ANCR-701 Lessons

Professor Wessex is already at her desk today, seemingly hard at work. Instead of the scratching of her autonomous quill, the Slytherin brandishes a golden quill which dances quickly across the page. A moment before the clock tolls to begin class, the intent blonde woman assertively marks the bottom of the long scroll with a flourish and sets the nearly-glittering quill away in a case that she stows in her desk. Her diminutive owl immediately presents a leg to take the bound scroll, and students barely have time to catch the Ministry seal pressed into it. With her business concluded, Professor Wessex comes around to the front of the desk to address the class.

Introduction
As some of you may appreciate, the activation method used for any particular set of runes is important and can tell us much about the language, culture, and script alongside which it was used. We’ve covered many of these different types already, but a comparison is certainly useful, as well as filling in the few gaps remaining in your knowledge of activation. 

How It’s Done
Obviously, given that this is something that is still being researched, there is much to be discovered about this topic. Many a script lies dormant because the activation method is unknown, or the specific spell or ingredients are lost to time. However, there are some things we know for certain — namely, the specifics of how each activation type works. 

Spoken Word 
We will start with what is, so far, the least common activation type, but certainly still an interesting one. For some scripts, all that is required is that the person speaks the words. The magic to activate them has already been put into place (either upon its inscription or later) either through a focusing ritual or a spell. That is, the runes have been set up so that they can be activated at any time, and you only need to supply a catalyst. Take, for example, Filibusters No-Heat, Wet Start Fireworks, for which  the catalyst is water. This is, naturally, not quite the same when activating ancient runes, but the principle is similar. All you have to do is apply the right action. 

In this case, the action is speaking the correct word or series of words. What that is exactly varies from script to script and even from inscriber to inscriber. On occasion, the activation phrase is inscribed right in the object, usually in the first line or two. However, there are some other fairly common situations. These include such possibilities as needing to read the entire text or needing to know the activation phrase separately from other sources. As might be expected, this is one of the most complicated methods of activation and is very easy to get wrong.

An issue that arises from this sort of activation is that technically, anyone can set it off. Muggles, seven year olds, and technically any creature — being or beast — can all cause the runes to activate as long as they are able to replicate human speech and the sounds required for that language, a literal nightmare for any magical Ministry. However, fortunately the likelihood of any Jarveys, Muggles, or toddlers knowing the correct activation phrase or being able to read aloud in a dead language is quite small.

As a note, Rongorongo was thought by some scholarly camps to have this activation type, which would have meant that Rongorongo was a syllabary. However, like everything surrounding Rongorongo, this is undecided and unconfirmed. Cypriot is a more clear example, and a confirmed syllabary. One of the most famous pieces, βίβλος χϯιοι γρăΦη, which roughly translates to “The Book of One Thousand Inscriptions” demonstrates this function nicely. Found in Enkomi, Cyprus in the early 1900s, it details — as the title suggests — a thousand assorted inscriptions used in ancient Cypriot society. Each inscription, when read aloud, activates a different magical effect. The inscriptions range all over the magical spectrum, from spells to create flying carpets, to mustache-braiding charms. The book is the single most informative look into Cypriot runic magic.

Spell
On the other side of the Galleon, the use of an activation spell is presently the most common activation type discovered. I would hope you are familiar with this activation type, as the very first runic alphabet that you learned used it. However, for the sake of completeness, we will detail the specifics for this activation type as well. All that is required is that a spell is cast in order to trigger the activation of the runic inscriptions. This can vary slightly from culture to culture and era to era, but generally includes a wand movement, willpower, concentration, and an incantation. Technically speaking, spell-based incantations can include fewer of these, such as in cases of wandless or nonverbal casters, the use of different foci, or different general methods of spell casting.

Spell-based activation can be via one uniform spell used for the entire script, such as with Nordic runes, or there can be multiple varieties of spells that all serve essentially the same functions, such as is suspected to be the case with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. The current Awakening Spell is believed to have originally been one of many, and potentially not even the most potent or effective version (or not the most potent for all situations). Regardless, since it is the only one that has been uncovered to date — and only after significant research — it serves well enough for the present.

Potion
Potion-based activation is something of a newer discovery. It is not that it has not been around, but that many researchers have — until recently — incorrectly assumed that potion-based activation was a less efficient and effective method that most  civilizations eschewed. While it is true that this activation type is largely relegated to the most ancient cultures and examples of runic scripts, there is no authoritative evidence that can speak to it being less effective.

To be a potion activated script, the magic of the runes must be dependent upon the application of a potion. This potion may include more non-magical ingredients than magical ones, but when all is said and done, it must be infused with magic one way or another by its creator. Some potions are fairly simple, having only one or two ingredients, and rely heavily on a contribution by the brewer, while others are intensely complicated, often involving highly potent magical substances and planetary alignments. Some magiarchaeologists hypothesize that cultures that used potion-based activation may have had multiple rival recipes, as was possible with spell-based activation, but this has not been proven.

Two examples that perfectly exemplify the kinds of scripts that are activated via potion are Veranaith and Maya hieroglyphics. Veranaith, uses a very simple recipe — though it is advisable to brew it under a full Moon — whereas Maya glyphs require a dizzyingly elaborate concoction involving blood, parts of native magical creatures, and brewing for a long period of time in accordance with many different celestial alignments. As you will note from your reading, this has some effects on their magical uses and potency.

