Enchanting

An enchanted item is an object which has a spell (or spells) attached to it. Enchantments must act on the enchanted item. For instance, it is possible to enchant a sword to be sharper or to change its temperature, but it is not possible to enchant a sword so that it throws a fireball. In order to achieve that kind of effect, the item must be made into a Magical Conduit that can store spells.
In some items, the enchantment is automatically triggered when the item is used, and in others, the enchantment must be manually activated. Enchantments that are always active are possible but are usually impractical for most items since they require frequent recharging. One place such enchantments are often used is in infrastructure such as Storm Detection Pylons. The owners of such infrastructure typically employ mages to recharge the enchantments on a regular basis.
Generally, an enchanted item has a sort of "battery" which stores magical energy, which is then used by the enchantment to cast the attached spell. These batteries are made of gemstones. There are three criteria that determine the efficiency of a gemstone:

• Type - Precious gemstones are more space-efficient than semi-precious ones.
• Clarity - Clearer gemstones are more space-efficient.
• Cut - Properly cut gemstones are much more efficient than raw gemstones. In addition, the type of cut matters. A cabochon is more efficient, being able to hold more magical energy for its size, but can only power a single enchantment. A faceted gemstone, however, can power multiple enchantments simultaneously but has less storage capacity.

On some items, typically mass-produced items, the battery is removable and can be replaced with a compatible battery. There are three exceptions to this:

• Some enchantments are designed to only be activated once, then become unusable. These kinds of enchantments are typically applied to otherwise worthless items that are simply disposed of after use. The batteries for these enchantments are typically extremely small compared to reusable enchantments.
• Some enchantments have magical energy supplied by the user. The downsides to this are that non-mages can't use it and it requires a level of concentration to use.
• Some enchantments are self-sustaining. There are only two known ways to make a self-sustaining enchantment, and they are both quite difficult. The first method is to also animate the thing that is being enchanted, because this renders it capable of channeling magical energy. The second method is to place an enchantment on an already living being. This method is much more difficult than the first method and will often fail or backfire.

If a gemstone is overfilled, it will become quite volatile and susceptible to impacts. If enough force is applied, it will explode. These explosions are quite destructive, on par with high-quality alchemical grenades. Because of this, gemstones are sometimes intentionally overfilled to be used as weapons. They are quite effective, but also expensive and difficult to safely transport.