Forward: The material world is suffused with the frozen stuff of creation, the mute and mindless will of being. Every aspect of physicality is permeated with a form of potential energy - raw magic.
These untapped sources may not normally be interfaced by mortals born to Toril. It is only through the Weave maintained by the successors of Mystryl that raw magic is presented, touched and shaped. But the energy exists whether or not it is seen.
While all physicality is infused with the potential, the distribution of raw magic can be uneven. Distortions, both natural and unnatural, exist. Untenable concentrations of raw magic can lead to the degradation of material objects.
This manual details the methods by which a physical object may be anchored against metaphysical tides, allowing it to suffer even deadly concentrations of magical potency. Such methodology is the foundation of artifice.
Part One: The Catalyst
The pooling of abeyant potential requires a suitable vessel - a template in which possibility can be gathered and reshaped in parallel to changes in physical contours. There are several confirmed, and a dozen possibly apocryphal, methods of creating such a template. The one detailed here is, by the author's estimation, the one least likely to lead to the dissolution of ego.
The necessary materials are several cubits of draconic blood and a cubit of euklian clay - a particular material most often found in the Plane of Water. By means of slow-burning alembic, diffuse the clay and blood into solvent, then distill impurities every half-candle.
Do not touch the impurities without hydrophobic gloves.
Leave the solution to dry and it will settle into an abeyant template, suitable for the shaping of possibilities.
Part Two: Runic Focus
Before the template can meld into the object to be manipulated, a rune must be crafted using a substance that fits two criteria:
One: Material approximation to the object to be infused. Two: Conductive of raw magic.
Due to the first criteria, a crafted rune must be suitable to the anchor object. If one were to conduct artifice on a ring of valued gemstone, then transluscency and durability are key. If the object of artifice is a staff or a bow, then the substance must have organic origins.
Listing all suitable substances will require a cyclopedia. This chapter will only list those most common and practical to artificiers. Note that 'common' here is a relative term. Very often, a listed substance will only be found in one particular part of Faerun - leading that substance to be a valued and exotic commodity elsewhere.
Theurglass: A transluscent material with the tensile strength of steel, theurglass is reactive to magical energy and become unstable in its presence. While this property is a deficiency in many instances, in artifice it is a sought-after virtue. Theurglass is suitable for any rune crafted to meld into jewelry, gemstones or glasswork.
Djinn Uther: A rare export of a city of dye-makers, the purported origins of Djinn Uther are likely fictional. Regardless, this colorless dye infuses both fabric and leather with the requisite properties needed for artifice.
Blueleaf Extract: Processed from a dwindling population of northern tree, this valued extract is nonetheless the most reliable substance for imparting desired properties onto an object of wood or other naturally-grown material. Do note that making use of fire in the process of runecrafting with this material increases the chances of self-immolation to three in ten.
Chardalyn: This rare black stone has its origins in the tumultuous Sword Coast region. Unprocessed, it already has the quality of absorbing magic. When refined, it is a suitable vessel for artifice. Chardalyn stones are most often socketed into metal armaments, sometimes hidden by breastplate or pauldron.
Zardazik: This amber-red metal is soft and pliant, which are unintuitive traits for the component needed to hone an artifact blade. Nonetheless, it is a key material in the alloy required for the crafting of all blade-modifying runes.
Part Three: Runic Quality
Not all runes are equally potent, and the quality of the final product will come down to a combination of the artificier's skill and the purity of the material product. While the following categories are painted with a broad brush, this book defines quality as follows.
A Lesser Rune is the most basic and functional of crafted runes, and generally will only affect an object with up to two magical properties.
A Greater Rune approaches the height of the artificier's craft, and may affect an object with up to three magical properties.
A Masterwork Rune represents the pinnacle of the craft, and may be applied to already potent objects bearing four magical properties.
Part Four: The Limits of Runecraft
There exist inherent limitations on the extent to which mortal practitioners can affect the immaterial. Through cataloging recorded successes and failures of artifice, this author has stumbled into the following rules.
One: No object may be infused with a crafted rune twice. Two: No powerful artefact may be infused with a crafted rune. Three: No active rune may exist on an object to be infused.
There was once, it is rumored, a reclusive artificier that managed to overcome one or more of the above rules. Having visited his minaret - a lonely structure at the edge of the Calim desert - this author reports having found little more than ruins. Local goat herders spin tales of cold killers of metal, the descriptions of which bear an uncanny resemblance to Inevitables.
Unless confirmed, this author believes that reports of such methodologies are apocryphal.
' Inked on the 27th day of Flamerule, Summertide, 135 A.R., by Khifa of Zakhara.
[Cerce] Karen Sootskin: [Talk] <c þ >[Back]</c> Choice Reads {The Seeker}: [Talk] Select the book you want to read.