Mental Activation
The last category catches the remainder of other possible options, and relies solely on the concentration and willpower of the inscriber. To be clear, this does not include any form that incorporates a concentration aspect as part of a larger process, but instead when the concentration (and application of the necessary willpower) is the only magical part of the activation. As an example, because Phoenician necessitates brewing a potion and imbuing said potion with your intent and concentration, it would not fit into this category.

Other than that, this category is quite broad, and includes scripts that are activated via entering a meditative state, which can be reached multiple ways, such as focusing intently on the process of inscribing the object, song and dance, and traditional meditation. A few examples of this kind of script are Koto-Kanji, which we have discussed a good deal already, as well as Phaistos, a relatively under-researched script that requires the enchanter to focus on the spinning of the disk upon which the runes are engraved in order to clear their mind and enter a meditative state so that they can enchant the runes.

Activation Trends
While there is no hard-and-fast rule for which activation types are prevalent in which society, as many of you will have noted there are certainly trends in their use. As mentioned, spell-based activation is very popular, with the rest fitting into more niche situations. For example, potion-based activation is more common in societies that are significantly more ancient, even when compared to our normal fare in Ancient Runes. Additional trends that have not been noted revolve around concentration-based activation.

In particular, Eastern civilizations seem to be more prone to purely meditative practices to activate their glyphs, which has largely, though informally, been attributed to the higher prevalence of meditation in their societies in general. While there are certainly some non-Asian areas that utilize concentration to imbue their runes, they are few and far between, and some magihistorians used this correlation to hypothesize that these non-Asian cultures may have had contact with Asian counterparts at some point in order to influence their activation practices.

In Your Blood
After learning about concentration-only methods of activation, it is important to remember that activation types are simply another way of using your magic. That is, these are just multiple methods of getting the magic from you to the runes. This host of different types has been developed by different people and different civilizations as methods to do it more effectively.

Just as a wand is not inherently magical despite the fact that it is made out of magical items, a magical alphabet is nothing more than potential until it is enchanted, or activated. While we may call things “magical scripts” or “magical alphabets,” they are not inherently magical despite the fact that they have magical associations, have been created with only magical meanings in mind, or have the ability to be enchanted.

Problems for Researchers and General Use
Before we close for the day, it would be ill advised to omit the challenges that each individual activation type brings. As this year is intended to equip you with the knowledge to take a critical look at any script that takes your fancy, it is important for you to know what you are up against. The following is a look at what obstacles will stand in your way should you choose to study a previously unknown — or simply an under-researched — script with any of the following activation types.

Spell-based activation, because it has been so well studied, presents the fewest problems. In most cases, the snags have been discovered and solutions have been found. The largest issue with this form of activation is simply finding the spell that works. Of course, this may be enough of a challenge in and of itself. As you saw with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, the Awakening Spell took 4,036 attempts to discover and was only recently perfected. Add to this the fact that one script may have even had several different spells for activation, and one witch could easily spend multiple lifetimes on the study of activating one particular set of runes, particularly if the activation spell was not well-documented in the surviving texts or the original civilization. 

Turning to spoken word activation, there are some obvious issues that come to the forefront upon study. In many cases, the language that corresponded with the script was not as well recorded. The pronunciation of a dead language can stymie even the most knowledgeable researcher. Even with languages as well-established as Middle Egyptian have considerable doubt as to how their words and names were pronounced, which is a common issue with scripts that lacked vowels.

Potion-based activation, as you learned with Phoenician, has its pitfalls. Even without the specific, unfortunate circumstances that surrounded the flammable Phoenician Ink, potion-based activation can severely limit the longevity of the runic inscription to which it is applied. This is a particular concern with mixtures that include perishable ingredients or mixtures that —for one reason or another — lose their potency, like with Veranaith. Moreover, if the recipe for the potion was not recorded (or not entirely recorded), it can be almost impossible to find the correct combination of ingredients as researchers are reduced to simply throwing ingredients into a pot and hoping for the best.

As our last topic of discussion, we have activation via pure concentration. If you know anything about wandless or non-verbal spellcasting and the discipline it requires from Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, or any of your upper-level classes, you will know that using your magic with minimal to no aids to help direct or focus it is no simple task. Generally, the cognitive ability required to activate runes in this manner is beyond the sphinx’s share of people (even if they are capable of basic non-verbal magic). It is more feasible for those who have practiced mental discipline over the entire course of their lives, which is, again, why it is more common among cultures that have a predisposition towards meditation.

Closing
This brings our discussion of activation types to a close. Along with your supplementary text and your previous years of study, this should provide adequate context for whatever scripts you encounter moving forward. Next week, we will begin delving into the topic of materials and the role they play in runic magic. In preparation, it would behoove you to ensure you have thoroughly reviewed the entries on Kharosthi and Magyar before our next class.

For now, you may complete your assignments, including a quiz on the general information covered today, a quiz in which you will need to identify which scripts are paired with which type of activation (which will be quite difficult to do without the help of your textbook), an extra credit assignment on trends in activation types, as well as your review assignment, which will cover Germanic runes.

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