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.
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 the runestone to begin casting the spell. You will need to have recently focused on the rune in order to properly INVOKE 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. |
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 utilize runestones in various meditations via the MEDITATE command.
Common Runestone Minerals
| Runestone Mineral | Spell | Mana Type | Aprox. Sorcery Training Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asketine | Compost | Life | 66 |
| Avaes | Clear Vision | Lunar | 91 |
| Axinite | Mental Blast | Lunar | <91 |
| Azurite | Shadows | Lunar | <91 |
| Calavarite | Arc Light | Elemental | |
| Celestite | Refractive Field | Lunar | <91 |
| Elbaite | Instinct | Life | |
| Erythrite | Rejuvenation | Holy | |
| Hafaltu | Ethereal Shield | Elemental | |
| Iheaneu'a | Psychic Shield | Lunar | |
| Ilmenite | Lightning Bolt | Elemental | |
| Imnera | Zephyr | Elemental | |
| Indakar | Protection from Evil | Holy | |
| Lemicule | Air Bubble | Elemental | |
| Malachite | Air Bubble | Elemental | |
| Rhodonite | Fire Shards | Elemental | |
| Scheelite | Fire Ball | Elemental | |
| Selenite | Frostbite | Elemental | |
| Sraeth | Soul Bonding | Holy | |
| Xibaryl | Hypnotize | Lunar | <91 |
| Zengalmi | Gar Zeng | Elemental |
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.
| Item | Spell | Rare | Incomplete |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inscribed calavarite brooch | Arc Light | false | |
| Chipped rhodonite ring | Fire Shards | false | |
| Asketine unicorn pin | Compost | true | |
| Broad mistwood staff immaculately carved with bestial images | true |
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.