Etheris Carriage
In the Golden era of Magic, innumerable wonderous contraptions fueled by pure arcane energy were found on every street and in every home. Magic was a fashion, a resource, a way of life. Someday, all that would be violently torn away, but for the time being Ior was an arcane utopia.
Traveling In Style
Travel has always been a necessary tedium that has inconvenienced people from all walks of life. So why wouldn't you want to travel in the most comfortable and fashionable carriage gold can buy?Axel broken? Wheel cracked? Rough terrain? All difficulties of the past with the Etheris Carriage! The ostentatious and outlandish invention of the eccentric Lady Lirana Ovell was the mode of travel for anyone who was anyone. Buoyed by arcane Etheris, the carriage could be seen floating down the high streets of every major city of every civilized kingdom. Ghostly blue arcane energy would fill a decorated canvas balloon, lifting the richly appointed carriage several feet off the ground. A horse and driver were still needed to guide the floating vehicle, but nothing else tethered it to the ground. Thus, passengers were lifted above the mundane both literally and figuratively. For centuries, various designs of the Etheris Carriage were used across the world. Other designers made their own versions, making similar vehicles available to people of lower classes, people with larger families, even working class folk who used large Etheris carts to easily float wood and stone over rough roads. It became far more than a fashionable mode of travel, it revolutionized how people traveled.
After the Fall
After the Fall rent Ior apart, many of the Etheris Carriages were destroyed, torn asunder by their own arcane energy. Those that were spared destruction fell to the ground, inert and powerless. Today, it is nearly impossible to find an intact carriage. There are a handful of carriages around the world that still function. These special wonders of a lost age are mostly owned by excessively rich nobles or very clever etherologists who managed to resurrect them. For those who do own one, they are less a daily mode of transportation and more an impressive status symbol they occasionally parade about as a show of wealth.
Nickname
Blue Bobbin, Cloud Cart
Motto
Rise Above
Price
10 gp - 10,000 gp (Before Fall) - Priceless (After Fall)
Rarity
Common (Before Fall) - Extremely Rare (After Fall)
Length
4 - 30 ft long
Height
6 - 12 ft tall
Weight
10 lbs with Etheris - 200 - 1000 lbs without Etheris
Speed
10 mph average
Is there anything special that needs to be done to the canvas in order for it to hold the arcane energy? Or does plain canvas work well enough to contain it?
At the time they were created, any fabric would have been naturally infused with some magic. In the "modern era" of Ior, some extra work would be needed to weave magic into the canvas. Thanks for the comment! :)
Oh, neat! That makes a lot of sense. Is magic everywhere in Ior then?
In the earlier eras it was, yes. After the Fall, a lot of magic was extinguished, most magic users died, and the knowledge of the arcane was lost for many centuries. Wild magic, leaking from ley lines and other arcane founts, does still flow around the world, but the knowledge and ability to harness it is rare. You can read more about the Fall here: The Year of the Fall