Introductory Notes on Runecraft
Note: It is runecraft. Not "runework," not "runespinning." Yivel refers to it solely as runecraft; it is runecraft.
The most important concept in Runecraft is Embodied Symbolism. It is the only reason any of it works, but it's not well-understood. Irrelevant; you don't need to know how something works in order to know how to use it.
The basic idea is that each symbol is an abstract representation of a natural concept. Combining these symbols achieves powerful effects. Each symbol can also be inverted or manipulated with enough skill. Perhaps one day, I shall do that. I look forward to it.
There are 32 basic symbols in runecraft discovered so far ("discovered so far" implies there could be more; further study recommended). The symbols are listed below so I do not forget:
Life - Used in healing and assisting living things
Death - Used to denote dead things and deadly things
Conduction - Used to denote the flow of power, highly useful
Time - Used to denote time and its passage
Mind / Soul - Used to denote the mind and the life force animating bugs, as well as identity and Crests, a crucial component for constructing the crest runes in my new body-shell
Motion / Momentum - Used to denote motion, as well as electricity. Note: Electricity has potential uses as a power source. Experimentation recommended
Containment / Retention - Used to denote containment or retention. Useful in storage, possibly?
Heat - Self-explanatory
Cold - The absence of heat.
Creation - Denotes the creation of new things, highly useful
Destruction - Creation's opposite, denotes violent obliteration
Control - Denotes precise, customizable control, highly useful
Protection - Denotes protection. Possibly useful in the construction of new sentinels or similar automatons?
Light / Essence / Dreams - Denotes light, the dream realm, and that which it is made of. I know nothing of the Dream Realm; I only learned about it by asking Yivel what this rune means. Beyond application in Silk Shots and the creation of light, I know little about the usefulness of this rune. Yivel, care to comment?
----This symbol is, at first glance, quite simple. It produces light. In a Silkshot, this mechanism is used to turn Silk into Silklight. However, this symbol can also be used to create Runes that affect dreams. In mundane situations, it could be used to create a ward against bad dreams. With enough skill and available energy, one could create a Dreamgate - a mechanism which facilitates transportation through the Dream Realm. - Yivel
Negation - Denotes the negation or removal of effects. Niche, but when it is useful, it is crucial
Language / Patterns / Runes - Fascinating rune, used to denote patterns, including words and the runes themselves. Could it be used to help regulate runes and create more complex effects? Further study required. Potentially useful
Change / Transformation - Used to denote change
Sound / Music - Denotes audio. Can also denote music. Limited application.
Thirteenth here! On the contrary, I believe the Sound rune could be used to make the most wonderful of things. It is by far my favorite rune.
Aside: Thirteenth likes sound and music.
Aura / Willpower - Denotes willpower, aura, and personal strength. New to me as a concept, but Aura is used in the Sentinels. Recommendation: Further study.
Space / Location - Denotes size, internal storage, and locations, highly useful, use immediately to easily construct a workshop for Thirteenth.
My own Workshop! I cannot wait! - Thirteenth
Solid - Denotes solid objects
Liquid - Denotes liquid objects
Gas - Denotes gaseous objects
Body - Denotes a bug's body
Chance / Randomness - Denotes chance and unpredictability. I dislike unpredictability in my creations. However, this could have niche applications.
Lies - Denotes deception. Niche.
Inversion of Lies: Truth. Inversion is a level of skill beyond me, but even then, with the limitations of runes, Truth as a rune seems... Limited in application. Severely so.
Secrets - Denotes the hiding of something. Highly useful
Inversion of Secrets: Detection / Discovery. Due to limitations of runecraft, this one's power is held back significantly. However, unlike with Truth, I can see broad, still possible applications.
Connection / Assembly - Denotes social and familial connections as well as putting things together, as distinct from creation. Limited utility
Inversion of Connection: Separate. EXTREME UTILITY IN RECYCLING OF PARTS. Shame that I likely will not use inversions for some time.
Amplify - Denotes the intensification and enhancement of effects. Potent rune held back by the limitations of runecraft. Still, highly useful when a slight extra 'boost' is needed.
Focus - Denotes 'Focus,' a harnessing of power new to me but apparently more common in a kingdom known as 'Hallownest.' Note: Visit Hallownest eventually.
I wonder what the sounds and music are like in Hallownest! - Thirteenth.
I wonder what the technology is like in Hallownest
Inversion of Focus: Diffusion. Niche. Obscure. Little utility can be seen. Perhaps as a less violent form of Destruction?
Faith / Divinity - Denotes worship, strong religious belief, and Higher Beings. Conclusion: Application extremely limited. Yivel, would you mind confirming?
