Runes

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Runes for the four elements, drawn in a notebook with breaks in the traingles to prevent them from activating.<ref name=":6"/><ref name=":13" />

Runes are sigils that are used for magic, calling upon the spirits to perform certain actions. Generally used by Shamans and Dabblers,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" /> but specific runes are useful to almost every kind of Practitioner.<ref>“I taught you the basic runes and ways of interacting with spirits using diagrams because they’re very good to know as fundamentals,” Edith said.  “You can tap into forces like wind, fire, earth, but spirits can represent anything and everything in this world.  A single twig has spirits of wood, of the color brown, of life, pine, and nature touching on it and affecting it.  A heartless practitioner can benefit from knowing how to interact with spirits of life or death, how to recognize them.  A binder might pay closer attention to spirits related to certain emotions.”
“Like knowing your math or spelling.  There are very few jobs where you won’t benefit from being able to write a coherent email or add up your paycheque,” Matthew spoke, staring into the fire with eyes that were cast in shadow the firelight didn’t touch.  “There are very few practices which can’t benefit from something like ‘I need a little bit more of this’ or ‘I need this out of the way while I work’, when ‘this’ could be anything from heat to hate to a bit more Self.”
- excerpt from Lost for Words 1.3 </ref>

Usage

The basic theory is that one uses a rune to communicate your desire to the smallest, ambient spirits, and they perform the specified task.<ref name=":1" /> The rune serves as a kind of tiny hallow, a place for the minor spirits to inhabit and congregate.<ref name=":6" /> A rune can be used on it's own, in combination with other runes, or as part of a complex magical diagram,<ref name=":8">Inventories</ref> as long as the symbolism communicates your wishes to the spirits in accordance with tradition.

Runes can also be used in the production of vessels,<ref name=":5">Dolls, lifesize models, and a variety of mannequins, staggered through the streets.  Some had faces, others were blank.  Many were undressed.  Ten or so were gathered around Fell’s car en-masse, hugging it, standing on it, or steadily bashing it with hard plastic hands.
Each one had a rune inscribed on their forehead.
[...]
“The good news is they have a weak point,” Fell said.
“Glowing runes?” I asked.
“Yes.  Even a scratch or a smudge will disable them.  The bad news is that it isn’t sensible to go after them individually.  The very bad news is that the Sisters are elementalists.  They specialize in natural forces.  Not every rune there

is the same.  Pay careful attention.”

[...]
Sure enough, though, the runes differed here

and there.  Each was outlined in the same way; they were drawn inside a
circle with rays extending outward.  What was in the middle fell into 

four or five different sub-groups.
“The one in the red dress, that looks like it walked out of a display case?  The rune in the center of its face is a

variant of the fire rune.  I would not be surprised 

if it happened to violently blow up if you got too close to it.  There are a lot of them around the car.  There are others with breeze runes… they move a little faster in general.”
[...]
“Does it have something to do with that sun shape the runes are drawn inside?”

“Ah.  Yes.  Reaching out,” Fell said.  “You make something warm and you drive it to seek out other warm things.  In this spirit world, there aren’t many things that are truly warm.  It’s only a reflection of the physical world.”

“Breeze runes,” I said.  “Could that also mean breath?”

Fell glanced at me.

Silently, we turned to look at the mannequin-vessels.

Only a handful were moving with any meaningful velocity.  Slowly and steadily.  The detonation runes.
[...]
Air-imbued vessels to pursue us by a half-step for every breath we took, two or three steps for every word we spoke.

Fire imbued vessels to steadily seek out our warmth.  Slow, inexorable, and Fell suspected they would blow up if they got too close.

Earth-imbued vessels to track us by our footsteps.

There were two other kinds.

The ritual had used a representation for water.

I could make them out, now.  They were limp, arms dangling at their sides.  When the wind blew harder, they shifted slightly, willows bending in the breeze.

It was ominous.  As a general rule, the ones that more often didn’t move so far.

When those ones moved, how far would they go?
[...]
And with the act of magic, the water vessels woke, closing the distance to us in heartbeats.

- excerpt from Subordination 6.7 </ref> ofuda,<ref>“I can help,” Ty said.  He held up the stack of papers.  “Did these a bit ago.”
“Those are?”
“Command words.  Ofuda.  A Japanese style of practitioning. 

I didn’t really know what I was doing, so I went down the list and 

copied out words.  Figured it’d be better to get a virtually guaranteed one or two out of the deck right than risk getting none or all.”
“Don’t suppose you have any paper?”  Alexis asked.  “I wouldn’t mind something to write on.”
Ty reached into a pocket and handed some over.  “Go for it.  Runes work, but you really need to frame it, so the paper is the diagram and contact with anything but the ends or the edges releases the word.  Runes will just go off right away, indiscriminate.”
- excerpt from Duress 12.2 </ref> or hallows,<ref name=":6" /><ref>Vessels or hallows can be formed by setting aside a shrine, totem, item, or person, and washing them with clean rainwater, transferring the water with clean hands or a ladle designated for the purpose.  Glyphs, motifs, or tortoise-related decoration may help discourage other spirits and draw the Tortoise close. - Beastiary: Tortoise Spirits</ref> and in linking items for sympathetic magic.<ref>Malfeasance 11.2</ref>

A rune might be "powered" by drawing it in blood,<ref name=":2" /> charging it with some other source of power,<ref name=":16">“We could teach you a rune or two,” Nick said.

“No power to supply to said rune,” I answered.
[...]
Something like the sphinx could theoretically learn some magic to a degree.  Like, shamanism, the source might differ, but she could learn the runes, still appeal to the spirits, and make an offering, hoping to achieve a small effect.

