The Runes on the Runes


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Tartarus Sorceror

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Joined: Saturday, 18th June 2016, 13:57

Post Friday, 13th January 2017, 01:12

The Runes on the Runes

I went looking for the meaning of the runes on the rune tiles. It turned out to be a bit longer than I thought, so I post it here, in case anyone ever wondered what the letters mean.

The reason why it took a while is that there are various kinds of runes. There are the historical runes, which are similar to each other but were slightly different across place and time (futhark continental and futhorc in England, to make a big oversimplification), and also Tolkien's runes, which look similar but have different meanings and also weren't historically used (which I call Cirth).

Swamp: ᚲ = Cirth: S for Swamp
Shoals: ᛃ it could be two Cirth runes meaning S S (because there's two S in Shoals).
Snake Pit: S? It's not a rune, but looks like the Latin letter.
Spider's Nest: futhark ᚷ = G (Gossamer).
Slime Pits: ᚲ = S (Cirth) for slime or slimy.
Vaults: Futhark ᛗ = M (The rune itself is called "Man"). Otherwise it could be another kind of S ᛊ (still futhark) for "Silver".
Tomb: futhark ᛟ = O (or in Cirth U = Undead?). The rune itself means "inheritance".
Abyss: ᚾ: Cirth rune for L (Lugonu)
Mnoleg: futhark ᚹ = W (Cirth: P), somewhat similar to a Cirth G (for glowing?)
Lom Lobon: ?
Cerebov: futhark ᚠ = F (Fiery) (the only rune from Pan I am convinced about)
Gloorx Vloq: EI ? (Cirth &)
Pan: NG, Cirth U
Dispater: futhark ᛞ = D (Dis)
Antaeus: futhark I = I (Icy)
Asmodeus: futhark ᛈ = P (but similar to a futhorc ᚩ O for Obsidian)
Ereshkigal: futhark ᛏ = T (Tartarus)
Elven: I guess it's the one in ||||||||. It has the futhark rune ᛖ = E

If the artists wanted to share the actual transliteration, it would be pretty cool. :lol:
I Feel the Need--the Need for Beer
Spoiler: show
3DSBeTr 15DSFiRu 3DSMoNe 3FoHuGo 3TrArOk 3HOFEVe 3MfGlOk 4GrEEVe 3BaIEChei 3HuMoOka 3MiWnQaz 3VSFiAsh 3DrTmMakh 3DSCKXom 3OgMoOka 3NaFiOka 3FoFiOka 3MuFEVeh 3CeHuOka 3TrMoTSO 3DEFESif 3DSMoOka 3DSFiOka

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Dungeon Master

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Joined: Tuesday, 13th September 2011, 17:34

Post Sunday, 15th January 2017, 09:24

Re: The Runes on the Runes

You got most of them! The rune tiles were one of the first things I did for Crawl; they're all mine except the Snake rune, which already existed then, and yes, is just an S. The others are all Elder Futhark:

Swamp: ᚲ Kaunan, which means "ulcer" or "disease."
Shoals: ᛃ Jera, meaning "year" or "harvest"; I figured what with the tides that was vaguely related. Laguz (lake) was already used by Lom, see below.
Slime: ᚢ Uruz or Ura. Has several possible meanings, but one is "dross" or "slag."
Abyss: ᚾ Naudiz, "need" or "distress."
Mnoleg: ᚹ Wunjo. This rune had an older tile before I started so I have no clue as to the reasoning.
Lom: ᛚ Laguz. Means "lake," but it's just L for Lom Lobon. Another one I didn't pick.
Gloorx: ᛇ Eihwaz, "yew." I picked this one but I don't remember why!
Pan: ᛜ Ingwaz. Ingwaz was probably an earth god, maybe a precursor to Freyr.
The generic rune (which is used for undiscovered runes) is ᚦ Thurisaz; all the runes that didn't have unique tiles used to use that.

The rest you're correct about.

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Slime Squisher

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Joined: Wednesday, 20th November 2013, 11:37

Post Monday, 16th January 2017, 11:02

Re: The Runes on the Runes

Shtopit wrote:Ereshkigal: futhark ᛏ = T (Tartarus)

LOL no, it's just a bone rune. Let me spell it again: bone rune. Now you see this?

Crypt Cleanser

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Joined: Friday, 6th September 2013, 09:17

Post Monday, 16th January 2017, 20:12

Re: The Runes on the Runes

Never thought these will actually mean something.

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nago, Sar

Snake Sneak

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Post Monday, 16th January 2017, 20:57

Re: The Runes on the Runes

stickyfingers wrote:Never thought these will actually mean something.


I was amazed too. Even behind this detail there is some culture and thinking. The first one that got me was cultural notes after item descriptions.

All the usual negative sh*ts come after getting used to quality. Thx devs and related.

Ziggurat Zagger

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Post Tuesday, 17th January 2017, 23:06

Re: The Runes on the Runes

What about the abyssal stair runes?

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Sar

Cocytus Succeeder

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Post Wednesday, 18th January 2017, 03:50

Re: The Runes on the Runes

Amazing hidden story!
Nice it was revelead
screw it I hate this character I'm gonna go melee Gastronok

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