Runic magic

"This seems to be a book about protection runes..." mumbled Samaira "Here, take this book to a E'gurinuluer and then send it to Raku, I'm sure he'll appreciate it."

Runic magic is one of the 3 subbranches of the Enchanting branch in the Manipulation school. It works by transcribing spells into runes that are placed into places and powered with mana, as long as they still have mana and the written runes are intact, they will keep working.

Runes are considered to be old as most of the knowledge about it comes from old times and has been only kept alive by teachers teaching their students. Runic users are rare, and books about it even rarer. It is not a hard magic to use, but it is hard to learn as it is based after the old Res'ink, the only known language able to make magic work with words. Mostly, nowadays, the way to learn runes is based on the ability of remembering how to draw them rather than learning Res'ink and how to implement it into runes.

Casting

To cast the runes, one must firstly write down the runes correlated to the spell you want the runes to cast. These runes must also be drawn following specific "grammar" rules. Most of the times, these rules make the runes be circular shaped, but when there's a need of multiples people to activate the spell, then the runes will be shaped to represent how many people are needed (such as hexagonal shapes for spells needing 6 people).

The runes written are based on geometrical shapes which represent Res'ink words. Knowing Res'ink words helps making runes more complex as more can be added to the runes to be more specific or even more powerful, as well as learning new shapes that call upon other spells or transcribing new spells into runes. The runes are always made out of many complex geometrical shapes, the most basic runes on average are still around 12 strokes.

The final drawn rune will determine: the spell, the school, the time duration, how is it activated, if there's a needed amount of people to be activated, how to power the rune, and if it's single use or not between other things. All these are optional except the spell, any that isn't specified will suppose the default (which usually default means that it's activated by movement, instantaneous, single use, powered by mana, and no amount of people are needed).

Wooden ladder by bookshelves by Tim van Cleef

Following the drawing of the proper runes, it has to be powered. There are many ways of powering a rune, and some runes require a specific way of being powered up (which will depend on what the drawn runes say). The more common methods are by using mana (whether deposited on the rune or it drawing it from some mana storage nearby), by using lifeforce (usually used on runes that need contact to be activated and it draws its power from the person's blood), or by using solar or moon power.

Creating runes is time-consuming but it's worth the time as it helps casting spells by using less mana or even casting spells one might not know how to cast yet (if knows the runes for it). They are also worth the time as it helps control spells and make sure there aren't side effects or avoid having them failing on critical moments.

Uses

Runes are mostly used as defensive tactics, used as traps in places where people aren't supposed to reach, as well as passive waystones that help magical users in different ways (such as a place to recharge mana). Runes are also a big part of ritual magic as it helps the rituals (which tend to be long-term, big consumers of mana, or even complex and/or delicate spells that cannot fail at any point). Some rarer uses of runes include password runes (which close something unless its password is casted upon the rune), and summoning runes (it is rare to use them without rituals because the amount of mana spent, as well as most of them have been lost in time with the Thraksark).

Most runes that are nowadays still use are simpler runes that mages managed to memorize and teach their apprentices. These tend to be simple trap runes, protection runes, or attack runes (usually used on scrolls as a one use spell). Some complex rituals can still be found in old rare books (most of them related to strong rituals), yet most of it is lost (although the Dragsar and Guidersar organizations are working on recovering them). Seeing runes used in the world is rare, as most mages knowing runes barely use other than in scrolls or their personal houses (rarely in nobles houses that paid for them; but the knowledge about runes is so lost that barely anyone thinks about them anymore, specially non-mage people).

Most runic users nowadays don't know how to create new runes and all know the same runes. As Res'ink has stopped being learn, the only runes used are the ones people could find in books and that old magical users still remembered. Not knowing Res'ink also has stopped progress on runic magic for centuries and thus it's been stagnant for that much time.

Brown wooden tables inside building by Cameron Steward