Yeet-Beeper
The Yeet-Beeper was a Magical Artifact from the Mage Wars. It consisted of a small rectangular box with controls at one end, which enabled Inter-Dimensional Travel to a series of pre-coded locations. The device is similar in function to the Waystone Network, but did not require any magical ability or a permanent ritual site. The name of the builder and complete list of codes is lost to history, as is the nature of the device's operation. Most scholars regaurd it as a form of Magic-Tech, though it could have been a simple enchantment. No working extant examples survived into the Golden Age, unless the Foundation has one hidden away.
The devices were once common enough to be widely known, though little information exists as primary sources.
Description
The Arsenal of Freedom on Arden Song preserves the only widely-known extant example of a Yeet-Beeper. Their piece is non-functional and possibly an early Golden Age-era replica.
The device is described as being a small, silver-grey box about the size of a modern pocket pager. It as a series of crystal knobs at one end, and indicator crystal, and two contacts or buttons, one on either side. It is shaped to be easily held in one hand and operated with the other.
The dials are marked with a series of symbols that do not correspond to any known language. It is assumed they were invented by the device's creator to give it a more mysterious quality. Information from secondary sources indicates the "yeeters" were simple, practical, and may even have been quite common at some distant time.
To operate the device, when keys in a code using the three knobs. Holding the device in the left hand with what is accepted to be the top facing up, from left to right the number of symbols on each dial are as follows: 7, 11, and 14. This presumes the number of possible destinations numbers a little over one thousand, however information from secondary sources indicates the number was substantially higher.
The known operation of the device involved keying in a code, waiting for the indicator to confirm a lock, holding the left button, then depressing the right. The Yeet-Beeper could move up to five people or a small heard of llamas.
Extant Examples
The one on display at Arden Song is the only unit that was ever accessible by modern-day researchers. Five other examples were known to have survived the Mage Wars(though their level of functionality was unconfirmed). These were all contained in private collections, and their whereabouts after the Golden Age are unknown.
It is presumed that the Gudersnipe Foundation holds at least one example, most likely many more, but this has never been confirmed or denied. All that is known for certain is that, early in the Golden Age, the Foundation gathered as much material on Inter-Dimensional Transport as it could find, yet no attempt was made to purchase or even secure for study what would later become known as the "Arden Beeper". Some suspect they simply knew it to be a fraud.
Number Made
The presence of a serial number on the Arden Beeper seems to indicate at least some level of mass-production. Various attempts have been made to use the serial number to guess at the total number made. Given the information found in secondary sources, they were most certainly very wide-spread at one time, and may have existed in the tens of thousands.
History
The earliest confirmed surviving record of a Yeet-Beeper comes from the First Chaotic Period around 3600 B.G.A.. An off-hand mention in a surviving fragment of a personal journal, the entry seems to imply they were quite widespread and possibly even common at the time.
A possible earlier mention comes from the diary of Nathan Searlin. His enter is vague and does not describe the device by name, but indicates a desire to own such a thing. From the context it is unclear if he meant to create one or to acquire one. It seems highly unlikely Nathan created the original Yeet-Beeper as he was not a Wayshifter, but the existence of the journal entry has caused many historians to credit him with its invention all the same.
Sporadic other mentions of the Beeper can be found in a few surviving texts from the era. The way is is spoken of always seems to imply they were expensive, but attainable. The primary usage seemed to be for traveling merchants. The best primary source is from a letter written in B.G.A. 2801 or possibly 2804. The letter was written by a diamond and gem trader on the Greater Continent to his wife, explaining how he had finally acquired a Yeet-Beeper. It would mean delaying the purchase of a new house for the couple but that without having to use the Dumwult Road he would make the money back by the end of the year. The journal seems to imply that at that time, a Yeet-Beeper could be had for about the price of a modest home, and was fairly rare but not vanishingly so.
A catalog written during the Dynastic Period includes an entry for a book of Yeet-Beeper transit codes.
By the Second Chaotic Period, the first era for which many records are extant, Yeet-Beepers were regarded as rare and highly sought-after artifacts of great antiquity. For any particularly powerful battling sorcerer at the time, it was a must-have accessory. While never useful enough to fight wars over, it was most certainly an article someone would kill for. There are a few recorded transactions, by this time a Beeper was worth a considerable fortune. Enough that, in the final decades of the era, they could not typically be sold, and changed hands only when stolen or taken from a felled opponent. One particular account tells of a wizard breaker proudly taking the Yeet-Beeper away from the man he killed and leaving behind an Orichalcum dagger, implying the latter was comparatively worthless.
Eieber's Honorarium makes mention of him seeking one, and being very unhappy when, after much pursuit, it was smashed before he could take hold of it. He opined that it was a great shame his army had to rely on Wayshifters, and that the war may have been ended much quicker if he'd had a Yeet-Beeper.
In the early years of the Golden Age, magic items became highly sought-after by collectors. Battlemages who no longer needed their enchanted weapons and armor could retire on mountains of gold with the way they were now valued. Many storied and treasured articles changed hands in a rapid succession and were lost to history. It was thought that by then there were at least a few Yeet-Beepers of still functional state, but none could be located. As this era is well-documented, we know they were wanted by collectors. Brokers and buyers alike searched high and low, and many were listed on the bills of famous auction houses.
However, only the Ardon Beeper was well-documented, and the few other confirmed sales were for non-functional examples that disappeared into private collections. In A.Y. 1511, a copy of a code book was found and taken to the Library of Arindell for preservation. Unfortunately, by then only the non-functional Ardon Beeper could be located. Arden Song made an attempt to buy the book so it could be exhibited beside the Beeper, but the volume was lost within the library before the sale could be completed.
Function
It has been theorized that, based on the number of dials, the Yeet Beeper functioned along a similar concept to the Road devices created by the ancients.
