You have ignited your Heart of Power, a part physical, part spiritual space that overlaps your heart and soul at the same time. The Heart of Power houses your Core Runes inside of it, your Heart of Power naturally fuels and empowers your body as well, increasing your physical, mental, and spiritual condition at all times. There are three aspects to your Heart of Power's growth, it's Quantity – the maximum quantity of energy you are able to store in your Heart of Power at a time. A higher cap means that you are able to fuel more runes. quality, and rate of recharge. It's Quality – the quality of the energy you are able to store in your Heart of Power. A higher quality of energy means that each Rune is better in every way than a Rune fueled by a lower quality of energy. And it's Rate – the speed it takes for your Heart of Power to go from empty to full.
You are able to receive Wisps of power through a conceptual measure of success when confronted with adversity. The quality of the Wisps received depends entirely on the challenge, facing off against a man with only a knife would grant a lesser quality Wisp in comparison to man wearing a full set of magical armor. Wisps can be used to increase either the Quantity or Quality of your Heart of Power. Alternatively, you are able to improve your Heart of Power’s Quantity, Quality, and Rate through meditation, initially you are only able to improve one of the three at a time. With enough practice you could begin to improve two aspects at a time. Only a true master would be able to improve all three aspects of their Heart of Power at the same time. To ignite your Heart of Power is to bare your being to the world and lay claim to your first Core Rune. Core Runes are concepts, principles, and fundamental truths; these are the runes that are imprinted onto your Heart of Power. Core Runes are what every Runic Chain is built off of. You are able to make minute modifications you make to the Core Runes so they fit your Intent best.
Rune Chains are the spells of this system. These Runes Chains are unique in that they are results of practice and dedication to a combination of runes. Once you have cast a proper combination of runes enough, it can become a singular Rune Chain of its own, separate from the Core Runes that make it up yet also still connected to the growth of the individual runes. You are able to improve both the Rune Chain and the individual Core Runes at the same time.
In order to create more Core Runes, you need to design their image and your understanding of the concept in your Heart of Power. Each design is going to be connected to the meaning of each Core Rune, and you only need to make a Core Rune once for it to be permanent.
Casting using your runes is an incredibly intuitive process. You will be able to project your Core Runes directly onto the world from the start, removing any need to draw them out in the air. As your comprehension of a Rune grows, its design will become increasingly more complicated to represent that amount of understanding that goes into projecting such a vast understanding onto the world.
As you use your Runes, you will find that they grow more detailed and extravagant. This natural growth is sufficient enough for most Runic Mages, however any mage that hopes to be somebody will have to prune the inefficient parts of their Runes. This pruning process isn’t simply about cutting apart parts of your Runes and is instead focused on condensing your comprehension of a rune, finding places of overlap in your knowledge, this reduces the complexity of a rune’s design, allowing you to cast incredibly complex runes at a much faster rate.
Prestiging a Rune is done with more than your comprehension, requiring an incredible feat that has deep personal meaning to you. You are able to begin extracting your Prestige Rune(s) from your Heart of Power. Extracting a Rune crystallizes your comprehension of it, allowing you to express the same power and understanding in a less complex manner. Each time your prestige a rune, it will be pulled further from your Heart of Power and be moved closer to Reality, resting over your heart once you prestige a rune ten times.
Every time you prestige a rune, you are able to select one of three Major Boosts, Quantity, Quality, or Rate. These boosts are qualitatively different from the ones you receive from Wisps of Power. You get to pick another prestige bonus every time you prestige a rune. On the first, third, fifth, seven, and ninth prestiges you will find that you receive a Talent that is well aligned with both the Rune itself and how you use it. The closer a rune is to Reality, the faster you are able to cast it, the less energy it takes to fuel, and the faster it grows. Upon the tenth prestige, you will find that your Prestige Rune no longer needs to be projected from your Heart of Power, requiring no more energy when casting or crafting, as it is in a constant state of existence. Additionally, you receive a Capstone Talent that both grants you a passive ability related to the Rune, and strengthens the Talents earned from earlier prestiges. You are also able to prestige Rune Chains, although this only prestiges the whole Rune Chain and not the individual runes that make it up. If a Rune Chain is composed of one or more Prestige Runes, the effectiveness of the Prestige Rune Chain is qualitatively better.