Runefeel
The game Runefeel is a popular pastime among young wood elves in Qosid. Before play starts, one or more runestones need to be created - stones that are ritually engraved with a marking that renders them magical. The magic such stones aureate ranges from medium to very faint, which is a measure of the difficulty of the game. Many wood elf households have at least a few of such runestones lying around the house.
Once play commences, one person (often an older wood elf who does not fully join the game), hides one or more runestones in the house, while the players are blindfolded or in a different house. The players then remove their blindfolds or enter the area and are tasked with sensing the magic emanating from the runestones and locating them. The one who collects the most runestones wins the game.
Variants
In one variant, only a single player looks for the runestone(s) at any one time, with the other players playing the role of onlooker. When played competitively, each player has one go while being timed. The one who spends the least time locating the stone(s) is declared winner. In another single-player variant, also called counting colors, multiple stones with different magic colors are hidden and the player is tasked to collect the different stones in a specific order. The more runestones, the more complicated disentangling their auras becomes.Educational purpose
Runefeel is considered to be a playful way to learn wood elves how to sense sources of magic. Among high elves, the counting colors variant of the game is sometimes used in early schooling.Tournaments
During the Festival of Light celebrations in Thellur, Runefeel is played as a tournament outside, in the darkness of the first night. This is not done by children, but instead by elves aged around 20 to 80, who not rarely use the cover of darkness for trysts. In this version of the game, the mission is to find as many runestones as possible, with the winner receiving the blessing of Waye on the celebrations of the first day.History
The first mention of Runefeel dates back to the poetry of Nesidyn the Bard who probably saw the game in Qosid during his initiation in the Moss Cave Mystery in 1574 BLC. In this early version of the game, there was no use of multiple magic colors and the runestones themselves were closely tied to the Bird Gods. Interestingly, Nesidyn mentions a nursery rhymes that accompanied the seeking of the stones, but this tradition did not survive the passage of time.
Components and tools
Runestones are made by carving runes in pebbles or other stones and focusing aspecific magic onto these runes. This process is eased if the runes themselves are conduits for magical power, but it is possible for elves to add trails of magic to any rune.
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