Sanctuarian Runes are a set of magical symbols that hail from another realm plagued by demons and the undead. Due to their extra-dimensional nature, they function by their own set of rules and regulations. The purpose of this article is explain how they work so they may appear in fandoms other than my own. Permission is not needed to use them or to add your character to the "Known Users" list, but it is in order to edit the rest of the page.
History[]
Creation[]
There are several theories as to how these runes came into existence, but all of them remain unconfirmed. Such theories explain the symbols to be any of the following:
- Divine gifts
- Demonic magic gone wrong
- Remnants of the first war between Heaven and Hell
- The product of cult spell casting
- Magical essence given non-volatile form
- Symbols that channel the energy of man/nature/The Worldstone ect.
As there are no two identical stories from region to region, no "official" origin story will be chosen for this article.
Transference[]
The history of the transference of the Sanctuarian Runes from their realm to the Mobain realm is one that is shrouded in a fog of mystery. Research suggests that they had actually been transferred over into our realm several millennia ago, but were forgotten shortly after their introduction. They resurfaced decades later, but similarly faded from the historic record. This process repeated itself several times over, finally resurfacing for good a century ago with The Clan of the Forsaken. While the clan is very tight-lipped about how they recovered this lost form of magic, it is rumored to be the product of traveling to their home realm to learn new forms of magic.
If history were to repeat itself yet again, the runes should fade from record sometime within this soon. However, this seems unlikely as the Clan of the Forsaken is still going strong.
Known Users[]
These are the people people that have shown the ability to use Sanctuarian Runes throughout the ages.
- Charlene
- Dalton the Cat
- Fortuna the Panther
- Ian Fy Pyroclasm
(Feel free to make your own!)
Appearance[]
The following gallery features all known Sanctuarian Runes carved on stones, which is how they are used in thier home realm.
Abilities[]
In the Sanctuarian Realm[]
In the Sanctuarian Realm, the Runes worked much like enchanted gemstones: Placing a runic stone in a socketed item yielded specific benefits, depending on the equipment and the rune. While this in of itself was useful, as runes had a great number of effects that were impossible to get otherwise, they became even more powerful when placed in an item in a specific order. These orders were known as "Rune Words" and were highly potent in increasing a warrior's powers. As such, they were and are still highly coveted.
In the Mobian Multiverse[]
In the Mobian Realm, things have changed. No longer are runes inscribed onto stones to be placed in an item, nor may they be used by marking an item with the symbol. Instead, runes are used to cast spells. There are two methods to casting these spells, detailed as follows.
Method One:The potential caster must draw the runes for a desired spell onto a surface near them. If no surface is at hand, it is possible to draw the runes up into the air, although this is more difficult. Upon completion of each rune, the caster must verbally utter the name of it in order to activate its potential powers, at which point the rune will float in the air about the caster. Once all runes have been drawn and activated, the caster then releases the power contained within (via a mental process that is different for each caster). The runes will then vanish and the effect of the spell will take place.
Method Two:If the situation will not allow for the above method of casting, a shorter method is available. Spells cast via this shorter method will be nowhere near as potent, but the speed at which they may be cast is exponentially faster. In order to use this method, the caster must possess a runic text which contains the spell desired. If no such text is possessed or close at hand, this method may not be used. If there is such a text at hand, however, all a caster must do is utter the names of the runes composing the spell in sequence to activate it. Drawing the first or last rune of a spell about to be cast in this method will strengthen it significantly, but it will still not be able to reach full power unless method one is used.
Runic Effect Guide[]
Below is a breakdown of the different classes of runes, with a description of what each rune does in most cases.
Elemental Runes[]
Runes in this category have an elemental affinity, and will act as way to specify a desired element to a spell in most cases.
- Tal: Specifies poisonous aligned effects
- Ort: Specifies electrical aligned effects
- Ral: Specifies fire/heat aligned effects
- Thul: Specifies ice/cold aligned effects
- Ist: Specifies nature aligned effects
- Mal: Specifies Shadow/Unholy aligned effects
- Ohm: Specifies concussive/wind aligned effects
- Vex: Specifies water/liquid aligned effects
- Dol: Specifies earth/stone aligned effects
- Tir: Specifies Light/Holy aligned effects
- Um: Specifies Chaos Energy aligned effects
- Ith: Specifies magical energy (Mana) aligned effects
Offensive Runes[]
Runes in this category tend to be combined with the Elemental Runes to generate spells with attack capabilities. Simply uses standard magical energy (Mana) if no element is specified.
- Jah: Used to create damaging fields of energy
- Cham: Used to generate rapid-fire shards of energy
- Hel: Used to form a large orb that explodes on contact
- Nef: Creates an energy shock-wave
- Shael: Creates a blade of energy
- El: Fires a bolt of energy
- Ber: Launches a blast of energy
- Lum: Creates a lash of energy
Defensive Runes[]
Runes in this category tend to be combined with the Elemental Runes to generate defensive capabilities. Simply uses standard magical energy (Mana) if no element is specified.
- Sol: Used in absorption spells
- Gul: Used in healing spells
- Lo: Used in protective spells
- Eld: Used in redirecting/reflecting spells
- Pul: Used in summoning spells
- Io: Used in support spells
Miscellaneous Runes[]
Runes in this category fail to fall into any other category, thus have been lumped together.
- Zod: Used to strenghten any spell it is included in
- Sur: Used to extend the duration of any spell it is included in
- Amn: Used to mix elements, creating the possibly to use advanced elements in spells
- Lem: Unknown exactly what it does, but it seems to be essential in the spells that include it
- Ko: Same as Lem
- Fal: Same as Lem
- Eth: Same as Lem
Runic Spellcrafing Guide[]
The following is a guide whose purpose is to illustrate how basic Runic spells may be created by any user at any time by showing several basic runic spells and how they may be altered.
This is your most basic kind of Runic spell, the two-rune attack incantation. Simple yet effective with tone of potential to improvement:
(Eth)+
(Shael) = A spell which creates a magical blade for the caster to use.
When you add an Elemental Rune behind the initial incantation, the spell takes up the properties of the rune:
- (Eth)+
(Shael)+(Ort) = The blade now is made of electricity, adding to its damage potential.
Adding an Amn rune after the first elemental rune will allow you to mix two elements together, as shown below:
- (Eth)+(Shael)+(Ort)+(Amn)+(Ral) = Now the blade is made of Plasma!
If you were to add a Sur rune to the mix the blade will last much longer than normal, even staying in existence if the caster were to be disarmed. Be sure to place it directly after the source spell!
- (Eth)+(Shael)+(Sur)+(Ort)+(Amn)+(Ral) = A Plazma blade that will stick around even if the caster lets go of it, making it possible to create a weapon for others to use.
Finally, if one were to add a Zod to the spell, all effects of the other runes in the spell will be strengthened. If you were to use this spell via the "drawing on air" method, the blade would only go away if disbanded by the caster! The Zod rune always goes in front of any spell it's a part of.
- (Zod)+(Eth)+(Shael)+(Sur)+(Ort)+(Amn)+(Ral) = The best a runic Plasma-Blade spell can get, period.
The same basic principle applies to just about all forms of basic runic spell, although the effects (and filler runes) vary.
Trivia[]
- Obviously, these runes are based off of the runes from Diablo II: Lord of Destruction