Ithara
by Ali Eser
Localized Phenomena
Aether
Ithara owes both its harsh landscape and its shining beauty to the presence of aether: a raw magical energy that glides through the vast nation like the wind itself. While invisible, the effects of aether are tangible. High concentrations of aether can imbue natural beings with strange powers and ascended consciousness, it can change the landscape as powerfully as any earthquake or flood, and it can cause the elements themselves to take physical form. When it erupts into a storm, the elements explode into chaos: swirling rainbow clouds, violet bolts of fire-lightning, salt coalesced into rain and hail. Buildings of chiseled stone turn to glass; bronze swords explode into swarms of locusts; dunes open into gaping chasms.It has taken centuries of research for the people of Ithara to learn how to tame volatile aether, first through arcane arts and more recently through advanced technology. Itharan inventors have mastered the ability to harness aether into a reliable power source, though this technology is fairly expensive and, for larger devices, restricted to drawing ambient aether from Ithara’s environment (aether batteries are functional for man-sized or handheld devices, but larger batteries are still highly volatile). The majority of aetheromechanical marvels are large machines that must be piloted, such as airships and trains used by Ithara’s ruling class, the Merchant Kings, to transport goods, or weaponry and countermeasures against volatile aether storms. The cities of the Merchant Kings, therefore, are brimming with fabulous constructions and aetheromechanical countermeasures, while the wilderness and settlements outside of the Merchant Kings’ direct purview must settle for more basic constructions and primal magics. These aetheromechanical constructions also have highly limited function outside of Ithara’s borders, where the aether they rely on for power simply doesn’t exist.
While a goddess Ithara has been named as the entity responsible for the creation of aether, there is currently no concrete evidence that a goddess actually exists. Some consider the goddess to simply be an old-fashioned coping mechanism to give a name and reason to a chaotic, poorly-understood force of nature.
Contents
Details
Type
Subcontinent
Included Locations
Included Organizations
Owning Organization
Inhabiting Species
