Animus magic does not exist, as it disappeared over 400 years ago. Instead, we have something different, something a lot more like traditional spellcasting. You see, the Sunless Sea is suffused with otherworldly energies that, with intense mental focus and the correct training, can be channeled to produce a spell. The Correspondence: This otherworldly language is how you tap into the otherworldly energies of the Sunless Sea. To cast a spell, you channel those energies by writing out a rune of the correspondence. The larger and more complex the rune, the stronger and more complex the spell, but the greater the likelihood you'll miscribe a part of the rune and trigger a mistranslation. The tool you use to write the rune out can be the tip of one of your talons, a long, thin stick like a wand, or even an actual pen; what you use doesn't really matter as long as you can trace shapes with it, though something light and easy to manipulate is preferred. Mistranslation: Writing in the correspondence is risky. Make a mistake, and the spell will be altered in unpredictable and potentially deadly ways. A mistake like this is referred to as a mistranslation. Mistranslations most commonly occur when inexperienced users attempt to cast a spell, but every magister will have to deal with at least one mistranslation during their careers; even the pros mess up occasionally. External stimuli, like a stressful situation or a knife to the back, can also increase the chances of a mistranslation; the more distracting and disruptive the stimuli, the greater the chance a mistranslation will occur. Mistranslations are inherently unpredictable in nature, but the exact nature of the error seems loosely tied to how you messed the inscription up. Accidentally put a line where there isn't supposed to, and the spell will probably develop an unpleasant side effect, such as inducing a nosebleed or giving you a temporary cataract. Forgetting to add a small part of the rune will probably reduce or remove some element of the spell, such as causing a bolt of fire to not light its target on fire or causing a lightning bolt to deliver a weaker shock. Accidentally inscribe a rune upside down (a more common mistake than one might think), and the spell's effect will probably be inverted (a lightning bolt spell heals the target, a healing spell gives the target a heart attack, a memory-wipe spell gives the target photographic memory of the targeted event or object). Types of runes: There are three different types of runes; spoken, drawn, and inscribed runes. Spoken runes are created by drawing a rune out in the air and are very temporary. They discharge the effect the moment the caster finishes writing them out and then fade away with no further impact. Drawn runes are created by tracing a rune out on a surface, and last a little longer than Spoken runes. They can contain more power than spoken runes, but once that power runs out, they fade away just like Spoken runes, leaving no indication of their presence. Unlike Spoken runes, these can be set with trigger parameters; they can go off when touched, when a specific dragon is in their AoE, when a certain keyphrase is spoken or a certain gesture is used, or even in response to the casting of another spell. Inscribed runes are identical to Drawn runes, with two key differences; they're created by actually drawing, chiseling, or tattooing the rune into a given surface, and they continually draw upon ambient energy to replace that which they lose when their effect is triggered; they are effectively permanent. They can be highly useful, but they are NOT a rune you want to mess up; if a mistranslation occurs, you are stuck with the effect, regardless of whether you're okay with how the mistranslation altered the spell or not. Inscribed Objects: Inscribed objects are things that have an inscribed rune on them. They can be almost anything; swords, armor, clothes, jewelry, tools, even pens or paintbrushes. Some familiar with the Correspondence are even willing to tattoo Inscribed runes right onto a dragon's skin. Of course, there's always the risk of a mistranslation. Moreover, the more Inscribed runes an object has, the more likely the effects of the runes will blend and mix in unpredictable and potentially life-threatening ways. (Ex.: an amulet that has 2 inscribed runes, a healing rune and a fireball rune, may end up lighting the recipient of the healing spell on fire)
