Great Wards

The **Zopedan**, or **Great Wards**, are the seven ancient magical wards that surround the Kheions on the island of Alecand. These wards are of precursor origin, made to confine the prisoners within. After the Day of Ashen Skies they came to serve a new purpose, protecting the inhabitants of the Zopedan from the Kaydhano storms that periodically blew over the island of Alecand.

## Structure

The Great Wards, despite their seeming permanence, require constant maintenance. This has led the Kheionai over generations to reverse engineer the components of the Zopedan in order to maintain the wards. It is unclear if the Great Wards can be restored if they were to be destroyed.

For a long time, it was unclear even to the Kheionai what exactly was the power source of the Zopedan. Only archaeological expeditions in the 18th and 19th centuries would end this mystery.

As of the year 1905, the mechanisms behind the Zopedan cannot be completely replicated. However, it is generally understood through the viewpoint of artificery how the Great Wards operate.

There is 3 main components of a Zopedan:

* The Kheinilián, or damestear core
* The Epodrésos, or damestear-alloy conduit
* The Arpetria, or shield generator

### Kheinilián

Every Zopedan has a Kheinilián as its main power source. They are cores of pure damestear, located in a chamber deep beneath the surface. These chambers cannot be accessed from the outside, and were designed to never be touched once the chamber was sealed.

It is notable that these cores are extremely similar to the ones found within the high temples of Haless. This has been used as evidence by scholars who advocate the theory that the High Temples were built by the precursors.

#### Discovery

Due to being sealed far underground, these cores were unknown to the world for thousands of years, until the 18th century.

Kimabhen construction workers accidentally discovered a large solid black chamber deep beneath an extremely old section of Kimanis. Alerted to the presence of large amounts of Epodrésos connected to the chamber, mages and engineers were brought to the site. In order to carefully open the room without damaging the Epodrésos, the thick walls were slowly chipped away with tools and magic. After three years, they managed to finally break through, and discovered the core.

This discovery spread across Alecand extremely quickly, and led to the other Kheions to begin digging for their Kheinilián too. As of 1905, not all of them have been found.

### Arpetria

At the center of the Zopedan is the Arpetria, the mechanism from which the Great Ward is actually made. The mechanics by which it generates the Great Ward is poorly understood. However, Kheionai engineers and mages have figured out how to replicate parts of it in order to repair damages it has sustained over time, whether deliberate or otherwise. The Arpetria cannot be turned off manually, it cannot be moved easily, and it requires unobstructed access to the open air in order to maintain the Zopedan.

Due to the importance of the Great Wards, the seats of government of the Kheions are physically built around the rooms where the Arpetria is found. These great machines are extremely heavily guarded, and access to them is highly regulated, with not even the Kylakas being allowed to freely interact with the Arpetria.

### Epodrésos

The Kheinilián is connected to the Arpetria by the Epodrésos, conduits that stretch underground. Made of a damestear-mixed alloy, these conduits are strong, but can be broken with enough force - whether that be mechanical or magical in nature.

The Kheionai have managed to replicate and make their own Epodrésos. However it is notable that the Kheionai-made version is of a noticeable lower quality than that made by the precursors. It is currently unknown why this is.

## Properties

The Zopedan when properly maintained are the strongest known wards known upon Halann. They are a physical barrier between the world within and outside the Zopedan. The Great Wards are spherical in shape, with the Arpetria at its center. The Zopedan features a blue, semi-transparent coloration. It has been found that digging at the edges of a Great Ward will cause them to expand in order to maintain the shape of a sphere.

### Gates

The only connection between the world within the Zopedan and the world beyond is through special gates which serve as deliberate holes in the Great Ward. These gates can be closed by letting the ward fill the gates on command. In this way the Kheions have complete control over who enters and exits the Zopedan. The Kheionai have replicated and built many of these gates in order to facilitate trade and reduce traffic. The largest of these can be found within the harbor of Ormam, a massive gate that can let an entire fleet of ships through its pillars. While every Kheion with a harbor has one of these large gates, Ormam’s dwarves the others in sheer size.

### Impenetrability

The Great Wards are completely impenetrable to outside attacks. Whether it be an extremely powerful evocation spell or the Day of Ashen Skies, as long the Arpetria stays powered and functioning the Zopedan will not break.

### Energy Absorption

The Great Wards have the unique property of absorbing the energy it takes from outside attacks and uses it as a secondary source of power. It is unclear how this property occurs, or why the precursors thought the need to include it.