Twelve runes of measurement

The twelve runes of measurement, also called simply runes of measurement, are a set of peaceful runes that allow the caster to perceive the world in a different, often enhanced, way. All twelve runes are simple, meaning they involve no pointers, and always take effect on the caster. They take between twenty minutes and two hours to grow in the spiral and mis-drawing them results in generally harmless runes, making them easy for beginners and non-experts.

In recent times, more runes have been added to the scientist's arsenal, including versions of the original twelve that include pointers and can be cast by lab techs onto mentors. This has led to a variety of joking names for the twelve, including the twenty twelve runes, twenty-five of the twelve runes, TTT (twenty-thirty-twelve) runes, and ten thousand runes of measurement.

## History

Eleven of the twelve original rules originated in Diao prior to 1500 PS. They spread to Ju, Dhi, and Kuan, and Ju spiromancers added the twelfth rune, though Ju leaders and mages often showed deference to Diao by crediting them with the creation of all twelve. While the runes are simple to make a cast, it is difficult to interpret the results at times and many Diao mages dedicated their lives to recording observations about the way the runes worked.

In Dhi, healers used the twelve runes to design anatomy-specific versions to use in medicine, which were eventually known by the majority of the Aleya population. Lykos and Henesia adopted the twelve runes quickly and applied them in novel ways, often corresponding with Diao and Ju mages about their experimentation. They had less staying power in Mauzji, where scientists felt mathematics held the secret to the natural world, not human senses.

## Effects

### Aevus

Aevus measures the passage of time. For the simplest construction, it begins counting when the rune is cast and stops when the mage releases the spell, goes to sleep, or is killed, or when the spell runs out of energy. For more recent constructions, it can be triggered by something—word, action, event—and halted by a separate command.

### Dies

When cast, Dies gives an accurate time out of the 360-day year, where each day is separated into 360 equally long units, called *dies*. Using Dies, Diao scholars proved that each year is exactly the same length.

### Locus

Simpler Locus constructions tell the caster how far they have traveled since the spell was cast in units called *loci*. More complex versions allow the caster to start and stop measuring at will, use a proxy as a measuring tool, or measure the lengths of items they cannot touch.

### Procerta

Like Locus, Procerta is a measure of distance, but of height instead of length.

### Pondus

Pondus measures the weight of whoever casts it, including whatever they are holding. More complex versions can measure the weight of objects too far away to life. Using Pondus on objects in space, such as the sun or a star, results in an error, and and using it on objects too large to see, such as the planet, returns no answer.

### Laevitas

Laevitas tells the mage how quickly they are traveling. Even at rest, it gives a very large number, the same every time.

### Tingo

Tingo describes a color using a complex mathematical function that is not entirely understood. The results are somewhat easily compared to one another, but difficult to interpret on their own. The sun and stars return by far the largest function.

### Tegrita

Diao clerks have long used Tegrita to investigate the purity of coins and other precious metals. The rune works as a comparison—the clerk holds gold in one hand, a gold coin in the other, and the resulting percentage indicates how much of the coin is actually gold. The spell relies on having samples available, though recent efforts have tried to mimic certain hard-to-find materials using scripts alone.

### Parvus

Parvus allows the mage to "see" items too small for the naked eye, including plant cells. When cast, the mage struggles to see anything on a macroscopic level and will likely need assistance navigating, even in familiar environments.

### Aeta

Aeta gives the age of an object in unknown units. Because all humans and human-made objects return a zero, it is difficult to interpret the results. In general, astrological objects are older than rocks.

### Cibum

Cibum reveals the amount of internal order or cohesion an object has. Many crystals and minerals return very high Cibum scores, as do stars.

### Tantum

Tantum reveals the distance between the mage and a far off object. The units are impossible to determined as, so far, nothing terrestrial registers as more than a zero, as do the sun, moon, and planets. Stars, however, return values between four and many hundreds of millions.