- excerpt from Subordination 6.1 </ref><ref name=":9">Avery jumped, wind stirring and kicking up cobwebs and dust all around her feet.  She cleared a good six feet, flailed her arms around momentarily, and then landed in a crouch.

“Ow,” Avery said.  “Okay.  The air rune doesn’t soften landings much.”

“That’s cool though,” Lucy said.  “You’re not going to break your face open or snap your leg when you accidentally launch yourself?”

“I hope not!”

“Air spirits are playful and capricious,” Edith said.

“They change temperaments easily.  Giving them power helpsmollify them, but be careful.”

“Alright.  This is cool though.”

“Super cool,” Verona said.

“Even with the ability to draw on the assembly of Kennet Others for power, you’ll want to be careful with how often you use that.”

“Save it for things that matter?” Lucy asked.

“It might be better to use it for things that don’t matter," Edith said.  “They’re not above pranks, and you don’t wantto fall awkwardly at a key moment.”- excerpt from Lost for Words 1.8 </ref><ref name=":18" /> or making it from an offering of food. It will also draw on one's reputation with the local spirits; if a rune is overused, the relationship could worsen to the point where the relevant spirits direct their focus against you,<ref name=":1" /> although the offering of power reduces this risk.<ref name=":9" /> Breaking the connection between a rune and the person powering it could break the rune's effect.<ref name=":3" />

Some shamans would make a habit of making a larger offering later after using a rune, establishing a pattern of rewarding the spirits for cooperation.<ref name=":1" />

Employing runes is generally limited to awakened Practitioners,<ref>I wasn’t a practitioner anymore.  I knew stuff, but there would be no drawing runes on the ground and commanding spirits.  It didn’t help that

the spirits didn’t follow the same rules here. - excerpt from Mala Fide 10.1</ref><ref>“What happens if she kept some of my magic notes and she’s copying them?”

“It shouldn’t work,” Matthew said.  “Not without a power source, or the emphasis and attention on her words and actions that comes with being Awakened.  Even if she had the notes.”

“It could,” Edith said.

Matthew raised his eyebrows.

“It would need a few things.  If her word wasn’t trusted, it would slow her down a great deal.  But if she knew enough to be careful about that…?”

Edith trailed off, leaving it almost as a question for Verona.

“I didn’t write down any of that, pretty sure,” Verona said.  “Nothing about awakening, or words, really.”

Edith continued, “…then it could be accidental.  She’d have to be isolated or otherwise be unusually principled about when, where, how and how honestly she chooses to speak.  She’d have to be unusually dogged about copying and setting down patterns.”

“So, like, cooped up in her room, not talking to her parents, drawing the same runes over and over again?  I could sort of see that second part.  Not the not talking to her parents bit, probably.”

“It’s unlikely,” Matthew said.  “That’s a lot of effort repeating something that isn’t working on the first, fifth, tenth, or fiftieth try.”

“Yeah,” Verona said.  “Hard to imagine.  She’d need something that let her think she had a shot.”

Matthew sighed.  “A bit of a relief, then.  Besides, most would become Other, instead of Awakening in a raw way.  With no clear power sources on hand, she would be draining from herself.  Depending on the practice she’s trying, and how well, she could spend too much of herself and invite the wrong thing in.” - excerpt from Back Away 5.2 </ref> but Others can in theory build up the necessary rapport with Spirits to use them.<ref name=":16" /> Eva the Witch Hunter claimed to be able to use them, but this may have been a lie.<ref name=":17">“Telling the enemy how to defuse your bomb?”
“Not quite.  I saw Andy build it, or I was in the same room watching TV while he built it, same thing, but I couldn’t defuse it if you gave me twenty tries.  I’m just saying.  Last I saw, other two were cornered, afraid to even get close.  Rune of exile on the thing to keep it from being tampered with by other spirits, keep the boom muted.  She’s shaking, trying not to shake too much, or she’ll go out with a bang.  You can’t feel fear, or you don’t feel it the same way.  How do you feel, hearing that?”
[...]
She can lie, I told myself.  The self-assurance wasn’t very effective.
[...]
“There’s no bomb on any of them.  See how they’re doing.  We have only a few minutes to prepare for sundown.” - excerpt from Malfeasance 11.11</ref>

Alternatives

Technically any symbiology can be used to to direct and communicate with the spirits, such as hand signs and painting.<ref>Her hands moved at her sides. Fingers crossing. Moving through sequences of gestures. It wasn’t a common way to practice, but it was a convenient one. Any symbol worked for communicating to the spirits, if established through sufficient pattern. Even hand motions. - excerpt from Let Slip 20.d</ref>

Known Runes

Air/Wind

a triangle with a line through it and a line beneath it - excerpt from Lost for Words 1.3

Calls upon spirits of the element of air. One of the four classic elemental runes.<ref name=":6">[1.4 Spoilers Notes on the Practices #1]</ref> Air spirits are playful and capricious, making this rune somewhat unreliable to use in important situations.<ref name=":9" />

Drawn on things, it imparts some of the lightness of air:<ref name=":10">“What about water?  Is it useful?”
“Not all runes are created equal.”
“But if air makes stuff lighter and earth makes it heavier, fire makes it hotter…  Water does what?  Can it make it more fluid?  Flexible?”
- excerpt from Lost for Words 1.8 </ref>

