Magic
A Guide to Runesmithing
This page provides detailed information on the usage of runes.
This page provides a full list of runes in RoS, as well as in-depth lore on how they’re carved and how they function. See the table of contents to the side to navigate this page quickly and access the information you are currently looking for.
We recommend referencing this page when planning runesmith characters, or coming up with enchanted items. |
1.0 Known Runes 1.1 Types of Runes 1.2 A List of Runes 2.0 Crafting Runes 2.1 Materials 2.2 Making a Rune 2.3 Runic Triggers 2.4 Making Mistakes 2.5 Necromancy-Enhanced Runes 3.0 Applications of Runes 3.1 Everyday Use 3.2 Skyships 3.3 Combat 3.4 Unethical Applications |
Action vs Subject runes have different applications when crafting a runic enchantment. Action runes are ones that do something; such as repelling something, or creating fire. Subject runes direct an enchantment towards a more specific effect or target; such as making an illusion of a human, or telling a light rune to activate when it’s dark outside.
A rune’s elemental alignment helps determine what materials are ideal for crafting it. For example, air runes will be most powerful when carved into stone sourced from a high mountain peak or the bones of a flying creature, fire runes will be more powerful when carved on metals or igneous rocks, etc.
A List of Runes
- Show All
- Air Runes
- Fire Runes
- Earth Runes
- Water Runes
- Light Runes
- Dark Runes
- Other Runes
Air
Air Rune | Action & Subject Rune
As an action rune, it can create oxygen. As a subject rune, it refers to empty, clear air.
Paired with the right other runes, you can create a barrier against windstorms, cause a pleasant breeze to flow through a house, etc. As a subject rune, it could be paired with an Illusion rune to create an invisibility enchantment.
Flight
Air Rune | Action & Subject Rune
A rune that affects the pull of gravity on an item. Creates an upward “pull” on the object it’s been inscribed on. While it requires rarer materials to completely defy gravity, even a weak Flight rune can reduce the weight of heavy loads. May also be used with the Repel rune to make gravity more punishing, and prevent a dragon’s flight.
As a subject rune, it refers to the act of flying and the lift needed to remain in the air.
It is this rune that is used to power the wondrous sky-ships that can be seen in the skies of Ironbrook and the Republic of the Spire.
Scent
Air Rune | Action & Subject Rune
An action rune that creates or alters scents. On its own, the Scent rune only produces a soft, indistinguishable scent; each individual who encounters it describes its natural smell differently.
Combined with other runes, you can change the smell of an item or person, or use it to suppress foul odors.
Attract/Vacuum
Air Rune | Action Rune
Action rune that tells the enchantment to attract or subliminally make something more likely to come around. Must be paired with a subject rune to have any effect.
Depending on its strength, either physically draws things toward itself, or gives it a subliminal desire to enter the area (ex; make an animal more likely to enter into a hunting trap). More intelligent lifeforms are more able to resist its effects.
Sound
Air Rune | Action & Subject Rune
An action rune that can be used to create or alter sounds. Can be used to alter a voice, pull sounds closer to the wearer to silence them, etc; the possibilities are limited only by the creativity and skill of the runesmith.
As a subject rune, it is used to refer to noise.
Also commonly used to set an auditory trigger to another rune’s effect, giving it a verbal “passphrase” that turns it on or off.
Steam
Air Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to steam.
Spin
Air Rune | Action Rune
A rune that causes something to rotate, clockwise or counterclockwise depending on how the interior markings of it are drawn. The speed of the spinning is determined by the strength of the materials.
North Rune
Air Rune | Subject Rune
One of the four directional runes. Most commonly used to create magical compasses, but can be used for any enchantment where a set direction would be useful.
Smoke
Air & Fire Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to smoke. Could be paired with a Sound rune for a magic smoke alarm.
Ash
Air & Fire Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to ash. Could be paired with a Repel rune for a magic air filter.
Fire
Air Rune | Action & Subject Rune
As an action rune, it creates fire. As a subject rune, it refers to fire. May be paired with other runes to specify its effect.
Heat
Air Rune | Action Rune
A rune that creates pure heat, with no flame or sparks. Can be make weaker to provide comfortable heating or stronger to be useful in cooking.
