Rune Knights

## Introduction

Rune knights were an ultimate display of power amongst the humans. Originally archers, defenders, frontliners, or even mages, they all had the ability to bear runes on their bodies. A mid-tier rune would raise the might of a melee fighter by thirty percent, putting a level 13 or 14 rune knight on par with a level 17!

Power levels were a pyramid in the world. The higher one went in level, the fewer there were with such might. There were few level 18s in the world, and they were all experts that many factions wanted to rope in. None of them would join an army to become cannon fodder. On the other hand, rune knights weren’t inferior to these saint classes but were far more numerous. There were enough of them to turn the tides on a battlefield.

Ever since rune knights had been introduced to warfare, all generals shared a maxim— Only rune knights can resist rune knights. The ones who made this miracle possible were runemasters.

Still, despite there being far, far more level 13 or 14 warriors than saint classes, the Sacred Alliance only had roughly a thousand rune knights. Even at the peak the empire had no more than three thousand.

This was all due to a bottleneck of runemasters.

Rune knights were strategic forces, and legendary mages were strategic deterrents. Much the same way, a runemaster was a strategic advantage. However, becoming a runemaster was difficult, requiring great talents in magic, control, and the ability to create with patience. Rune knights were limited in the number of runes they could bear, so runemasters needed to shrink large spell formations down to the size of a palm before inscribing them on their bodies. A powerful runemaster’s drawings were often so small the regular eye couldn’t even see it. The powerful inscriptions often took months to complete.

Even as one of the three human empires the Sacred Alliance possessed no more than a dozen odd runemasters, even when beginners were included. Nobles vied for the services of each, as even novice runemasters could add a small troop of rune knights to a family in a decade. This was an irresistible attraction, one that put runemasters not much lower than legendary mages in status.

## Overview

Knights that have more than 3 runes on their body.

They are the elite of noland's armies and the turning point in his arms race and development of combat tactics for war.

With 4 or more runes they can fight someone 3 level higher than them making a unit made up of them a terrifying sight on the battlefield.

Rune knights differed based on the rune sets they used, but the threshold to form a rune knight was very high. This made many noble houses vie for the creation of ‘rune knight-like’ knights, those that had three or four runes. Although these groups couldn’t match up to true rune knights at all, the lower threshold meant far more of them could be made. This allowed a family to quickly raise its powers, using elementary or grade 2 runes alone.

And thus, many powerful families had accumulated forces that were unique to them, the bearguard knights of the Schumpeters being one of these. The strength of the Schumpeters did not lie in their runes, instead in the careful breeding of their bearguard knights. The knights were gifted with immense strength and endurance, benefiting greatly from the runes they were given. Alongside their specially bred magic horses, the bearguard knights were known for unparalleled strength in their charges.

rune knights were the culmination of Norland’s war prowess, and that Richard’s rune knights were even better equipped than most of their contemporaries. 6;118

### **Disparity**

Unlike the Archerons, most other families were bottlenecked in rune knight production by the availability of runes.

## Richard

Runes weren’t even the problem; he just didn’t have enough suitable candidates. Most families would consider a 500-knight reserve force more than enough, and there was fierce competition on which of them would become rune knights once more runes were available, but with him the problem was quite the opposite. Book 6, Chapter 147

They had been informed that she would return soon, and Richard knew the kind of things the legendary mage liked. Their loud bellows resounded through Dragon Valley, much louder than the roars of one or two dragons. Sharon’s brow furrowed for a moment, but looking at the source she immediately broke into a smile and posed. Showing off was one of her favourite things to do.

Not just anyone could send thirty rune knights just as a welcoming committee. Even the families with so many rune knights wouldn’t do such a thing; rune knights were considered heroes of the battlefield and would think of such a thing as humiliating. Only Richard had the sheer numbers where rune knights didn’t feel all that special, agreeing to these kinds of tasks that could leave the picky Sharon excited and satisfied.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Book 1, Chapter 15
2. ↑ Book 8, Chapter 106