Shimmaryn

A shimmaryn was an ancient, antimagic device.

Description
Most shimmaryn were fancily carved, fist-sized egg-shaped hardstones. One such object was carved to resemble a half-hatched dragon, eye and scales visible between the cracks of the shell.

Powers
A shimmaryn held a dead-magic zone compressed by bands of force through a lost enchantment. Anyone holding the device and speaking its command word was englobed in dead magic, extending no further than one inch from their bodies, for three minutes.

Most strangely, a shimmaryn could be activated any number of times a day; however, every time a particular person activated it in every period of 24 hours beyond the first, the device caused some damage. Every fourth activation, the shimmaryn induced a short period of confusion, lasting two minutes; withstanding it was a test of both strength, wisdom, and constitution.

Rumors & Legends
Some sages believed there was once a mage of the same name as those devices.

Some people had come to believe, through use, that shimmaryn had a personality, and contacted them in dreams; moreover, they believed that these devices took notice of who treated them kindly, and who did not.