ANCR-601 Lessons

This week at the front of the class, in the place where Professor Wessex’s finely carved desk typically sits, there is an odd looking museum plinth covered with a cloth -- and likely protected by more than what meets the eye. Quite a few of the students exchange glances, speculating with their classmates as to what might be underneath. With the toll of the clock, the Ancient Runes professor strides into the dim classroom, the doors closing behind her.

With a gentle movement of her wand, she removes the cloth to reveal a large, suspended plank of wood. It seems to float in the air of its own accord in a large glass box. With a sigh from one of the students, there is a glint of gold exchanging hands as if a bet was lost. The professor moves off to the side so as to not obscure the view as she speaks. 

Introduction
Hello again, students. Today we will finally be looking at actual examples of Rongorongo writings, what few still exist. However, the difficulty lies in ensuring that we are studying authentic samples and how to spot a fake. We will get to all of that in due time. First, we will discuss the reasons -- some of which you are already aware -- why there is such a shortage of samples to work with before outlining the characteristics needed to be considered an authentic Rongorongo text. Then, we will go over a few authentic examples as well as their powers, meanings, and likely uses.

Where Have All the Tablets Gone?
Obviously, part of the reason that few Rongorongo texts have survived into the modern era is for the same reason that the mysteries of the moai remain unsolved and that their history is still unknown. The island’s societal collapse and depopulation essentially unraveled the Rapanui people’s way of life. Many texts were likely destroyed in the strife that occured due to scarce resources and in the slave raids; and when the entirety of the island’s literate population was killed or taken, no more could be made.

However, this does not account for all of them. In 1864, only a year after the blackbirding ships had left destruction in their wake, a visiting priest reported seeing hundreds of the wooden tablets all over the island in people’s homes. Five years later, in 1869 when one such tablet was presented to a church official as a gift (and when the script finally began to get the notice it deserved), there were only a few dozen left. Much of the problem is that, with the scarcity of and demand for wood coupled with the now perceived uselessness of the tablets, the Rapa Nui saw no need to preserve them. They could no longer read them, nor use them for their magical purposes. They were simply the last few large hunks of wood that happened to be sitting unused, and therefore began to be repurposed for watercraft, fishing, fire-making, and other pursuits.

Saving Souls, Saving Scripts
To further complicate things, the few Rongorongo tablets that were saved ended up in Muggle hands. This is largely due to the fact that after the devastation of the magical community, the next people to travel to the isolated island were Catholic missionaries. Very few others -- magical or otherwise -- were concerned about a tiny island in Polynesia, much less spending large amounts of time and money to get there. The Catholic Church had both motivation and means to travel to unknown territories like this in the hopes of converting natives there to Christianity. Understandably, considering the Catholic Church’s history with witch trials and the Inquisition, very few magical persons took interest in becoming Catholic priests, which ensured that the Rongorongo tablets that were uncovered went straight into Muggle possession.

Fortunately for us, many of these pieces have since been recovered from Muggle museums and collections, but the magical academic community still suffers from this setback, as their studies were significantly delayed in comparison. It is for this reason that the majority of research is Muggle dominated, despite our superior examination methods.

However, while it easy to bemoan our luck, it does not do to forget that without the interference of these religious men, Rongorongo likely would have disappeared without a trace. By 1869, less than a decade after the decimation of the Rapa Nui population, only a handful of texts remained. If not for the missionaries and priests suddenly taking an interest in the tablets when they did, there would have likely been nothing left of them by the time we began to take interest.

Authenticity
Following the “discovery” of Rongorongo by the Western world in 1869, the market for Rongorongo texts -- or indeed, anything inscribed with the mysterious symbols -- exploded. Samples of the script were a valuable commodity, and one that many a sly Western entrepreneur or desperate local attempted to capitalize on more than once. Many false examples created for gullible foreigners sprang up and it became important to both the Muggle and magical spheres of the academic world to be able to distinguish between these fakes and true tablets. Due to our ability to detect magical traces (as well as the host of spells we can use), witches and wizards are much more adept at spotting fakes and uncovering genuine artefacts, but occasionally, there can be some interference, or it may not be safe to test with magic. Therefore, knowing the mundane physical and visible signs are important as well.

Firstly, as I mentioned last lesson, the type of wood used is important. Toromiro wood, from trees now extinct in the wild, is assumed to have been the original material that all spell tablets were made of. Magihistorians and herbologists tend to agree that there must have been something about the trees that made them more suitable, potentially even that this species of tree was more prone to be of wandmaking quality, and therefore more readily about to conduct magic. However, due to the oft-mentioned heavy deforestation and extinction, a suitable replacement was found in Pacific rosewood. It is unknown if Pacific rosewood is as good a conductor of Rongorongo and Polynesian magic as toromiro. Regardless, tablets made of any other type of wood -- particularly woods that were not originally native to Rapa Nui -- are immediately cause for skepticism. On that same note, any wooden artefacts that are not native to the island, such as oars in the European style or trinkets that show European influence, are largely regarded as falsified, as Rapanui literacy ended before Europe began to exert any influence on the island society.

