Windcores

A product of the Colleges of Magic these metal tube-like devices were designed to generate and store compressed air. Several of these devices have been found by adventurers over the years but no-one has been able to replicate the spells used in their creation.

Development

The concept of the windcore was developed almost by accident. A student wizard called Teresa Brown was playing around with spells trying to see how many times she could cast a wind spell into a sealed jar. Part way through the lid on the jar exploded off, smashing through a window and knocking out a passerby.
Teresa was surprised by the force given that she had been using a very low powered spell. Intrigued she gained permission to experiment with this further and started trying to find ways the force could be increased. After 20 years of research Teresa managed to develop an enchantment that could be used to repeatedly fill a metal tube with compressed air.

Components

The tubes used to hold the air were fairly simple in design, but the mechanism used to release air in one burst was fairly intricate. Designed by the Ironhammers the mechanism would rapidly open the tube with a flick of a lever, let the air out and then snap shut so that it could be refilled.
While spells to create wind and the rituals for enchantment are well known in magely circles the ones used in the windcores were very different to the standard ones. According to stories from the time the process of enchanting the air compression tubes was remarkably cheap compared with modern methods of enchanting. The exact process was a closely guarded secret and not even the leaders of the colleges were permitted to know how it worked. Instead a small group of crafters passed the knowledge along orally. This proved to be an unfortunate decision as the group that knew the rituals were wiped out in the early days of the War of Ascension.

Windslings

The initial accident that prompted Teresa to create the cores also provided the idea try using them as weapons. Early attempts to use the compressed air to launch crossbow bolts proved disappointing, and attempts to use the cores on there own to push back attackers mostly resulted in the cores being sent flying. A way forward was eventually found when the idea of attaching a short metal tube to help focus the compressed air in one direction was proposed. This was found to be strong enough to launch small stones or pellets with enough force to injure someone. A small number of these windslings were created for the bodyguards of the most senior mages, but despite repeated requests from various militaries the Colleges of Magic refused to create more.