• Drawn on a person or their clothing, makes them lighter and more agile, accompanied by wind surrounding them.<ref name=":3">I wasn’t interested in a direct confrontation.  I took a moment,

touching my sliced right arm, raised my shirt, and drew a symbol on my chest.
I hoped I had it right.
I got a running start, one hand on the wall for balance, and I jumped.
Tired as I was, the jump still gave me enough air that I could clear the row of jagged glass points at the bottom of the frame.
I didn’t touch the glass, but I didn’t land on the row of parked cars beneath the window, either.
The wind rune I’d inscribed on my chest was one part of it.
The other rune Duncan had drawn on the windowframe, hidden, was the other.
The same kind of rune, apparently, that connected one part of the stairwell to the other.
The sun flashed in my eyes, and I was back in the stairwell, ten feet above the ground.
Ten feet above stairs, rather.
My landing was a rough one.  I was lighter, but not so much that I made it past the entire flight of stairs.
[...]
With my bloody hand, I reached over to the window, planted my hand down on the second rune, smeared until I broke the connection, and vaulted over.
This time I made it through.
- excerpt from Conviction 5.3 </ref><ref>He lunged, taser in hand, and I threw myself back.  Weak as I was, I moved a little too far, a little too fast, and I hit the wall hard enough that it hurt, cracking my head on it.
My hair was waving like I was in the midst of a strong breeze.
The wind rune.
[...]
My exit was followed by an spray of glass, bloodstained feathers, and

dust.  The wind rune’s wake, perhaps, or the change in pressure that 

came with the breaking of the effect in the stairwell, releasing the pent up energy and whatever else.
I hit the ground.  I was lighter, buoyed by the wind, but it still wasn’t the most graceful landing.
- Excerpt from Conviction 5.3 </ref><ref name=":9" /> However, if backlash from the spirits is provoked they can make it hard to breathe.<ref name=":11">“I don’t know if you’re in good enough shape to do this,” she said.  “Prove you are.  Get out of the car, without Fell’s help, without Evan’s, and get the gas can out of the boot.  Walk to the treeline, so we can start on our evergreen protection circle.”
[...]
“Shh,” I told Evan.  I popped the locket open and drew a ‘wind’ rune on the gas can, then rubbed my finger against the lid to get more of the dark grit that had accumulated, and did the same for the roadside kit.

“Shh?” he asked.

“I’m cheating a bit,” I admitted.  “Don’t tell.”
[...]
“Yeah?” I asked.  The word was curt, cut short because I didn’t have a lot of breath to spare.

Reduced lung capacity?  I thought of the ‘wind’ rune I’d drawn on my chest.  Fuck. - Excerpt from Conviction 5.5</ref>

• Applied to a firearm, it makes the weapon a little lighter and a little more powerful. It's the only elemental rune that won't risk disrupting the firing mechanism.<ref>He showed me the shotgun. The butt-end of the weapon had a symbol inscribed in the wood, so it sprawled all over the wooden surface, curving around to the other side. I turned to look, but my view was obscured as he pushed it closer to me. Against my chest, into my hands.
  [...]
  He nodded, letting go.
  
  “That symbol is one for wind.” - Excerpt from Collateral 4.10</ref><ref>I could have raised the shotgun, to get a better shot, but I kept it where it was, firing again through the hedge.  Further away, less direct.  But there was the wind rune, and that counted for something.  A little more oomph. - Excerpt from Collateral 4.11</ref>
• Drawn on an object, it can make it lighter and easier to carry.<ref name=":11" /> However, if drawn on a light object such a piece of paper it may blow away.<ref name=":13" />

Avery constructed an improved version of the air-based agility rune; a complex diagram employing runes for air, earth, and the symbol for mercury.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":12">The third girl was quicker, moving from a point behind the other two, catching up, and skipping easily over the four-foot high fence of thick plastic netting, finer nets, and the barbed wire that Tattoos was stringing up.  A long cape fluttered behind her before she landed in a crouch, a hockey stick resting against her shoulder.  She hurried forward to the woman who was sobbing.  Her face was a deer’s, with antlers.

Children came after the hockey stick.  She stuck the end of it out, catching one in the shoulder, and it looked like the child had been hit by a car.  The kid went flying, and the stick cracked a bit lengthwise. - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.z</ref>

Can also be used in diagrams to manipulate the breeze:

• A blocking diagram can protect from wind.<ref name=":13">Lost for Words 1.3</ref>
• A diagram can direct the wind to blow an item back to you, like a boomerang.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":6" />
• A diagram involving wind and fire runes can generate smoke.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":14">The one with the fox’s face was literally smoking, the smoke flowing

down her body and cloaking most of it, forming a whorl at her feet.  When traces of the smoke graced her orange-furred face, the glowing of her red eyes extended to the smoke.  Her hair did something similar, fox’s fur becoming long, tight curls with a faint red tint, the ends of the hair impossible to distinguish from the rising smoke. - excerpt from Lost for Words 1.z</ref> Used in constructing the Sisters of the Torch's mannequin vessels, this rune produced ones which moved faster than the others, and pursued sound and breathing.<ref name=":5" />

Aim

Improves the aim of a gun. Inscribed on a rifle given to Rose Jr by the Knights of the Basement.<ref>Rose’s rifle swung around.  She slapped it against her left hand.  At the butt end, her right thumb ran along the inscribed rune.  The tip of the gun jerked, the aim correcting.  Centered on Ms. Lewis’s heart.  Rose’s eye looked down the sights. - Excerpt from Possession 15.6</ref><ref>Rose fired.

Mara moved in the same moment, away from the bullet, simultaneously turning to glance at me.  To see a small cloth doll with a weird leathery face being dashed to pieces.

