Aethertech

**Aethertech is the Dynasty's unique ability, and requires GM permission to utilize in a large scale for roleplay scenes.**

## Introduction

Aethertech is a type of machinery invented by the elves of the Dynasty. Their machines utilize "aether" from a crystal power source to consistently power enchantments. These encompass a wide range of elven inventions, turning even mundane household items into fanciful presentations, and their weapons into devastating spectacles. Such expensive devices, while very powerful, are extremely rare outside of elven culture and reserved for royalty, nobility, and elite military forces.

Many elven aethertech inventions can be identified by their sleek and stylish designs. In typical elvish fashion, they are often heavily adorned with gaudy and ornate constructions of gold, platinum, and polished jewels. Each have are glowing leylines throughout the device that direct the flow of magickal energy, aether, in the device. Anything construct or vessel with an aethertech engine will have a large glowing power core visible.

The ability to craft aethertech is a heavily guarded secret of the Dynasty, and its complexities rival the danger they could pose in unlearned hands. As such, the knowledge to craft aethertech at the standard that the Dynasty demands, typically requires many years of study inside their research halls.

Elven aethertech draws power from the energies of the living world, from aether, also known as ley, mana, or 'the Breath of God'. Aethertech bypasses a living creature's internal generation of this energy -- such accumulation of aether being what grants sentient creatures the capacity for magick -- and instead draws directly from the surrounding environment. Such allows for the creation of viable power source for the often complex magickal systems. Aethertech acts both as catalyst and reagent, simultaneously providing its own energy and acting out its own functions almost entirely autonomously, save for the user controlling its intended functions.

While this technology practically eliminates the demand on the user magickally, it requires considerable external aether consumption to function as a result. If not fueled internally, activated aethertech will aggressively and continually drain aether from all surrounding things, to the point of lasting harm or death. Plants and small animals are often the first to suffer the adverse effects, but other larger creatures may suffer from dangerous aether depletion if overexposed.

        As the prevalence of aethertech expanded, so too had the need to fuel this technology. The Dynasty established an industry around siphoning aether from unpopulated areas to manufacture aether crystals, which act as interchangeable batteries for their inventions, compressed for portability and convenience. These crystals, formed in varying sizes and purities, became the Dynasty's fuel of choice, much as wood, charcoal and fire salts had been for the Empire. In preparation for war, disaster, and other such tragedies, the Dynasty sees fit to stockpile these crystals in vast quantities.

Despite rumors of using these facilities to siphon aether from prisoners, the Royal Lyllalean Dynasty maintains that they only draw aether from plantlife and the inanimate. Be that as it may, stone and flora offer far less aether than sentient creatures, and as such, these facilities must source their fuel frequently. As these facilities expanded, so too has their grievous consequences. By drawing such vast quantities of aether from the environment, the elves have left swaths of grasslands and forests fully and entirely dead.

Aether, once expended from aethetech, does not dissipate, but is displaced aimlessly into the air instead of returning to its source, unlike the Union's Primal Force mastery, which practices a safe return of ley to the environment it harnessed from. Aether siphoned from the world by aethertech struggles, and often fails, to return to the world once it has been expended. This elven craft slowly bleeds the world of life. The price of such rampant exploitation of the land is not to be paid in screams but in silence. As vast and ancient forests wither away and mountains crumble, the Great Symmetry slowly skews towards disaster with every use of aethertech. Dynastic engineers and the Arcanaeum constantly seek to improve and perfect aethertech to lessen or eradicate the consequences of its use.

## History

### Overture of Bol'Kay-Taer

The high elves, in an effort to keep up with the other races in their bid for power, funded several expeditions to further elven tech. One such expedition was spearheaded by a high elven archmage, Perati Avaldi, an adherent of Jion.
Perati, the forefront expert on general fine arts, was charged with the exploration of a dwarven ruin, Bol'Kay-Taer, known for having a large cultural center within. The ruins' entry was unforgiving. Those with the sight of aether could sense something wrong, an imbalance. An affront to the Six. They witnessed the remnants of their foes' technology, battered, unpowered, their lingering runes dormant. However, as they delved further, they were regularly set upon by malfunctioning constructs, causing the expedition to suffer steady casualties and loss of morale.
The expedition found a grand concert hall. Despite the absence of performers or an audience, the wide room was filled with a low melody of mourning and despair. While the surviving team members were relieved to secure a place to rest, Perati was drawn to the conductor's stand.

