Anchors

Anchors, also known as Mana Siphons, are complex magical devices that drain the magical energy in a region. The entire planet is suffused with a powerful field of mana that constantly intensifies, like the static charge of a thunderstorm. This eventually builds up to a point that causes catastrophic magical surges with a variety of dangerous effects, and true civilization is largely considered impossible outside of the areas being pacified by an Anchor.

Significance

Anchors stabilize vast regions around them, suppressing magic to controllable levels for hundreds of miles around them. Without this, uncontrolled magical storms sweep the world. Animals are twisted into foul beasts, the dead rise en masse, and portals to strange realities open, sometimes drawing otherworldly creatures through them. Combined, the severity and frequency of these events leaves civilizations little time to relax and develop, leading to a sharp divide between the cultures that have anchors and those that do not. The effect they have is strong enough to suppress higher order magics - indeed, one cannot even make a new anchor while under the influence of another - but this is widely considered a small price to pay for the stability that they provide.
Despite their rarity, they are largely held to be sacrosanct by most civilizations - it is widely considered an act of unforgivable barbarity to destroy or steal one. Despite this, they are closely guarded, and often kept hidden within facilities that would otherwise be guarded - like a national treasury - in order to limit the knowledge of exactly where they are. Naturally, during the Great War, the Anchor of Rethis was destroyed, though if this was a deliberate act, anyone who was privy to that plan perished during the war. Without the limitations imposed, both sides began using higher order magics to terrible effect. Clouds of acidic gas sweeping over whole armies, leaving naught but metal and bone were among the least and most direct of the atrocities inflicted during the war.

Rarity

Anchors are extremely rare. Several stages of construction require 13 powerful spellcasters, over the course of several years of work. As such, they are only made to demand, and are carefully protected from theft or sabotage.

Weight

1900 lbs

Dimensions

about 4 feet by 4 feet,

Related Myths

• Prima Ancora