Air Drill, Ship-Mounted

Air Drills are complex devices with a series of different-sized, complimentary propellors that create short but immensely powerful vortices of air. They have many uses from construction to weaponry; this article will solely discuss their purpose on the bow of ships, which is two-fold: to create artificial wakes in front of the ship to boost speed, and to spray the ship with water as protection against fire-based attacks. They were originally invented as a mundane replacement for a family of arcane spells that served the same function, most famously the spell Merlinkainen's Swift Surf.

The air drills are installed on the bow of the ship, angled downwards toward the water. Done correctly, the vortex of air disrupts counterproductive waves, destroys potentially damaging objects, and most importantly creates an artificial wake that the ship sails in, similar to how ships gain speed in the wake of others.

In addition to the speed boost, the spell addresses one of the most common tactics in nautical combat: fire. Whether an alchemical flameshrieker cannon or a simple Fireball spell, setting a boat or its sails alight is a superb trump card in naval fights; as a result this group of spells (and later the air drill technology) became more and more commonplace as a countermeasure. The method is simple: the air drill causes backspray that wets the ship and its sails, making fires easier to fight and prevent.

Origin

Air drills are an advanced First Age technology based on arcane spells of the same concept. They have seen a resurgence in the Third Age since their rediscovery by Juran and Khayyamite ruin-delvers. Both rediscoveries occurred within the last 30 years, independent of one another. Neither nation has yet adopted mass usage; the demand for light metals in its use, like mythril or orihalcon, is steep even for these relatively wealthy nations. The devices are only found on their most prized ships.