Runes

The Yddr language in its written form is based on a runic alphabet of about twenty-four characters (some regional variation exists), each representing a single phoneme. Each is laden with symbolic as well as lexical meaning, and the alphabet or futhark is prominent within the poetry and folk-magical traditions of the Yddr region. The gods' symbols are not among the runes, though they are drawn in a similar fashion and imbued with some of the same significance.

Paper is uncommon among the Yddr, but the runes' angular shapes lend themselves to carvings in wood or stone; tall, heavy runestones are traditional as monuments or permanent markers, usually bearing several lines of text and sometimes much more. Wooden signs and tokens are more common for mercantile purposes, while birchbark scrolls marked with a stylus are often used as letters or personal notes. For short, stylized content such as maker's marks or talismanic phrases, a small number of runes — most often only two or three — are ligatured together to form a single glyph called a bindrune. These marks are sometimes incorporated into representative pictures or form visual riddles or puns; the maker's mark of a knife, for example, might be inscribed around a central stave consisting of the blade's fuller.

Yddr tradition states that the goddess Dansel was the first among the Hroendir to learn the runes, and the first to teach them to mankind. They were taken from her on her banishment, and are now held by Isengrim; he overlooked six in his haste, however, and these Dansel hid and kept for herself. The sounds these White Runes represent, some say, are now heard only on the tongues of witches.

Ydra Culture

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