Rune locking

Rune locking is any attempt by the planting spiromancer to prevent unwanted individuals from casting a specific rune. It is impossible to prevent someone with access to the spiral from casting a rune in any way: spiromancers can cast distant runes, unknown runes, encrypted runes, and self-harming runes, and, with the exception of distant runes, it takes little mental or physical energy to do so. Innovations like the spiral wall prevent spiromancers from accessing the spiral entirely and can track who casts certain runes, but cannot prevent someone in the spiral from planting and casting as they wish.

## Methods of Rune Locking

Because of these limitations, rune locking focuses on scaring a mage off casting a certain rune or punishing the mage who casts the rune. Most trained mages know better than to cast a rune they do not recognize. Rune obfuscation is sometimes used as a simple form of rune locking by disguising the true effect of a rune. Over time, as mages learn to recognize common obfuscations, this method becomes less effective. Obfuscation is thus a constantly evolving field.

Self-harming runes, also called punishing runes or mea, automatically take a negative effect on the mage when cast, in addition to whatever positive outcome is desired by casting the rune. During the war between Seprum and the Henesian city-states, enemy spiromancers filled the spiral with Suinocere, a simple rune that inflicted a light slapping pain upon the caster and did nothing else. However, they grew so quickly and were so easy to plant, Seprum spiromancers had a difficult time finding the runes they wanted in the spiral, and dodos revolted, uninterested in repeatedly casting runes that caused them pain. This inspired Caecilia Priori to create the first self-harming rune: a combination of a sleeper and Suinocere that put a target to sleep and simultaneously inflicted pain upon the spiro who cast the spell. She quickly added an additional clause to her rune, which she called Meum, that ensured it inflicted pain upon the caster *unless* the spiromancer had drawn a pointer on their own body to prevent it. She could now distinguish, in a rudimentary way, between someone she wanted to cast the rune and someone she didn't.

Subsequent spiros innovated quickly, increasing the punishment to more intense pain, paralysis, or even death. Without any obfuscation, however, it was not difficult for enemy mages to examine the rune, determine what pointer they needed to draw on their body to render themself safe, and draw it. Obfuscation makes self-harming runes far more effective, though they are rarely used on the scale of an army due to logistical difficulties and the risks associated with breaking an encrypted mea. In one devastating case, a Seprum legion in Zjani drew protective pointers on every spiromancer in the army, intending to make heavy use of self-harming runes during the battle over the city. A Mauzji cryptanalyst cracked the obfuscation method and could see which pointer the spiromancers had drawn on their bodies. They then crafted a spell that would kill everyone wearing that pointer and, without spiromancers, the Mauzji army was able to push the legion out of the city.