Magic Mondays

This week for Magic Mondays we bring you something completely different: an array that doesn’t work.

This week’s array’s name isn’t short, sweet, or even a pun. It is called “The Runegiver and His Companions”

Notation: In the centrum: Bür. For the loci, clockwise from the top: The two Brothers Riada, the Golden Pugilist, the Half-Man, and Woudas the Burnt Angel.

Description: While this array doesn’t have any effects, it is one of the most iconic and popular arrays in the world of The Runed Age. That is because it tells the story of how humanity received the runes and arrays. Every religion, whether organised or formalised, heathen or pagan, has the figure of Bür and his Companions embedded somewhere in its traditions and scriptures. Every religion and culture differs on exactly who and what these six mythic figures were, but there are some broad notions which remain the same, especially in Middelburg where the game is set.

In Middelburg, the Prodigalist and Progenitorist faiths largely agree on the story of Bür, if not the details: he came ashore on the eastern coast of the continent of Jytoh (or Alfresia if you ask any Alfresian) and immediately displayed his vast magical prowess to the locals. More than anything however, he came with a message; a message that was of the utmost importance during the hundred year long Great War with the Inhumans. This message was that humanity was special, humanity was unique, and with faith and a strong will humanity could triumph against the five evil Inhuman species. And with that, he travelled across the known human territories and taught the humans how the runes and arrays work. By the time he was done, the tide of the war had turned and humanity was on the brink of triumph. Then he climbed in a boat on the western shore of Jytoh and sailed off, never to be seen again.

But he wasn’t alone. The first figure Bür met was the Burnt Angel Woudas, cast out of the heavens for his transgressions and forced to guide Bür across the human lands as his punishment so all would see the evil in his heart displayed on his broken and burnt form.

But a wizard and a burnt angel was too much for many people and they fled from Bür as they would have from the Inhumans. This was when he found the Brothers Riada. Both were called Riada, but one was large of frame and the other wiry and thus Small Riada and Big Riada will forever be their monikers. They were as human as you and I and they presented the human and humane face of Bür so others would come and learn from him. For their service Bür gave Small Riada a horn as big as the wiry man, a horn that could topple mountains and be heard across the world. To Big Riada he gave the greatest of all mounts, a giant boar made of pure blue corundum.

Throughout their travels they met the Half-Man. Half human, half Ogre they say. He was an expert woodsman and tracker and could guide the party through any wilderness. It is said he could speak with animal due to his Inhuman heritage and the very earth came to protect Bür across his travels.

Lastly they met the Golden Pugilist. Skin the colour of pure gold, this warrior came to see the wise wizard and challenge him to a fight, for no one had ever beaten the Pugilist. Beaten within a second, he pledged his service to Bür and Bür tattooed him with arrays the likes of which the world had never seen again. The Pugilist could walk on rain drops, lift elephants with a finger and no blade could pierce his side. He became Bür’s bodyguard and was said to have slain the Akkedyr king himself.

So this array doesn’t have any effects, but it tells the most important story in the Runed Age: the story of why it is called the Runed Age.