Among the greatest and most renowned of the artifacts of the elder days, the Standards are the most puissant battlefield enchantments ever wrought.  They are rectangular flags, woven from some forgotten shimmering cloth as tough as steel but as pliable as silk.  All are silver and without emblem or charge, but each has a fringe of some other color - blue, gold, magenta, black, turquoise, russet and dark green are the ones known - woven from a similar material.  The cloth is (as far as any madman has sought to discern) indestructible, as is the silver phoenix sigil atop each flagpole.  The poles themselves are gilded steel, and not apparently part of the original enchantment; they are subject to wear and require maintenance and replacement as needed.  The Standards are quite oversized - 20' by 12' - and require oversized poles far too heavy for a single color-bearer to manage; typically, they are mounted on chariots or wagons or simply set into fixed positions, and often need to be guyed.  The poles apparently need to be at least 30' high in order for the Standards’ enchantment to work.

The chief effect of the Standards is to cast a continuous anti-magic field a half-mile wide, preventing the casting of any spell, whether wizardly or divine.  They will suppress, but not dispel, ongoing spells and/or enchantments that pass within their field; such spells and enchantments resume as normal as soon as the Standard passes or the subject travels out of range.  Magic cannot be cast into the field, although mundane effects of magical spells might; for example, a magically-created earthquake with an epicenter outside the field could still be felt within it.  The field is only fully effective when there is a wind of at least 10 mph, sufficient to extend the flag to its full length; when winds are slight and the banner waves only intermittently, the field will reduce to a quarter-mile wide or less, and it is no more than a hundred yards in still air.  Furling and casing the Standard outright reduces the field to only a few feet.

Another widely credited effect is to boost the morale of friendly troops within sight of a Standard, although it is not known for certain whether this is truly due to magic or just a rumor soldiers believe.

The Founders’ Empire, greatest realm of the dawn of the world, wrought these marvels at the height of its power.  The phoenix standards of the Empire marched into half a hundred lands, bringing them under the aegis of its civilization, warding the frontiers against those which would tear it down.  But they were not proof against corruption, of the love of luxury over virtue ... or over the onslaught of demon gods themselves.  The Empire fell in terrible ruin, nearly four thousand years ago.  It is known, from surviving records, that it maintained 26 legions at its height, and so it is inferred that 26 Standards were fashioned.  

Seven are known to exist now; three in the hands of the Empire of Avanar, two by its bitter rival, the Empire of Vallia, one by the Kingdom of Chaniera in the far south, and one by the Kingdom of Menahem in the east.  Their use is very judicious; they prevent friendly and enemy magic from working alike, and their morale-boosting effects can work two ways, for enemy troops who fear the use of sorcery against them.  The spectacular capture of the fourth Avanari Standard by Vallian forces in the Serpentwar a generation ago was a feat of arms credited as one of the turning points of the war, and led to the execution of all officers of regimental rank and higher - as well as one in every five surviving troopers - of the offending legion by the enraged Avanari emperor.

And who knows in what forgotten ruins the others might lie ... imperishable, buried ... waiting?

Adventure Hook:   A vast ancient ruin has been unearthed north of the city, one from which artifacts from the days of the Founders' Empire have been taken; it seemed to include the principal camp of the 14th Legion of the elder days.  But the wizard assaying the find had serious problems with his magic working while the scholars worked, and couldn't complete the assay until he was well away from the site ... More than you have put two and two together, though, and the mere rumor of an eighth Standard in those ruins is attracting treasure hunters from weeks' travel in all directions.  Is it true that the Queen has dispatched troops to cordon off the site, and that the Duke of Shirelya has his soldiers on the march to wage war to take it for himself?

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