Wizards (Runiverse)

This article details Runiverse-specific aspects of the Wizards. For meta-information regarding the token collection, see the article for Wizards.

Forgotten Runes Wizard's Cult
A Purple Hat Forgotten Runes Wizard

There are seven dominant magickapolitical factions in the world of Forgotten Runes, which are generally—though not always—denoted by hat color: Red, Yellow, Brown, Green, Blue, Purple, and White.

The Color Cults

There are 7 dominant factions, or Color Cults, in the world of Forgotten Runes, which are generally denoted by hat color. They are Red, Yellow, Brown, Green, Blue, Purple, and White. Warriors, too, can adhere to these factions through armor, shield, or weapon color. It is worth noting, however, that many Wizards and Warriors wear colors for other reasons and colors are not always an indication of political allegiance.

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 often wear colorful hats to signify their allegiance.

Achieving utmost skill in a craft elevates the practitioner to the esteemed title of Master, a process applicable to nearly any activity one wishes to pursue. However, to transcend mastery is to wield the ethereal force of Magic, to elevate one to the rank of Wizard, and enter 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.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

The Arcane Arts

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 the combination of various magical expressions, each Wizard is incredibly unique in their approach to the Arcane Arts.

Red Hats

For more information, see The Red Hats.

Based in Red Wizard Capital, Red Hat culture revolves around a love of finance and a desire to take the helm of the progress of politics in the Runiverse. They congregate in metropolitan areas, live in high rises, and live generally cosmopolitan lifestyles. Well-dressed with expensive tastes, the Red Hats are power brokers and are known to engage in political intrigue. Oligarchic in nature, Red Hat Wizards seem to be less concerned with Magic, compared to their peers, and to the extent they use it, it is leveraged for financial and political gain. The "Magic of Money" seems to be their greatest talent, and to be sure, they wield it masterfully and to great effect. While many of those who do not use Red Magic balk at the ways of its practitioners, Red Hats may in time surprise those who hold this prejudice with spontaneous and altruistic acts of goodwill.

These Wizards practice Red Magic, a cosmopolitan form of Magic, primarily aimed at amassing material wealth and political influence.

Brown Hats

For more information, see The Brown Hats.

A Brown Hat Wizard

Rugged, blue-collar, and provincial, the Brown Hat Wizards are good-natured and love simple, country living. Loyal to family and friends, the rustic Brown Hat lifestyle finds its home in the northern delta. Brown Hats use Magic for everyday practical tasks, like housekeeping, farming, and hunting. Rarely seen in the cities, they can be found in the fields and forests, or the local country tavern enjoying a beer with good friends. There is a pervasive aversion to machinery and technology in the delta, as Browns prefer the familiarity of "old fashioned" ways. The farming equipment is remarkably outdated, and yet they continue to produce impressive yields with their crops due to their use of Magic. Brown Hats tend to keep to themselves, but if they venture outside, they are known to feel some kinship with Green Hats. The Blue Hats, however, are regarded as obnoxious, impractical know-it-alls who seek to disrupt tradition with new scientific discoveries.

The Wizards practice Orange Magic, the most practical form of Magic used for the domestic tasks of rural life.

Yellow Hats

For more information, see The Yellow Hats.

A Yellow Hat Wizard

Youthful, exuberant, energetic, and full of life, the Yellow Hat lifestyle is pure hedonic joy. Chronomancer’s Riviera, the Yellow Hat hotbed, is a paradise where time itself seems to have no influence. Dancing, carousing, and borderline debauchery are in perpetual motion all day and night, without end, as the hot and sexy Yellow Hat Wizards manipulate time itself to achieve these never ending festivities. Bliss on the beach and lounging by Atlanta's Pool, the Riviera offers a popular vacation spot for the people of the Runiverse, truly a place to forget the stress of daily life. The "pursuit of happiness" is a decree that has taken spiritual significance, and nearly all Magic here is used to achieve this joyous liberation. They have not a care in the world, even as the Quantum Shadow itself looms on their borders. Lucky for them, Battlemage Mountains seem an impenetrable protection as for their debauchery.

The Yellow Hats welcome everyone to the Riviera, but the Red Hats in particular are fond of coming here to expend finances on all the excessive luxuries of the Riviera.

These Wizards practice Yellow Magic, a formidable arcane art that bends the very fabric of time.

Green Hats

For more information, see The Green Hats.

A Green Hat Wizard

Thriving in the equatorial jungles of the Runiverse, the Green Hats live in harmony with the natural world. This concordance allows natural Magic to flow through the Green Hats effortlessly, from deep within the earth, through the plants and animals, to the hearts and minds of the wizards. They do not seek to dominate nature, but instead coexist with it in perfect homeostasis. This form of Magic is potentially older than the Quantum Shadow itself, and can be expressed through weather manipulation, bio-hacking, and communication with plants and animals. Green Hats often form alliances with Brown Hats, for their cultures have overlapping interests. They both love natural world, but whereas the Browns seek to dominate it, the Greens seek harmony. And though this may be a fundamental disagreement between the two, the Greens find more disagreement with the Red Hats, whose materialistic cosmopolitan ways are the antithesis to harmony with nature.

