Rune Magic

Ancient History

The very first encounter with rune magic was recorded quite heavily across both ancient Hysilens ruins, and the ancient annals of Aul-Dwarovar's halls, and detailed a gifting of the techniques - modelled on aspects of their Memoria magics - by the fox-folk to the Dwarves shortly after the two races made contact - indeed, the Dwarves are among the only races to have well-documented interactions with the Hysilens, albeit in ancient antiquity.   The techniques spread rapidly throughout the Dwarven societies and into Subterra consequently, and quickly established themselves as the backbone of Dwarven excellence across Aldrin, kickstarting their reputation for peerless craftsmanship, engineering and artifice.  

Aul-Dwarovar

This would peak during the period of Aul-Dwarovar's golden age, which saw the Dwarves create incredible feats of engineering, artifice and runic craftsmanship, all collaborating to make truly incredible products that defined the standards of the crafts even into the modern day. Indeed, so timeless were many of Aul-Dwarovar's grand inventions that their principles define most modern artifice across the world.   The engineering of Aul-Dwarovar - and their Runesmiths - saw several trials, but the biggest was the Great Demonic War, which saw the constructions of the Dwarves pit against the fell legions of the Demon Queen and her infernal machinery that gave their craftsmanship a serious run for its money. In spite of that, Dwarven innovation proved superior in the end, as their rune weapons, runed constructs and various feats of engineering held off the demons at the doors to the holds of Aul-Dwarovar for much of the war.  

The Greentide & Modern History

The event that really changed everything with regards to Rune Magic was the Greentide, though; an event that saw the rise of several new species - the goblinoids and orcs - in and around the Dragonspine Mountains, Nezrin, Bhailu and Subterra. Many regions were ravaged greatly by the tide, but none were as badly impacted as Aul-Dwarovar, which buckled and broke from the unexpected internal conflict, and not even the best runes and engineering of the dwarves kept their holds safe.   Indeed, by all accounts, Aul-Dwarovar fell, with few remnant holds remaining who weathered the storm, and the greentide itself effectively squatting on the ruined Dwarven realm. With the fall of Aul-Dwarovar, however, came the loss of all institutional doctrine which governed how Runesmiths were trained and offered their services, which led to a sharp decline in the ability to get the services of rune magic.   The Shard Ritual helped make up ground as Rune Shards were plentiful the world over, but even the best Runesmith of another race can only compare to an excellent Dwarven Runesmith, unless that runesmith studied with the Dwarves as a Kjanth Nurn.

               

Runesmithing

The most elementary teaching given to a Runesmith is the actual art of Runesmithing items. This art is vital to the craft, as it allows for the creation of the template runes themselves, into which all other aspects of Rune Magic flow. Beyond that, though, runesmithing allows for the creation of items with runic sockets inset into them, which makes those items a lot more receptive to runes being applied to them.   As a practical example, if a longsword could sustain a single rune, a rune longsword with a single runic socket can sustain two runes, rather than one - one in the socket, one on the blade. The limit for runesmithing is a quite firm one indeed; the skill of a Runesmith plays some role, but the physical size of an item is the far more realistic blocker, as runic sockets take up space on the item and can compromise its capabilities if done by a shoddy craftsman - which is no small reason why legitimate Dwarven-crafted rune weapons are so valuable; nobody is better at it than the Dwarves.  

Runic Inscriptions

Generally viewed as the core of rune magic, inscriptions are the process through which abilities can be attached to an item that would not ordinarily have them. When an adventurer seeks a flaming longsword, in reality what he's after is a longsword with a flaming rune inscribed upon it.   Inscriptions are extremely varied and vast, and differ from enchantments (seen below) in a couple of critical ways, despite otherwise being similar: the passive Aether cycling of an inscription is sufficient to sustain them, making them indefinite and easily toggled, while their magic itself is very basic, generally being simple runic commands - the aforementioned flaming rune simply being a rune that lights the sword on fire, while tempering the blade to prevent melting.

Runic Enchantment

The Runic Enchantment process is a significant step up from the process of runic inscription, although it follows the same basic principles as the previous process. The most prominent distinction is in the complexity of the processes; enchantments are extremely complex in comparison to inscriptions, generally being layered, conditional runic formulas capable of making decisions in real time as the enchantment is applied.   In practical terms, enchantments allow for rune items to possess abilities that can conditionally distribute magical boons to their allies while impacting their enemies in a distinctly negative fashion, as a simple example. Compared to inscriptions, runic enchantments can be nearly limitless, but their power means that the native ability of a rune to utilise the Aether of the environment is no longer sufficient.   Instead, the wielding of the item itself has to attune to the rune item and link their Aspected Aether to it, allowing the rune to utilise their innate power like any other form of magic. As a result, only those with a natural skill for wielding aether can wield enchanted rune weapons, as opposed to anyone being able to use an inscribed weapon.  

Runic Spellcasting

The pinnacle of the craft, taught only to the very best Dwarven Runesmiths prior to the fall of Aul-Dwarovar, Runic Spellcasting is a nigh-extinct art that allows for the formulaic components of magic to be drafted into the locus of a rune, through which it can be invoked to be casted by anyone with the ability to manipulate Aether, though fellow skilled Runesmiths are best skilled at doing so.   In theory, runic spellcasting is potentially limitless, but there are some practical limitations; for one, a runic inscription must exist for the aspects of magic that are being placed into the locus of a rune, which prevents the use of magic that dwarves cannot understand at a sufficient level to scribe - such as Talecraft Magic, for example. Beyond that, the rune itself is a significant limiter; many spell incantations to create their magnificent effects are large, arduous or both, and a rune simply cannot store all that much mystical data.   This necessarily restricts runic spellcasting to shorter form spells, with standard runic inscriptions working best for longer term, larger, stationary spells such as wards or stationary magic.