Runecrafting

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anerausa
Posts: 227
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2014 4:03 am

Runecrafting

Post by anerausa »

As some of you might have noticed, I have recently taken to using a rune of shadows to enhance my abilities to lurk in the darkness when travelling. I have found that concentrating the magic used in chanting a spell is more focused and powerful when placed into the single character that is a rune. As our guild is known for our ability to craft runes of a more material and concrete nature and placing the magic into bracelets and rings, I would like to see you stretch your spell casting creativity.

Craft your own rune and describe what its power and purpose is and I will see that you are rewarded.
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Runescribe Anera
Erilaz of Dragons
Lamaenor
Posts: 96
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:05 am
Guild: Enchanters

Re: Runecrafting

Post by Lamaenor »

Guildmaster Anera, Master Enchanter, Minister of Magic, Mage of the Order of Wizardry, etc. etc.

I write to you today with exciting new progress on my newest creation.
As per our agreement with the His Majesty Jarenmar, Heir of Jasmar, Sun Child, King of Devardec and Associated Realms, etc. etc., I have worked long on a special rune that will aid in security at the docks in our fair city of Devardec, First of the Great Cities, Jewel of the South, Desert Capital, etc. etc.
The riots and consequential fires that spread luckily did relatively little damage, but goods and buildings were, unfortunately lost. What could one do to prevent that? Or at least lessen the damage done?
With these questions in mind, and inspired by my desire to rise past the rank of Runedancer, I decided to set off on a quest to create my own rune.
I was inspired in its creation in no small part by nature and the properties of materials and by multiple runes and how I believe they would act would they have been organically (rather than magically) created. This has led me to ultimately create my own rune which, I believe, combines the most desirable properties of the runes I have studied, enumerated below:

1) Rune of Harden Armor
This is a spell which I daresay I have achieved near-mastery over, due to its unparalleled usefulness whilst adventuring. Something which has intrigued me is the nomenclature that we mages have chosen for it- 'Harden' Armor.
Obviously when we term it thus, we do not mean that the armor is truly 'hardened', we simply mean that it can withstand more stress to its being before breaking or giving way to the blows of, say, an axe. While this coincides with the natural, usual meaning of the word, the word does carry additional meaning. In nature when something is hardened, that something (in addition to the previous qualifications) also becomes more brittle, less pliable, etc.
Take, for example, the preferred vestment of ourselves and our other fellow mages: the robe. How many thousands of times in the history of our existence have we enchanted our robes with this spell? Yet we do not see mages with stiff, unbending robes whose fabric is not flowing and pliable. While one may certainly detect the presence of an enchantment, the robes are not noticeably 'hard' as they would be if the material were truly 'hardened' by any non-magical means. The damage-absorbing qualities of an item hardened by the most powerful mages makes something as flimsy as silk as tough as (perhaps in some cases even tougher than) titanium or mithril. Much to our benefit, too! Indeed, in this instance, it is a desirable quality. Can you imagine trying to sit down with a stiff, unyielding robe? If the composition of the fabric were like to titanium or mithril, our robes would be incredibly stiff and unyielding. Sitting down, bending over, or turning about would be incredibly difficult tasks. And that is saying nothing of the weight difference between titanium and silk!
This led me to wonder what would an item be like should it actually mimic the properties of such resilient metals. But before I digress further, the next rune that captivated my interest...

2) Rune of Levitation
This is a bit more straightforward. A rune which enables the caster to float several inches off the ground, usually used to bypass treacherous terrain. Again, I was intrigued by the natural physical implications here. The forces which usually keep us tethered to the land and prevent us from floating up into the heavens. The same very forces which some thinkers suppose makes an apple eventually fall from a tree and onto the head of a person partaking in the shade of said tree. These forces are somehow circumvented or overpowered by the spell, allowing us to float freely and experience a sort of weightlessness. It was by chance that I wondered what would happen if, instead of these forces being alleviated, they were to be increased. Why, we'd be tethered even further to the ground. Just as a levitation spell makes one less susceptible to the forces that ground us and experience a sort of weightlessness, a sort of anti-levitation spell would make us even more inclined to stay on the ground and perhaps even increase our weight...

Lastly, I wondered about the application of the runes. Typically we use the runes on our person or draw them in the air to make a desired spell take effect. But I have never seen these runes used on inanimate objects. Why should the rune only be used to harden armor? Why not harden some other object, such as a crate or barrel?

Thus in a moment of inspiration, I have crafted a rune that uses the concepts explained above.