Combustion
Fire Rune | Action Rune
Creates an explosive burst of energy. Extremely dangerous to craft or to use. May be paired with other runes to change the flavour of its effect (ex; lightning for an explosion of electricity).
Blaze
Fire Rune | Action Rune
A rune that doesn’t produce any flame/heat itself, but if left on something flammable long enough, will cause it to ignite. The speed of that depends on the strength of the rune and how flammable the material is.
Must be stored with care to avoid accidents.
Lightning
Fire Rune | Action & Subject Rune
Used either to create lightning or to refer to it. Extremely useful for powering technology and common among mechanics.
Glitter/Sparkle
Fire Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to glitter/sparkling properties. Can be combined with Illusion runes to create dazzling effects.
East
Fire Rune | Subject Rune
One of the four directional runes. Most commonly used to create magical compasses, but can be used for any enchantment where a set direction would be useful.
Magma
Fire & Earth Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to lava, magma, and molten stone/metal.
Metal
Fire & Earth Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to metal.
Earth
Earth Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to the ground; stone, dirt, minerals, etc.
Life
Earth Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to life force/living things generally.
Plant
Earth Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to plants, mosses, and similar life forms.
Soil
Earth Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to dirt, gravel and sand (and similar materials).
Stone
Earth Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to stone.
Stabilize/Ground
Earth Rune | Action Rune
Stabilize/Ground reinforces the surface it is carved into, increasing its stability and structural strength (‘grounding’ it). May be combined with the Repel rune to make things less stable. Useful for buildings in more volatile regions and for creating dams. Does not have anything to do with the literal ground.
Animal
Earth Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to animals. Affects all non human/dragon species generally or, if the runesmith visualizes on a specific type of animal, one kind of them.
Human
Earth Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to humans. When coupled with the Illusion rune, it can allow one to disguise themself. To ‘tell’ the rune what to do, one must focus on the desired appearance of the illusory human while carving it.
South
Earth Rune | Subject Rune
One of the four directional runes. Most commonly used to create magical compasses, but can be used for any enchantment where a set direction would be useful.
Flavour
Earth & Water Rune | Action & Subject Rune
Used to give something a magical flavour, the exact sort depending on what other runes are paired with it. Does not affect nutritional value.
Mud
Earth & Water Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to mud.
Growth/Fertility
Earth & Water Rune | Action & Subject Rune
Both a subject and action rune.
When drawn upright, as shown above, it refers to growth. Combined with other runes, it can increase or decrease the growth/expansion of things.
Upside down, sitting on the flat base, it refers to fertility; combined with other runes, it can be used to increase/decrease the fertility of an individual or even prevent things from growing in a certain area.
Water
Water Rune | Action & Subject Rune
As an action rune, can be used to create water. As a subject rune, refers to water. Extremely useful when travelling, especially through desert climates.
Acid
Water Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to acid. Can be paired with the Repel rune on gloves and other protective clothing to increase their effects, although unless very powerful does not allow you to submerge yourself in acid without ill effect.
Blood
Water Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to blood. Useful for creating enchanted bandages and medical instruments to help reduce bleeding… or, if you’re so inclined, increase it.
Push/Repel
Water Rune | Action Rune
Action rune that tells the enchantment to repel or subliminally make something less likely to come around. Must be paired with a subject rune to have any effect.
Depending on its strength, either physically pushes things away, or gives it a subliminal aversion to the area (ex; repel plants to keep an area from getting overgrown). More intelligent lifeforms are more able to resist its effects.
Ice/Cold
Water Rune | Action & Subject Rune
Used to refer to ice or to create cold. Extremely useful for practical applications, like preserving food.
West
Water Rune | Subject Rune
One of the four directional runes. Most commonly used to create magical compasses, but can be used for any enchantment where a set direction would be useful.
Rain
Air & Water Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to rain.
Cloud
Air & Water Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to clouds.
Light
Light Rune | Action & Subject Rune
As an action rune, it creates light. As a subject rune, it refers to the presence of light. May be used to create a magical “flashlight”.
Illusion
Light Rune | Action & Subject Rune
Most often paired with other runes to create visual illusions When carving, a runesmith must use the right subject runes as well as visualize what they want to get the desired illusion.
May also be paired with the Repel rune to create an anti-Illusion enchantment. Provided the enchantment is strong enough, it will disrupt nearby illusions in a radius.
