Astral Protection Ward

A renowned mage and scholar, Ailre Aemoira, discovered a magical method to protect areas from the coming Hordes of Horrors predicted to be arriving in the Age of Horrors. Ailre Aemoira begins to sell this information to other cities and nations for an extreme cost. This Astral Protection Ward was placed on large cities or on specific Kaers that the people would shelter in during the Age of Horrors. The Kaers also had a timer device that detected the amount of arcane magic in the environment outside of the Kaer, which would let the people know when they could reemerge from the Kaers. Since the Astral Horrors were drawn due to the saturation of magic in the environment, once the magic level dropped, it was thought that the Horrors would be gone.

Estimate of Material Cost by Population

• Approximately 62.5 gold per house
• 2,500 gold for 400 people
• 6,250 gold for 1k people
• 3,1250 gold for 5k people
• 62,500 gold for 10k people
• 125,000 gold for 20k people
• 312,500 gold for 50K people
• 625,000 gold for 100k people

Social Impact

The discovery of the Astral Protection Ward brought hope to the people of Everall.  However, it also created more problems.  The rarity and expense of the material components caused the materials to become even harder to find.  Large cities required vast amounts of the materials and the spells had to be cast thousands of times to cover the large area needed to ensure the safety of the city.  Clerics were constantly exhausted from casting the warding spells throughout the city.  In addition, the small towns and villages couldn't afford to do any of this!  Instead, they were forced to use alternative means of protection or use lesser spells, which often led to Kaers being raided by Astral Horrors because the defenses failed.

Access & Availability

Ailre Aemoira secretly guarded this discovery and sold it to the various towns and cities at a great expense.  While the spells used required a hefty amount of expensive material components, it was greedy for Ailre to demand 100,000 gold just for access to the information of how to use the combination of spells.  Many of the larger cities and kingdoms paid for this knowledge, however, it was impossible for smaller towns and villages to come up with that amount of money plus the cost of the components.

Complexity

The Astral Protection Ward that was discovered by Ailre incorporated the spells Forbiddance, Hallow, Beacon of Hope, and Protection from Evil to create an area that warded against magical travel specifically from the Astral Plane in which the Astral Horrors could not enter nor could they charm, frighten, or possess those who were within the ward.  It also bestowed feelings of hope and vitality within the area, since the Astral Horrors feed on negative emotions.  The material components required for this combination of spells was herbs, oils, and rare incense, powdered ruby dust, holy water, and powdered silver, which all had a combined value of $2,500 gold.  The Astral Protection Ward covered an area of about 40 houses or 40,000 square feet.  These spells had to be cast repeatedly for 30 days to make the enchantment permanent. 

Discovery

After the Emera's oracle, Theoni Sima, foretold the coming of the Age of Horrors, many people searched for ways to protect the people.  Mages, scholars, and clerics banded together and researched countless potential methods.  Ailre Aemoira with the assistance of some clerics discovered that, through a combination of spells, creatures from the Astral Plane would be prevented from entering an area.