"An Ash I know stands, Yggdrasil by name, a high tree, drenched with bright white mud; from there come the dews that drop in the dales, it always stands green over Destiny’s well.
From there come maidens, knowing much, three from the lake that stands under the tree: ‘Destiny’ they called one, ‘Becoming’ the second – they carved on wood tablets – ‘Shall-be’ the third; laws they laid down, lives they chose for the children of mankind, the fates of men."
- Stories of the Elder Edda
The runes are the language of the universe. When used, you manipulate fate to create the event that occurs when uttering or activating one of the runes. They are not a form of magic, rather a manipulation of the physical universe itself. Runes can be embued onto objects, but masters are able to simply utter the rune and cause the physical universe to bend to their will.
Basic Runes
- Thurisaz: The Rune of Thor. The rune's literal meaning is "the Giant," the rune that reflects pain and suffering. Coats your body in the electric currents that release from your nervous system, emanating a yellow light. Your ability to perceive everything around you is at its maximum capabilities as everything becomes connected and you can release powerful lightning bolts that split whatever is in their passage. The electric currents along your body also serve as protection, but should the protection crumble, your body will suffer unbearable pain and you will not be able to move. In this form, it's almost as if you move purely through battle reflexes.
- Kaunaz: The Rune of Fire. The rune's literal meaning is "Ulcer," the rune that reflects pain and mortality. Your sweat and body-heat becomes a burning fire that can be manipulated, burning hotter the faster you are moving or under any intense pressure your body is put under. If you punch a person when using this technique, it would feel as if they received the blistering explosion of an erupting volcano against them.
- Berkana: The Rune of Earth Mother. The rune's literal meaning is "Birch," the rune that reflects fertility, growth, and sustenance. Berkana makes your muscles and skin extremely durable and resistant to physical attacks, especially solid hits. While granting strong defense, Berkana lets you mold the earth easily with your own hands and feet without suffering damage. This technique is primarily used to kick the ground at your opponent and depending on the manner of the kick, you can either send giant boulders of debris rocketing towards them or a mountain chain rearing into them. Aimed directly beneath you, your kick can cause a disruption in the earth's crust and mantle, releasing lava and volcanic eruptions.
- Hagalaz: The Rune of Air. The rune's literal meaning is "Hail," the rune that reflects destruction and chaos. Utilizes the air you breathe as a source of power to greatly increase your already augmented physical power. In addition, that very air you breathe becomes vulnerable to your power so pushing it and knocking it around will be far easier now to you.
- Nauthiz: The Rune of Necessity. The rune's literal meaning is "Need," the rune that reflects unfulfilled desire. Also known as the Rune of Shadow. A rune that binds shadows of any object and allows for the manipulation of that shadow, sapping the power over time as you manipulate it. Manipulation includes forcing it to become a tangible object for powerful attacks or letting it take a constructive form. If used in a dense area where shadows populate the ground, like a forest, you're able to sense all that are within those shadows and can manipulate all these shadows at once.
- Isa: The Rune of Ice. The rune's literal meaning is "Ice," the rune that reflects fortitude. The Isa Rune controls both the weakness and strength of objects. Imbuing it on yourself, an object, or person can coat it in an icy aura, fortifying its defenses deeply to where not even energy can pass through. Or cursing an object or person to make their defenses brittle and easily fallible through an icy aura. Doing either requires some form of physical contact and the defenses created are not indestructible.
- Fehu: The Rune of Frey. The rune's literal meaning is "Wealth," the rune that reflects prosperity and the circulation of such power. Also known as the Rune of Luck. The rune requires for you to imbue it on other inanimate objects around you and then wait 10 seconds for them to charge. Once they are charged, it will ensure that the next attack you receive will transfer 5% of that damage onto the objects you imbued Fehu with.
