Apprentice Runesmith

*"In another fifty years, perhaps I will have perfected this simple rune so I can learn deeper mysteries."*

## Basic/Special

(RoS) The Runesmiths are effectively a clan containing a few ancient families who have passed down the knowledge and skills of Runesmithing over the generations. Each Master Runesmith teaches the fundamentals of fire and forge to young members of his family, selecting the most talented to become Apprentice Runesmiths. While selection is a great honour, it means long years of study and service to his master in the creation of more complicated runes. Runesmiths rarely write down the secrets of their craft and even when they do, the knowledge is buried beneath riddles and puzzles. Apprentices must be patient, clever, and perceptive to rise in status. During this time Apprentice Runesmiths often leave the service of their mentor to gather ingredients, tools, and supplies for the forging of new runes.

**Note:** Only Dwarfs can enter this career. If you are rolling randomly for your

Starting Career, you can substitute Apprentice Runesmith for Scribe with your GM’s permission.

### Secondary Profile

**Skills:** Academic Knowledge (Runes), Evaluate, Perception, Read/Write, Runecraft, Speak Arcane Language (Arcane Dwarf ), Trade (Smith), Trade (Armourer or Weaponsmith)

**Talents:** Rune (any two with an Inscription Number of 10 or less)

**Trappings:** Medium Armour (Leather Jack, Mail Shirt), Trade Tools (Runesmith)

### **Career Exits**

Journeyman Runesmith, Runebearer, Scholar, Scribe, Shieldbreaker

## A Day in the Life

While the life of a runesmith is not an easy one, apprentices in this ancient craft have it slightly better than many other young trainees – they are carrying on a great family tradition and have been chosen due to merit.

They must perform the same scut work as any apprentice, but all of it serves a purpose besides the master vicariously paying back his own hard student years. Everything is a lesson, and if the apprentice doesn’t see the lesson at once, he must puzzle it out, and as he does so, he learns more and more. The seemingly menial task of kneading dough might temper the wrists for carving steel.

The laborious copying of dull books of mining records teaches the way to precisely and perfectly form characters. The repairing of a broken clockwork device shows how parts relate to a whole, how to bring magic into what is otherwise a simple symbol. Without the proper training and understanding, a rune is worthless; a human smith could copy a rune exactly and it would perform no magic at all, because he doesn’t understand it the way a dwarf does. The map is the territory; the rune is the power it symbolises.

## Little Known Facts

The greatest day in an apprentice’s life is when he is trusted with his First Carving, when he is given the tools and the blade and told to inscribe a rune upon it “for real”, not for practise or training. The blade he makes will be given to a member of his own family for use in battle, and how that battle fares is considered to be an omen.

If the wielder of the First Carving triumphs, or even dies while helping the dwarfs to victory, it is considered a positive sign; if an enemy captures the blade, it is a sign of ill omen.

At times, runesmith bloodlines grow thin, especially after a major invasion by orcs. During these rare events – perhaps once a century – runesmith families will seek to adopt dwarfs from other clans. There are many competitions of lore, skill and courage, but a handful will be chosen, and will abandon all claim on their own heritage and be fully accepted as part of the rune workers’ family.