A.R.C. Classification and Denotation

A.R.C., or Arcane Reliant Constructs, are the backbone of the industrial magical world. Designed and operated through the ages, ARC tech has stood above and beyond the reaches of the more natural relying options. It has regularly outperformed steam and the budding prospects otherwise devised by the Natural Engineers. Of course, all this is possible thanks to the Empires constant dedication to the study and safe containment of all Ethereal or arcane objects. In cooperation with the Arcane Consortium, Imperial Engineers have been hard at work to develop the tools and techniques that have made your daily lives easier, and just a bit more magic. - Poster for A.R.C. Tech plastered throughout the Empire.

A series of scales, charts, doctrine, and other processes involved in the protection and determination of safety. Ethereal energy lives within each mortal, it gives them life and allows their sentience, however it is not something that can be absorbed without caution. Natural radiation exists around all, similar to the waves of light, only these operate on a much stranger scale.  Over the first century much was made about discovering the proper ways of casting, teaching the art, and how best to utilize it. Originally it was thought that magic would be the end all solution and that an era of Peace would reign eternal. That idea died with the King who thought of it. Instead, it was discovered that an area seeing mass amounts of ethereal energy in a single extended burst, similar to combat scenarios or mass teachings of the arts, could result in lands that became uninhabitable. As more and more areas succumbed to the dangers of unchecked magical expansion, a fate that is deliciously ironic for the expansionist Empire, cries arose to mitigate the dangers that magic could pose. Certain limits needed to be placed on how much could be used in combat encounters, how much could be used in cities, around children and pregnant women without causing ether mutations.  The overwhelming feeling was that the benefits severely outweighed the costs, provided it wasn't so destructive to the population at large. Using the A.R.C. classification and denotation techniques helps to determine whether areas are safe to continue operations in, or whether an Ether specialist is required.

Access & Availability

The technique was implemented and taught to all within the Arcane Consortium, even to the Kesanage , whom typically remove themselves from all tasks other than the running of the Consortium. Anyone can be taught the process of determining safe passage, and in truth it is necessary after great battles to check the surrounding lands for the ethereal radiation and whether it is survivable.

Discovery

The use of magic in every persons' daily life is something that is so common, it feels almost strange to see people refrain from using it. Such is why the field of study involving more mundane tasks of other natural resources is so looked down upon.  Discovered in F.I.C. (First Imperial Calendar) 84, the quantification of Ether energy, its effects on the mortal body/soul combination, its particular usage in magic, and other oddities involving its presence, gained a massive boost. A group of researching Arcanists under the Employ of the Imperial Bureau of Defense found a way to denote precisely how much energy was radiating from a particular location. The technique involves using material Gems, Jewels, or Objects with a considerable similarity to determine the safety of a given area.