The bullet didn’t strike home, but I was pretty sure that she’d been grazed.  Clipped in an ear.  One hand went to the side of her head.

“I thought you said this gun made me accurate.”

“Benefits you,” the man I’d nicknamed ‘Shotgun’ spoke, holding his trademark weapon.  “Can’t help you if the target can dodge bullets.” - Excerpt from Sine Die 14.6</ref>

Alarm

Warns the user when someone approaches the rune. Employed by Duncan Behaim<ref>As I set foot on the landing, I saw golden diagrams spiral out from scribbles on the wall.  I’d mistaken them for gang tags, but they were runes.

One connection fixated on me, all the more noticeable because my connections to everything else were so thin.

An alarm.  Duncan Behaim was on his way to intercept me. - Excerpt from Conviction 5.3</ref><ref>“Alarm rune,” Maggie murmured in my ear.

Perfect.

I stepped across it, and I felt the connection pop into being.

He knew, now.

There were a variety of clocks on the wall in the bent hallway that extended between the garage door and the front door.

I saw a picture of the woman with Duncan Behaim.

“Are you married?” I asked.

“He’s my fiancé.”

The fiancé was on his way. - Excerpt from Void 7.5</ref> and the Thorburn Cabal.<ref>We can’t raise enough protections to block everything out, so we’ve resorted to novice-level alarm runes, sleeping in shifts, and being very worried. - Excerpt from Malfeasance 11.2</ref>

Degrees of Emphasis

Exact meaning unclear. Similar to but different from the Cosmic and Simple runes.<ref name=":19" /> Based on the alchemical concept of the stages of the Magnum Opus.

• Black/Empty - a filled-in black circle. The first, putrefaction/decay stage in alchemy.
• White/Blank - an empty circle. The second, purification stage in alchemy.
• Red/Rubedo - an empty triangle, not underlined (to distinguish it from the Fire rune.) The final "philosopher's stone" stage in alchemy.

Cosmic

A star of David drawn around another rune. Indicates the other rune is being used in it's "high-end" meaning, such as a planetary symbol referencing the literal planet in the sky and not the symbolic traits of the planet. Opposite of the Simple rune. Possibly used in the Seal of Solomon.<ref name=":19" />

Dark

A partially blacked-out circle, resembling a quarter-moon. Applied to clothing, causes them to be wrapped in shadows.<ref name=":8" /><ref>The cat-faced girl had shadow clinging close to her cloak, to the point it was hard to make her out in the dark, not helped by the dark fur of her face.  Her eyes flashed violet as she looked over everyone and everything. - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.z</ref>

Death

the gateway, like a keyhole without a floor, for Death. - excerpt from One After Another 10.3

One of the Pillars of Human Existence. Can be used to Ward against Ghouls, although it would also be unpleasant for weaker Others with some tie to Death, such as minor Goblins.<ref name="10.3e1">Each of the five major forces had a rune that could be put down or made out of lashed-together sticks.  They’d handled some of that when rebuilding the wards after the skeptic Sharon had torn everything down.  The arrow for War, the forking branch for Nature, the hourglass arrangement of two triangles with points touching for Time, the angular C-shape for Fate, and the gateway, like a keyhole without a floor, for Death.

There was another, and it sometimes replaced nature, sometimes overlapped with Fate, for Fortune, but that was a newer thing. - excerpt from One After Another 10.3</ref>

Duelist

It was like a letter E mixed with a zodiac sign, with a few circles drawn here and there.  Each line was florid, extending out in curves and curls. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.3

A Faerie Magic rune rather than a Shamanism one. Used in a little ritual that creates a "duelist's arena" to trap a target and keep out Innocents; requires that you use one hand to hold a glamour blade used to maintain the arena, and name a challenge/bet while casting it that the target would accept.<ref>Leaving a Mark 4.3</ref>

Durability

A rune that enhances durability, familiar to Blake Thorburn. Used on a window by Duncan Behaim to make it more durable.<ref name=":0">A connection. Between him and the window?

Of course. It was an obvious way out. I hopped up to search the surface.

There. On the surface of the window, a rune. I recognized it as one that enhanced durability.

This was the Behaim style, apparently. Big chronomancy, using the family and the circle, bits of shamanism, enchantment and other tools here and there. Binding, augmenting, distracting…

I scratched at it. Permanent marker.

Nothing in the stairwell to scratch at it, my pockets had been cleaned out. - Excerpt from Conviction 5.3</ref>

Earth

An downward-facing equilateral triangle with a line through it, underlined.<ref name=":6">[1.4 Spoilers Notes on the Practices #1]</ref>

Calls upon spirits of the element of earth. One of the four classic elemental runes.<ref name=":6">[1.4 Spoilers Notes on the Practices #1]</ref> Makes things heavier when applied.<ref name=":10" />

Used as one part of the diagram which made Avery's hockey stick hit with incredible force, along with the Imperative sign for "male" or "mars".<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":8" />

When used in constructing the Sisters of the Torch's mannequin vessels, produced ones which pursued footsteps.<ref name=":5" />

Electricity

A rune that electrifies whatever touches it.<ref>The gremlin let go of the fence.  It raised one hand.  I saw what it held.

“…and this will all be settled.”

A sticky note with a rune on it.

The goblin managed to activate it.

