Runes of Power

The Etchings of Power

Runes are the bones of magic—etched remnants of meaning drawn from the foundations of Creation itself. Each set of runes speaks to a different source, a different understanding of magic’s flow, purpose, and restraint. Though many cultures have developed their own systems, six major lineages of runes are known across the planes: Titan, Faerie, Arcane, Elven, Dwarven, and Vinnish.

Titan Runes

Titan Runes are the first runes, made by the Ancients and bound and cast to great Titans to shape and create with the Ancients’ chorus the planes and all creation. These runes are sacred and still rest upon the Titans not destroyed in the First War. Many were locked away. Some are willingly kept in stasis, others assist upon the Elemental Planes, and a few are locked upon the Material—bound in adamantine, sleeping beneath mountains or seas.

Their runes were first witnessed by the Ithians and, later after the Cataclysm, the Dwarves. They are preserved at Ulren’s Forge in the Hearthcore, where Ulren uses them to help stabilise and continue the growth of all things. The Dwarves were inspired by these primordial marks, and attempted in ages past to copy and interpret them. Ancient arcane magics and druidcraft have their origins in part here too, drawn from these massive glyphs of raw, shaping intent.

Titan Runes do not function like later forms—they are not merely magical. They are declarations of truth and form, bound into the bones of the world. They are said to thrum in the presence of great change, and glow faintly when a Titan stirs.

Faerie Runes

Faerie Runes are the second runes made—motes of magical might formed to help control and direct mana along the leylines. They were cast in great nexus points, often on vertices of power where ley and life converge. Unlike the primal, monumental shapes of Titan Runes, Faerie Runes are intricate designs that mimic the flow of water and nature, of roots, vines, and tree-branching structures.

They do not command reality, but coax it—guiding magic as one might train a vine along a trellis. They are the markings of the Narrative, the quiet hand that steers rather than reshapes. As such, Faerie Runes are the direct basis of Elven Runes, Arcane Runes, and Drudic Runeform. Their forms remain etched into ancient stones, sung into groves, or traced in glowing air by Sidhe nobles and spirits. They live with the land.

Though less raw than Titan Runes, their grace and adaptability make them foundational. They are still found deep within Verda, tied to the wild story of the world itself.

Arcane Runes

Arcane Runes are based on Faerie and Titan Runes, as well as the understanding of shortcuts and simplified power by Ratamos and the Ithians. The third set of runes, though it would be expanded upon by man and other races after the Cataclysm, the foundation was set by Ratamos—the first magic-wielding mortal. The first set would be much different and much of it lost and only recovered in ruins later on.

These runes vary greatly, having simplistic or intricate designs. Often bound in circles or forming layered sequences, they function through a blend of somatic, vocal, and material components, drawing power from Creation, the Narrative, and echoes of the Worldsong. Unlike Titan Runes, they are not truths unto themselves, but keys—methods of accessing and shaping power through precision and control.

Arcane Runes were developed to allow magic to be taught, practised, and replicated. They became the backbone of mortal spellcraft. Many wizardly circles and magical schools have refined their own variants, and some believe entire branches of arcana remain undiscovered, hidden behind lost dialects of these foundational glyphs.

Elven Runes

Elven Runes are the fourth runes made. After the Ithians, the Elves were the next race to grow close to the trees, the spirits, and the Courts of Faerie. As they rose into the first civilisations and were tasked with guiding and guarding nature, they crafted runes of their own—drawn from their understanding of Faerie Runes and the primitive Arcane forms, which they shaped into something graceful and enduring.

Elven Runes added beauty, balance, and spiritual resonance. Many were carved into sacred trees, cliffs, or woven into living structures, and some became so integrated with nature that they remain bound to the land—motes of quiet power that can be drawn upon in times of great need. These sites still pulse with forgotten strength, awaiting the touch of an heir or a calling ritual.

Elven runes also helped expand the language of magic itself, forming poetic expressions rather than pure incantations. Elven spellcasting is often a blend of gesture, memory, and harmony—tuned to the world’s rhythm, not simply its structure.

Druidic Runeforms

A secretive offshoot of Elven Rune practice, Druidic Runeforms emerged when certain circles, especially those with deep ties to Dwarvenkind, began merging the flowing Faerie-Elven glyphs with the rooted permanence of Dwarven Keystones. The result was a hidden system of runes—closely tied to the land, its memory, and its change—that forms the secret language of the druidic circles.

These runeforms are not invoked with speech or sigils, but are often carved into bark, laid in stones, braided into animal fur, or grown through seasons of natural care. They respond not to force, but to alignment with nature—activated by harmony, intent, and spiritual resonance.

Known only within the circles, their meanings are rarely written and passed only by oral tradition, dream-speech, or initiation rites. Some druids believe these runeforms possess will, and that to misuse one invites the wrath of the land itself.

