Overview
Rune Gear Technology combines mechanical engineering with runes, enchantment, and stored mana. Its gears, machinery, and magical components work together to perform practical tasks in Postremo Limine.
Anyone can operate Rune Gear. The user does not need personal mana or an understanding of magic to use a device's functions. Its construction provides the magical workings, while its power source supplies the energy.
In Riseholm, Rune Gear supports airship travel, workshops, industry, and everyday life. Even poorer residents generally have at least one or two items that use the technology.
Knowledge from Another World
The knowledge behind Rune Gear was brought from another world by people familiar with its use. Within Postremo Limine, that knowledge was developed and adapted to work with the world's systems.
The technology's development combines steam engineering and magical craftsmanship. Earlier forms used conventional power sources, including coal or oil, while later designs incorporated Rune Prisms to store and supply mana. Steam systems, physical mechanisms, and enchanted components remain part of its engineering tradition.
Its development in Postremo Limine depends on understanding local conditions. Knowledge of a design from another world provides a foundation, while the world's mana systems and Node rules affect how it can be put into practice.
Rune Prisms and Machinery
Rune Prisms are modified gemstones that store and channel raw mana. They serve as power components in Rune Gear machinery.
Three properties matter when selecting a Prism: size determines its storage capacity, purity determines its usable lifespan, and color indicates its efficiency and mana transfer rate.
Some machines require particular Prisms, a specific size, a specific color, or a combination of these requirements. Selecting a Prism therefore involves matching its characteristics to the machine's needs.
Charging and Mana Supply
Mages can charge Rune Prisms, but charging is usually handled by machines that absorb environmental mana.
The mana cost of charging is comparable to that of a lower-tier mage. In a mana-poor Node, charging is slow or replenishes only small amounts of mana. The availability of environmental mana therefore affects how quickly Rune Gear's power supplies can be restored.
Rune Prisms are reusable. Their useful life depends on purity, making replacement a separate concern from routine recharging.
The wider rules of environmental mana, depletion, and corruption are described in Magic and Mana.
Transport and Industry
Rune Gear-powered airships use propellers and magical power systems to carry passengers and cargo. Riseholm depends on these vessels for most journeys between its separated floating-island districts. Its skyports provide docking bays, cranes, and loading infrastructure for Rune Prism-fueled vessels.
Rune Gear also powers industrial machinery and mechanical automatons. Clockwork mechanisms and enchanted runes allow automatons to carry out factory work, while inventors and artificers create tools, gadgets, and other devices using Rune Prisms.
The Clockwork Cathedral is a prominent example of public machinery in Riseholm: a giant functioning clock powered by Rune Prisms. Modified Rune Gear trams appear in the illegal races held in the Undertracks.
Communication and Warfare
Rune Gear has applications in communication as well as transport and production. Its devices extend the use of enchanted machinery to the exchange of information.
The technology also supports equipment used in warfare. Its practical role depends on the machine involved, its components, and its supply of mana. Communication and military devices remain subject to the conditions of the Node where they operate.
Everyday Access and Craftsmanship
Rune Gear is sufficiently widespread to be part of ordinary household life. Poorer residents generally own at least one or two Rune Gear items, while the technology also serves larger workshops, industries, and public systems.
Its accessibility allows people without magical ability to benefit from mana-powered devices. Operating a finished machine does not require the skills needed to create its enchantments or prepare its Prisms.
Artisans, mages, engineers, and artificers contribute to its construction. In Riseholm's Arcanum Quarter, arcane study and mechanical development meet in libraries and workshops. The Inventors' Guild shares ideas and presents inventions, while the Festivals of Steam and Runes celebrate the city's magical and mechanical traditions.
Shinu-Jin Silverleaf is a Half-Elf inventor and repair artisan working with magical devices and enchanted equipment in Riseholm. His modest workshop connects Rune Gear's everyday use with the practical work of repair and experimentation.
Research into Control
Nari, a Rattarian and former high-tier researcher in Riseholm, pursued magic that could affect or control Rune Gear Technology. That research became problematic. Her hacking glove uses Rune Gear Technology to attempt to brute-force control of an object it physically touches; contact does not guarantee success.
Failures and Environmental Effects
Most failures produce sparks or smoke. Extreme failures can cause an explosion, making the condition of the machinery and its power components consequential to their use.
Rune Gear also carries the environmental concerns of industry and magical power. Resource consumption, pollution, and heavy demand for environmental mana can accompany its use. Drawing too heavily on local mana reserves can deplete them; mana corruption has more persistent consequences than ordinary depletion.
Node Effects and Other Technologies
Nodes can affect Rune Gear Technology. Local rules may alter the functioning of its machinery or magical components, while environmental mana levels affect charging. Each of these conditions must be considered when using the technology in a particular Node.
Rune Gear is a separate technology from LimiTech. It belongs to the wider range of technology and magical machinery described in Manifested Powers.