To add a book to the shelf open the tray and place the book inside. [Cerce] Karen Sootskin: [Talk] Runology (Incomplete) (1) Choice Reads {The Seeker}: [Talk] Runology (Incomplete)
In the northern reaches of the Silver Marches, the hamlet of Vadstena is known to trade with the dwarven thorp of Frostrill. The arctic dwarves, not known for their material attachments, had found a golden bracteate, and came to barter it off to Vadstena's blacksmith, so that he might melt the gold down for his own uses. However, one of Oghma's clergy would be passing through, and suspecting historical significance, waved the ordeal off, and paid for it them self. This is the story of the Vadstena Bracteate, a crucial piece of Jotunske runology.
The arctic dwarves that dwell in the Silver Marches are known to give the frost-giants of that region a wide and violent berth. In whatever way they had come across it, what they had found was a gold medallion, inscribed with an ancient runic alphabet of pro-dethek Jotun. As the foundation for the Dethek runes that would later develop, and an inspiration for many (if not a majority) of Faerunian languages to follow, this artifact has been a source of great speculation and insight.
At its center, the bracteate depicts a four-legged animal with a man's head above it, and in front of this a bird separated from the other images by a line. The iconography here is contested, but largely believed to be the Ysgardian entity known as Odin. This is where several patterns can begin to emerge in the historical account. Odin is understood as a--or the--father of our well known Tyr. Moreover, attestations give Odin the title All-Father. This is a title that both the dwarven god Moradin, and the Jotun god Annam, are also given. Additionally, there are several consistent overlaps in the portfolio's of these personalities, along with strange tales of how they obtained knowledge of the runes (particularly Annam and Odin). What's more, is that some mythological accounts claim Odin is half (or fully) giant himself.
Back to the bracteate, however. Surrounding the iconography at its center, there are organized sequences of proto-dethek Jotunske runes. They are divided into three groups of eight, commonly referred to as an ætt, with a header of some unknown significance (speculated as the possible workings of a name, or the font of some magical property that was once placed upon the bracteate). Those inscription read as follows:
t u w a t u w a
[Beside the line of text is a list of obscure logographic runes]
Followed by the three alphabetical ættir:
f u þ a r k g w
h n i j ï p z s
t b e m l n o d
[Beside each line of text is a list of familiar logographic runes].
Now, the ancient Jotunkse runes are well regarded as symbolic characters used to portray various cosmic forces, and universal truths. In fact, it should be said that's where all runes derive their power from, in touching upon these metaphysical constants. Towards this point, it's worth noting the following excerpts written by Learned Rundigast, Sage of Waterdeep, in his book: Reflections Upon the Secrets of Old Osteria.
"There is still at least one great power the sorcerers of Faerun have yet to tap - a stable, ancient power that neither ebbs nor flows. A power that radiates from all creatures and all things evenly, and has the potential to be harnessed and grasped by all. I speak, of course, of the power of truth. Truth holds the multiverse together. Truth is what makes a tree a tree and a man a man. In its whole, truth is irrevocable, unalterable, and eternal. The learned know that truth is organized into great patterns and orders (ordnings, as the giants know them). Nothing is true without a chain of truths to proceed it. The simple statement, I am a man, isn't true unless the statements, My father was a man, My grandfather was a man, My great grandfather was a man, and so forth ad infinitum are true as well. More complex chains of truth lie beneath all things that are, and all things that might be. Anyone who comprehends the truth on this level is capable of summoning and controlling enormous power. Such temporary insights into the most simple and secret workings of the universe provide direct access to the godhead and its nigh limitless energies. In fact, the giants of Ostoria theorized that god and mortal were divided only by the extent to which they could accept and harness the truth. This is the theory behind the rune magic of the Jotunbrud. The runes are not letters (as often supposed), but diagrams - scale models of the relationships between ancient and undying cosmic forces. By properly etching a rune, the caster demonstrates their understanding of the truth underpinning these forces and their relationships to each other. Like a trained beast recognizing its master, the truths then bow down to the caster, enabling them to temporarily and subtly alter them and all the truths connected to them in series."
Despite what I would perceive as insufficient reverence for the awesome majesty of truth, Rundigast does echo my previous assertions. This postures the Vedstana Bracteate in an exciting place between true logographic Jotunske runes, and the later alphabetical Dethek runes, as one of the earliest indicators of how these runes evolved. This also brings us closer to understanding the language of everything, as variously referred to as Primordial, Supernal, The Elder Language, the Language of Creation, or the Language of Power. This is because, as one of the oldest languages in existence, Jotun is derived from whatever that original language was (often in this context, referred to as Primordial). Thereby, I would posit that Jotun's logographic reliance on cosmic forces and greater truths, supports these speculations to the highest degree. But what are those twenty-four truths, in this case? What are the cosmic forces that the Jotunske runes describe?
The following comes from the collective research of Arelithian scholars. They include: dwarven runesmiths from Brogendenstein, the Aetherium of Guldorand, and the Dark Heart Coven. To begin, we can see that the ættir are divided into three sets. These three categories are likely to be reminiscent of the ordning itself, following archetypal hierarchy, in a kind like many other mystic sources (such as Alchemical Philosophy, the Malatran Trimurti, and the Triad). With respects to Jotun, those three categories are the following:
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