Realm Dial

The unexpected frequency of the Realmtide events in many locations across the continent prompted many scholars to try and devise a way of detecting them before they hit unsuspecting people. After many centuries of dead ends, alchemical and arcane paradoxes, and more than a few insane scholars, the Realm Dials were created.

They take the appearance of a pearlescent button laid onto a specially alloyed red gold backing plate. Some are adorned with designs relating to the planes around their edges while others are more practical and plain in there design.

Utility

Each Realm Dial has the ability to predict and alert the wielder of an incoming Realmtide. Some realm dials are more effective than others, it was a fairly imperfect science at first. Unfortunately, like many inventions, their development came with whispers of how to use it for military applications, though how that would be achieved is up to much speculation.

Manufacturing

Not much information regarding its construction is public knowledge, though it is known that it takes the effort of more than one mage to create the enchantment and an unknown number of craftsmen for its various materials.

Inventor(s)

Varda, though other important individuals contributed over time.

Access & Availability

Even though the discovery of the magitechnology came to light 50 years ago, its production leaves it difficult to produce at scale. A fully prepared group of crafters can take anywhere from a week to a month or longer to recover from the manufacturing process. That said, those are very skilled crafters to begin with and each attempt typically sees one or more aspects of the process undergo improvement. It is safe to say that at least a few Realm Dials exist in each settlement with a few exceptions in the more remote places of the world.

Complexity

Any Realm Dial is the culmination of hundreds of years of research and grit from scholars, craftspeople and other contributors. Even with all of the necessary materials, of which some are far from cheap, one would require an astounding amount of labor to see just one to completion. For some of the shorter lived races, it may require a lifetime.

Discovery

The first Realmtide was the herald of a new, troubling era in Boros. The great minds of the time spent years conducting research. Great mages, prodigious crafters, and men of faith all began working at solving one of the greatest problems of the age. The task was monumental. Soon, years turned to decades, and decades finally became entire centuries for those of the longer-lived races, but cautious progress was being made. Many early attempts resulted in various degrees of failure, some far more dangerous than others.
Finally, in 372 T, a group of crafters and intellectuals succeeded in creating the first and, arguably, most powerful Realm Dial in existence. Known as the Oculus, it serves as the basis for all subsequent realm dials.