Reflect
Light Rune | Action Rune
An action rune that can be used on its own to create a mirror-like sheen on an item. In combination with other runes, it can reflect certain things back in the direction they came. Ex: Reflect + Ice to make a shield against snowballs.
Darkness
Dark Rune | Subject Rune
Used to refer to the absence of light. May be used as a runic trigger to make an enchantment activate in dark places.
Necromancy
Dark Rune | Subject Rune
Refers to necromancers and their magic, though also targets harvest mages.
May be paired with the Repel or Attract runes to suppress or bolster the power of necromancy. Powerful versions of each may make a necromancer compelled to avoid or approach an item, or even cause a necromancer to be less or more likely to be born.
Can also be paired with other runes to act as a test if someone possesses the talent for necromancy; as an example, if paired with a Light rune, it would glow on contact with a necromancer or harvest mage.
Link/Pair
Dark Rune | Action Rune
The Link Rune is unique in that it allows you to ‘pair’ separate rune-enchanted items. If one carves two Link runes into the same piece, one with other runes beside it and the other apart, and then cuts it between them, they can create an ‘activation’ piece for the other set of runes.
Project
Other Rune | Action Rune
Useless on its own, but can be used along with directional runes to give the enchantment a specific direction, rather than having it emanate in a radius from the item’s midpoint.
Dragon
Other Rune | Subject Rune
Refers to dragons. Needs a secondary one drawn inside it to indicate what type of dragon it targets. It may then be used with other runes to affect that type of dragon.
Dark for darkling, Magma for fireworm, Ice for iceworm, Acid for moonviper, Sound for springsinger, South/North for the two types of shipwrecker, Light for sundrake, Lightning for stormherald, Water for tidekeeper, Air for windwyrm.
Discovered by Adeodatus herself.
Elder Drake
Other Rune | Subject Rune
Refers to Elder Drakes. Useless now, save for museum exhibits.
Discovered by Adeodatus herself.
Materials associated strongly with each element will make a stronger enchantment. For a fire enchantment, one will have more success using resources like igneous rocks, volcanic glass, and metal objects crafted in a hot forge. For a water enchantment, the bones of aquatic animals, stone from riverbeds, or even blocks of ice will be advantageous. This goes on in similar fashion for other runes. The more exposure it has had to their “element”, the better the result will be.
Out of individual “elemental” categories, more expensive and rare materials tend to be more powerful. Pure gold, elder drake bones/scales and unicorn horns all tend to produce extremely strong enchantments, regardless of element. Larger pieces of a material will also have more energy to provide to an enchantment.
In some regions, there are businesses who specifically cultivate and sell materials for runesmithing, while in areas where runes are more uncommon, runesmiths will have to source their own resources.
One cannot simply (or accidentally) draw a rune without knowing or theorizing what it does and get a result. This makes it hard to discover new runes, but has no doubt saved many artists from accidentally lighting their work on fire.
While runes may be painted, drawn, or embroidered onto a surface, most runesmiths prefer to carve them, at least when working with a solid piece of material. More permanent ways of inscribing runes make it harder to accidentally damage and destroy a rune in the future, and often have a stronger resulting enchantment.
Of course, sometimes the strongest possible enchantment is not desirable. A weak Light rune might be preferable to a blindingly-bright one when being used as a lamp, and while a weak Flight rune might not be able to lift an item into the air, it could allow a cart carry a heavier load than would be otherwise possible.
Runic triggers are added by carving additional runes onto the item, while thinking of the intended effect they’d have. Some examples of runic triggers are:
- Adding a Sound rune to an enchantment. This would allow the runesmith to make it so their item activates and deactivates when a certain sound is made. It can be a word, phrase, the sound of a specific instrument - any noise that they can imagine.
- Adding an environmental trigger; an Ice rune with a Heat trigger could activate when the temperature around it reaches a certain heat, and deactivate after it goes under a certain amount. You could also create a Light rune with a Dark rune trigger that activates after nightfall, etc.
- Using the Link/Pair rune. This creates a small runestone that can be used like a ‘key’ to activate/deactivate the enchantment by tapping the item with it. It is useful in that it prevents someone from learning the runic trigger and using it against you, but if you lose the paired rune, you’ll be unable to activate or deactivate the rune.