- Inguz: The Rune of Fertility. The rune's literal meaning is "the god Ingwaz (Frey)," meaning beginning and the actualization of potential. Also known as the Rune of Harmony. It removes the effects of whatever Rune you are using and also cleanses the body of any ailments or pain.
- Laguz: The Rune of Water. The rune's literal meaning is "Lost," meaning formlessness, chaos, and the unknown. This heals the body and can restore your limbs by stimulating cell reproduction and replication. Used upon others, the rune also allows for communication between your mind and theirs. If used upon an opponent, one can even stir illusions and dreams within their mind that affect their body in the physical world by destroying their cells and nerves.
Major Runes
- Sowulo: The Rune of the Sun. The rune's literal meaning is "Sun," meaning success and solace. This is also known as the wheel of power. This utilizes both the powers of Kaunaz and Thurisaz. Any attack you receive is transferred into this rune as a form of power, multiplying it. This erupts your nerves, forcing Thurisaz to awaken and coats your body in an already burning sweat. To the opponent, you appear to be the manifestation of a star itself. This technique only lasts one second, but that is enough. You rocket towards them reaching them in an instant (onlookers would only see a double flash of light), hand extended out like a spear, and split them apart, a ray of light piercing further past them and disappearing deep into space. All of the power used up in this technique is released into the opponent and beyond, turning them to burning embers and ash, thus the wheel of power. Due to the sheer power used in this technique, its use beyond one time in battle is limited as controlling the sheer destructive power in one's energy to allow for further use is nearly impossible without the Osaett Heiko (Osaett Heiko gives absolute manipulation of one's own energy). After using it, Sowulo tends to leave one vulnerable as the aftereffects of Thurisaz would leave one unable to summon energy for an hour and Kaunaz would leave one's body terribly sore. It's said this rune has enough power to split the sun itself.
- Eohwaz: The Rune of the Horse. The rune's literal meaning is "Horse," meaning trust, faith, and companionship. It takes its name in the pounding of the 8 hooves of Sleipnir riding throughout the universe. The rune has the power to create 8 clones of any object that travel through each dimension of the universe. If Eohwaz is embued into an attack, that attack will do damage across all realms if the attack is focused. The trick to Eohwaz is knowing that these clones are independent and can act upon that independence by being willed into the realm you are in and attacking.
- Gibo: The Rune of Gift. The rune's literal meaning is "Gift," meaning generosity. Also known as the Rune of Divine Interaction. This rune binds to opponents, allowing you to remotely connect one other rune to them. Ex. Using Kaunaz upon the rune would set them alight immediately. This requires physical contact by some means either through them touching you or through imbuing it into an object that thus touches them. However, an object can only be bound with Gibo once before it is imbued with another rune through the divine interaction. This can be bypassed however by imbuing Gibo into an object, say multiple daggers, and hitting that object with those Gibo imbued daggers which would then achieve basically the same except on a stack. The amount of objects you can imbue with Gibo is only limited to your energy limit, but once you use the divine interaction from one Gibo, there will be a cooldown and you will not be able to use another rune for 5 minutes. If using multiple Gibos, it'd be smart to use the divine interaction on all of them at the same time to avoid the cooldown punishment.
- Algiz: The Rune of Sanctuary. The rune's literal meaning is "Divine Might," meaning protection from enemies and defense of that which one loves. Your presence creates the image of a burning red fortress around you, withstanding almost any siege from the outside. Should it be used at point blank range with your opponent near you, they will be hard pressed to escape the fortress. Seeing as it's a fortress, you can summon men to man the fortress and lay siege upon enemies should you wish.
- Mannaz: The Rune of Man. The rune's literal meaning is "Man," meaning augmentation and support. You summon aid from any kind to fight with you or for you. These men are equipped however you wish, but they are still mortal.
- Teiwaz: The Rune of Tyr. The rune's literal meaning is "the god Tiwaz (Tyr)," meaning honor and victory. Also known as the Rune of Victory. Your presence inspires those around you and grants them an affect similar to being in the 2nd stage of the Physical Plane. Furthermore, you can seal a portion of this Physical Plane's power into objects, drastically increasing their power.
