//------------------------------// // A Brief Listing of Runes // Story: Shadowed Through Dawn // by Toraka //------------------------------// While Twilight Sparkle was silently lying on a wooden podium on a field outside of Ponyville, back in the basement of her library, a certain book laid open while the wind spell she had put over the basement to allow a steady flow of air occasionally flipped a page or two... Welcome to A Brief Listing of Runes! On the following pages, you will be introduced to the usage and dangers of casting with runes, followed by a complete list of all known runes. While regular, purely horn-based magic can create miracles already, using runes allows a unicorn to surpass the power of even those spells, even if their own magical power is not exceptional. However, the raw strength these pictograms provide can easily lash back, causing serious damage to the user or their environment. Thus, when runecasting, ALWAYS proof every single one or else bad things will happen. Consult an expert if you find yourself even slightly unsure if you have created your desired configuration. Abandon casting as soon as you begin to feel uncomfortable or unsure. Never cast unsupervised. Now that you have read the safety instructions, we can proceed to instruct you how to use runes. Many ponies think that runecasting is an ancient art performed in reclusion where a single misdrawn line can decide between ruling and ending the world, as if it were some kind of witchcraft. They are correct in that there is greatness held within for any skilled caster to unlock, but there is nothing evil about runecasting per se. Neither is it ritualistic or anything the likes. In fact, runes are used daily, though in weakened form. Whenever a unicorn evokes magic, they use rune configurations 'saved' within their brain for quick casting. When physically drawn, runes can be empowered for greater effect. The effect of runes depends on their interactions with each other which is based on their physical position relative to each other. To make runes interact, you must draw lines between them, or else they will act on their own. This also allows for compact configurations when using spells with many runes. Starswirl the Bearded is said to have once successfully used 255 runes in a single spell. (Editor's note: Princess Celestia's personal student, Twilight Sparkle, recently used 256 runes at once. Asked to comment, she said, "I just wanted to beat Starswirl.") A rune drawn below another will apply its effect to that rune directly. For instance, Light above Void will have Void apply to Light itself and invert it to Shadow. Logically, that means that a rune placed above any number of others will accept the final effect of them into itself, based on the lining. Information as to how to make the spell resolve your way is available further down. A horizontal line will cause the resolved final product of the runes on the right to apply to the ones on the left. It is important to know the difference between horizontal and vertical lines. As an example, putting Void beneath Light will cause it to invert and become Shadow, but on the right, it will do nothing since Void does not have any right-effects on its own. To summarise, vertical lines combine, horizontal lines apply. While you may come to think from that definition that diagonal lines do both based on how they're orientated, they do not. Diagonal lines will act like a horizontal one if they're travelling a farther distance to the side than up and the other way around for vertical, so you should avoid making them altogether. Now, you may ask yourself in what order runes will resolve. Simple. All runes in a horizontal line, starting at the bottom, will resolve before those above them, going from left to right. Then, they will move up one line, and repeat. It is important that you remember this procedure, as strange as it may sound. First, the rune on the left will resolve any combinations coming from the ones below it, THEN the one right of it will do the same and apply its final effect to the first rune. This order can be affected, however. Void can be drawn to move a rune's effect further to the left and thus to higher priority without having to draw diagonal lines, as it will take on the exact effects of any rune drawn beneath it. As another method, groups of runes can be circled in lines to make this group resolve as the very first. Should multiple circles be within one configuration, they will resolve following normal priority. Circles within circles will obviously take effect first during the resolving of the outer circle. Using the method of circling runes, it becomes easy to apply effects to groups of runes or the spell as a whole. For instance, drawing a circle around your entire configuration and then adding three Rules with One, Two, and Three beneath them respectively to the right of it will cause your spell to obey the Three Laws, if necessary. When casting spells which will result in something able to act on its own, you should always circle it and add this cluster. Following is an alphabetical list of all 29 basic runes known to ponykind to this day. Instructions on how to draw every one can be found in the following pages. Air: Elemental rune. Represents air. Change: No effect on its own. Can be applied to many other runes to make them change what they represent, rather than just applying it. Control: Defines who or what controls eventual products. Usually combined with Self to allow the user to fully control their creation, though Target also works to give it autonomy. Earth: Elemental rune, represents earth as a substance or the world itself. East: One of the four directional runes. Adds direction where necessary, for instance, it can be used together with Teleportation, which is created by Place above Change, to make you go eastward. Combining this with other directional runes will create the average of them all together as a result. Equine: Commonly combined to Focus to make the spell affect ponies. Fate: Takes control away and instead makes what is meant to be happen. Not fully researched yet. Be careful with it. Fire: Elemental rune, represents fire itself, but also inspiration. Can be combined with Earth to create Metal. Good: When inserted into spells that create autonomous beings, causes it to have a pure mind. Harmony: Recently discovered by T.S.. Greatly amplifies the power of certain runes or the whole spell, however, it will only take effect if the spell has balanced benefits and drawbacks. Knowledge: Allows implanting knowledge directly into memory or erasing it when combined with Void. Life: Brings your result to life. Often applied directly to Focus, as that'll ensure its effect hits the whole spell. High energy cost. Light: It's light, what did you expect? Loss: Weakens rune above it. If combined with Power, it will instead cause a loss of whatever it is applied to. No own effect. NEVER apply to Life. Focus: The most basic rune. Every spell has this as a centerpiece to allow you to bind the world's energy. It also defines the orientation of all runes included in this spell for directional purposes, which means that lines going into the direction of its arrow will always act as 'up'. It can also be included as a normal component, granting increased rune effect in exchange for smaller range. Mind: Allows the creation of spells that affect the mind of targets or the user. Numbers: Zero, One, Two, Three, and so forth. To create Ten or above, draw them from top to bottom. Example: One above Three will create Thirteen. North: One of the four directional runes. Place: Represents current location. Power: Strengthens the rune it is combined with. Can also be applied to Focus by drawing it to the right of it, granting more power to every rune in the configuration. Random: Randomises effect of rune above it. Rule: Accesses predefined rules. The most common ones are: One: Must never harm or allow harm to come to an equine being. Two: Must always follow direct orders given by equine being, except if such an order would break the first rule. Three: Must always protect own existence, except if an action required to do so would conflict with the first or second rule. Thirty-four: No exceptions. Sixty-Three: Causes result to be attracted to its own gender. A full list of all 100 rules is available in the addendum. Self: Causes effects to apply directly to the spellcaster. South: One of the four directional runes. Target: When applied to other runes, causes those to affect the result. May also be combined with Focus to make the spell fire with aim instead of applying to predefined target. Travel: Adds a basic one mile distance to a spell. Can be weakened with Loss or strengthened with Power to halven or double the distance. Most commonly used sufficiently weakened down with Teleportation. Void: No effect. Can take on the effect of any runes that are combined with or applied to it or combine with other runes to invert them. Water: Elemental rune. Represents water. West: One of the four directional runes.