Runepool ((ROON - pool))

Living vestiges of peoples fleeting.

Written by Acturus Albani, a stranger in skin and smile.

A runepool, also called godsbreath, savant's circles or rúnhylr (lit. pool of mysteries) in Fólkmál, is the name given to Vanhindlite rooms where religious rituals and customs are carried out. The name is derived from the runes affixed to the borders of a depression found in the middle of these rooms, which are activated by a rýnstr (lit. runesmaster/runesmistress), a religious figure, in order to carry out a given ritual. Most runepools are associated with a variety of spiritual proceedings relating to the act of living and its eventual conclusion. Birth ceremonies, marriage consummations, certain name days and final rites are examples of ceremonies carried out inside the runepools themselves or in the housing tivarbý (lit. lifehome).

Runepools have been historically associated with the healing arts of shamans and wisemen, wherein a person in need of medical attention is submerged in water mixed with different herbs, spices and certain magical components in order to be healed. The process in which these healing rituals are carried out, the exact nature of the necessary components and even the people that need be involved are jealously guarded by rýnstri across the nation, leading to speculation by scholars, healers and members of faiths all over the world as to how these are carried out. With the ongoing invasion by the Yо̄ken Empire and increasing military and economic pressure form both Al Ramalwhil and Filmente, reports from expeditioners, travelling merchants and trade route exchange owners have observed that runepools are now being used as treatment centers for the ill and the injured.

Controversially, some rýstri have been performing these healing rites as a paid service for foreigners, which is one of the many reasons for the ongoing Oldwood Schism. Correspondence from merchants along the Ambar Coastline hints that these services came at a high price, but would unfailingly deliver on what was promised.

The description and design of the runepools is not dissimilar from the healing ponds and respitebeds prominent in many of The Kingdom of Crendameth's temples, leading historians to believe that a Vanhindlite immigrant of certain religious importance brought the design with them some time before the Kingdom's founding.

Design

Runepools have no 'standard' design. Dimensions and decorations vary from place to place and oftentimes use different materials to reflect a place's particular history, culture and important events. The runepool will oftentimes be the largest room in its respective tivarbý, as a great amount of important rituals take place here. 

There are cases where the runepool is not even contained within the walls of a room and is instead out in the open. Should this be the case, decorations are oftentimes relegated to the likenesses of heroes carved into stone murals or statuettes. This design seems to be widespread for the oldest runepools, where weather, predators and other countries eventually drove the faithful underground to protect their rituals and their secrets.

Entries

Newer runepools have a single access point coming from the tivarbý above. A set of stairs descends into a corridor, which normally lead into a set of heavy double doors that bars access to those that are uninvited or unwanted within. The room usually contains no windows or other chambers. 

The older design, being out in the open, can be accessed by walking into it.

Sensory & Appearance

According to the Worldwalker, the runepools were always cool, no matter the time of day or season. There is ample lighting provided by a certain feature and the pool itself, with it smelling of petrichor and various spices. The walls would often feel icy to the touch and would softly emit the smell of freshly shortened grass. Other witnesses claimed to see a light gray mist coming from within the pool, which itself has repeatedly been described as 'glowing' in some nature. To date, there have been a handful of reports that describe how being inside the pools feels like, with common sentiments being that the sensation is best understood as a soothing cold that permeates one's body, not unlike the effect a respitebed is commonly attributed to having on someone.

Denizens

The rýnstri, the injured and the sick are the ones that most use the pools, currently frequenting them on a near daily basis. Animals and other sorts of fauna seem to have an aversion to these places for reasons that have yet to be ascertained. Ceremony attendants and the people being celebrated during these rituals, while not members of what be understood as the clergy, make appearences when they are invited into the room.

Contents & Furnishings

The main furnishing inside a runepool is the pool iteslf. Most of the information available about them was described by Ujer the Worldwaker, an explorer from Ar'Nuhûn's reaches, who wrote

'tis a thing made in the likeness of a circle no deeper than the stretch of a full-grown orcman's arms and no wider than seven paces as given by a tall elf. Grey-and-blackstone is its make, always darker than the stone around it, lest the flooring make the 'pool envious of its serenity. The sigils hide themselves when not in use, as does the glowater that washes the ill and the newborn babes. Perish the thought of it being the same glowater, as it is replaced nary a moment afore the following ceremony is to take place.

This description, paired with the scarce few that are readily available in the form of hearsay and adventurers' rumours, have lead to the consensus that the depressions are roughly a fathom in depth and around fourteen feet in overall width. The water the pool holds has repeatedly been noted to glow in some fashion, though reports differ on the exact nature of this luminescence. It is within the water that most rituals are carried out, with the water used changing from ritual to ritual through some arcane mechanism yet unknown.
 

Other furnishings include the decorations used to reflect on the place's culture and history, sometimes using important patients or ceremony attendants in their depictions, which can be anything from stone carvings to murals and tapestries. Furniture and instalments are subjected to the same structure as the decorations are, differing from place to place.

Valuables

As there's no standard furnishings in a runepool, the valuables that might be found there depend on where the runepool is found. However, a practice that has been consistently observed is that relics, treasures and other such important items are taken away after every ceremony, be it to a rýnstr's private quarters, elsewhere in the tivarbý or somewhere in the village it is located. 

The runes that surround the room's depression are priceless, but are unable to be removed from the stone that make up the borders of the pool. There have been stories of looters attempting to steal the stones themselves, but there seems to be something that prevents them from being separated from the rest.

Hazards & Traps

Although there are reports that clearly state that there are security measures that prevent uninvited mortals and even spirits from entering the room without being invited into a ritual, there are no reliable sources that explicitly describe these countermeasures. Worldwalker's tales never include any depiction or report of these places, nor do the wandering merchants or travelling bards speak about these things except in something akin to retellings of wives' tales of misfortune and loss. No credence can be lent to these claims, as there has et to be a single coinciding incident between them.

Special Properties

A distinctive feature that separates a runepool form all other forms of Vanhindlite architecture is the fact that it has a roof that appears to be made out of glass. In reality, it is a projection of what is being seen aboveground carried out by a series of runes that 'do away' with the layers of dirt and stone between the surface and the undercroft, allowing the skies to be seen at all times without transfering the sun's heat or any rain that might fall on it.

Founding Date

If Vanhindle legend is to be taken as historical fact, the first runepools were built over five thousand years ago.

Alternative Names

Rúnhylr, Rȳni-maþrlogr (Runemaker's seaslice), Rýnstrlundr (Runemistress'/master's grove)

Type

Room, Religious, Sanctum / Septum

Parent Location

Vanhindle

Environmental Effects

Worldwaker describes the room's overall feel as 

unnatural yet not unpleasant. A slight tinge dilutes one's view of the events transpiring within, or mayhap 'tis the case that these are enhanced in some way yet unknowable to the uninitiated. Dampness clings to skin as lightly as a whisper on the cusp of oblivion and the living air bears a passion not unlike that which resides near a spell's hind end. 'tis my opinion, uninformed and skewed by the roads yet to be walked by mine own feet, that the runes have whims of their own, establishing how the room's disposition is to be handled well afore a breathing being sets foot within. Not faint is the resemblance of the world's collective sigh when First Light breaks above the horizon. 

Not much information has contradicted these statements, with visitors saying that the chill present within the runepool is most comparable to a warm winter evening. These effects, surely magical in nature, have yet to be fully explained. However, it is highly suspected that the runes, with their high affinity for water-based magics, affect the ambience in some way.

Ruling/Owning Rank

Rýnstrlundr