This time there was an arc of electricity. Ainsley shrieked and Laird wobbled before dropping like a rock.  The gremlin dropped from the fence like a stone. - Excerpt from Subordination 6.12</ref>

Exile

Allegedly employed by Witch Hunters to protect an item from spirits. Given they were lying, it's unclear whether this is real.<ref name=":17" />

Expansion

circle ... with a ‘comet tail’, like they were shooting outward from the diagram... for physical space, expanding. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.6

Drawn around Sun, Moon, and Star runes, this forms part of of the diagram to create an Alcazar.<ref name=":20">“Standard Alcazar?  Regimented square?” [...] The serrated square border was the center of a diagram that got compass points marked out around it; long thin triangles with lines down the center sticking out of each side, smaller, filled-in triangles sticking out of the corners. Then notation, a circle to enclose it, a sun, moon, and star circle each with a ‘comet tail’, like they were shooting outward from the diagram, as celestial expressions for physical space, expanding.

After that, it was ten more minutes of adding small details. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.6</ref> A reversed version of this sign produces a very simple diagram which will create a portal back out of the Alcazar.<ref>erona had sketched out the very simple diagrams while Lucy had gone to find Zed.  She handed them out.  Three ‘net’ sheets, and one ‘escape’ sheet.  All sheets were on pieces of paper that had been folded into quarters.. [S..] he partially unfolded the escape paper.  A reversal of the expansion sign.  She waited until Avery had dealt with the gathering negative forces, then finished unfolding to make the door. The door widened until it passed over them, then shrunk again.  It fluttered to the floor once more. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.6</ref> Presumably used in other Realms Practices.

Fate

the angular C-shape for Fate - excerpt from One After Another 10.3

One of the Pillars of Human Existence.<ref name="10.3e1" />

Fire

An upward-facing equilateral triangle, underlined.<ref name=":6">[1.4 Spoilers Notes on the Practices #1]</ref>

Calls upon spirits of the element of fire. One of the four classic elemental runes.<ref name=":6">[1.4 Spoilers Notes on the Practices #1]</ref> Can be used in diagrams to create or manipulate heat.<ref>Putting one foot flat against the wall, her knee pointing out, she laid the post-its across her leg, and penned out a quick, simple diagram, one that was badly imbalanced, a triangle atop a circle, atop a triangle, each triangle pointing the same way. Within the circle, she penned the simple ‘fire’ rune, underlining it.

“He was here recently, I hope,” Lucy said. "Looks like he was cooking.”

It might’ve been that there wasn’t enough heat.  She tried pressing her thumb to the bottom end of the diagram.  Pull in heat, feed it to the rune that defined the function, then push it out. She could feel the rune at her fingertip, uncomfortably numbing and kind of painful.  The end of the slip of post-it turned orange, smoking.

“What are you even doing?”

“Trying to create a light source,” Verona said. The end of the paper ignited in flame, spitting out the occasional spark. It wasn’t as much light as she’d hoped. The fire extended to the diagram, and traced out glowing orange lines as it burned through, the entire thing coming to pieces, with fire rushing to the fingers that held the paper. She tossed it up into the air rather than at the ground. It was ashes before it reached the floor. “Didn’t work.” - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.5</ref>

A diagram involving wind and fire runes can generate smoke.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":14" />

When used in constructing the Sisters of the Torch's mannequin vessels, produced ones which pursued body heat, and exploded when they got close enough.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":7">The snow made it hard to tell which ones had which rune.  The metal-runes had barely moved from their meandering circuit through the area, and the others were largely engaged with Midge.

Two, I saw, were twisting and shriveling like ants underneath the microscope.  Fire runes.
[...]
The explosion shattered a series of windows on the ground floor, and cracked a few on the second floor.

The explosion went off a few feet from Midge, too.  She stumbled, but didn’t lose her footing.

Midge was in the process of going after the ‘metal’ vessels.  They didn’t fight back as she tore them to pieces.

When they started to go down, the struggling remains of the other vessels ceased. The metal ones had been, what, transmitting a signal?  Providing structure? Maybe a factor in why they had all arrived around the same time.  The ‘metal’ vessels were the generals.  Vulnerable on their own. - Excerpt from Subordination 6.8</ref>

Imperative

A collection of runes used to indicate when a diagram should take effect. Drain power as long as they're part of a diagram. Based on the symbols for the planets; can be combined with the Cosmic rune to indicate the literal planet.<ref name=":19">2.3 Bonus Content: Spell Notes #2</ref>

Planet	Rune	Effect
Mercury	☿	Triggers when moving.[citation needed]
Venus	♀	Triggers when struck/acted upon, a response to stimulas.<ref>The diamond sign was one for ‘quality’, and Lucy had drawn that in the glamoured Verona.  Within she’d done the Venus sign.  It was a symbol that, tied to a diagram, reacted in response to a stimulus.  Lucy wasn’t entirely on board with that for the ‘female’ sign, but it worked and in this context, it served her ends.  Fake Verona marked with the ‘quality of’ and ‘receptive’. - Excerpt from Shaking Hands 9.12</ref>
Mars	♂	Triggers when used to strike something.[citation needed]
Jupiter	♃	Triggered by a specific declaration. Requires notation to specify the declaration.[citation needed]
Saturn	♄	Trigger after a set time. Requires notation to indicate the time.[citation needed]
Uranus	♅	Triggers when someone/something enters the orbit/proximity.[citation needed]
Neptune	♆	Possibly triggers when "meeting land/sea/sky".[citation needed]
Pluto	⯓	Trigger when the diagram is broken/destroyed.[citation needed]

Note: Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are recently-discovered planets (and in Pluto's case, no longer classed as one), and IRL there's debate over which symbols are used for them in astrology, so it's unclear why any symbols for them should qualify as runes.

