mechaform
There was merely a vague concept at teh beginning; the only criteria being a) the longest piece of rod that would fit between centres, and b) a comfortable length & diameter for the handle. Ideally, the balance point would be 1/3 of the way up from the pommel end (achieved).
The business end of the wand is 6061 Aluminium rod, tapered between centres using the tailstock offset method. A cone was left on the thin end until the last minute to aid with polishing.
An Iroko wood blank was cut to an octagon on a contractor’s saw. This was turned freehand using a skew & spindle gouge with a makeshift rest on the metalworking lathe. It was bored out to pass a threaded rod for securing the other three components. Each end of the handle was reduced in diameter to form shoulders which provide positive alignment for the brass pieces.
Handle accents are a C360 Leaded Brass guard and pommel (the latter with with inset crystal). Both pieces were turned using a combination of HSS form tools and freehand graving techniques.
The metals were polished using progressively finer grades of abrasive film and Scotchbrite pads, finishing off with Autosol cream or tripoli on a sewn buffing wheel.
The crystal is vintage Preciosa, probably a lamp finial given its shape, held in place with clear silicone.
The wooden handle received a few coats of 1 or 1.5 lb-cut shellac, topped with beeswax buffed down to a matte finish.
The project took just under 20 hours on-stream, plus maybe another 4 hours of fiddling with details off camera.
Originally, the guard was intended to be a much more complicated piece with 5 small red gems in a pentagram pattern. However, as the wand shape evolved, this concept no longer fit the overall visual aesthetic and was shelved.
“**excerpt from an article in “”The Compleat Spellcaster””, issue #143**
This early example of a journeyman Technomancer’s sidearm showed up while rummaging around in Honest Aleric’s “”Previously Wielded Wand Emporium””. Regulars at Aleric’s will have noted the high-visibility “”No Unauthorised Testing”” signs posted profusely around the premises, in a vain attempt to cover up the increasingly damaged walls.
The Hybrid wands have always exhibited more *ahem* “”robust proportions”” than the more elegant offerings of modern magufacturers. However, this particular seems to have been tailored for a far beefier ‘caster than we’re accustomed to seeing in The Tower classrooms these days. Perhaps it was a former apprentice blacksmith who displayed more “”Magic Muscle”” than “”Magic Missile””.
Now don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that a Hybrid is an inappropriate addition to one’s arsenal. On the contrary, for those unexpected extradimensional trips I always keep a Mark 3 up my sleeve. It slows down the somatic gestures a touch due to its heft, but I’m confident it won’t crumble to dust while channeling aether from three or four planes away. And who hasn’t needed to transmute 20 tonnes of rock all at once? That won’t happen with the anemic toothpicks that some of us have come to exclusively rely upon; they’ll kink or burn up like a candle on anything over 10 tonnes.
But here’s the twist with this Hybrid – I’ve never seen one equipped with a clear gem, only with the typical red, orange, or yellow stones depending (of course) on your post-graduate speciality. If it weren’t for this anomaly, I would have dismissed this as an ordinary Mark 1. When next I visited the Tower archives, I consulted both Archmage Bracarios’ “”Chronicle”” and Dalaen’s “”Reminiscense”” tomes for clues.
Apparently, there were three such atypical Hybrids, one blue, one green, and one clear. The green one was used to tremendous effect by Mallor of Whend during the 1st Rift War, until he was regrettably obliterated by the forced eruption of Mount Kalidh (upon which Mallor was standing at the time) by the opposing Elementalist cabal.
The blue one was in the possession of Grand Magus Thrulle when he embarked upon his meticulously planned expedition through the Temporal Vortex. Alas, with his passage into the maelstrom he, his terrified bearers, the wand, and the Vortex itself vanished without trace. There has been no sign of, or communication from, the Grand Magus since or retroactively. We must therefore assume that his many theories on direct manipulation of the time stream were inaccurate.
It is, however, the tale of the clear one which is most intriguing. You will, of course, recall the incident where the so-called “”Aetheric Invaders”” blighted the entire West Marches region some four centuries ago? Well, it seems that Blind Caedric of Bathe commisioned the Technoma…
**end of excerpt**”
