Runestones
A runestone is a catch-all term magical device that causes a mage to prepare a spell. The nice thing about runestones is that anyone with magical ability can use them, even if you don't know the spell, or have training in that school of magic. However using a spell not of your mana type is sorcery skill and can be dangerous. Depending on the spell, it does take a bit of fine tweaking to be able to properly cast it. When you work with runestones, you are working your Arcana skill.
Over the centuries scholars have found ways to scribe spell patterns into certain minerals. Any given mineral can only hold a specific type of spell pattern. Some spell patterns can be stored in a few types of minerals. While the color or setting of the mineral might change (rune, jewelry, wand, etc) the inherent crystalline structure that dictates what pattern might be impregnated into the mineral does not change.
Today we know runestones function due to the presence of hollows and channels in a mass of mana-resisting material. The resistance causes carefully harnessed mana to avoid the mass entirely, saturating the hollow components instead. Naturally occurring runestones, though freakishly rare, may have been the source of mankind's first spells. Modern runestones are often constructed by carefully carving and bonding together multiple layers of mana-resistant wood or rock, or through sand casting mana-resistant metal.
Using a Runestone
- FOCUS on your runestone. When you focus, you'll get a dialogue like this:
| You focus your magical senses on a colorful elbaite runestone. Though not actively magical, the runestone is made out of a material that resists the flow of mana. Tiny tunnels and furrows are present in the runestone, which form the shape of a spell pattern. |
With enough skill, this will tell you the spell and the charges remaining. Simply focusing on a rune over and over is a great way for beginners to learn Arcana skill, as well as Sorcery skill if the rune is one of another mana type than the users.
- INVOKE or CHARGE the runestone to begin casting the spell. You will need to have recently focused on the rune in order to properly INVOKE or CHARGE it.
| Closing your eyes, you carefully bend some mana streams through a shining calavarite runestone. The saturated tunnels in the runestone form the foundation of a spell pattern. With this template in place, you begin preparing the Arc Light spell. |
Runestones currently prepare the spell pattern contained within them at 20 mana.
Now that you are preparing the spell, you are able to HARNESS more power if you'd like into the spell, or use cambrinth. When the spell is prepared, simply CAST it.
Barbarians are able to destroy runestones via the MEDITATE runestone command.
Common Runestone Minerals
| Runestone Mineral | Spell | Mana | Native Difficulty | Sorcery Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| asketine | Compost | life | 0 / 500 | 40 |
| avaes | Clear Vision | lunar | 0 / 480 | 91 - |
| axinite | Mental Blast | lunar | 250 / 1000 | <91 |
| azurite | Shadows | lunar | 0 / 400 | <91 |
| calavarite | Arc Light | elemental | 10 / 600 | |
| celestite | Geyser | elemental | 0 / 400 | |
| elbaite | Instinct | life | 20 / 800 | |
| electrum | Eagle's Cry | life | 0 / 500 | |
| erythrite | Rejuvenation | holy | 0 / 600 | |
| hafaltu | Ethereal Shield | elemental | 0 / 500 | |
| iheaneu'a | Psychic Shield | lunar | 0 / 600 | |
| ilmenite | Clear Vision | lunar | 0 / 400 | |
| imnera | Zephyr | elemental | 10 / 600 | |
| indakar | Protection from Evil | holy | 0 / 600 | |
| lemicule | Heroic Strength | holy | ?/? | |
| malachite | Air Bubble | elemental | 10 / 600 | |
| quartz | Refresh | life | 0 / 400 | |
| rhodonite | Fire Shards | elemental | 0 / 400 | |
| scheelite | Fire Ball | elemental | 80 / 800 | |
| selenite | Frostbite | elemental | 80 / 800 | |
| sraeth | Minor Physical Protection | holy | 0 / 400 | |
| sunstone | Compost | life | n/a | |
| topaz | Protection from Evil | holy | 0 / 600 | |
| xibaryl | Hypnotize | lunar | metaspell | <91 |
| zengalmi | Gar Zeng | elemental | 0 / 400 |
Updates since 3.1 material changes I have both sunstone and asketine compost runes, not sure if the asketine is from before the changes but it still has spells left. Avaes may be outdated as Ilmenite also appears to have clear vision.
- Note: Spell difficulty moves from intro to basic when using it is sorcery (outside your native mana type).
- Additionally, some spells are just a little more difficult to cast when they are being used by sorcery.
Rune Jewelry
In the world, you will find pieces of jewelry that have one of the stones above listed, like a heavy golden sunfish pendant with delicate pink erythrite stripes or a skeletal asketine-veined leaf charm. If you look at the types of runestones above, you can match the stone in your piece of jewelry to the spell it will cast.
Jewelry has similar properties to runes - they can be FOCUSed and then you INVOKE them to use the spell. Eventually, they will break as well. You cannot charge runic jewelry.
Complex runestones
While the mechanics are fundamentally different, they function almost identically to the iconic devices that inspired them. The chief difference is that the conductive pathways of devices like this can be invoked with any percentage of mana used by its spell.
Complex runestones function due to the presence of mana-conducting pathways embedded within the cube. Carefully harnessed mana will favor the conductive paths over the nominal resistance of the cube's mass, saturating them and forming the framework of a spell pattern. Complex runestones are a modern invention, favored for the small size and variety of forms they can take, but often cost a premium due to the advanced metallurgy and tools required to work with the tiny, mana-conductive filaments.
Runestone merchants
- Sierack's Reagents in Shard
- Kalazashi's House of Majik in Ratha sells rune jewelry.