----Indeed, the applications are limited for most. This symbol is used in many ceremonial runes to denote specific Higher Beings. Beyond that, it could be used to harness conviction. If you inscribed a Rune of protection and faith on a shield, then so long as you held true belief in the protective power of that shield, the rune would empower your defense. - Yivel
Void / Nothing / Darkness / Silence - Used to denote the concepts of nothing, darkness, and silence. Confusing; these things are mere absences of anything, light, and sound, respectively. Also used to denote a substance called 'Void.' Void is somewhat unfamiliar to me, but I remember the black thread. Assessment: Proceed with caution when using the Void rune. Yivel, care to confirm? Am I connecting dots that aren't there, between Void and the Blackthread that haunted Pharloom?
We would not have been here during this time, but it is likely that there is a connection. Caution is indeed advisable when working with this symbol. Most beings fear the dark for good reason. - Yivel
Limitations of Runecraft
Runecraft, described by Yivel as "an imperfect method of harnessing perfect concepts," meaning they have important limitations.
Runecraft requires a physical medium. This is more of a limitation than it sounds; it appears the medium, when it is a device, may need to be of a kind thematically appropriate to the desired effect.
Runes also cannot create much, if anything, from nothing. Creation as a rune cannot be used to create water or heat from nothing, it needs a fuel of some sort. This is an unfortunate but not unmanageable limitation. Motion would likely be the obvious rune to use to help fuel a Creation effect; kinetic energy is rather easy to achieve.
Runes cannot be used to achieve too general of a task. They must be specific. This is more of a limitation than the others.
Finally, and arguably most importantly, there's a limit to how much power a rune can exert. Using the Amplify and Divinity rune in combination with each other, for instance, would overload the rune and cause it to fail, because that would require more power than be exerted by runes.
Understood. These limitations are manageable.
Potential Rune Combinations:
Conduction + Momentum + Light is used in a standard Silk Shot. Adding Destruction could possibly result in one more potent? Or... Destroy the Silk Shot. Perhaps Amplify would be better.
Amplify + Sound / Music could create a device that makes things louder. Negation + Sound / Music could create a device that silences specific sounds.
This sounds very useful! - Thirteenth
Space / Location + Containment / Retention could be what is used in the bag holding the mechanical parts. Possibly in combination with Amplify. Yivel, can you confirm?
It... would seem so. The bag probably functions based off of these Runes... however, the bag appears to be far beyond the limits of what Runes can usually create. It is best to consider this an exception to the rule.
Detection + Lies. Potential application in showing when a bug is lying? But when would I need this?
Twelfth, could you use Detection + Truth to make a device that, when a bug lies, tells you what the truth is?
Unlikely, except perhaps in the cases where the truth is low-stakes. More likely, it would simply tell you when the bug is being truthful. Yivel, please confirm; you're more equipped to answer the Thirteenth's question than I.
No. Runes cannot give you something that they cannot reasonably access - unless the rules are bent through creative application of different symbols, but that is difficult and has a high energy cost, and is not guaranteed to work. Such a Rune would indeed detect the truth; in other words, it would tell you if something is truthful or not.
So it is about as useful as Detection + Lies would be. Understood!
Containment / Retention + Protection could be used to create a prison, yes? One made to protect prisoners you don't want to die? For that matter, including the Life rune could enhance the effect. The Amplify rune may be necessary to contain more powerful beings; Faith / Divinity may be necessary to contain Higher Beings. Perhaps Divinity is more useful than expected? Further study recommended.
Mind / Soul + Creation has possibly crucial applications in creating my personal Crest in runic form within my new body. Further study recommended; high priority.
Conduction + Mind / Soul + Containment / Retention + Amplify may be crucial for Eva's avatar. Yivel, please confirm?
Yes, such a Rune would have application in the avatar. For the best finished product, combining it with others is suggested - but these are more important to the construction.
Understood, we will work on that soon!
Let me try a few, Twelfth!
Sound + Language could be used to create a device that plays music with lyrics. Sound + Control could be used to control sound. Willpower + Sound could be used to create a voice, couldn't it?
I... Don't see why not. You are quite brilliant, Thirteenth, though Yivel would have to confirm. If this is true, though, it has extraordinary implications for the construction of new voice boxes.
Yes. In conjunction with some others, this Rune is used inside of my Golden Eyes to help me communicate through them.
Thank you! I like runecraft. It reminds me of sheet music, in a way, which I glanced at from a work form from the Architects of old. Except runecraft seems even more fun than making sheet music.
Astute observation! It reminded me of interchangeable mechanical parts, but even more flexible and versatile and arguably less likely to go wrong, considering intent matters
(Click here for a document containing more thorough information on the rune lore developed by me and the mod of @weaveryivel)