Nordic Runes, they're not just for breakfast anymore.

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 7:43 pm

I'm trying to develop some nordic runes for Skyrim (at the request of Bladmand). here's the "first draft", done in good ol' mspaint.

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 7:57 pm

let's see if it works this time...

Teli · Post by **Teli** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 10:17 am

Why don't use some of the original viking runes?
I have the alphabet here. I can post it if you like.
But since you've already made some runes, i guess there's no point.

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 11:59 am

1: Blandmand and I (I think) didn't want real runes, but something more original.

2: If you'll notice, there are similarities (if not direct rip-offs) of real-world runes.

3: It's still in progress, so your suggestions (and any more you may have) are quite welcome. go ahead and post the viking runes, I'm sure they'll be helpful.

Teli · Post by **Teli** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 12:49 pm

Ok. Well.. Here it is:

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 6:16 pm

Updated. Any suggestions?

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 11:32 pm

slight modifications added at the request of bladmand.

C-GenX · Post by **C-GenX** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 1:08 am

I'm sorry to bring this up after so long, but there's an idea behind runes... they are being carved into stone, so most everything is composed of straight lines and there are no completely horizontal lines as to keep from splitting the stone. Take a look at the Pic Teli posted... there are no horizontal lines... try to alter to get rid of that problem and then it'll be great...

Garland · Post by **Garland** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 1:34 am

Why would one carve it into stone, when they can carve it into wood?

C-GenX · Post by **C-GenX** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 1:46 am

good point... that too

Don't want to split the wood either.

Garland · Post by **Garland** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 1:53 am

Hmm...does rock split when carved horizontally instead of vertically? I'm not sure if there is a vertical opposed to horizontal on rocks, though I see the point with wood, which has a grain. Though I can't speak from experience, since I haven't carved any runes into rocks or wood.

vorrheis · Post by **vorrheis** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 2:29 am

I think we can keep them as is if we say that their writing system developed on bone (like the chinese). The ancient chinese wrote on bone during scapulamancy (bone or shell breaking divination) and their iconographs have lines going every which way.

And I'm not making this up just because I think they look cool.

C-GenX · Post by **C-GenX** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 2:34 am

no... I don't think stone splits... lol, but this is what I found regarding runes

Most adults in Roman-age Europe possessed knives of some sort, and wood carving was often a highly prized skill. So creating an alphabet that could be easily carved with straight lines in wood (and later stone) was a natural development.

Each character in the rune alphabet is made up from simple vertical or tilted bars. There is no upper och lower case characters and they do not contain any curved or bent lines as they are meant to be either carved in tree or stone (materials which do not lend themselves to bent and crooked lines).

Edit: Nordic society is much closer to Swedish and Danish society than it is to Chinese. Runes in Swedish and Danish society were used for writing rather than divination. The same is true of the Nords. Runes were used on everything from buildings to coffins, which I doubt were made of bone...

Edit edit:

Runes were also used in Nordic cultures for divination, but again, they were carved into wood and then stained with blood.

Assassinace · Post by **Assassinace** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 2:06 pm

Well has anyone looked close up at the nordic steel and silver items to look at what runes were there? (Ringmail might even have runes)
As for the tamrial nords the runes would most likely come from wood considering their affinity for it but in recent years they have worked with arcana and steel so thier runes may have evolved.

What I am saying is check whats in game first. After that go off of the basis of no bent or against the grain lines but after you get a basic set feel free to embelish.

(Or in the same idea) create the basic alphabet out of the basic runes and then use other runes for words that have a bit stornger meaning (ie a rune for strenght or maybe some complex meaning)

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 2:38 pm

okay...I'll see what I can do...

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 8:52 pm

here's a more detailed version, minimizing the horizontal lines. I guess I'll assign some sounds to them, though I'd rather not design a whole full-fledged language, so it'll prolly be similar to daedric...

Well has anyone looked close up at the nordic steel and silver items to look at what runes were there? (Ringmail might even have runes)
As for the tamrial nords the runes would most likely come from wood considering their affinity for it but in recent years they have worked with arcana and steel so thier runes may have evolved.

I didn't see any runes on the nordic weapons, I'll check the armor etc. If you've seen them, could you tell me the object name?

Post by **Haplo** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 9:10 pm

hmmm...why dont we just play dumb and say that runes are carved into magic wood and magic stone that doesnt split...

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 9:25 pm

heh, yeah, it's not like the end user is going to notice/care, but this project IS supposed to be following lore. I'm surprised someone hasn't shot this down with a "bethsoft didn't make runes so they're against lore" post.

aanyway...they could be "carved" with magic, or something...

Post by **Haplo** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 9:32 pm

yeah we're forgetting about magic here people, its not like we're like MEMod and we dont have any magic at all in our mod...

Morden · Post by **Morden** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 12:24 am

I think those runes rock zombies. It would be cool to see some scrolls written in the runes font.

Well? · Post by **Well?** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 12:29 am

Perhaps chance the "M"

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 8:07 pm

why? you don't like "M" shaped things?

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 8:19 pm

It's too similiar to the M in the western letters

C-GenX · Post by **C-GenX** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 8:22 pm

I'm satisfied. Good work! And thanks for taking the extra time to correct that.

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 9:12 pm

hmm...If you'll notice, the viking runes that teli posted feature an "M" like character, but I'll change it...

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 9:13 pm

I know, dual references to real life language is double bad

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 2:43 pm

Sorry I didn't get around to it, I changed the "M" to a triangle thing. I'll go ahead and make the font if nobody has any problems with it.

sirwootalot123 · Post by **sirwootalot123** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 4:39 am

Tiggity Tight (suddenly wishes he could eat the runes for breakfast)!

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 1:24 pm

heheh, so, shall I go ahead and make them into a font?

sirwootalot123 · Post by **sirwootalot123** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 12:14 am

I'd say so. SOme other members may want to put in their opinions too, though.

Indoril · Post by **Indoril** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 1:38 am

Why not?

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 2:01 am

Ok, if no one else has a better font editor, I'm gonna try this one:

[url]http://download.com.com/3000-2190-10168880.html[/url]

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 9:24 am

http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~cherryne/myth.cgi/Runes.html go to this url it has real nordic font! i read this site all the time...[/url]

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:34 pm

Okay...uh, I was making a nordic font...not a norse font...ie. runes for use in skyrim, an imaginary place in a game...also, I payed close attention to real-life runes (Norse, Russian, etc., as well as Tolkien's, which are also based off of R/L), maybe you can notice the similarities between the two?

Also, that is not a font (unless I'm mistaken), but it will be helpful for naming/meaning/sounds, so thank you.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 9:00 pm

umm you sound pissed....... i meant for you to use as a referance...........

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 9:14 pm

heh, sorry. I didn't mean to be that way... thank you for that resource, I see it also has quite a few other things on norse culture that will be very helpful.

Teli · Post by **Teli** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 10:03 pm

imsocool wrote:http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~cherryne/myth.cgi/Runes.html go to this url it has real nordic font! i read this site all the time...[/url]

Well, that's the exact same runes as I posted, The Futhark.

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 4:49 am

Ah, so it is. I guess that all worked out...strangely...

Asylum · Post by **Asylum** » Sat May 15, 2004 9:25 am

zombies are you still working on this?

Zombies · Post by **Zombies** » Sun May 16, 2004 12:17 am

Ahm...not actively, no...I'd like to wait until I have a more stable computer to work with, but I'll go ahead and make the font if it's needed soon.