I do not know if you are familiar with the way goods are brought to the city, but typically when a ship arrives, dock workers are dispatched to its pier to unload the goods. Most items are hauled away by the capable dock workers, called 'stevedores', to a 'loading dock', which is essentially a space on the dock near the pier which is designated as a drop-off zone for goods. Nothing more. From there, the goods are eventually loaded onto wagons and carts, where they are brought to a number of warehouses throughout the city. During the fire, a nontrivial amount of goods on these loading docks were destroyed by flames. While that is a not-at-all common problem, theft has been known to occur. With the looming threat of the pirates of Gallowhaven, and their galling theft of trading vessels from our very own docks, I chose a solution that would ameliorate both threats.

And so we come to the rune I have devised.

Inspired by the concepts above, the rune I created uses some glyphs from the Harden Armor rune, and a reversed Rune of Levitation, along with several glyphs I have added to give this particular rune its desired qualities.
The rune will be applied to designated crates and barrels coming into the Devardec harbor and when paired (more on the pairing in a moment) and activated, will make the crates tougher and more resistant to flame (via the Harden Armor glyphs) as well as heavier and thus more difficult to carry away (via the inverted Levitate Rune and several custom glyphs I added).
Inspired by the toughness it affords and the extra weight it adds, I call this new rune the Gargoyle Rune.
Now, the rune should not stay active, else it would cost an incredible amount of magical energy and be quite taxing on the caster. And making the various crates and barrels harder to carry would be quite counter-productive to the job the good stevedores of Devardec are trying to do. Therefore, the rune will remain inert until such a time as it is activated.
Its activation was a tricky matter, but I for this I looked to the loading docks.
I have devised a device (a sort of conduit resembling a pylon) which will harness the energy the Gargoyle Rune. This new Gargoyle Rune will be traced so as to occupy the entire space of each loading dock, roughly a ten by ten circle. Copper has ever been a suitable material to pair with our enchantments, and after extensive testing, I have found it the most capable material. These copper conduits will be placed in the center of each dock, directly in the center of the rune.
Whenever the border of this rune is crossed, it will start the activation. Due to its relatively large size, it will take a moment for each of the glyphs to activate. When they do, the larger Gargoyle Rune on the ground will be channeled by the conduits, which will transfer the runic energy to the smaller Gargoyle Runes on the crates, activating them and causing them to become heavier, more resilient to blows, and more resistant to fire.
This will also have the added affect of incentivizing the stevedores to quickly deposit their cargo, as they will have only a few moments to do so before their loads become considerably heavier. By my calculations, this should increase productivity at the docks by 5.8 percent!

I hope this has proven a satisfactory explanation. If you have any questions, do let me know. I would be more than happy to discuss these applications with you or any other inquiring minds.

Ever Your Faithful Servant,
Lamaenor, Ambassador of Devardec, Runedancer of the Enchanters Guild, Enchanters' Ambassador to Devardec, etc.

P.S. It will take quite some time to inscribe these runes on each crate and barrel bound for Devardec. Due to this, I recommend the full effort of our Enchanters' Guard in Devardec be focused on this task, save for perhaps two guards at the Enchanters' Bazaar. If you'd think it prudent, perhaps we could increase the compliment of Guards there for the time being to assist in this matter.

P.P.S There is opportunity for profit to be made here. A surcharge of, say, five gold per crate, barrel, or sack could be added to the docking fees for merchants. I suspect they'd happily pay such a sum, knowing their goods are safe and secure. It would offset the cost and effort of having to replace stolen or damaged goods. This fee could be split between our guild and the city, leading to a non-trivial revenue.
anerausa
Posts: 227
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2014 4:03 am

Re: Runecrafting

Post by anerausa »

"Hrm...a gargoyle rune.....very interesting." The saurian hisses in excitement as he looks over the letter recently delivered from him bearing the Ambassador's seal. He sets the page carefully onto a small stack of papers on his desk in the High Enchanter's office. Near the short stack is a much larger stack of missives, orders, and notifications from the scouts and merchants of the guild that are traveling the road. "I will look at this much more closely at a later time, when I am able to devote my attention more fully towards it's contents, I have a few more days abroad before I will be able to devote the time neccessary to look over research and ingenuity like this."

He summons a young half elf to his office and dictates a message that says as much to be delivered to the office of Lamaenor in Devardec. "Also, let him know I will find a suitable reward for his creativity and am proud to see his development proceeding in such a direction. Also, let him know we will discuss his questions regarding our resources, troops, and fines when I return. He can expect a visit from me within the week."

Gathering a few more supplies and food for sustanance on his travels, the Master Enchanter prepares his pack and sets off on the roads once more.
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Runescribe Anera
Erilaz of Dragons
roin
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 10:46 pm
Guild: Enchanters
Temple: Love

Re: Runecrafting

Post by roin »

Very good, and I might add masterfully done Lamaenor, i'll have 5 of the Leviathan runes!

Roin
roin
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 10:46 pm
Guild: Enchanters
Temple: Love

Re: Runecrafting

Post by roin »

**Fair Warning - This is both a Love story and a Rune Crafting account**

I’ll tell you a story of a certain Rune crafted by these very hands. I have only ever told the specifics to one other before now, but she has been gone to the grave many years. You see, she was the love of my existence. A Lady Knight unparalleled in all of history and the most favored woman I will ever know. Yes, this is a story about a Rune, but also about Love.

On the upcoming occasion of our 100th wedding anniversary, I sought the perfect gift. This gift of course had to be unequaled. It was essential that it embody the deep yearning I had for her since the moment we met. It’s crafting required a recognition of her unique character while also exemplifying that together we made something eternally wonderful.

I admit now that at the onset of my quest, which ultimately ended in the crafting of this Rune, I could not fathom how deeply this particular journey would affect me.

I began by pondering a mental inventory all the rare items I had found throughout my many years of travel. I was sort of lost in the beginning by petty thoughts of crummy items that I knew was far less of a statement than I really wanted to make. Buying, or even finding a rare item in the end costs you nearly nothing and certainly has less lasting meaning than making such an item. Ever so slowly my mind turned from finding an item, regardless of its rarity, to making an item.

For months I experimented with hundreds of ingredients, goo’s; putties; metals; stones; plants and yes animals. I mixed thousands of items often dozens of times in search of just that perfect element which would lead me to success. During this time I learned many, many things regarding arcana. I delved deeper than most into the substances of things. I began to discover that while I thought all things unique it seemed there were qualities to this world that were in many cases common. I finally realized that many of Deori’s creation shared attributes, the “stuff” that always produced the same result when extracted and combined with other similarly imbued items. I learned that in the diversity of this wonderful world there was what I can only describe as a sort of unity. That is when I despaired ever creating a perfect gift. That is when I also realized that I was doing something terribly wrong. I was looking to the arcane to represent something that was so unique that it defied definition, and that was my turning point…

I looked at my lovely Lady Knight; the love we shared, who she was as a person, and began searching for items that reflected her charm, nobility, laughter and yes commitment to duty…I began looking for items that personified her qualities rather than items that I felt may approximate her ideals. It sounds odd to me now, but I was looking for her in the things of this world, when I should have been looking at her qualities and finding those in this world (the logic worked for me at the time). With renewed vigor I searched the lands over and found three items I felt matched her wonderful radiance. A Bright Aquamarine, for her light indeed shined around me like a warm embrace at all times. A Pulsing Blue Light, for hers was a selfless devotion to everyone around her and a fidelity to duty that has never been matched. Finally, a Tiny Piece of Heartstone, for in the intertwining striations of this unique stone it breathes Love and companionship.

Once I had these, and a few other binding ingredients which I will not mention…for I wish that this truly remain a memorial to her, I fashioned what I named a Rune of Nobility. The Rune does have many qualities which enhance one’s own desire to move past fear, for she was fearless. Having the Rune close to ones heart supported ones innate desire to grow beyond oneself and to reach heights of Glory and Honor. Most importantly, I made it for my wife on the occasion of our 100th anniversary.

What I didn’t know on that day, so distracted with making this item for my beloved, was that she was already on deaths door. You see, she never said a word about a sickness that ravaged her body by the moment. Really up until the very day when she passed, she was smiling and reaching out to help others. I remember when I presented the Rune of Nobility to her, he first words were “Ahh, This is truly Cassandra’s Rune”, and thus she renamed it forever in my heart.

Some seventy five years ago she was buried with that Rune, never to be duplicated. While this may not meet the spirit of your request Anera, its what I have.

Roin
anerausa
Posts: 227
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2014 4:03 am

Re: Runecrafting

Post by anerausa »

Very interesting work Roin, many spells, runes, and potions have been crafted from inspiration gained through the emotions. Consider myself impressed both with your craftsmenship and with your bravery in sharing something treasured such as this. When I see you in the lands next, I will attend to your reward.
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Runescribe Anera
Erilaz of Dragons

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