Telegylph System

Spells for communication over vast distances are, while hardly as impressive as a fireball, one of the standards for any mage of enough power to cast them. Magic for communicating short distance is a trivial thing learned by novices, while magic that can communicate even between planes is a common spell although casters of it can be difficult to find.
Into the niche between the two came the Messenger's Guild and their Telegyph System. While the innerworkings of the magic are a closely guarded guild secret, the guild has created a system where even a novice wizard is able to send messages over a vast distance. A user dictates a message to a member of the Messenger's Guild, pays a fee, and some number of days later (which is generally considered to be related to the distance the message traveled) a member of the Messenger's Guild at the destination will hand deliver a written message to it intended recipient. The method the messengers use to transport the message or locate its addressee are assumed to be magical. The Messenger's Guilds typically employ a large number of mages and runners to facilitate this system.

Access

Usage of the Teleglyph System is widely available, with guild representatives available in most settlements of any significant size. Though the prices (sometimes as much as a gold a word) limits it use to special occasions and the very rich. The inner workings of the magic are a closely guarded secret of the Messenger's Guild.

Implementation

While, of course, the actual limits of the magic are as closely guarded as the incantations themselves, general thought is the whatever magic the Messenger's Guild is using relies on sending messages to fixed persons, locations, or arcanium and then relaying it onto the next until the message reaches its destination. Thus building a large web on interconnected guild hubs. Anecdotal evidence of the locations of guildhalls suggest that the maximum distance of the spell is somewhere in the 100 to 200 mile range.

Utility

Due to the costs and the lack of confidentiality involved (the Messanger's Guild stakes its reputation upon not reading the messages sent and delivering them properly but that is the only guarantee one receives using the system) politics and the military have generally avoided using the system except when brief and cryptic messages can be transmitted. The system is mainly used by merchants, the wealthy, and notably the Adventuring Guilds of Himse for communicating quests over vast distances.

Social Impact

While for most mages or adventurers the system offers little more than a convenience of not having to use their own magics, it was done much for the common people throughout Sanzeia. The cost is prohibitive for most social uses, but has allowed influential merchants to order goods from considerable distances away, which not only brought goods to wider markets but created unique long-haul trading companies willing transport good though considerable distance and danger, often subcontracting defense to Adventurer's guilds.