Privacy

Almost half of a typical ‘sun’, as a child might draw it, with the rays fanning outward, and a dot in the middle. - Excerpt from Bonds 1.5

A rune that wards off people. Employed by Laird, drawing on his reputation with spirits of the Jacob's Bell community.<ref name=":1">He’d grabbed three little paper packets of sugar, and tore two open. I watched as he tore them open, then emptied them. They missed his drink entirely, forming a little dune onto the table, with grains dancing across the slick, not-quite washed surface.

He moved his cup, placing it onto the pile, and sliding it across the table. When he lifted it, the sugar was left in a crescent shape where it had been dragged by the underside of the cup. He emptied the remaining packet, a smaller pile in the center of the crescent, and then three lines, fanning outward, on the other side. The edge of the paper packet helped give the three lines form.

Almost half of a typical ‘sun’, as a child might draw it, with the rays fanning outward, and a dot in the middle.
[...]
“That should provide a bit of privacy,” Laird said.  He sipped his coffee.  “We tend to learn a few tricks, because it’s expedient.  This one is a bit of shamanism. Many of the circles here and there will look down on someone for dabbling. [...] I make a meager food offering, create a sign to indicate what I want, and draw from the reputation I maintain with local community spirits.  A bonus of my position.  The spirits play along, because they know it keeps people safer and helps to keep the community safe, and because they know I’ll make a better offering later, a habit I’ve established. The end result?  They turn people away before they sit nearby, and we can talk without fear of eavesdroppers.”

“And these benign spirits can turn on you.”

“Always a concern, with any Other.  If something goes wrong, if I allow too many people to go out into the cold instead of sitting here and someone gets hurt, or if the business starts to suffer here due to a lack of customers, my credit with these same spirits might become strained, and they might take issue.  At the very least, I’d get less free coffees.  At worst, I might find events conspiring to take my position from me, or I might even get drawn and quartered in the streets.” - Excerpt from Bonds 1.5</ref> This rune, or something like it, was also used to prevent prying during meetings of the Behaim Circle.<ref>A meeting at Laird’s house, it seemed.  I could see the spirits moving.  A rune was being used to ward off curious civilians, which meant I had to look otherwise occupied.
[...]
As dessert wrapped up, I saw the spirits shift. The rune that had been drawn to keep neighbors from coming in had changed somewhat. Adam’s wife approached him, their two kids following her.  “Can you take the kids out for a movie?  It’s going to be a big group thing.” One of the men in the group gave me a telling look.  This was it. The non-members were getting driven out, both overtly and subtly.
[...]
The small handful of people who were leaving were, with the help of the rune gently urging people to leave, starting to clear the house. - excerpt from Breach 3.3</ref>

Light

A circle with a dot inside it.<ref name=":8" /> (In reality, this is the alchemical symbol for the sun.)

Applied in a diagram to the eyes of a mask, can create a spooky glowing eyes effect.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":14" />

Metal

When used in constructing the Sisters of the Torch's mannequin vessels, produced ones which acted as a necessary support for the other four elements; the hordes of other types could only operate with them nearby.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":7" />

Taught to Maggie Holt by Padraic, and used in constructing an enchanted cardboard box to temporarily bind Buttsack in.<ref name=":15">“Does that have anything to do with the box of unpacked stuff you have up in your room, that’s been grunting and moving around?”
[...]
A kick sent her skidding over to the cardboard box.

Buttsack glared at her as she opened the flaps, a post-it note stuck to his face, a rune on the front.  The inside of the box had runes for metal on it.

The silence rune on the post-it was from her binder, the metal ones were from Padraic. - Excerpt from Signature 8.2</ref>

Movement

A spiral, drawn from the outside in, then a triangle, with one point at the center, all as one motion. - excerpt from Bonds 1.7

A rune that moves objects. Featured in Essentials.<ref name=":4">I walked over to the desk to put the book down, stepping over the dagger.  I flipped through it.  One page with an image dominating half of it.  A symbol was outlined, with arrows suggesting directions for drawing it.  A spiral, drawn from the outside in, then a triangle, with one point at the center, all as one motion.
“First workings?”
I heard her flipping through pages as well.  “Yeah.”
“Shamanism, movement,” I said.
[...]
I gestured, a flick of my hand, and they reacted.  The cup jerked about two inches and crashed to the floor. - excerpt from Bonds 1.7 </ref>

Nettlewisp

A Faerie Magic rune rather than a Shamanism one. By drawing the rune in glamour and saying a short incantation to describe the intended curse, one can lay a trap that blinds the person triggering it with glamour. Once primed, the glamour forms a flower waiting to go off.<ref>While they discussed, Lucy worked with the dust in her hand.  She ended up pulling out her wallet, pulling out her bank card, that she’d been given to open a beginner savings account, and then used the card to flatten out the surface.  She used the corner of the card to draw curves and lines.

Verona saw and took over.

“Nettlewisp, nettlewisp, nettlewisp,” Lucy whispered.  She looked at Miss, who wasn’t complaining or stopping her.  “I’ve tried being nice, I’ve tried being fair.  I’ve tried being even and I’ve tried being clear.  If that spying practitioner from outside Kennet keeps giving us the evil eye, staring at us with…”

“Ill intent,” Verona supplied.

“Ill intent and promised omens, repay them three times over in stings and pain.  And if it’s Just, if the karmic way is clear, and if the glamour heaped in my hand is enough?  Nail their friggin’ eyelids to their skull.”

