Rune intrinsically

The name rune has always been passed down in our tongue since the beginning of time. However the name exists in all the tongues of Rune despite language barriers, cultural anomalies, and religious affiliations. The name itself means different things depending upon the language and not always is it used to describe the crystal sphere in which we live, but the phenomenon is interesting none the less. In our language, Rune, as well as being the word we use to name our world, is the word referring to a singular character in an ancient language. As I state in the Mercian Dictionary Unabridged 4th addition:
1. Any of the characters of certain ancient alphabets, as of a script used for writing or a script used for inscriptions.
2. Something written or inscribed in such characters.
3. An aphorism, poem, or saying with mystical meaning or for use in casting a spell.

I shall take each definition in turn and use them to help define this world.

For the first definition I turn to Van-Heusen, who is fluent in almost all of the languages of Myrcia and some of those abroad. He writes in response to a letter on the subject, of which I have tried to recount his exact words, with my small impute for clarity:

"Garsu longa vitas ravabrevis. (A Draconic phrase written in the Myrcian scrip meaning: Art is long, life is short) You ask about the meaning of Rune, dear friend? Why such a thing cannot be expressed in word my dear old fool. Even the grandest of the ancient songs, Fabula Landon (draconic again, the tale of Landon), Utaru no Kawa to yama (rough phonic translation of the eastern dialects, The song of river and Mountain), ifelï ndaen eathdï (rough phonic translation of High elfish, Life and death) and last but certainly not least the great Moradin von Pan (rough phonic translation of mountain Dwarvish, epic of Moradin) could not even scratch the surface of the eclectic nature of Rune's peoples. The rich oral histories of the people have brought me to tears at times, and the tales from other countries tell stories so intrinsically different it changes the very soul. The quest you peruse is one that cannot be accomplished, especially with the years you must have left."

He continues his rant here and goes into a few stories, as well as a song, that are apart from my subject. I continue from the third scroll.

"The languages of rune are so varied I am still astounded. I have learned over twenty languages, not to mention dialects, in Myrcia alone. The people's cultures and experiences vary within even the many races of Rune. The truth is Mathias, that that is rune. The stories, the cultures, the songs and music, the very languages themselves are Rune. Write that in your book!"

This could be one of the best explanations of the name. Language in rune itself is important, and the numbers that exist are astounding. I have recorded accounts of over 134 different languages that have split into over 1000 separate dialects. I know at least 50 languages my self, but am only fluent in 13. And I'm not sure that is all of them either, I know much about this world, but I do not pretend to know everything.

Moving on to the second definition of Rune, I use the works of Antonio Grimore, Noted Astrologist and mystic, he has written many scrolls on the concept of Rune as a character. I’ll admit it is an odd concept and Antonio’s writing grew strange after joining the Illuminarian cult. However his works do provide incite into the more theoretical notions of Rune. Once again I will try to provide as much of the text as possible.

“Rune is dirt, but not dirt. It is air, but not air. It is simply a more complex form of writing as is set down by the gods. Perhaps even one greater than the gods. Some over-creator who writes with reality and time instead of pen and quill. If you notice the arrangement of the stars in the northern sky when in conjunction with the midsummer appearances of picorix and Bahamut. you can see what I call “the brush stroke,” a long line of stars. These stars when, used in conjunction with, various magical and mathematical algorithms that I have created along with Callous, (a noted wizard and glyphmancer of the time, disappeared from common knowledge along with Antonio) create a kind of Primer which can be used to “paint the sky’s” with stars, not only during this season, but in any season, once you have the primer. If you take these charts and overlay them with ground maps, available to us today, viable evidence comes that the heavens and earth are linked by some immortal bond that the gods created. Or perhaps they didn’t and this is just a side effect of their power, or perhaps it isn’t their doing at all. If you check the algorithm charts against the maps of the plains as is set forth by Edint Riein the first chapter of his final diary. (this is how I came across these works, backwards through Rie‘s journal. How he came across these works, and translated them is beyond me.) You can see that even the realms of the gods are held accountable to the heavenly primmer. Almost as if one train of thought. One script runs through rune defining and creating all things. As if Rune is a language, or, if not that, than at leas a story told by something else. A greater deity or power that controls us still.”

Most modern historians now consider Antonio to be at best a hack and at worst completely insane. After this particular scroll was writ he was excommunicated from the churches, all of them, and forced to flee under the cover of night. He is now gone from modern thought and practice. I take a risk now using his writing, but I am too old now to worry about consequences and his work has always intrigued me. Not because I believe him correct, quite the contrary in fact, it is because I have never been able to find contradiction in his work. I use him here for his concept as Rune as a story or continuing narrative. For in my eyes that is the true nature of the peoples of rune. As the great playwright Samuel Kane the First wrote: “all the worlds a game and the men and women players. They have their folds and their draws, and in his time one tells many a story.” Rune is not just a vehicle for stories, but in it’s very nature is a story it self.

Forgive the ramblings of an old man, I now sound like Van-Heusen! I have not explained my point very well, but I will let my words stand. Now I will get down to the more generally excepted answer for the name of Rune and stop all this theoretical instance.

Finally the last definition is what I hold and what is generally held around intellectual circles as the accepted answer for the world’s inheritance of it’s name. For this I will use my own writing as I happen to be the greatest historian on this particular subject. I will give a few of my sources in my Bibliography.

In almost all religious text the world of rune was formed with the use of magic. They say that the gods brought the raw elemental powers of the universe together and bound them finally together in giving the world It’s true name. Rune is not the worlds true name, but is believed to have come from that truly great happening. The different religions all argue of what or who created the world, but the method always seems very similar, even if only in theme. I have of course ruined the great poetry of that tale with my blunt writing, but my point is made.

Rune is magic. It runs in it’s very core. It controls all of it’s facets. That is why those who wield the power of magic are so powerful. That is why dragons, who I have theorized are an embodiment of magic, are so linked to the life of rune. Magic is controlled by sound and word that are in turn informed by the heart and soul of any living being. These are unreliable truths that I can prove with the wave of my hand. Magic is alive here, at some times uncontrollable, at others so subtle and complex it isn't even known, but it is never gone. If it ever does disappear, we may be faced with our own destruction. That I will write about later.

And that is all I have to say about that.