Runic Magic

Runic Magic derives from the World Runes, fragments of the primordial power that cosmic forces used to shape Runeterra from nothing. Each rune holds a facet of creation, raw and unstoppable energy capable of reshaping continents and annihilating civilizations. For millennia the runes lay hidden, until mortal mages discovered them and unleashed the Rune Wars. That conflict nearly destroyed the world: entire civilizations were erased, and the landscape of Runeterra was permanently scarred. The runes are the most raw and powerful form of magic known, but they are almost impossible to control. A single World Rune can level mountains, boil seas, and remake whole regions, yet its wielders are invariably corrupted or consumed by the energy. Brand is the living proof, a man overtaken by a rune and left as a warning of what such power does to those who hold it. Ryze, once a student of the mage Tyrus, took it upon himself to end that danger. One of the oldest mortal mages alive, the blue-skinned, scroll-carrying sorcerer has spent centuries wandering the world to gather and conceal the runes, sacrificing every personal connection so that no one, himself included, can wield power that could unmake reality. His command of runic magic lets him tear open portals across vast distances, carrying himself and his allies far in his endless race to reach each rune first. He barely keeps his sanity under the burden of remaining near so many. Beyond the World Runes themselves, runic power can be worked into weapons and objects, binding enchantment into steel. A runesmith like Tifalenji can read the runes etched along a blade and follow their glimmering pulse to track a hidden weapon across the land, and Riven's own sword once saved her life. Wielded directly, runic magic can tear apart the undead: in a harbor city overrun by the Black Mist, a sorcerer cast the wraith Ledros back into the darkness, unmaking him with runic magics.