Some other notable characteristics are in the style of inscribing. The text absolutely must be written in reverse boustrophedon, as anything else points to non-native imitations, or tablets that were created by illiterate and non-magical islanders. Additionally, while not absolutely required, many older and authentic examples display fluting, like the specimen you see in the front of the class. These narrow, raised marks serve to separate one line of text from another, and are potentially a mimicry of the islander’s first texts which were recorded on banana leaves that sadly deteriorated centuries ago.¹ Finally in terms of specifics, the symbols themselves were carved into the tablet in a two-step process. First, shallow cuts were made by delicate obsidian, most of which were then gone over a second time with a shark tooth. Occasionally, magiarchaeologists and the like find tablets, or portions of tablets, that have not been “finished” in this manner, though we can only speculate as to what this means.

Lastly, as a direct opposite to our discussion of any objects that show European influence being immediately discredited, the opposite is true for culturally authentic Rapanui pieces. Staffs, small idols, and reimiro -- all documented as being different Rapa Nui cultural artefacts -- are largely considered to be authentic with very few questions asked.

Confirming Magic
Even if a tablet meets all of the above physical requirements, there is still the possibility that a tablet might have lost its magic along the way, been deactivated purposefully, or never been magical to begin with due to being created in later attempts to revive the script. How, then, can we be sure that a tablet is magical? In most cases in the magilinguist community, we simply test the text to see if it has the described effect. However, as Rongorongo cannot be read with 100% certainty, there are many competing theories, and testing them all would be rather dangerous both to the integrity of the tablets, and to the testers themselves; there is always a chance of failure, rebounds, and spell damage.

Fortunately, over many years, a few different processes and tests have been developed for Rongorongo tablets. A text must go through the required steps to be officially declared magical. The first step is simply to attempt to detect latent magic. There is no spell for this, but it is simply something that comes with age and experience. A seasoned spell-caster, particularly one that spends time consciously attempting to detect the presence of magic, will know the tell-tale signs. Of course, ancient magic is often much harder to detect as it feels more “foreign” as well as faint, but it is certainly still possible, especially for those who have been exposed to that magic for long periods of time. Simply detecting these traces is not enough to officially declare a piece magical, however, as there is much room for error in this test. It is seen as a preliminary step. If a piece feels “dead” or does not magically resonate after being examined by multiple people, it is rarely ever subjected to further testing.

Once a Rongorongo tablet has been hypothesized as potentially magical, there are other ways to test its unknown properties. One of the most common ways is to apply the Enchantment Revealing Spell, which you learned back in your Second Year. You would think that would be the end of it, as the results of this spell are rather clear-cut: an amber color indicates activated runes, a red color indicates activated, but generally unstable runes, and a pale blue glow represents the presence of magic. Surely any of these color indicators appearing indicates the object is a magical artefact, right? Not so, unfortunately.

Firstly, the pale blue color of Enchantment Revealing Spell is not entirely specific to runic (script-based) enchantments. If the tablet was, at one point, imbued with a Waterproofing Charm of sorts by a cautious European visitor, this would register as pale blue. There are also some instances of objects showing with pale blue that have been submerged in potions, whether over long periods of time, or simply very strong brews. Finally, even if an object has been enchanted in some way, this does not prove that the script itself is magical. A broomstick, for example, is not a magical text, despite the fact that it is a magical object that has writing on it.

Secondly, and more importantly to runic magic, a red glow does not immediately indicate that the runes or glyphs were originally meant to be magic. This red glow can occur in many other circumstances, which was evidenced very clearly when researchers attempted to recreate the Awakening Spell for ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Many times, researchers’ botched attempts to activate a glyph resulted in a red reading.2 This, paired with the fact that much of Rapa Nui history is uncertain, and that there were a few documented attempts to revive the magic script after the blackbirding and depopulation occurred, it is impossible to rule out the fact that these items were never magical in the first place, and they were wrongly assumed so (either by the native population or curious explorers or collectors) and they were attempted to be “re-activated.”3 Therefore, a red reading is inconclusive and requires more testing and historical sleuthing. An amber reading is the only guarantee, and there are only four texts that give off an amber glow when tested, one of which we will be discussing in just a moment.

