1332

## **The Rise of Modular Magic**

The use of *The Method* in analysis had already caused a massive impact on the science of magic. The secrets they'd uncovered that allowed them to inexpensively and reliably produce magical scrolls and (as of 1312) potions, had clearly signaled the House was onto something, even if they were coy exactly what that was.

Most simply assumed that Mystra had smiled upon them. Not really, but she didn't slow them down, either.

By 1332, there was a new development that started to further separate House Stonehearth from other magical entities. This was starting to push the reputation from merely epic and into deep legendary.

### **Producing Wands**

One of the keys was the SMC branching into more permanent item production as a possible sale source. Up to now, there was plenty of research and development, but most of that development was kept in-house. The idea was give the SMC and the Arms an operational advantage.

This included military magic elements like *Wands of Fireballs* and *Wands of Lightning Bolts*. In fact, they were making wands of *Just About Everything*, and the process was illuminating better ways to get it done. This led to the rise of *Modular Magic*.

## **The Components**

The wands broke down into three major components:

* The carrier hardware: this was the actual shaft of the wand, and the *generally* the portion that carried the particular magic of that wand.
* The spell itself: carried, shaped energy. Even when there was some material component from the original spell, a wand could be produced that didn't need the component to recast the spell. This isolated the component into a factor that reduced to the particular signature wavelength of the spell.
* Wand energization: the average wand held 7 charges, would recharge over a roughly 8-hour stretch, and ran a risk of structural failure if the energy was completely depleted. Every detail was a clue to how magic worked – and Stonehearth was ripping these details apart and studying every last part.

The Stonehearth collective, from the SMC to the College and deep into the House itself, research had gone to studying these three components separately – and how they worked together.

This led to the discovery that the portion energizing the wands could be separated from the wavelength of arcane energy that had been imbued into the carrier. Essentially, they could create charge carriers and swap them between shaft.

The first fully-operational wand to do this was a classic *Wand of Fireballs*. The main wavelength was isolated into the shaft, while the part that depleted and recharged was isolated into the pommel – and could be removed. With another just like it, the depleted pommel could be replaced and *presto!* Suddenly, that same *Wand of Fireballs* could rip out another round.

## **Deeper Discoveries**

A few things bubbled up here, not the least of which was that Stonehearth didn't want to wind up facing down their own wands. If they sold them on the open market, they'd make a killing – but inevitably, those wands would come back to haunt them (just as the scrolls and potions did now). They could absorb the wrath of the consumables, but the wands would be trickier.

Next, they started focusing, shaping and tailoring the spell effects that were enchanted into the carrier wand. In this case, it was like a frozen spell they could study. One quick for instance: the fireball wand research went in a dozen different directions, but one of the most useful was a kind of intensely heated flame – a torch that could easily and quickly melt steel – that allowed two things:

* Hotter metalwork: they could melt, form and reform steel at temperatures where the steel was vapor and condensed. It mixed particularly well with other elements in this state. Within careful magic containment, they could also pressurize and condense liquid steel and make it denser. When they dialed it back, they could partially melt steel and join pieces together when partially molten. Thus welding was born.
* Extremely efficient metal recovery. There was no scraps, no tailings, nothing wasted. Even the other rock from mining was being melted and reformed as they experimented with magically contained, superheated materials.

The biggest development, however, was the modular power source. There was serious consideration training the entire Arms to operate wands, give them fireball shafts and six energized pommels and let come what may.

This would go on to lead to more research on the powering itself. When it came to magic, they'd already learned so much, but the more they learned, the more they found they didn't know. New vistas were opening faster than they could process. When it came to the power of magic, at least *inside* the house:

***Citius, Altius, Fortius***

## **Give and Take in Baldur's Gate**

Some of this research was done by associated fellows, outside House Stonehearth, and some of those fellows were brilliant arcane scientists in their own right. This class of contributor was generally in the academic circles of the Stonehearth College in the Gate – and may have only been under limited obligation to keep research under wraps.

Two in particular were wizards from House Abrotzo, fellow Gate patriars and friendly competitors to House Stonehearth. These Abrotzo representatives had discovered key insights into the possible modularity of wands and took it back to their own arcane lab and production site.

Just two years later, 1334, House Abrotzo began selling modular wands on the open market. These were high-quality wands that did have a moderate expense to produce but had an astronomical market value. The client list were kings, queens, and high wizards.

This started to fit the rumors, as casters of House Stonehearth had already been seen with this type of wand. Whether they were making their own or purchasing from Abrotzo was unknown, but considering said wands were in the hands of war mages of the Stonehearth Arms rather than kings and queens, it said something about either the bankroll or the production capacity (or both) of House Stonehearth.

Over time, House Abrotzo and House Stonehearth continued to come closer together as research, development and production partners until Abrotzo was eventually elevated as a baron in what would become a Stonehearth Sovereignty to the north...