Tuning Rod
Tuning rods are arcanurgic devices used on Earth to extend the reach of the Ancients. Under normal circumstances, arcane devices on Earth can only run while they are within a certain range of an Ancient—tuning rods help overcome this issue by "repeating" the signal of the Ancient they are attuned too.
Design and operation
Tuning rods are multi-word arcanurgic devices: rather than connecting multiple single-word devices to create a larger effect, the entirety of a tuning rod's description must be engraved on a single piece of arcanite. This makes tuning rods incredibly expensive and delicate, as a lot of arcanite is needed to make one. The inscription itself takes a form akin to a prayer or invocation, asking the Ancient for their aid and power. The inscription must address the Ancient by name and describe in detail why that tuning rod is needed.Frequencies and resonance
Each Ancient has an intrinsic frequency unique to them—and this is where the difficulty of the tuning comes in. Through a set of complex mathematical operations, the tuner must find the numbers that will resonate with the frequency of the Ancient's arcane waves. Then, they must make sure that the total length of the engraved characters equals one of these numbers. As Ancients change frequencies in six-month intervals, the inscription needs to be modified every so often.Portable tuning rods
Some wealthy people, especially in Europe, have started using tuning rods as portable instruments. These portable tuning rods are often embedded in other arcane devices, such as automatons, in order for them not to lose power when they go too far from the closest ancient. They are also often used in transportation, such as trains, zeppelins, and ships. However, as tuning rods are expensive to produce and maintain, this is usually a commodity only a few can afford.Social Impact
The nature of ancients
It is unknown why Ancients change frequencies every so often, however some people use this as an argument to claim that Ancients change their physical shape over time. This could potentially be a hint towards the Ancients' true nature, although some experts claim that change in frequency doesn't necessarily imply change in physical form. In fact, it's more likely that the changes are just caused by the amount of arcane devices that draw power from the Ancient.Inequality
Tuning rods are relatively expensive to create and maintain as they require a tuner to visit the tuning rod in person and fix it every 6 months. Due to this, many towns, especially the smaller and poorer ones, cannot afford tuning rods. In some cases, small towns are close enough to bigger towns for them to share the rods. However, this still leaves a lot of areas of Europe without access to arcane devices. And of course, poorer countries of the world can't even access this technology at all.Influence on travel
All long-distance travel methods can work without arcane power (such as trains using steam engines). However, many of these transportation methods still use arcane power for some of their amenities, such as lights, security systems, and other utilities. This means that transportation routes often follow trails of Ancients and tuning rods, especially for trains and zeppelins, as well as other land methods. Since tuning rods aren't used on open seas, ships tend to rely more on traditional methods of power. However, the most popular travel routes on the sea still go around submerged Ancients.
Catalan version
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