Wednesday 4 February 2009

Runes in the West

I've mentioned the way that Malkioni interact with runes from a rules perspective in an earlier post. To illustrate further, here is the list of cults from Heroes of Malkion, with their runes. Note that some of these cults may have been moved to later books during the editing process, or had other minor changes - this is just the latest information I have. Furthermore, I won't be describing the cults themselves here; you'll have to buy the book if you want that! Instead, it just shows the range of cults in the book, and perhaps illustrates a little bit of how runes work for Malkioni.

Saints
Althens Artifice
Anazieta Harmony
Burning Arrow Death
Drezedan Death
Elleish Man
Falerine Fertility
Gerlant Fire
Hasterax Death
Iames Harmony OR Light
Josselyne Strength
Mistandar Trade
Ongaring Motion
Padelnik Strength
Palenna Fertility
Rendoir Hunting
Xemela Harmony
Zemuron Law
Zmes Artifice

Wizardry Schools
Areeshka Luck, Fate
Avlor Man, Victory, Stasis
Conwy Trade, Truth
Defences of God Law, Defence, Force
Hecretes Illusion, Magic
Herigian Law, Truth, Mastery
Inner Temple Literacy, Light, Truth
Iron Blood Law, Death, Harmony
Jenerin Law, Trade
Kipperly Harmony, Illusion
Kyria Harmony, Motion, Protection
Lenderyn Motion, Death, Magic
Nerivon Motion, Destruction
Octahedral Earth, Mineral
Ouxey Perception, Stasis
Pure Waves Water
Querto Law, Motion, Mineral
Raceen Law, Artifice
Rose Nuns Law, Harmony
Siglat Harmony, Perception, Mastery
Talara Ignia Fire, Essence
Ulfrathgar Chaos, Undeath
Urestes Truth, Matter
Vonerin Death, Spirit
Yarilia Storm, Protection, Cold

Some additional things you might notice from this list:
  • Not all wizardry schools necessarily have three runes; it depends on the range and scope of their magic.
  • Saints grimoires, in particular, may focus on particular aspects of their rune; for example, Althens' Artifice rune/grimoire does not include metalwork, because he's a shipwright.
  • Some grimoires, again especially amongst saints, mediate the power of their main rune through another rune; for example the Order of the Burning Arrow's rune is Death, but it's largely (though not entirely) through the medium of fire.
  • Iames has two different runes, just to be awkward - but individual members only ever have access to one.
  • Pastors of the main Malkioni prophets, such as Rokar and Hrestol, use the Law rune in almost all cases, and are therefore too repetitive to list here. Their grimoire is usually The Abiding Book, or some variant thereof.
  • Talor simply used his own rune, in the last version I saw.
  • There are additional cults, such as the Order of Shining Steel, in LotW2 and LotW3!