Aetherpower

Aetherpower refers to the use of aether to accomplish nonmechanical, semantically determined tasks. The study of aetherpower is called aetherics.

Aetherpower was first used by wizards within 2 years after the Enchantment. The first aetheric glyphbook was written by a group of scholars at the Qamar Library (now called the Qamar Historical Center) in 36. It included positional inversion and early form of flash. The Nordovest Institute was founded in 140 to formalize the study of aetherics.

Glyphsetting

Most modern aetherpower devices, including wands, scrolls, and vials, function by means of glyphsetting. Manufacturers engrave plates with certain glyphs that have been discovered to contain certain semantic information. When the device is actioned, pressurized aether passes through the plate to achieve the desired effect.

The text below this block contains design notes, unencyclopedic writing, or an out-of-universe perspective. It should be considered incomplete and may be contradicted later.

the key thing here is that even pre-Enchantment, this world used compressed air for like mechanical stuff

what aether does is two things

  1. in certain situations, mysteriously exerts more force than its pressure should allow. this is used for engines (in 515 they are massive, so no cars), jet aircraft (more or less), industrial purposes
  2. ‘semantically determined effects’ i.e. magic