Mistakes in runesmithing range between merely annoying, severely expensive, and catastrophic.
Runesmiths tap into reserves of magical energy in the materials they work with, using runes to channel it into their enchantments. If they mess up their rune - carving in the wrong direction or breaking it while working on it - that energy is released all at once in an uncontrolled manner. Depending on the material, it will either simply burn down to nothing - wasting whatever investment it cost - or it could even explode, and potentially take a finger with it. The residue from a failed rune rarely has any lasting effects, but it is best to wash off immediately and clean your workspace to minimize potential for mutations. Scraps of material left from a failed rune are drained of energy, and cannot be used for runesmithing or alchemy. However, after being carved properly, a rune may be sanded away or chiselled off without disastrous side effects. This allows for the destruction of a rune without having it explode. |
A necromancer may take the life-force of a sacrifice and, instead of using it for a revival or other purpose, embed it into an enchanted item. These “necromancy-enhanced” runes are more powerful than normal ones, but tend to behave in an erratic, almost haunted manner.
Examples of “haunted” rune actions are:
- An illusion rune flickering or acting on its own, especially if it resembles a human/dragon/animal.
- Light runes flashing.
- A combustion rune with a specific trigger going off early, or not at all.
- Other runes may ignore their triggers, and act on their own, or refuse to work when they should.
A little-known fact even among the most studied in necromancy is that, if destroyed, the life-force trapped in the enchantment is freed… and may be used again in necromancy. If this energy is used to revive someone, you end up with what is known by some as a rune wraith - a "living rune", so to speak. Read about them in detail at the page below:
They are least common among the tidekeepers and windwyrms, whose isolation means that they may not even recognize them as ‘runes’, and instead ascribe other causes for the magic.
Applications can include: runes powering public fountains, in the sewers to ward off smell and illnesses, to heat homes and cool them in the summer, to make clothes warmer or look nicer (ex; a cloak that looks like its made of running water, or the shifting night sky), or even street lamps with light runes or internal electric runes in well-off neighbourhoods.
One of the most striking applications of runes are the skyships that can be seen in the skies of Cyr and over the Merosian city of Chrysos. They are similar to oceangoing vessels, but sleeker, balanced differently, and with sails designed to catch wind currents.
Most skyships only require one type of rune - flight. Carved onto immense blocks of rare high mountain stone or, for the most effective result, gold, and kept along with a system of supports in the heart of the ship’s frame. These runes provide a strong upward pull, and there are different strengths used for different possible heights. Fancier skyships may make use of other runes - such as a wind rune to create their own air currents,or electric runes to power propeller-based engines - but these are an additional expense that not all wish to go to. |
Propulsion
To alter their height, skyships use a mix of ballast and sandbags. To rise higher, they release water or drop bags, lowering the resistance against the runes in their core, and to sink lower they add additional weight. To do this properly, most skyships either have dragons employed who can collect water or other materials to increase weight, or have pegasus or hippogriff-riders employed for the same task. They remain at an even height throughout their voyage, and then lower themselves when docking
Skyship Locations
Although there are rumours that the Queen of Padwell is working on a project in the mountains of High Heart that may change this...
Weapons marked with runes can be enchanted to increase bleeding, to remain sharper longer, to look longer or shorter than they truly are, to have fire or lightning coming from it, or to enhance their accuracy. The possibilities are limited only by the runes one knows and the creativity one has in their application.
Armour marked with runes can be enchanted to provide protection or even decrease its weight. It can repel flame or lightning or metal, or be made to look like regular clothes to allow someone to blend in with regular people even while in full armour.
Runes should never be carved, drawn, or tattooed onto a living creature or plant - not if you want it to survive, at least. While painting a “repel fire” or “stabilize” rune onto a person might not seem like a bad idea at first, even more beneficial enchantments can be quite harmful. One must remember that runes draw on the energy of the material they are placed on. That means the vitality of the living thing. It would slowly kill the plant or creature it is on, unless removed.
Enchantments carved onto still-living creatures tend to be weaker than those placed on non-living materials, perhaps due to the competition between the runes and the body for the energy to fuel themselves.
There is also the chance of messing up the rune… and causing the living thing to explode.