Windjammer

Windjammers, or Gantaeoraka (Lyrian: lit. “one who blocks the wind”) are ancient Lyrian mechanical structures located throughout the former extent of the Lyrian Empire. It is believed that Windjammers were used as a means of quick communication throughout Lyrian territory, utilizing magic to transport simple codified messages to other Windjammers.

Etymology

The machines were originally named ‘‘Gantaeoraka’’ (“one who blocks the wind”) by Lyrians due to the side effects of their mechanism of action. Active Windjammers will create an area of windless weather around them.

Their name “Windjammer” in Atherin originates both from the direct translation of the Lyrian word, as well as their coincidental resemblance to Dunaan windjammer-type ships, which their appearance resembles in its assortment of three thin triangular structures.

Mechanism of Action

Windjammers are one of the most well-documented Lyrian machines, with records on their construction and upkeep stored throughout the empire and its colonial territories. Due to their widespread distribution, however, they have been prone to looting for their more valuable components. The restoration of these machines is nonetheless readily possible, and has been done so many times, although they are only useful if they are maintained as a network, thus requiring a single political entity to control and maintain several Windjammers, or cooperate with other nations to connect them to one another.

Windjammers utilize magical fields generated by a directionally-channeled Aureus torus dynamo, powered by absorbed sunlight from Deonite crystals at each triangular structure’s apex. The dynamo attracts and captures Faeland fallout, dispersing it into an Arkite grounding stem leading to an Ebony baseplate, distributing it into the ground. This creates a directional bell-curve of windless, magic-free atmospheric conditions directly downwind of the structure’s “spine”, allowing coded messages to be sent from the third-most downwind structure. Coded messages are sent using light-based magic that is converted to pure energy by an Aureus filter, which is then channeled upwards and out towards its destination by an Arkite accelerator. Messages are received by the receiving Windjammer in a brilliant-cut Deonite receptacle, moderated by an attuned Ebony counterbalance, causing light to flash and refract at different intervals and locations across the many facets of the Deonite receiver. These flashes are then decoded into language according to a Lyrian key.