Runes

Runes are magical jewel shards that grant elemental energy to their users.

Description
These Runes are special gemstones that come on many different shapes, sizes, and 8 different colors. As mystical jewels that can conjure magical properties, they can be used for many tasks.

Battle Usage
By Agumenting a weapon with a Rune, that wielder will be able to call upon the shard's element and use it in battle. It has been theorized that the larger the shard, the more power it contains. Many Mages and other warriors who implement magic use Runes in combat to call upon the elements. Anyone has the potential to use Runes, but a lot of skill is required to master their abilities. Many stick to using either one or up to three different elemental Runes, while others try to master all of them.

Everyday Usage
Other than combat, everyday people find that Runes are a good way for everyday tasks such as lighting and energy. Because of how common they are, many also use them just as jewelry and accessories.

Types of Runes
There are eight types of Runes, classified by these colors: Ruby, Sapphire, Agate, Emerald, Melanite, Amber, Amethyst, and Sunstone. Each of them represent a different elemental energy. The base elemental properties revolve around the first four gems.


 * Ruby conjures Fire


 * Sapphire is Water


 * Agate is Earth


 * Emerald is Wind

The other four represent the elements of Light, Shadow (Darkness), Spirit, and Sol (Sun).


 * Amber is Light


 * Melanite is Shadow


 * Amethyst is Spirit


 * Sunstone is Sol

Six of these Runes are used offensively and defensively in terms of combat. The only elemental property not used for offensive battle is Spirit. It's mainly used for bolstering the user's courage, strength (in RPG terms, it helps increase stats and also works with Buffs and Debuffs); however, there is one student named Yui Aserryn at Lansborough Academy who comes from a family that uses the Spirit Element offensively. Amethyst Runes also have a few non-battle related uses as well, such as equiping it to any bag which will increase the bag's storage capacity (infinite storage pretty much). The eighth element, Sunstone Runes, have been foretold to be lost forever after the destruction of Lumierecia, but a small amount still reside in the world. One of the protagonists, Alexander, uses Sunstone Runes in his magic attacks.

Personal Runes
Every person has their own Personal Rune that is a representation of their heart, soul, feelings, and personality. Personal Runes are created when someone is given their first Spirit Rune; the shape changes into a representation of the owner's Soul. In the case of Clarissa Heart, her Personal Rune is a musical note which pertains to her talent as a Melodist.

Personal Runes are also said to have the ability to unlock their owner's potential and increase their powers greatly. A Capacity Drive is the title mages have given it, and the technique to unlock this power is known as an Overdrive. One of Lansborough Academy's tasks is to help warriors harness this power in their fourth year of training, but there are some who manage to do so earlier.

Using Them Strategically
Since they're mostly combat related, it is best to think of wise tactics before entering a battle against humans, or monsters. The monsters themselves don't use Runes, but some of them have elemental attributes as well sas their own share of strengths and weaknesses. For example: water-based creatures have the water attribute (of course), so using that element would prove to be uneffective and sometimes beneficial to their strength.

Opposite Elements
Mages have confirmed the basics of the four elements and all of their opposites. Water and Fire oppose each other and Earth and Wind are opposites as well; it was common knowledge even without the research, same goes for Light and Shadow. The most important discovery was actually of the Amethyst and Sunstone Runes. Nobody has found a weakness for the Sol element yet, and Spirit can only affect itself in both a good and bad way.

Merging Elements
Some Runes have the ability to merge their powers together, to create a "new" element mostly for a combatitive use. For example, mixing the properties of a Sapphire Rune and an Agate Rune will produce and Ice-based attack. Combining these properties aren't impossible, but mastering them is another task all-together. It takes a lot of skill just to get down the spells for one set of combinations, so some mages and scholars choose a handful of elements; however, some prodigies like Scott Maxwell have decided to use 6 elements (Sol has been a myth to him until Alexander came along) as a challenge.

Known Combinations
Fire+Water=Steam

Fire+Earth=Magma

Water+Wind=Healing

Water+Earth=Ice

Shadow+Earth=Gravity

Shadow+Fire=Ilnesses (Poison, Burns, etc.)

Light+Wind=Time

Light+Water=Holy(cures illnesses)