Rune Studies

Runes are historically the primary written language of witches and wizards in the world. In Rune Studies, students learn how to read and translate runes from all time periods into English, or the primary language of whatever the student speaks in the schools of the world. There are two textbooks that are required for the class, a dictionary of runes, and Translate Runes 101.

This class is the most hands off class that Gerhardt has, as mostly half of the class is merely translating texts and writing out assignments in runes. The lectures are necessary for accurate completion of assignments, and missing even one day can put a student's grade in jeopardy. Gerhardt keeps its expectations for its students high in this class. At Gerhardt, Professor Michael Carter teaches this class, the most recent in a long line heading back to the founders themselves.

One of the only institutions that no longer uses runes in all its aspects is Xurban prison, who instead uses Greek symbols for their prisoner levels of security. All of Xurban's records on prisoners however are still written exclusively in runes along with all legal documents within the magical world. As a result, it is imperative for all magical students to master runes before graduation so they are able to work and read legal documents.

Non-magical people have surprisingly deciphered a fair amount of runes over the centuries, which has amused many witches and wizards. Reading non-magical interpretations of magical runes is a favorite comedic panel in many magical papers throughout the world. That being said, they still have no clue how to read them, and often get the interpretations hilariously wrong.

At Gerhardt, this class is a core class through fifth year, then is an elective after that.