History
Rune Magic began upon the broken body of Cord. The Titan had been armoured against the Haze and the assaults of Entropy. Upon his bracers, greaves and plates were engraved sigils whose shape carried strength beyond ornament or written speech. When Cord was shattered, parts of that divine armament fell across Thera or were carried into the halls of the Thergen, where they remained for ages as relics of faith. The oldest accounts claim that a smith first revealed their hidden force by bringing a piece of Cord’s armour from the dim caverns into the light. Carvings long faded beneath stone shone again, and combinations previously dismissed as decoration responded to heat, air and water. Whether this discovery was truly accidental remains disputed. The similarity between certain runes and structures found within draconic languages, as well as inscriptions upon Dragoliths, has led some scholars to suspect an older relation between Dragon craft and Titan armament. The Thergen reject such theories with characteristic finality. What is certain is that the runes were divided among tribes for study and safekeeping, and that knowledge of their carving became one of the most jealously guarded secrets of Ael Maern and Cord’s Arm. To reveal their deeper sequences to an outsider is treason and to steal them invites a punishment for which Thergen law is fierce.
Power of the worthy
Rune Magic binds power through smithing, carving, reciting and imbuing. Thergen took long years to decipher it, and the name of Thera is included among the Eternals, whose names revealed part of its secrets. A Rune Crafter does not sketch a convenient symbol and call forth an immediate effect. Purified metals are ground into dust, melted within resistant urns and prepared through deep hymns whose sounds resemble stone breaking beneath volcanic pressure. A smith forges the object while a separate carver cuts the runes over days or weeks, for the traditions insist that no single hand should hold complete authority over both object and word. The meaning of each mark is recited in the ancient draconic tongue while the inlaid substance dries, and the completed work is presented to its intended bearer. The bearer is first judged by the watching tribe to be found worthy. If the crafter executes even the slightest flaw, the runes fade and the engraved object decays into useless metal. When accepted, however, the result may endure for generations: armour that resists demon claw, weapons that channel elements, gates that hold corruption, circles that restrain passage, or stones that stand against forces no mortal masonry should survive. Rune Magic is therefore slow where Arcane Magic is swift and permanent where other paths require specific incantations to endure time. The Thergen Defenders of Cord’s Arm trust it because it does not depend upon a mage’s momentary courage. Yet even they know that every surviving rune is drawn from a language once insufficient to save Cord, and that the greatest of his inscriptions remain undeciphered, or perhaps wisely lost.
Every surviving rune is drawn from a language once insufficient to save Cord.
“They could not save the Titan who wore them. They have saved everything since.”
Eolon of Oemon · Loremaster
