Runes

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Runes for the four elements, drawn in a notebook with breaks in the traingles to prevent them from activating.<ref name=":6">Notes on the Practices #1</ref>

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" />

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" /> 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> or hallows, and in linking items for sympathetic magic.

A rune might be "powered" by drawing it in blood,<ref name=":2" /> charging it with some other source of power,<ref>“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 helps mollify 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 want to fall awkwardly at a key moment.”

- excerpt from Lost for Words 1.8 </ref> or making it from an offering of food. It would 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" /> 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" />

Known Runes

Air/Wind

An upward-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 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>

• Drawn on an object, it can make it lighter and easier to carry.<ref name=":11" />

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>

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>

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 a 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>

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>

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>

Moon

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

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>

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" />

Sun

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

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" />

Unlocking

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

A rune that unlocks locks.<ref>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.” - Excerpt from Damages 2.5</ref>

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

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