Dwarven Runes

Dwarven Runes were the fifth runes, though dwarves argue they were also the fourth—just kept secret. Deep in the underground, as dwarves grew in power and were tasked with keeping safe the gaols of the Titans and other things buried below in their adamantine prisons, they came to study the runes etched in stone and metal. And, as any good dwarf would, they made modifications—improved upon them, in their own view.

The first of these runes became known as The Keystones—runes that uphold all dwarven forge and craft. They empower their great anvils, forges, and stonework, allowing the shaping of tools and artefacts needed to build their incredible halls and strongholds. Some Keystones even stabilise caverns or sustain bridges in defiance of collapse. Later dwarven runes would try to mimic these to lesser degrees as to not be so potent or rich to be stolen or misused.

Dwarves keep their runes extremely secret. They share them only with true dwarven friends, and some halls guard them even from rivals. A few have been lost entirely due to this possessiveness, buried too deep or forgotten as clans vanished. Yet some whisper that the deepest halls still hum with the old rune-work—alive beneath stone.

Vinnish Runes

Lastly, after the Rift Crisis, when the Vinnish fell from the sky to help stop the Troll-King and other mad Titans breaking free, they came with loose knowledge of rough and crude Titan Runes. These were more primitive than even the earliest Arcane forms and worked only in rudimentary ways—etched not for elegance, but for survival.

They served their purpose—to be inscribed on weapons, armour, and wardings to help take down their giantish foes. Though many of these were lost, a few remain, and they are still a wonder to elves and dwarves: that such crude marks could endure so long, and hold so much power.

Many Vinnish Runes are tied intrinsically to the Vinnish Aspects, elemental forces rooted in the Narrative. They are blunt, but not blind—channelling old forces through sheer purpose. Some now rest in museums, relic vaults, or still-echoing battlefields, faintly glowing with their makers' intent.

Celestial and Infernal Runeforms - Script of the Divine

Though not true runes in the mortal sense, Celestial and Infernal runes represent the transcribed echoes of divine speech—utterances so potent they reshape reality. These glyphs are less a written language and more a form of divine transcription, capturing the resonance of the Heavens and the Hells in a mortal frame. They are not created through study but through revelation, ritual, or pact.

Celestial Runes

Celestial Runes are not of mortal origin, nor were they ever meant to be wielded by mortal hands. They are fragments of divine utterance, recorded in script by those who serve higher powers in Evalius—beings such as the seraphim, the choir-born, and the angelic agents of Wol, Setengar, Lo, and others. These runes echo with the music of order and harmony, structured to convey not merely meaning but unyielding law. They do not stem from the gods themselves, but from their appointed messengers, whose words reflect the will of the heavens without distortion.

Such runes are found in relics and sites touched by divine order—inscribed upon the seals of sacred vaults, woven into the banners of holy crusades, or engraved into the great armatures of the Inevitables who dwell in the Far Courts. Their presence affirms cosmic truth, and their misuse risks immediate reprisal.

Though mortals cannot truly wield Celestial Runes, certain symbols derived from them have found their way into arcane runes, especially those used in healing, abjuration, and rites of purification. These echoes—never complete—are often seen in magical wards against possession, in symbols that channel radiant energy, or in the marks that banish shadow. These are not true Celestial Runes, only interpretations of their form and cadence, diluted for mortal comprehension.

To attempt the full rune is to trespass the boundary of mortal and divine. To emulate it with craft and care is to walk the edge of power, under the quiet gaze of higher judgement.

Infernal Runes

Infernal Runes are the branded tongue of contract, shaped in the bowels of the ordered hells, where devils forge law into punishment and pact. Unlike the chaotic tongues of demons, Infernal script is precise and binding, each curve and hook designed to trap the soul, seal the gate, or enforce the terms of a curse with pitiless elegance. They are the runes of chains, flames, and debt—etched into ancient bindings, whispered during dark bargains, and worn as marks by those who serve or are owned.

These runes are the bones of Hell’s law, be it Dearuhk, Isod, or Searith's. They endure even when the pact is broken, and linger long after the price has been paid. Devils do not forget their language, and neither do the stones or scrolls upon which it is carved.

Though dangerous to invoke in full, parts of the Infernal script have bled into arcane runes over time, particularly among conjurers, warlocks, and pact-bound mages. Glyphs used to summon hellfire, bind extraplanar creatures, or compel obedience often mimic or adapt Infernal forms. A practiced eye might spot their influence in magical circles of summoning or in the branding marks left upon cursed artefacts.

Still, these are but shadows of the true runes. The arcane imitation lacks the full weight of law, though it may still echo the heat. Use them often enough, and the real thing may come to take notice.