Magic

Magic: The Arcane Arts

Humanity can express itself in numerous ways, and there is skill craft involved in nearly every one. From the classical arts like painting, sculpture, architecture, and music; to more practical tasks like computer programming, business practices, engineering... anything involving a degree of creativity. Achieving utmost skill in a craft elevates the practitioner to the esteemed title of Master.

However, to transcend mastery is to elevate one to the rank of Wizard, and to wield the ethereal force of Magic. This is the realm of the Arcane Arts. For indeed, above all, magic is an art form. It defies standardization, yields unpredictable results, and is uniquely interpreted by each wizard. To engage with magic is to willingly court a spectrum of chaos, with each variant of magic embodying its own brand of tumult. In the face of such intrinsic disorder, attempting to impose a systematic classification is futile.

Even the generic moniker "wizard" has expanded into a multitude of derivations: Magus, Sorcerer, Druid, Necromancer, Pyromancer, Enchanter, Charmer, Chaos Mage, Ghost Eater, etc. Each of these representing a magical specialty of a given wizard. For much like Wizards themselves, magic defies categorization and its complexity is difficult to parse. Just when one school of the Arcane Arts has codified its magical manifesto, another Wizard or magic movement emerges to completely disrupt and redefine the boundaries of what magic can be.

To add to this complexity, a wizard may choose to layer in other influences- Rune Magic, Color Magic, magical specialties, and so on. By mixing and matching various magical expressions, each wizard is incredibly unique in their approach to the Arcane Arts.

Let's examine each of the above, starting with Rune Magic-

Rune Magic

The wizards of the Runiverse have shown an attachment for more than 20 runes, each with it's own unique properties. It is worth noting that this attachment is often not by an act of will or choice, for while runes can enhance magic and be considered an asset, they can also be a burden, or a curse, to which the wizard is eternally bound.

The known runes are divided roughly into four types:

Planetary

Rune of Mercury

Based on the speediest planet in the solar system, and the god of communication, trickery, and deceit. This rune can add speed to spells, and aid in communication magic.

Rune of Venus

A rune of love, beauty, emotion, and aesthetics. The rune can be used to influence relationships and matters of the heart

Rune of Mars

Violence! War! Conflict! The rune of aggression and battle. Tempering magic with the Rune of Mars can add extreme levels of power, especially with spells of destruction.

Rune of Jupiter

From the ruler of the gods himself, Jupiter, a rune of growth, prosperity, and wisdom. The influence of this rune can enhance learning and wealth accumulation.

Rune of Saturn

With a glyph shaped like a scythe, this rune is favored by farmers for its influence in agriculture and husbandry. This rune instills discipline and structure, and is great for bringing stability to magic.

Rune of Uranus

A rune of freedom, innovation, and rebellion, Uranus is an excellent amplifier for creative expression. It is a rune that is often found influencing the most genius and original thinkers of ever age.

Rune of Neptune

A rune of dreams, illusions, and intuition. Wizards using this rune find it intensifies psychic abilities and is helpful in penetrating mystical planes of alternate realities

Rune of Pluto

A planet located in the extremity of the solar system and the namesake of the god of the underworld, this rune embodies extremities, power, change, death and rebirth. This rune is often employed in communion with demons, darkness, and the shadow self.

Elemental

There are four runes from the classical elements, which are excellent for enhancing spells and rituals.

Rune of Earth

Earth is the foundation upon which life is built. This rune confers stability, fertility, physicality, and healing to spells.

Rune of Water

Water is the element of intuition, emotion, and the subconscious. This rune is invoked in rituals and spells of love and psychic abilities.

Rune of Air

The element of air represents intellect, communication, and knowledge. It is useful on spells related to mental clarity and wisdom.

Rune of Fire

Fire is the element of energy, passion, and purification. Spells augmented with this rune are supercharged with the destructive or purifying force of fire.