- Dagaz: The Rune of Dawn. The rune's literal meaning is "Day," meaning hope and happiness. It's a technique that creates a purifying wave of light. Smashing your palm into the ground will create a wave of light in all directions, the tidal wave raising and grazing the heavens before it comes down and swallows what's in its path with a vaporizing power.
- Ansuz: The Rune of Odin. The rune's literal meaning is "the Aesir God," meaning prosperity and vitality. The rune that binds one's fate. Your left eye glows a pale white and should your opponent look at it, it will ensure that the next attack you make will hit through the binding of fate.
- Jera: The Rune of Protection. The rune's literal meaning is "Year," meaning harvest and reward. A defensive technique that summons spectral soldiers in a phalanx formation, a "wall of shields" made entirely of energy formed by the units standing shoulder to shoulder, holding their shields up so that they overlap. The shields create a bulwark that can take extreme amounts of physical damage without wavering, and can also split apart to reveal bristling spears to heave against the enemy. The armor, color and crest on the shields of the units will always depend on the Saga of the user.
- Eiwaz: The Rune of Death. The rune's literal meaning is "Yew," meaning tree, enlightenment, and liberation from the fear of death. It's the rune most associated with the World Tree itself. This is the final rune and it should only be used as a last resort. It transforms your life-force into death-force, painting your aura black. Your skin cracks with the excess of power as even your presence is strong enough to kill those that linger around you. While this Rune makes you even stronger (your punches have enough weight to feel like a collapsing star), any contact you make with the opponent results in their instant death and even their soul crumbles into the afterlife.
Prime Runes
- Vegvisir (Rune of the Wayfinder): A rune that lets you know exactly where your target is even when moving at the instant speeds seen in this plane and allows you to track them wherever they roam if they are within your presence.
- Gapaldur (Rune of Conquest) and Ginfaxi (Rune of Heroes): Two runes that require combined use to truly be of use. Gapaldur empowers the right side of your body to do even more damage of any kind than before, while Ginfaxi empowers the left side of your body and allows you to redirect any physical attack back at opponents with added precision. If you used both your arms together, you'd be using a powerful wrestling technique shown below.
- Glíma (Glimpse): Grappling your opponent successfully is virtually an instant victory when using Gapaldur and Ginfaxi simultaneously for the fact that your opponent's power is completely suppressed and does more damage to them if they struggle. From here, you can either continue to grapple them for a few more seconds until even their life-force is suppressed and they die or you can perform a take-down and slam their body against the earth to vaporize them and create a crater the size of an average country.
- Draumstafir (Rune of Dreams): A rune that turns your after-images into solid clones so long as you move from one point to another at ultimate speeds. The clone only lasts for several seconds, but yield the same level of power and potential that you have. It's a rune that allows for devastating combos and high-level deception against your opponent. There is no limit to how many clones you can create so long as it is within a 5 second time-frame. The clones are created within 5 seconds, and last for another 5 seconds for a total of 10 second use.
- Lása (Rune of Binding): One of the most powerful seals of the universe and the most powerful seal that does not rely on impossibilities. It transfers all the physical power and energy you possess at your current state (which is a lot, to put it lightly, if you're in Eclipse Physical Awakening) into the most dominant force imaginable. To the one being sealed, it would be as if the weight of one of the Nine Worlds themselves were pushing down on them and the only way to escape from this is if one held the raw power to shatter one of the Nine Worlds as a whole in one go. This rune has only been seen to be used twice in the history of Yggdrasil. The first time was prior to the conception of the Nine Worlds, when Ansemund defeated all the Titans and sealed them using the Lása Rune. The second time was when Wulfric the Warrior used it upon Fenrir the Dread Wolf during the Jotunn Civil War, sealing him within his Equilibrium Body from which he has yet to escape from.