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?
Lady Lirana Ovell, Inventor of the Etheris Carriage
  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


Cover image: by Chad Weatherford

Comments

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Jul 3, 2018 17:24 by K.C. Kramer

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?

K.C. Kramer- Tales From Beyond the Horizon
Jul 3, 2018 17:40 by Ellysium

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! :)

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Jul 3, 2018 19:14 by K.C. Kramer

Oh, neat! That makes a lot of sense. Is magic everywhere in Ior then?

K.C. Kramer- Tales From Beyond the Horizon
Jul 3, 2018 20:20 by Ellysium

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

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Jul 3, 2018 17:25 by Luke

Now that's how I want to travel! I like the details on different versions of the carriage, and how it changed based on new users' needs. It adds a lot of realism to your world and makes it feel more lived in.

Jul 3, 2018 17:45 by Ellysium

Thank you! ^_^ I do genuinely wish these things existed lol :D

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Jul 3, 2018 17:31 by James L

You convey the style and elegance of the carriage well, a great article backed up by a lovely image.

Jul 3, 2018 17:46 by Ellysium

Thank you!   The artist is Chad Weatherford, check him out!

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Jul 3, 2018 17:32 by Elizabread

Beautiful artwork, and I would not mind travelling like that at all. I also love that there are variations to the style.

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Jul 3, 2018 17:48 by Ellysium

Thanks very much! Chad Weatherford is the artist, definitely check him out when you get the chance.

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Jul 5, 2018 16:53 by Carl-Heinz Langley

It's rare that magic is a part of the day to day lives of people outside of medieval fantasy. Most works outside of medieval fantasy treat magic as something that must be hidden or kept from the general populace. Reading this I'm surprised that few have ventured here, I love this, I'm interested to hear more about Ior before the Fall.

Jul 18, 2018 17:50 by Sai & Tyme

A nice, short, and wonderful read! I felt like the pitch under the Traveling in Style section sold me on the revolutionary use of this mode of travel. The cover image is incredibly detailed to help distinguish the different parts and style of the carriage. I would love to know more about how these carriages were manufactured, what kind of companies or individuals crafted these, what resources were used to create the various parts of the carriage, and more detailed differences between lower class and higher class carriages before the Fall.