First, a few words on the Aristeia herself:
The vessel is a medium-sized merchant vessel commissioned in Constantinople. Using the latest developments of sailing technology, it possesses two triangular sails and a rudder (rather than the steering oar seen all around the Mediterranean Sea).
The enchantment on the hull was created by my sort-of-parens Gambrinus of Verditius, who took over my training when Rötschreck of Flambeau became distracted by her studies. It is by far the most impressive enchantment, in that it causes the Aristeia to be able to sail on media of all four elements as easily as it can water. Anything that presents a surface-- clouds, earth, stone, lava-- will serve as a surface for the Aristeia to travel upon. (Two experiments I shall have to perform in the future will be sailing on a rainbow and upon the interface between the Sphere of Air and the Sphere of Fire, high above the Earth.) The enchantment is of the twenty-fourth rank, thanks to the ease of creating enchantments affecting the item only.
Auxiliary enchantments I have added with the aid of my filia (Collateral Damage) include those to command the powers of the wind and waves, allowing travel by controlling both the wind in the Aristeia's sails and the currents under its hull; the enchantments are of the twelfth and tenth rank respectively. The vessel is protected from elemental damage by two levels of wards: the outer (of the ninth rank) protects the entire vessel and all who sail upon it, while the inner (of the twelfth) protects the hull itself. The hull is additionally reinforced by an Herbam enchantment (of the twelfth rank) to make it harder than the strongest steel.
In order to get the vessel from the land or the sea into the air, a simple enchantment to create clouds under the front of the hull can be activated at any time that the Aristeia needs to make her own path. This leaves a slowly-dissipating trail behind the vessel; Felis Umbrosus, with his usual inane Merinita humour, has suggested that I practice my Latin scribing with this phenomenon.
There are some surprising things about the Aristeia! as well.
Some interesting journeys on the Aristeia: