About Runes and Rune Language for Mages

About runes and rune language

Runes are the written equivalent of the ancient first magical language known as rune-tongue. In written it was similar to languages like Chinese an Egyptian in that there were thousands of characters, each having meaning of a word, thing, place, or object.  Mages believe it to be a form of the original, primeval language and mastery of it is necessary for performing magic.

The runes and rune-words hold no magic power in and of themselves, but when spoken by someone who could sense the magical energy of the land and use their mind to focus that energy, the words of rune-tongue transformed that energy into magical action. It is like a request between the earth and the mage, the rune-words making the appeal clear.

What complicate things for mages is the fact that rune-words and written runes can not be learned like English, they had to be soul-remembered, brought back to the conscious mind from ether of the collective magical mind of the universe itself. What this means for mages is that they do not necessarily remember rune-words or symbols the same way. Since the same rune-word spoken by two mages could sound different or be written differently, All written runes have similar look. Even if they are unique. Most creatures write runes the same way.

Casting fire to open a Dragon's Lair

To open the passage to the dragon's lair. Pionia has to conjure a rune of fire that serves as the key to unlock the magical door closing the lair. Getting her eternal companion, her fire wand, draws the rune of open on the ground. Drawing energy from the magic in the place, it is known that dragons have magic of their own and they dwell in caves in magical locations. Pionia shakes her hands a bit taking a deep breath, raising her hands out before her chest and, holding them with the palms facing a slab of rock that disguises the entrance to where the dragon sleeps.  "Ogni" she says and a small ball of flame appears before her hands. She repeats the word, chanting it softly, as the ball of fire moves to the center of the rock face and begins to grow.

The mage continues to chant, the words getting louder, the fireball sinking down to the rock and engulfing it in flames. Pionia began to add words to the chant and the flames twist and grow in size until the blaze reaches up twenty feet into the sky. Pio begins to shake as she chants. Her eyes are ablaze with the power of the magic as she shouts the fire into being. Her hands weaving through the air as she struggles to control the colossal conflagration confronting her. As she chants, the fire begins to bend and twist in synchronization with the movements of her hands. The flames curve and coil, shifting like living creatures across the face of the granite slab, until they finally took the form of the rune for open that Pio had drawn in the dirt minutes before.

A rumble like thunder fills the air as the ground begins to quake and the giant outcropping of rock begins to move. The wedge of granite still slid forward, moving all as one piece up the side of the mountain. Pionia shakes herself and releases the magical energy of the fire, the flames winking out as she does, draining the energy back to the land. Pio closes her eyes, breathing softly, her body feels  light as a feather, letting the energy runs out of her hands.

Casting a glow-wand

Pionia pulls out a small crystal cylinder from her pouch, saying "Kesha-Tomm", speaking the rune-word for light and focusing a small amount of magical energy from the land into the crystal. The glow-wand responds by emitting bright, blue-white light.

Adapted from: The dark Shadow of Spring. The young Sorcerers Guild. By G.L. Breedon

More on runes:

Runes are an oracle from which one seeks advice. They work best if you detail your current circumstances and then ask a specific question. Rune readings are sometimes obscure. They hint toward answers, but you have to figure out the details. This is when the rune casters intuition becomes paramount. Some times the Runes "sing" to me, and their meaning becomes instantly clear.

Runic divination or "rune casting" is not "fortunetelling" in the sense that one actually sees the future. Instead, runes give one a means of analyzing the path that one is on and a likely outcome. The future is not fixed. It changes with everything one does. If one does not like the prediction, one can always change paths.

Since ancient times, runes have been used for divination and magic, in addition to writing. The word "rune" actually means mystery, secret or whisper. Each rune has esoteric meanings and properties associated with it, beyond its mundane meaning and phonetic value. Each translates into a word or a phrase signifying concepts important to the early peoples who used them, representing the forces of nature and mind. Each rune has a story attached to it, a relationship to a Norse God.

* Ancient Runes
* Runes (wikipedia)
* Runes the alphabet of mistery