These Wizards practice Green Magic, the Magic of the natural world.

Blue Hats

For more information, see The Blue Hats.

A Blue Hat Wizard

Scholarly, academic, and technical, the Blue Hats are the only faction to embrace Magic and science simultaneously. Their Blue Wizard Bastion houses the Runiverse's largest libraries, which contains tomes on every subject including alchemy, medicine, biology, history, literature, and of course, Magic. The famous Forgotten Athenaeum is also here in the Bastion, which holds various relics from around the world. The halls of the Bastion are filled with the worlds most respected philosophers, teachers, scholars, and scientists. Science is empirical, predictable, and methodic, qualities which are seen as the opposite of Magic, which is intuitive, emotional, and unpredictable. Thus, the merging of science and Magic- a seemingly impossible task, is the grand mission of a typical Blue Hat Wizard.

These Wizards practice Blue Magic, the beacon of knowledge, intellect, and scholarly pursuit.

Purple Hats

For more information, see The Purple Hats.

A Purple Hat Wizard

The quintessential Wizards. Purple Hats are extremely talented in all sorts of Magic, particularly the deep Magic of the cosmos. Their Magic is complex, powerful, and esoteric, much of it coming from the Psychic Leap, the Sacred Pillars, and other extremely magical vortexes in and out of the Runiverse . But because of this deep affinity for Magic, the Magic often controls them rather than the other way around. They are often perceived as clumsy and even a little goofy at times, for they can be rather disconnected from reality. Their spells are often loud, explosive, and colorful, and their spell books are generally incomprehensible. A Purple Hat's home is often a chaotic mess, and it is believed the Weird House once belonged to a Purple Hat. You never know if a Purple Wizard is very powerful or has simply lost their mind, but perhaps a bit of both. Rarely will you find a true Purple Hat carousing with the Yellow hats in the Riviera, for the party in their minds is enough chaos for anyone to endure.

The Purple Hats are concentrated on a large island in the West, where the infamous Purple Pavilion sits.

These Wizards practice Purple Magic, an enigmatic, boundless, and chaotic art.

White Hats

For more information, see The White Hats.

A White Hat Wizard

Detached, empty, zen-like sages who sit quietly and meditate for days on end in the White Wizard Tower. Rarely speaking, in fact rarely ever seen, the Whites live minimalistic lives oblivious to the rest of the world. They almost never ally with other factions, nor do they oppose them, they simply stay aloof altogether. Their Magic is subtle, quiet, and unassuming, if indeed they possess any Magic at all, for their power level is totally hidden. This furtive nature has led some to believe that White Hats are actually powerless, and their secretive nature is merely a pretense. The counter narrative, however, is that the White Hats are engaged with yet another even more secretive faction, the mythical and otherworldly "Shadow Hats."

Speculation has arisen regarding the ages of some of the White Hats. Some of these Wizards are rumored to have extensively long lifespans, to the extent that they have experienced the rise and fall of various eras of the Runiverse. Carved statuettes have been recovered at sites of ancient runes which bear a striking resemblance to some prominent White Hat figures.

These Wizards Practice White Magic, the zenith of order and clarity within the chromatic spectrum.

Anomalies

These groups exist as exceptions outside of the seven dominant color cults.

Shadow Hats

Shadow of the Wizard - Bitcoin Ordinal Inscription #967

For more information, see Shadow Hats.

Before the beginning, and after the end, there is only darkness. The black expanse stretches endlessly through the cosmos, and although there are occasional, feeble glimmers of light, they are but brief interruptions in the overwhelming void that consumes all. Blackness sprawls infinitely across the cosmos, and though tiny glimmers of light twinkle feebly here and there, the total void swallows all. The dominion of Black Magic is such that no force within the universe can impose true order upon it; all light yields to its cold embrace. The power of Black Magic is unimaginable that its practice is forbidden. This prohibition is due not so much to the peril of harnessing such great power, but in the total loss of identity by those who seek to control it. It is believed that the Shadow Hats, rumored to dwell within the Quantum Shadow itself, are the elusive custodians of this primordial darkness.

Hue Hats

A Hue Hat, Master of Colors

The Hat of many colors. They have all the colors except White, because they are opposed to the reductionism of the White Hats. Where the White Hats take all colors and reduce them to a singular expression of holy purity, the Hue Hats embrace every color at once. This is not the chaos of the Purples, where disorder is embraced as a matter of principle, this is the embrace of all orders. This is the ability to shift, to change, to see all perspectives at once. Hue Hats have been described as the emissaries between factions. The Hue Hats are able to bridge to all cultures, ideologies, and peoples.

This bridging characteristic is often expressed literally, the most famous example in the Runiverse being Hue Master's Pass, which was built by an ancient architect who followed this philosophy. There are probably many other rainbow bridges that have yet to be discovered. But perhaps the best way to describe the Rainbow Connection is that:

“Someday we’ll find it, the Rainbow Connection, the lovers, the dreamers, and me.”