Reality Stability Indicator

When you need to how how unstable the local area is

Hear that clicking sound? Means the background chaos levels are quite high. I would not recommend casting a powerful spell here..Hell, don't cast ANY spell

The Reality Stability Indicator (RSI) is a small tool designed for one purpose, giving an indicator of the strength of the fabric of reality in the local area, known sometimes as the Reality Index. This has made travel in certain areas much safer and can if calibrated correctly, save a spell caster and any companions from a grisly fate when a spell sets off a Surge because the area they are in has a weakened reality index.

Utility

The RSI is a passive device and always "on". Whilst there are many variations, they all follow the same pattern in which if in an area that has a weak reality index, it starts to indicate so. Variations include light pulses, sounds, vibration or a combination. It is worn or otherwise placed near the body in such a way to make it easy to notice the indicator.
Variations include rings, necklaces or in one case a belt. Generally, the smaller the item, the higher the costs and difficulty in manufacturing and calibrating.

Manufacturing

As mentioned, the manufacturing of these requires a controlled environment, magically speaking. The more chaotic or lower reality index the manufacturing area is, the more difficult it becomes to calibrate the device properly.

Inventor(s)

There are several families claiming to be the ones to have invented this device, but it seems that genuinely, most of them did so independanttaly at about the same time.

Access & Availability

Whilst this device is available to all, it can be expensive as it has to be made in an area with a high reality stability index, from materials retrieved from an area with a low reality index. Whilst, in theory, anyone with basic skills could make one, the costs come from the calibration. Get it wrong and the deivce will either not work, or even worse, give false results.

Complexity

To make a basic or crude version of this is quite easy, but making one that works correctly is hard and takes time, as mentioned above.

Discovery

Approximately 30 years after The Bleed was officially formed, several people independently noticed that particular materials, a form of copper, reacted by vibrating slightly when in areas of what had become known as "Low Reality Stability". To begin with, this had been treated as nothing more than another curiosity, as those living within the Bleed had other issues to deal with
Within areas of LRS, the very fabric of reality becomes weaker. Generally, the closer one gets to the Great Barrier the more the fabric and rules of reality becomes warped and twisted. Some areas though experience pockets where this effect is more pronounced. Some places outside of the Bleed can also experience this, but they can be short-lived and unpredictable, often with no obvious signs you are in a location where casting spells can be dangerous...until it's too late.