Runecraft: The Basics

Runes are entire words, much like Mandarin/Kanji/Cuneiform. Each has a very specific and literal meaning. The rune for "contain" means that the spell is contained within the circle. You can't use this rune to contain someone within a cage. The runes above are as follows: Sustain, Create, Contain, Fire, Small

The basics of spellcraft and spellcircles consists of an outer circle (in blue) and an inner circle (in red). The red circle is the focus for the spell, the blue circle will contain runes to modify and affect the red circle. You can have as many circles within one another as you want, the more complex the spell you want to cast. For example, a fire spell (no matter what you want to do with the fire) will have a fire rune occupying the red inner circle)

For one circle to affect another it must be linked to it with a curved line as shown here. To create fire you must link the create rune and the fire rune.

If runes are affecting one another *within* a circle, you must show which is affecting which. For this, edges are used. The "circle" with the most edges affects the "circle" with the least, with a true circle being the last affected. Runes going from an outer circle to an inner one do not need to show order of operations.

If one wants to create a spell that excludes something, one shows that by a circle around that rune, physically excluding it from the rest of the spell. For example, if one wants to create a dome wherein water does not come. One would link the dome rune (shown for argument in blue) with the rune for water (in red), thereby creating a dome wherein water cannot come.

If one wants to modify a rune rather than affect it, a smaller circle is placed overlapping the rune in question creating a combined rune. This combined rune is then effected by all runes interacting with them. For example to create a small fire one would overlap the fire rune with a small (for simplicity's sake) rune.

Here is a very simple spell incorporating nearly all stated above using the runes already explained. It is a campfire spell. The central Fire rune is modified by the Small rune. This combined rune is affected by the Sustain rune (ensuring it will keep for the night), the Create rune (to make a difference between using fire that is already available and creating it from nothing) and the Contain rune (to keep it within the boundary of the spell so that it will not go out of control).

Runecraft: Adept Level Techniques

Multiple spell circles can be combined to create a complex spell.

Here you can see two spells, one in red/blue, the other in yellow/green plus some normal runes in purple. Even if you have multiple spells, one spell must be the focus, and one rune inside must be that spells focus.

For example, the red/blue spell circle is the focus of this complex spell. The red central rune tier is the focus of the red/blue spell, and thus the focus of the entire spell. As an example, say you want to create a floating platform that is always on fire and cannot be put out by water. The red/blue spellcircle would be the floating platform spell and the yellow/green spellcircle would be the fire spell. The exclusion part would take the form of the purple runes.

When dealing with multiple spells, order of operations function in the same way as they do in simple spells. The pentagonal orange/pink spell must show order of operations with the yellow/green spell because they occupy the same tier (the white tier). Because the red/blue spellcircle is the focus, it occupies its own tier meaning that the yellow/green spell do not have to show order of operations when affecting it.

Runecraft: Master Level Techniques

There are a number of runes and techniques which can be used to create a rudimentary form of automation.

If you wish your spellcircles to have a specific fuel, then simply use the fuel rune (shown here in white on the blue circle) Connected to another rune (as shown here as the red circle) would mean that when a fuel source is added to the fuel rune, it activates the affect (red) rune. In such a way, this fuel rune can act as a switch.

To add more complexity to your spellcircles, you can add an "if-then" statement. If the required action occurs, the rune works. Show here is a blue rune affecting a red rune. The curved line with the two straight lines intersecting the green rune represents this if-then statement. For example, let us say that the blue rune is Create, the red Fire and the green Human. This would mean that the spell would only Create Fire if a Human is present. Essentially, creating a trap.

If you want to be able to link separate spellcircles together, you can use the Send & Receive runes. Sending & Rececing works in much the same way as multiple spells inside a complex spell. Its functions is to Send the effects of one spell to another spell. Call it teleporting the effects, because the spellcircles do not have to be near each other. The rune in the focus of the red/blue spellcircle is the Send rune. The rune in the purple circle of the green-yellow spellcircle is the Receive rune. The Send rune must always be the focus of its spell circle (shown here in red), because it will send all the effects of its spell to the Receive rune. The Receive rune cannot be the focus of its spell. It will always be an affecting rune (shown here in purple). This is because the Receive rune takes the place of a spellcircle. Its duty is to affect the focus of its spell circle with the effects given to it by the Send rune.

Here is a spell tying together all these optional runes. Note: the bottom rune on the lefthand spellcircle is the Pull rune. It pulls into the spellcircle whatever is needed. This spell is a preventative fire extinguisher. It creates water when it senses fire. The left hand spellcircle Pulls in Water only if Fuel is present and Sends this Water to the righthand spellcircle. The righthand spellcircle uses this Water to Create Water only if Fire is present.