Mereology

Mereology is the study of rune construction. Colloquially, script writing and pointer design can also fall under the mereology umbrella, but script writing requires a different skillset and often mereology specialists cannot write good scripts and vice versa.

## History

The word *mereology* comes from the Henesian word *mér*, which means part. It literally translates to "the study of how parts form a whole." Though the Henesians were not the first to build runes, some consider them the first to make a philosophy of rune design. Others argue the Diao deserve this credit, and there is somewhat more evidence for this theory because most Henesian books and histories were destroyed in the sack of Hellen by the Seprum army. Origin aside, the study of rune construction is old in all parts of the Spiral Empire.

Some scholars argue the Ju and Makkadi tradition of calligraphy was born of mereology, because precise brush- or pen-strokes are required to create functioning runes. Ju, Makkadi, and Diao scholars emphasize the importance of precision, concision, and beauty in their runes. Seprum spriomancers, on the other hand, prefer speed and efficiency, so their runes tend to be sloppier but easy to understand and cast. In Dhi, where there is a strong tradition of hedge magic, skilled spiromancers make their runes as small and compact as possible. Kuan mages are happy to adopt the local customs, which allows them to seamlessly integrate into armies and bureaucracies alike.

Foreign runes, or those made in parts of the spiral over as-of-yet unexplored islands, are often only semi-decipherable.

## Parts of a Rune

Simply speaking, runes and glyphs have only two parts: the optional edge, which surrounds the rune, and the symbols in the center, sometimes called *mé*. However, symbols come in several varieties.

### Invocations

Invocations reference a script. Therefore, they can only be used in spiral magic. However, they are an excellent way to save space because a script can be as long as the writer wishes it to be. Each script specifies the shape, size, and color of its specific invocation and a certain number of arguments. In the example rune, the invocation on the bottom left takes a single argument: the pointer on the very bottom of the rune. In this case, the pointer could be any shape. Other scripts are more specific about acceptable argument types. If an invocation is drawn incorrectly, or given inoperable arguments, the rune will grow but will do nothing when cast.

### Pointers

Pointers, also called targets or triggers, tie a rune to something in the real world. The Dhi created the first pointers, which allowed them to write broad healing spells that would only take effect on the person or limb they drew the pointer on. The practice quickly spread and eventually grew into the most famous, and complex, pointers: the spiral tattoos or brands worn by most citizens of the Spiral Empire.

Most pointers take the form of a symbol that exists in the rune and in the real world. For instance, in the example sleeper, the proxy in the bottom left must be drawn, tattooed, or branded onto the body of one or more people. When the rune is cast, anyone wearing that rune will fall asleep. Pointers can also be placed on objects. Perhaps the most famous use of a target on an inanimate option is the Kuan arrowhead target, which is drawn on the shaft or head of an arrow. When activated, every person touching a Kuan arrow is killed instantly. Before defending spiromancers learned what it looked like, dodos often cast those runes accidentally, killing their own people and wounding morale.

Triggers are a type of proxy that works in reverse. Triggers wait for an event to take place in the real world before activating a latent rune. Because the rune must already be cast before the trigger occurs, the rune in question is no longer growing in the spiral and therefore invisible to any snooping spiromancers. This makes triggers excellent for traps and tripwires, as they cannot be detected without casting another rune. The most common triggers are carved onto chests and activate a spell if the chest is opened without performing the correct action, such as a stating a keyword.

Pointers must be unique enough that none besides the intended target already exist, but not so complex as to be impossible to tattoo or draw onto something.

### Proxies

Proxies are a more complex, modern symbol that attempt to bypass the need for pointers at all. For instance, in many cases, spiromancers may wish to cast a sleeper on someone fleeing—if they could pin the person down long enough to draw the pointer on them, they'd have no need to cast the sleeping spell at all. In this case, they rely on proxies.

The most common proxies use the gaze of the spiromancer to indicate which object the rune should affect. In the example above, the spiromancer must first lock eyes on the fleeing suspect, then cast the spell. Others may use skin contact. While these runes are more liable to go awry or not take effect, they are still useful in most situations. Other proxies rely on dictionary scripts, which attempt to provide so much detail about a person or object that the rune could only be cast on a single person. In Dhi, spiromancers use a unique proxy, tied to the biological material of the target, generally a strand of hair. They tie the hair's position to a dictionary and can cast spells on that person for seven years or until the hair is destroyed or moved.

Although still a new area of study, proxies hold much promise for reshaping offensive magic.

### Structures

Structures are simple symbols that enact a single change. They are similar to invocations but without an attached script, which is why they are used most often in hedge magic. What they lack in nuance, they make up for in size: even semi-complex actions can be distilled to relatively simple designs that fit within a rune. Although hedge witches still make use of structures, scripts allow for much more control and so structures are mostly abandoned in spiromancy.

## Creating Meaning

Meaning can be conveyed in a glyph in five ways:

### 1. Shape

Invocations, pointers, proxies, and structures all have a unique shape. If it is distorted in some way, the rune likely won't work when cast, or it may have undesirable effects.

### 2. Location

The location of each shape in the rune itself determines the order in which they take effect. Skilled Ju spiromancers sometimes design palindrome runes that can be cast upside down or reversed, but most runes must be drawn in a specific way to work.

### 3. Drawing order

The order in which each individual stroke of a single symbol is drawn can change the meaning. For instance, the example invocation above must be drawn starting from the upper end and proceeding to the lower or it invokes a different script.

### 4. Color

The color of each symbol subtly affects meaning in more complex spells. Generally, color is used to indicate which argument should be read first in scripts that take more than one.

### 5. Size

The size of each part of a rune indicates which parts should take the most power. In the sleeper spell referenced above, the largest part is the target invocation. This is because that invocation takes the most power when the rune is cast. The smaller invocations will absorb power more slowly as the rune grows in the spiral. An unbalanced rune can still be cast, but will often have unexpected, and sometimes deadly, consequences.