Introduction and Welcome

Professor Mathilda Stevens

The Room of Runes

The Room of Runes, which is the name for this classroom and where the student will learn about magical scripts and writing, contains various very important historical collections, ancient manuscripts in languages that are mainly dead, magical texts and original materials that require careful utilization. There are various steps that may be taken to ensure the safety of the materials including the practice of taking only one book at a time and placing it in a book holder as well as employing the use of witch lights.


Technical Notes on Viewing Runes
The ideal browser to utilize during this course is Firefox. Safari and Chrome do not allow the student to type the runes for their assignments and thus the following shortcuts may be used:

Safari Users:
One of the following fonts must be installed:
- http://www.dafont.com/ancientrunes.font
- http://www.dafont.com/tolkein-dwarf-runes.font
- http://www.dafont.com/maeshowe.font
Please note that this does not work on i0S and the page must be refreshed after installation.

Chrome users:
Begin by trying the fonts listed above. If these do not work, install the following:
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/junicode/files/


Required Reading and Age Recommendation

The textbook The Runic Lorebook: A Practicum Volume 1 is employed in this course. As the student will be learning a runic script it is recommended that the student is 14+ years old. This is a challenging course.

For the course syllabus, see actual lesson.


Vocabulary

Alphabet: A writing system where both consonants and vowels (the sounds of the language) are symbolized (derived from the words alpha and beta, the names of the first two letters/symbols in the Greek writing system).

Ancient Runes: Writing systems that are no longer in common use, used previously for magical texts and spellwork

Latin alphabet: The set of symbols used in the Western world to record language in a visible form.

Writing System: A code used to make language visible and fix it in a durable form.


What are Ancient Runes?

Ancient Runes refers to writing systems that are no longer commonly used but can still be used for magical purposes today. The western world commonly uses the Latin writing system, although other modern systems such as Chinese, Japanese, Cyrillic and German systems are also used.


Uses of Runes

Like all other writing systems runes fix thoughts and ideas forever in time; they allow for a wizard to turn a fleeting thought into something permanent, thus making magic more stable and timeless. They are used in magic for a variety of reasons.

Testing Runes for Magic

As runes can hold immense power if unsuccessfully deactivated, it is important to determine the status of a rune. This can be done by casting the Revealing Charm, Specialis Revelio, which should have one of four results.

1. No result: If the runes do not begin to glow the magic has either been drained or the activation spell was unsuccessful to begin with.
2. Amber or Bronze Glow: The rune or set of runes has been successfully activated.
3. Red Glow: The runes are activated however they are damaged in some way, they may be magically compromised or have activation issues. It can be very dangerous to use compromised runes and thus it is necessary to consult an expert if the rune/rune set glows red.
4. Pale Blue Glow: There is some sort of enchantment on the runes, although it is not clear what. Consult an expert and proceed with caution.

It is safest to consult an expert anytime when a rune or rune set does not glow bronze or amber.

Other notes:
The spell for witch light is Lumos permaneo meaning permanent light and is cast similarly to Lumos. It is extinguished through Extinguoh.