### The Key to Aethertech

The music in Perati's ears would not silence itself. The melody was wrong, as if the last sonata had lost its final note. As if transfixed, or perhaps guided by Jion's gale, she took to the conductor's stand. Laid upon the stand, was a simple metal rod, a crystal embedded into the tip, and a book of hymns beside it. Reading through the old book, Perati identified the song: a funeral dirge for a king, a song of protection.
Hostile constructs had begun to assault the makeshift barriers the team had formed. Perati acted swiftly, taking the conductor's rod in hand, tapping it upon the stand and motioning to an unseen orchestra. Silence washed over the concert hall, until she made the first movement. All stood still within the ruin as a dwarfhorn sounded out, the motions of the rod controlling the aether in the air as the music played its somber tune. The constructs ceased their assault and began to crumble back into lifeless metal and cogs.
With the threat of the haywire constructs all but gone, the researchers got to work studying this rare variant of dwarven technology. It was deemed that the hall used dwarven rune magic to create massive enchantments, one such enchantment being the song that kept the constructs on patrol. Because the melody had become discordant, the constructs remained on perpetual guard, and malfunctioned, until Perati had finally corrected the song, and the spell faded.
The elves began their study of dwarven concepts, replicating their crystal-embedded conductor rods, and utilizing their aether sight to magickally form intricate parts together while weaving enchantments directly into their prototypes. The first use of aethertech resulted in small, ornate mouse-toys and automatic water boilers, put together not by hand, but through the visual manipulation of aether as the form of sound or music, utilizing a technique called aether-conducting.

### Perati's Opus

The Dynastic Crown saw the potential of Perati's findings, of forming metal into seemingly impossible shapes and fueling such contraptions with aether crystals. Perati, enlightened by her time in Bol'Kay-Taer, spoke directly to advisors and royalty of a world of flying ships, unparalleled inventions for elven citizens, and weapons of unrivaled quality for their soldiers. Beyond rudimentary enchantment, aether-conducting allowed for the formation and movement of incomprehensible parts to create inventions that can consistently channel aether from a crystalline power source through intricately woven musically-aesthetic designs.
Perati Avaldi coined such inventions as aethertech. Their sheer intricacy and impossible inner workings made such inventions impractical to simply take apart and study, save by someone trained in aether-conducting, who could 'sing' the metal into shape. The Arcanaeum's finest were taught the art of aether-conducting, also known as metal-singing, and in time the limits of aethertech would push towards the creation of both weapons of war and tools of peace.
Since its inception, the Arcanaeum has since acknowledged the issue with aethertech sapping aether from the surrounding area to continually fuel itself. This is a pressing issue that aethertech conductors have since been actively researching to resolve.

## Mechanics of Aethertech

Aethertech is a tool of the elves, weaving metal and crystal into an elegant form, its inner machinations confusing even the greatest minds without the knowledge of metal-singing.

To create aethertech, one must take the role of Conductor. Metal-singing requires the user to utilize aether sight, while equipped with what many call an attuning rod or conductor wand, a simple wand with a crystal embedded in the head, to control the ebb and flow of raw aether to:

* embed a crystalline power source into the heart of your material
* etch or weave ornate designs, much like musical notes or stanzas, that function much like veins to carry aether from that power source
* bend, weld, and manipulate your material that has been etched upon, the empowered lines expanding to crush, bend, and fuse the form
* meticulously inscribe enchantments directly onto the power source, much like sheet music, to convey triggers, rhythm, and timing of effects.

Aethertech inventions typically allow for the slotting of portable aether crystals to act as interchangeable batteries.

Due to aethertech's complexity, its creation, repair, and disassembly requires scrupulous focus and training with a conductor wand. Attempting to do so by hand or without the use of aether-conducting will cause the intricate parts within to become broken and unusable.

Aethertech is powered by crystals, which are charged from the environment, eventually leaving the area barren and desolate.