Tarshaf Glasswork (concept)
A catchall term for a wide variety of Magi-crafted glassware endemic to Sarradon, first taking hold sometime around the 10th century IS. These came in various shapes and fulfilled various functions, with the original pioneers of the technique producing telescopes capable of astounding levels of precision. Other uses would be developed in the century that followed, with mirrors capable of limited redirecting of magic and nearly unbreakable panes of glass finding their way into the houses of the rich and powerful across Sarradon. At the port city of Fitokon the inventor Ishef b. Ubays even set up an experimental harbor defense, which took the form of an array of mirrors and prisms capable of redirecting the suns rays to set ships ablaze.
The pinnacle of the art arrived with the Ibriti Cabal's discovery of a way to use the structure of a precisely crafted Tarshaf Glass prism to perfectly store magical energy. They promptly used it to entrap a notoriously powerful local Djinn known as "A'Arbala" - the Widow. With the mighty Wind-Djinn now able to be easily transported and unleashed at will, the Ritualist Ibriti proceeded to slaughter all of their rival cabals, and threw their weight behind the short-lived attempted hegemony of Ritualist Warlord Bulas Al Kuddhur.
The Ibriti Cabal fell apart at the seams a few years afer Bulas' death by poison, with the roughly twenty surviving members of its inner circle scattering across Eastern Sarradon. In the years to come the secrets of crafting Tarshaf Prisms would disseminate across the region's Magi Cabals and Warlords.
The art would achieve infamy during the Qassaride Wars, as Efreeti and Djinni were used to scour large parts of Eastern Sarradon by the Zindariq Warlords. Since their defeat by a desperate coalition of Mamurite Wardenites, Traditionalist Wardenite, and Ritualists, the secrets to crafting Tarshaf prisms have been effectively lost due both to suppression by authorities and the death of many of its masters. The stigma has even caused less dangerous examples of Tarshaf glasswork to be viewed with suspicion and hostility.
Aliases: Tarshaf Glasswork