Ni’mathay

Long, long ago, in the times before the Lightfall where gods walked amongst the mortals of Ma’rune, arcane abilities were vastly superior to what we see today. This was, in part, due to the fact that more arcane energy was surging around the world before Lightfall. But there was another reason as to why ancestral arcane abilities were so powerful.

The goddess Uriel taught her followers how to utilise Ni’mathay runes in order to boost their arcane abilities. These runes, hand drawn with various combinations, were a secret arcane language. Uriel instructed her followers not to divulge this secret to anyone else, lest they wished to face her wrath.

“That’s new.”

Percia startles, waking from her slumber with a sharp gasp, knocking aside a few loose scraps of paper. The owner of the voice laughs, a lilting tone, and once Percia regains her bearings, she glares across the table.

“Didn’t your parents ever tell you not to sneak up on someone who is sound asleep?” she says. “You’re a menace, Uriel.”

That laughter is replaced by a pout. Fake hurt flashes through the goddess’ iridescent eyes. Playful as Uriel can be, Percia is forever grateful that Uriel lets her comments slide time and time again. She is no fool - if Uriel truly felt slighted, or perhaps ever grew bored, she would likely smite her with a simple flick of the wrist and be done with it. As it stands, the goddess actually seems to like her.

“What are these peculiar things?” Uriel asks, still pouting but otherwise ignoring Percia’s comments. She inspects the runes intently, eyes glowing with unbound curiosity.

Percia shrugs. “I’ve been tinkering with your runes. Seeing how far I can push the boundaries of what you’ve already taught us. This one,” she pushes one of the paper scraps forward, three runes etched onto the surface in pitch black ink, “is a combination of stone, blood and will. I’m hoping it might help to empower the shield of a lifeblood arcanist.”

Application of Ni’mathay

As a written language, Ni’mathay runes must be applied directly to a surface. This could be the floor, a piece of paper, a person’s own body - so long as the runes are written down, they will be able to activate upon command. In addition, the runes can be written using anything so long as they themselves are visible. Ink, blood, etched into mud or carved into stone and steel. One must be careful though because as soon as a rune is altered, it no longer works (unless it is altered in such a way that it is combined with another rune).

Uriel was also big on intent. Though there are base runes, the resulting arcane energy can be applied in any way the arcanist wants. Within reason, of course; Ni’mathay for ‘water’ cannot be used to start a fire no matter how much the arcanist wills it. This does give them room to combine runes though, and the first arcanist to employ such a tactic was Percia of Las Sorenca, a favoured champion of Uriel.

Once the runes have been applied to a source, they empower the arcane essence of the user (or whoever activates the rune).

Ni’mathay cannot be taught to someone that isn’t an arcanist. If they don’t have any arcane essence within them, then the Ni’mathay runes merely appear to them as blank circles. To arcanists that have not been taught Ni’mathay, the runes appear as morphing shapes. Many tales have been heard from arcanists across the world encountering strange runes that shift from circles, to squares, to triangles etc. but have seemingly no meaning behind them.

What Happened to Ni’mathay?

When Ma’rune urged their fellow gods to decrease their day to day interactions with the mortals that walked the world, Uriel listened. In doing so she taught Ni’mathay to less and less of her followers, until eventually she stopped teaching them at all. It came down to her followers to teach each other Ni’mathay which proved rather difficult. Where Uriel could have provided further insight, her followers could not, so the understanding and subsequent usage of Ni’mathay dwindled.

After Lightfall, it became nigh on impossible to find anyone who knew the runes. Though there are rumours abound that a small group of Uriel’s followers may still use Ni’mathay, no one has ever found this fabled group. Most don’t believe they exist. That the group is just another folk tale from a forgotten past.

List of base Ni’mathay runes:

• Air
• Blood
• Death
• Fear
• Fire
• Peace
• Rift
• Sight
• Spark
• Stone
• Time
• Water
• Will

We are few in number now, hiding on the outskirts of Valissa. The Church ran us out of Yondar, fearful of our Ni’mathay, and oh how quickly the people forget. Perhaps the Nightsingers will be more forgiving should they find our new shelter. Or perhaps they will react the same.

It matters little to me. So long as your magic still works, my Untempered Lady, so long as your teachings still bring us power, then I will do what I can to protect your knowledge and my people. Until such a time when you may return.

A scrap of paper torn from an unknown arcanist’s journal