Runes

A rune is a shape made of a circle with an inscribed octagon, which curses can interact with. There are usually other figures inside the rune, which change the meaning of the rune. The sides of the octagon can be straight or curved, and the shape doesn't have to be perfect for the rune to work, as long as it is recognizable. Anything with the shape of a rune is and works as a rune. For example, if one draws the shape on paper using ink, the product will work as a rune. If one digs out the shape of a rune in sand or dirt, the product will also work as a rune. In short, there's many different ways to create a rune.

A curse doesn't know a rune's location when it's created. There are a few ways for a curse to learn a rune's location:
 * 1: The curse uses its powers to create the rune (by using nearby runes)
 * 2: The curse's host sees a rune's location and passes the information to their curse
 * 3: A curse that already knows a rune's location passes the information to another curse

Once a curse knows a rune's location, it can activate it. What a rune does when activated depends on two things: the figures inside the rune, and the curse's interpretation of that figure. For example, the rune pictured on the right, when activated by the Blaze Curse, would create flames around it, but when activated by the Cryptic Curse, would get rid of any nearby flames. There are many different interactions between runes and curses.