Magic can only be done with music. If there is no sound, no magic can happen. This is a fundamental law of the world. Except....
Except for the Bone Writers of the far north. They carve strange symbols into the still-wet bones of freshly killed caribou and, without a sound, magic happens. How this works is a mystery - and a good portion of scholars are convinced it's a hoax or a trick. After all,
Vaunen researchers once stole a collection of discarded bones and then replicated the symbols with exact precision. Even though they were talented
chanters, they couldn't get a single spark of magic to appear.
To call Bone Writing a
Manashin art wouldn't be accurate, though. Bone Writing is distrusted and disparaged by Manashins even more than Veiamic outsiders. It breaks their deep taboos about what magic should be used for and is seen as a violation of the gift the
Creator gave them. Those who learn Bone Writing are outcasts, or keep their talents secret.
How it Works
Bone Writing consists of carving a spell into a bone to create an effect. The bone must be a literal bone from a once-living creature. Bones that have fossilized and become rock will not work.
The actual creature doesn't matter - it works just as well with a mouse bone as a human bone. However, the freshness of the bone is important. The more recently the bone was alive, the more potent the magic it can produce. Additionally, some creatures are more popular to use than others simply because they yield bigger bones. It is quite difficult to carve into a fish bone. The most popular medium is the shell of a turtle, as it provides a large, flat surface.
Then, the practitioner inscribes their spell into the bone. They simply write a description of what they want to happen. Bone Writers learn to become very precise in their language to fit absolute clarity into as few words as possible.
The writing must be done in the
Bone Tongue, using its own script, a language used exclusively for this art. Outsiders have no idea where the language came from. It is hardly ever heard spoken aloud, and is written in a script indecipherable to anyone without training. As far as anyone can tell, the language has no relation to any spoken language in Veiama, and perhaps was invented whole-cloth by the very first Bone Writer. The Writers themselves certainly aren't telling anyone their secrets.
How to Become a Bone Writer
The only way to become a Bone Writer is to learn directly from another. It's a closely guarded art that has never been successfully replicated by outsiders. To learn it, a person must find a Bone Writer and convince them to take on an apprentice.
The art is not closed to only Manashin people, although any Veiamic person who wants to learn must travel to Manashina to study.
Witches in the south sometimes know Bone Writing that they learned from a Manahin Bone Writer in the north. The majority of Manashins are adamant that this is
not a traditional part of Manashin culture.
All that's known about the actual method of learning the art is that in involves a few years of study to learn the language. What has to be done to make it work that no one else can replicate is unknown.
