Isaac Newton had developed the basic grounding of the Six Arts, but it was Viking Rune Magic that had provided the means of accessing those forces. Special marks said to be handed down by Odin himself after being pinned to Yggdrasil whose pattern extended beyond the three-dimensional world into the realms above and below.
The most highly sought after magic specialty was that of the Rune Mage. Talent level varied wildly though.
A simple Rune Mage could easily affix one of the most basic Runes. Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Dowsing, and so on - they could handle these basics without problem and were fairly common. To use a medical parallel, the Rune Mage was a local pediatrician. Most communities of over 500 had one of these around. They couldn't create Runes themselves, merely shift them or affix them. There were rumors of Rune Mages affiliated with criminal elements who worked with murderers to transfer the Runes of victims to blank orbs or their criminal allies.
Much rarer was the Rune Meister. These could handle the complex Runes that allowed for Sorcery, certain special Runes like the Shield Rune, and more complicated and powerful variants of the Simple Runes. These could typically be found in major cities but were not nearly so common as the Rune Mage - and therefore more expensive. Rune Meisters could not only transfer or affix Runes, they could master the process of enscribing them into orbs for later transference to a person.
Rarer and more powerful than the Rune Meister were the few that could handle the most complex of Runes. They could affix them and they could remove them. A lot of countries did not have a Rune Lord, and those who did were those who had the balance of power in this Magitech world.
In addition to the Runes that allowed magic use, there were Runes that supposedly allowed one other abilities as well. Runes now lost to time that would allow one to fire off special attacks or defenses, to call money towards the bearer, to enhance virility, to protect from curses, to slay demons, or to curse the individual. This was the part that immediately interested Genma upon hearing it - oddly enough from Ranma who'd learned about them in school that day. Of course, Ranma also mentioned that the teacher had pretty much stated these all fell into the category of superstition. For Genma that part went in one ear and out the other without resistance of any kind.
These were obviously special manuevers involving the Art, and the Anything Goes School was founded on the principle that anything the martial artist could use in a fight was fair game.
It didn't take long for Genma to realize the benefits of those Runes he'd already seen in operation. One shopkeeper had sent arrows of ice after him when all Genma had done was take a few skewers of beef that had been on some grill in plain sight without any obvious claimant. Or the time he'd helped himself to a case of Yebisu that was just sitting unattended on a loading dock and a managerial type had begun throwing LIGHTNING at him.
So getting one's hands on these Runes was obviously something he had to do, and the same for Ranma. With the right Rune in place - one had an adaptable weapon that could perform a number of functions without having to carry any extra equipment. Taking the Rune away from an opponent was difficult to say the least.
It was with this in mind that Genma sought, and it was with this in mind that Genma eventually found:
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(Posted Thu, 12 May 2005 20:35)
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