The rare devices called rune-cubes are a peculiar holdover from the magical populism of Old Habadad. By rites unnatural and probably dangerous, the artificer casts a spell but binds the energies raised into a glass box, sealed with rune and fire. When the box, the runecube, is opened, the spell is released as if cast just then — even if years and miles separate the opening (and opener) from the creation of the runecube.

Since opening a runecube requires no special training or talent, any peasant or servant may in this way be granted a measure of real power. A well-equipped soldier, given runecubes containing sorcerous blasts and summon runic minions and crumble earthworks spells may do the work of a military adept, and so many did during unlucky Habadad’s war with the young Diamond Isle.

Like many of the problematic magical techniques of the pre-Landing cultures, runecube crafting and use never gained significant popularity in giantish circles. One disgruntled member of the Lesser Species, armed with runecubes, could (and on one occasion did) wreak tremendous havoc. Modern society, predicated on the balance between power and authority, has no place for power without authority. In the last thousand years, only the witchery of Xiphias Watercutter applied runecube theories to any significant degree, though persistent rumors describe Yomno Swarming Color, the God of the Islands, as applying similar techniques.

SEE ALSO Borr Mortock’s Day, Habadad, Xiphias Watercutter, Yomno Islands