Certified
Now, we will take a look at three different categories of magically viable Rongorongo texts that have been discovered. Barthel, a name I now expect you to be familiar with, is the creator of the most standardized system of labeling the Rongorongo texts, assigning a letter of the Latin alphabet to each text, starting with “A” and ending with “Z.” Out of the 26 total texts, only eight have ever been proposed as currently magical, and only four have been irrevocably proven. There are a few different classes of magical artefacts that have been found: average spell tablets (which are the easiest to prove), other culturally authentic artefacts, and weapons. We will be looking at examples from each of these three today.

Text E, which you see at the front of the class, is one of the three from the first category of run-of-the-mill spell tablets. If, indeed, you can call anything about Rongorongo “run-of-the-mill.” It is absolutely one of the finest preserved examples, with perhaps only text B as a competitor for that title. This tablet, also known as Keiti, is made out of the island’s original toromiro wood, and was liberated from Muggle hands in a contentious and debated move during the early 1900s. It is believed to possess multiple different magical purposes, depending on the portion of the tablet. Some of the hypothesized magical purposes include spells of protection from squalls and stormy weather, an enchantment to increase the population of fish, enchantments to aid in planting and abundance of agriculture, and spells to aid in starting fires. The second hypothesized magical use is the only one that has been proven, though the methodology through which this was done is strongly frowned upon.4 Worse, we are not entirely able to isolate the string of glyphs that do so.

Next, texts B and L (or Aruku kurenga and the small reimiro, respectively) are the other two texts that fall into this category of “general tablets” that include multiple and potentially unrelated spells meant for everyday use. Text B is another of the four that gives an amber reading when tested.

The next subset of magical Rongorongo texts is far more specific. Unlike its daily-use counterparts, this text had very specific magical purposes. The only marginally viable example of this subset is text I, known as the Santiago Staff. It is the only known example of a runic magical weapon in Rapa Nui society. While this staff will glow red, many experiments have been conducted surrounding this piece. It is found to have quite a few different types of spells that fit into the wider archetype of battle magic found in many civilizations all over the world. Increased vitality, strength, and speed have been documented as being associated with this artefact. Additionally, there does appear to be some sort of luck enchantment applied. It is probable that there are other related spells, but this is neither certain nor proven.

Finally, there is the most tenuous group of magical texts. These are various cultural artefacts that have been more or less proven to have runic magic applied. The two tablets that currently fall into this category are texts C, and G. Text G, known as the “Small Santiago” tablet, is believed to be a genealogy. Lastly, text C is believed to serve some sort of calendrical purpose among others. Both of these texts have passed tests to prove that they are indeed magical, though neither of them glow amber when the Enchantment Revealing Charm is applied. They have only been able to be declared magic due to heavy magical traces and resonances that are easily detectable as well as strange, magical phenomena that have been observed to originate from the tablets. However, the exact magical intent of the tablets cannot be confirmed due to the specificity of the magic and our oft-referenced inability to understand the script. It is presumed that text C is imbued with magic tied to phases of the moon and may have to do with planting or harvesting, but because these spells may only be active one day each year -- or less often -- it is difficult to test the theories that surround it. Text J is in a similar position, as it is also a cultural artefact -- a reimiro. However, it has proven to glow amber when subjected to the Enchantment Revealing Charm, which makes it the last of the four certified magical texts as well as differentiates it from the two other objects in this category.

Closing
There are many other texts to be discussed, a few of which will be detailed in the next lesson. However, in the meantime, should you wish for more details -- either about texts mentioned here or others -- you can find more information in the journal I directed you to in our last lesson. For those of you with a memory like a leaky cauldron, the journal in question is the Anthropological-based Journal of Ancient Discoveries. You can find many additional details on all of the 26 texts there in Machallach’s “Rongorongo Text Catalogue.” I highly recommend reading it through to supplement your understanding. For now, you have four assignments. One quiz, another assignment testing your understanding of what makes a text magically viable, a practice translation assignment, and an extra credit assignment in which you can discuss a non-authentic text.

Footnotes

1. Banana leaves inherently have veins that form ridges and valleys much like the fluting on some Rongorongo tablets.
2. In almost all cases, the glyphs were recent constructions by the researchers and had no original magical past. The red readings came solely from unsuccessful activation attempts. However, red readings were also received from originally magical hieroglyphics.
3. As a note, there is no known proven activation spell for Rongorongo, and it is not entirely certain that one ever existed. If you recall our discussion of hieroglyphics and the Awakening Spell last year, there are many other ways to activate runes. One of the most prominent theories is that Rongorongo was, in fact, activated via ritualistic chants which are included on the tablets. By the logic of that hypothesis, we may be unable to activate Rongorongo until we can understand what the various magical tablets say.
4. For the record, no matter who you are, stealing a magical artefact from a Muggle museum, burning down said museum to cover your tracks, and taking the artefact out with you on multiple fishing expeditions is both unorthodox and incredibly unwise.

Original lesson written by Professor Venita Wessex
Image credits here, here, here, and here