Alchemical

Often considered the most practical of the runes, the Alchemy Runes offer influence in both the spiritual and physical worlds. The runes represented here offer a path to "Solve et Coagula."

Rune of Lime

The rune of a builder, lime is a key ingredient in concrete, the foundational material upon which cities rise. Its stabilization properties provide the groundwork upon which great beginnings, both physical and spiritual, can be constructed.

Rune of Steel

The Rune of Steel signifies strength and resilience, fundamental to machinery and industrial manufacturing. Often used to enhance weaponry, this rune imbues its bearer with the endurance to withstand hardship, tragedy, and pain. Spiritually, it fortifies one's strength, making it durable in the face of adversity.

Rune of Brass

The Rune of Brass brings unity and harmony, specializing in the merging of separate elements. As a primary material for musical instruments, brass facilitates a harmonious blending of diverse components. This rune represents balance and cooperation, fostering a sense of collective harmony.

Rune of Cinnabar

A rune that enhances aesthetics and facilitates the transcendence of base materials into something noble and elevated. This enhancement applies to both the physical and spiritual realms, symbolizing the alchemical process of elevating the mundane to the sublime.

Rune of Brimstone

The Rune of Brimstone embodies purification through fire, capable of both cleansing and total destruction in large quantities. This rune is used to eradicate the old, broken, or impure, making way for renewal and new beginnings.

Miscellaneous

Finally, there are many runes which defy categorization, each with unique properties.

Rune of Up Only

A rune used to increase power of spells, abilities, and any additive function.

Rune of Down Only

A rune used to decrease power of spells, abilities, and any subtractive function.

Rune of Sigma

This rune is quite mysterious, and its uses are still being discovered. Though difficult to define, is is most often considered a rune of transcendence, with its users often on paths of spiritual independence.

Rune of Omega

A rune of supreme power and a final state of being. Wizards wielding this rune are often incredibly powerful having pushed their arcane practice to it's limits.

Rune of Infinity

Perhaps the most powerful rune of all, wizards with infinity enhancement seem to have no limits on their magical abilities.

Color Magic

Color magic is quite pervasive in the Runiverse, with entire cities, philosophies, and cultures built upon it. Indeed, various factions have organized around color magic, and wear colored hats to signify their allegiance.

Six primary color factions dominate, Red, Orange (commonly referred to as Brown), Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple. Beyond these, there exists the elusive and detached White Hats, accompanied by murmurs of an even more secretive eighth faction, the blackened Shadow Hats. Each faction wields its color's magic to shape their way of art, as outlined below:

Magic as a meta-concept

The conceptualization of the overarching Forgotten Runes collection began with the idea of magic, a magic that crosses the chasm between real and imagined, between our experienced lives and virtual lives, and one that bridges the past to the future. The concept of magic is explored in one of the first Wizard Wednesdays, the cult's weekly meeting, where co-creator Elf details the idea that generated the original project:

What does the Forgotten Runes actually mean? Who forgot them? What are the Runes about? To that I would say, it is not the Wizards who forgot, it's actually the rest of the world and it is the Wizard's job to remind them about the Runes.

And so then, what is the Runes? To me, it is a broader concept. It represents some sort of esoteric information that sits in the ether. The Runes are about taking large indescribable concepts and presenting them to the world in a new way. For example, I tell Dotta that he himself is a Wizard, because what is he doing? He is using strange, abstract, coded characters to create something; he didn't write a smart contract, he basically wrote a spellbook. He wrote a spellbook that literally summons wizards.

I think that artists are also Wizards themselves; they're alchemists. They take really base materials like paint and paper and pixels and they transform it into something that is beautiful and valuable. The same can be said for poets and writers. They're actually bards and spellsingers. They use words to transcend the banality of common speech.

And that's what these Wizards are. They are the conduits to the Wizard inside you.

You summoned Wizards, and now these Wizards are going to summon you. Because this is what a Wizard does. He puts his mark on the world, he puts his Rune on the door.