The glamour twisted and shifted, gathering in her palm.  It condensed into a shape like a small flower, surrounded by twists of bristling leaves.  It looked like it was made partially of glass. - Excerpt from Stolen Away 2.8</ref> If not enough glamour is used, it can pull glamour from nearby sources.<ref>“Nettlewisp, nettlewisp, nettlewisp,” Lucy murmured, tracing the rune into place.  “Should we be away and others pry, could you put something sharp in their eye?  A little prick for the good-intentioned snoops, a gouging for menacing nincompoops.”

Verona jumped in, “Stain their skin and stain their hand, if they trespass, do as we command.”

Avery struggled to think of something to add, but she had to complete the set of three.  “And fill the air with a choking mist.  Cover the details until you’re dismissed.”

A trail of glamour from the stash Lucy had pulled from to make the charm extended out, feeding the diagram they’d just grown.

Seemed like Lucy had been too conservative, so the charm took more glamour.

Avery rubbed her arms, aware that in another situation, that could mean it’d take the glamour off her skin.  Right.

Lucy withdrew her hand with care from the rune etched in dust.  Then she moved the sheet, gently moving it so it was over the charm without touching it. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.2 </ref> If it isn't triggered, the glamour can be collected and re-used.<ref>Carefully, she moved a shirt aside.  There was a notebook lying flat, glamour arranged atop it, with a rune carved into it.

One of the big issues of attending the school here was that they had to ration out their glamour.  But this?  This had been essential.  She traced her finger along the rune, working backward, and undrew it.  Then she carefully lifted the book out.

Avery already had a resealable plastic bag held out.  Verona checked the coloration and everything matched, then tilted the glamour back in.

A little nettlewisp charm, to protect their stuff. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.9</ref>

Given to the Kennet Trio by Maricica on a gilded wedding invitation.<ref>“Here.  Lucy, a trick for defense and counterattack.”

She handed Lucy a slip of gilded paper.

“A wedding invitation, blown away by the wind, never touched by ground or water before I caught it.  I removed the writing and added my own.”

“Nettlewisp,” Lucy said.

“A trick.  A pinch of glamour, hold it in your palm and draw the rune in it.  Whisper your anticipation of the enemy’s attack or ploy.  If you’re right, you can temporarily blind them and confound their senses.” - Excerpt from Stolen Away 2.2</ref>

Referential

A class of runes used to indicate the purpose of parts of a diagram. Based on the symbols for zodiac signs/constellations.<ref name=":19" />

Constellation	Rune	Meaning
Aries	♈︎	Emphasize elements[citation needed]
Taurus	♉︎	Indicate a price/sacrifice[citation needed]
Cancer	♋︎	Used in Nicolette's sympathetic scrying diagram, precise meaning unclear.<ref>She used a compass with one pointed end and a chalk end to draw her circle, reinforcing it, quickly measured the distance from center to edge, then worked out the calculation to draw out a star using a meterstick.  Eight points, with a half-circle at each point.  A sign for Cancer in each half circle, quickly penned out.  She put down a template, like a rectangular cookie cutter, found it broken from when the box had fallen, and used the case for her reference cards as a template instead. - excerpt from Stolen Away 2.z</ref>
Pisces	♓︎	Connect to linked diagrams[citation needed]
Libra	♎︎	Balance[citation needed]
Aquarius	♒︎	Used to indicate that a diagram is not a part of nearby diagrams/ trying to fight them.[citation needed]
Sagittarius	♐︎	Used to orient diagrams across the 3rd dimension.[citation needed]

Silence/Quiet

A rune that muffles sounds.<ref name=":2">“What do you know about shamanism?” Shotgun asked me.

“I know… maybe three symbols, off the top of my head.  Dealing with the smallest spirits.”

“I’m going to show you two more.  One for quiet, for the chain.”

“Quiet is good,” I said.  “And the other one?”

He showed me the shotgun.  The butt-end of the weapon had a symbol inscribed in the wood, so it sprawled all over the wooden surface, curving around to the other side.  I turned to look, but my view was obscured as he pushed it closer to me.  Against my chest, into my hands.
[...]
“That symbol is one for wind.”

“Wind?”

He shrugged.  “Mess with other elemental forces, and you risk disrupting the mechanism.  Weapon is maybe a little lighter, pushes a little harder.”
[...]
I’d inscribed my boots with quieting runes, and the crunching of snow and branches were muted.  More blood spent.
[...]
With the quiet the runes afforded, I could move reasonably quickly.  Not running, but not walking either. - Excerpt from Collateral 4.10</ref> Used with sufficient strength, prevents speech or even loud sounds entirely.<ref>Ty reached out to me, holding a slip of paper in hand.

I flew down, passing him. Unhooking a thumb from my wing, I snagged it, pinching it in place.

Runes.  I thought I might have recognized them. One of the first I’d learned.

Silence.

