A Brief Overview of Runeterra
#3 of Light of the Heart V2
This is just a little overview of Runeterra that will hopefully make it so I don't have to explain that much during the story. I know that I'm not really that detailed but hey, I'm lazy :P
Runeterra,
A world parallel to Gaia a.k.a Earth. The two exist alongside one another and thus cannot survive without the other much like two sides of the same coin. Unlike Gaia, which functions off of systematic mechanisms governed by logic; Runeterra functions off of the elemental dragon gods that directly embody the forces of it. The Dohvine, as they are called, subconsciously and consciously govern their respective force which in turn affects the world below their plane. Though they have such a significant effect on Runeterra, they cannot have any direct influence as dictated by the policy of balance established long before even the existence of the Dohvine.
In Runeterra natural balance is everything otherwise catastrophe would befall all living within it and would reflect in Gaia as well. As such, each Dohvinian has an opposite which opposes its corresponding force. For example, Akriloth who governs fire is opposed by Aria who governs water. The two forces keep each other at bay in a constant equilibrium and thus maintain the balance. Note that although they are of opposing forces, Dohvinians do not necessarily despise their opposites for all of them; generally, respect the importance of the balance.
Mysteriously, there is one "loophole" in having direct influence on the mortal plane and that is the existence of the avatars. Each Dohvinian has one avatar that represents them at all times in the mortal plane. These avatars possess extraordinary control of their respective gods' element since some of the primal essence of said element is embedded into their souls at the time of selection. In terms of selection; the gods have no control of who their avatar is. It is unknown what force governs this decision but many believe it to simply be the will of fate. In any case, the avatars, although being representatives of the Dohvine, have complete control of their actions and thus it is up to them to decide how they use their power. The Dohvinian that corresponds to the avatar can only communicate and by extension ask and advise.
As for the other inhabitants of Runeterra; all of them possess the ability to utilize the inherent forces of the world albeit in a more general manner than the avatars. This is accomplished through the use of mana and runes. Mana is the essence that can be found within all of the elements of Runeterra and thus can be used to manipulate those elements. Runes are like commands which guide the mana and tell it what to do. In a sense, this system is similar to the concept of a program designed to use stored energy in a certain way, the energy being mana, and the runes being the program. What makes avatars special is that they can go beyond only manipulating the mana aspect of an element and use its pure essence as well translating into greatly increased affinity with their corresponding element.
Every being in Runeterra has mana within it and can use this mana for personal spell casting. The need for runes is still present but runes need not be inscribed to be used. Examples of rune mechanisms include Grimoires which are books that contain the prewritten runes that the caster need only focus on to channel their mana into a spell, Wands which allow the caster to "draw" memorized runes into the air in front of them, the runic tongue which features the translation of runes into a language with the same effect as their alphabetic counterparts, and familiars which are soul bound companions that have an internal memory bank of runes that the caster or the familiar may tap into. All of these methods have strengths and drawbacks and it is generally up to personal preference when deciding which form of casting is best.
Moving on to the inhabitants of Runeterra there exist 8 known civil races, It should be noted that each race of Runeterra resembles a humanoid version of an animal found on Gaia excluding dragons of course. These races are the Drakel(dragons), the Fenneckin(foxes), the Lupis(wolves), the Ursus(bears), the Clawkin(cats), the Barkin(dogs), the Oakin(tree people), and the Seakin(Whales and Dolphins). Each race has beliefs, habitats, strengths, weaknesses, etc. There also exists a hierarchy of power among the races with the Drakel being on top due to their obvious close connection to the Dohvine and the Fenneckin being at the bottom as a result of their naturally low amounts of mana and bodily constitutions. In terms of interracial relationships, the 8 kingdoms get along well enough but some despise the dragons for their inherently proud nature as a result of their power status.