Rune Magic

''What is magic? ''

''The man who can answer that question would truly rule the world. All we can do is marvel at the infinite intricacies of the works of the Gods and try, in our own fumbling way, to recreate a part of their great act of creation.''

- Archmage Barindol, Introduction to 'Magisterium', 3098 AE

Sigils of Power
It is known that magic governs the world. At it's core, everything, from the shape and size of a mountain range, to the curl of a fern frond, to the rising of the tide, to the colour of a child's eyes, is the result of magic. The study of the mechanism of this magic has captivated scholars for millennia, and in that time knowledge has increased dramatically.

The mechanism is both absurdly simple and infinitely complex. At it's core, all magic can be represented by a shape, called a sigil or rune. What this shape will be depends on the type of magic, but in many cases, especially in elemental magic, form follows function. It is believed that these magical sigils were the tools with which the Gods shaped the earth. Thus, where Aegis willed there to be a mountain, he placed the sigil for stone, and that of growth, and strength, and many more, and a mountain grew from that spot. Moreover, sigils are in many ways self-replicating - that is to say, the shapes and subtleties of the sigil for stone are best represented in stone, and a sigil of stone that is left to create stone will eventually, through random fluctuations, create stone in the shape of the sigil of stone, which will in turn create more stone, and so on. Equally, once a sigil is deformed or destroyed, it will cease to function, or at least will not function as efficiently or in the manner it was designed.

Absurdly simple, infinitely complex. Through the interaction of sigils, everything we know can be explained. Plants grow because they grow into the shape of the sigil of plant growth. Winds blow because the air flows in the shape of the sigil of air. Fire burns. Snow freezes. Life lives. All through the interaction of the runes.

Absurdly simple, infinitely complex. The more intricate and precise the sigil, the more potent the effect. Eriloi have concluded that this implies the existence of the ultimate form of each sigil, the so called Master sigil, with which the Gods themselves crafted the world. The closer the sigils form to this ultimate divine expression, the more powerful and subtle its effect.

Absurdly simple, infinitely complex. It is not known how many sigils there are, and only a fool claims to know for sure. Over the ages, we have tried to catalogue them and failed. Runes may be combined like words in a sentence, or mixed like colours on a pallette, or layered like lace on a dress. Each will produce a different effect, and no two effects will ever be exactly the same, so exact is the science and art of runecrafting.

Absurdly simple, infinitely complex. Sometimes runes appear where they are not supposed to be. A rune of growth traced out in the scurrying activity of an ants nest leads to a colony of ants five feet in length. A rune of fire arrayed in a pile of fallen leaves leads to a forest fire a dozen miles in length. A rune of lightning arising from the random fracture patterns of a broken bone leads to a bloodline of tyrannical storm sorcerers that lasts a thousand years. Each of these, once it has taken root, will be sure to propagate itself.

The world is simple. The world is complex. The world is predictable. The world is wild.