He then built a Mana Inverter using Nickel and Silver which would turn the Mana directly into an electrical current. He also fashioned an electrical return in the current so the circuit wouldn't get overloaded.

To amplify the signal made from Amelia's device, he fashioned a simple circuit using a transistor and two resistors. The signal would create a feedback loop, greatly amplifying the signal. This amplifier would also work on the reciever signal on its way to the speaker. Similar to Amelia, Giovanni was working with electrical principles that had been long established on Vreathe, though never put into practice. Giovanni published his findings in a false research paper about using magnets to tickle electric eels. The name was so absurd the College of Irellith refused to publish it at first, which means that the Orcs would have no idea what it was actually about.

With much of the research done, Alvino started to experiment with circuitry and building the device. After a few months, he has a working blueprint and he sent it off to be built. Similar to other pieces of technology at the time like Aethercite Cameras, the plans were broken up into small components and sent across the country to be made by multiple craftsmen.

When the components were complete they were all sent back to Alvino. He worked on building a few dozen prototypes, then published his research with a demonstration set to occur at the College of Lyonne. The research he published was fake. It claimed the device was a way to store sounds onto a crystal and then play back those sounds later. It is likely that Orcs came across the research but felt there was no need to raise the alarm, yet.

At the presentation, many scientists and mages were actually rather disappointed that the device didn't do what was advertised. Many have been trying to build a similar recording device for hundreds of years. Alvino assured them that this device would be far more revolutionary. He called his device the Electromagnetic Caster, or Mag-Caster for short.

To demonstrate the device, Alvino had a device in the presentation room, and across the college, his wife Arabella was had a duplicate device. When the device was turned on, loud static was heard, which Alvino adjusted away with the turn of a dial. He then spoke into the microphone. Moments later his wife responded. Her voice was distorted and even with the power turned up all the way, the voice was quiet, but it was audible.

Several in the room didn't believe it had worked, so Alvino let them examine the device. He took out the quartz battery for scientist to confirm that was all it was capable of. He also invited them to speak into the mirophone and had others walk across the college to the other one. Everyone that spoke into the device was amazed that it worked and started asking for his research notes.

Alvino gifted every one of the dozens of the attendants a copy of the device to experiment with to their hearts content. He also sent out copies of the device to dozens of people who weren't in attandance. This prevented the Orcs from being able to take action, unless assassinating hundreds of scientists and drawing the ire of multiple nations was something they wanted to do, which they did not. This was something that Lumi Silvershade did when she invented Aethercite Cameras, which prevented a loss of life.

The initial device wasn't particularly great. It had a range of only a few hundred meters, but as a proof of concept it worked wonderfully. Alvino continued to perfect the device over the next two decades, gradually increasing the range and making the sound more clear. There isn't yet any commercially available Mag-Caster, but several different nations have commissioned versions of the device for long distance communication between their armed forces. It's only a matter of time before these devices are everywhere.