I opened my mouth to speak, and no sound came out.
[...]
I realized what the words had probably been just as the lightning struck. The visible flash was brief, easy to miss. There was no explosion, no crackle of thunder.  Both the sender and the target were carrying runes of silence. All I felt was an awe-inspiring impact, and the curious sensation of my chest being torn to pieces. - Excerpt from Possession 15.3</ref><ref name=":15" />

Usually it is a variant of an air rune; incorporating connection blocking.<ref>It was only three ‘silence’ runes, which were modified air runes with some connection stuff. - Excerpt from Shaking Hands 9.7</ref>

Simple

A square or diamond. Drawn around a rune to indicate it's being used in it's most "low-end" sense; to indicate that a target should take on the properties of the thing indicated (e.g. fluidity for the Water rune.)<ref name=":19" />

Stealth

Used to hide people or objects, even from the Sight.<ref>She checked over her shoulder, and she saw Emily.  Fell’s niece, the little illusionist. “We need to avoid being detected with the Sight,” Rose said. Emily traced a sign in the snow.  A rune. “It won’t hold for long, but if you need to slip away, this is the thing.  One for each of us.  Or you can put it on an object to hide it.” “We need it to hold,” Rose said. “It’s going to burn up whatever fuel you give it,” Emily said.  “I don’t know of much else.  I’m still newish.” - excerpt from Judgement 16.5 </ref> May not prevent tracking by specialized magic.<ref>“Any pursuers?” Rose asked. Her voice sounded so empty here.  As if any and all suggestion of an echo or sound bouncing off the surroundings and back to them had been removed. “Yeah,” Lola said.  “At least one of the lawyers.” Rose nodded, unsurprised.  “The runes didn’t help, huh?” “They got us out of there,” Lola said.  “But whoever or whatever he is, I get the impression he or she is on us like a bloodhound.  Some sort of trinket or demon or familiar.  If I had to put it to words… it’s

that moment where a rabbit realizes it isn’t going to get away from the
wolf or the hawk, captured, frozen in time.”

“Makes sense they’d have someone to track others down,” Rose commented.  “The lawyers have their debtors and fugitives.  I’m not the first to try to escape the consequences.” - excerpt from Judgement 16.6 </ref>

Sun, Moon, and Stars

Often employed in Argumentative Diagrams<ref>It was an argumentative diagram, calling out to outside forces.  [...]  There was no sun, moon, or stars, there were no coordinates, nothing to suggest there was a specific outer power, and the contents of the circle were vaguely key shaped, with symbols around the edges. - excerpt from Playing a Part 15.8</ref> or Celestial Diagrams. Can be used to specify coordinates, including coordinates in alternate Realms.<ref>The sun, moon, and stars were often coordinates for diagrams and rituals.  That got into celestial practices and the more intricate timings, processes, and programming language type stuff that went into the really advanced magic circles.  The coordinates would let a diagram point to a very specific time, place, and effect, for summoning specific, dangerous things, or referencing other realities. [...]

The orrey felt like a diagram in brass, wire, and mirrors.  A central fixture absorbed the light from above, that light was refracted down.  The goal wasn’t to give coordinates to something predetermined.  The goal was to set the coordinates.

To actually take this place that Thea was building and put it on the map.  The fact that the orrey could ‘see’ the real noontime sun, nighttime moon and stars mattered.  Later, it would let other practices use celestial runes and settings to target the world.  Thea could hitch other practices to it or build doors. - excerpt from Playing a Part 15.8</ref>

Used, drawn inside Expansion runes, in an Alcazar diagram.<ref name=":20" />

Sun

The light rune inside the Cosmic rune; that is, a star of David containing a circle containing a dot.<ref name=":19" /><ref name=":8" />

Moon

The dark rune inside a star of David.<ref name=":8" />

Time

the hourglass arrangement of two triangles with points touching for Time - excerpt from One After Another 10.3

One of the Pillars of Human Existence.<ref name="10.3e1" />

Looping

A hidden rune that looped a staircase in an Escher style, employed by Duncan Behaim.<ref>One section of stairwell, connected Escher style, top to bottom.

“Find-” I winced at the pain in my arms. That pain joined my hearing and eyesight among the things that were getting muddled, hard to compartmentalize or stop focusing on. “Find the rune.”

...“There,” Rose said.  “On the other side of the wall.  It’s… glowing in the darkness, kind of.”

I pressed my hand against the wall.

Unreachable.
[...]
I could theoretically break the rune by taking the most direct route.  Rather than walk around to the other side, I could try attacking it from here.

Punch through the wall until I could break the section of wall the rune was painted on? - Excerpt from Conviction 5.3</ref> He used another copy of the same rune to cause anything that escaped through a window to appear above the stairwell.<ref name=":3" />

Nature

the forking branch for Nature - excerpt from One After Another 10.3

One of the Pillars of Human Existence.<ref name="10.3e1" />

Unlocking

An hourglass shape with a circle in the middle. - excerpt from Damages 2.5

A rune that unlocks locks, taught to Blake by Ms. Lewis.<ref name=":18">Can you open locks?”

“Not a trick I know,” I said.

She drew a small notebook from her pocket. She drew out an image. An hourglass shape with a circle in the middle. She drew a small pad of sticky notes from another inside pocket. “Draw something like this, put it on the doorknob, and empower it.”

I did.  I copied it out, stuck it against the doorknob, and then stabbed the back of my hand with the pen.

“Fuck,” I said.  “Ow.  That hurt more than I thought it would.”

Still, I used the blood that welled around the injury site and smeared it across the image.

“You need a power source,” Ms. Lewis said.  “Blood won’t do for the long term.”

“I know,” I said.

The knob was rattling, internal mechanisms moving with excruciating slowness. - Excerpt from Damages 2.5</ref>

War

The arrow for War - excerpt from One After Another 10.3

One of the Pillars of Human Existence.<ref name="10.3e1" />

Water

An downward-facing equilateral triangle, underlined.<ref name=":6">[1.4 Spoilers Notes on the Practices #1]</ref>

Calls upon spirits of the element of water. One of the four classic elemental runes.<ref name=":6">[1.4 Spoilers Notes on the Practices #1]</ref>

When used in constructing the Sisters of the Torch's mannequin vessels, produced visibly limp and swaying ones, which pursued any use of magic at incredible speed.<ref name=":5" />

References

<references/>