a lesson in magic PT.3 | glyphs and multi-level spells | aethergarde academy dr
date: march 18, 2026
this took forrrrr fucking ever, but i do hope it kinda makes sense?
glyph systems is by far the hardest magic system in aena for a reason; let's kinda dive into why!
all magic post parts:
magic post 1; aura-weaving/rider magic
magic post 2; spells
magic post 3; glyphs and multi-level spells (you're here!)
(WIP) magic post 4; manufactured magic/magitech
(WIP) magic post 5; sigil writ and draconic magic
table of contents:
will not be providing desc of each heading today, ive gotta get to the fairy dr
glyphs
glyphs; layers
bases and lineography
symbols
symbol uses
catalyst symbols
common symbols
movement
layers
layer one
layer two
layer three
theoretical nuances
example
mathematical nuances
circumference
trigonometry
glyph-specific occupations
glyphmaster
glyphscribe
sounds a little unfair?
multi-level spells
anti-cheating spells
documentation spells
mass dragon call
conclusion
𝒈𝒍𝒚𝒑𝒉𝒔
Oh goddd the one section I’ve been putting off writing for SO long… Glyphs. You may have seen my post about glyphs— I think it was particularly why they’re so difficult. We’re doubling down on that aspect here, sorryyyy💞💞
𝒈𝒍𝒚𝒑𝒉𝒔; 𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔
Glyphs are composed of layers of bases, lines (linography), and symbols. Certain layers affect how the lines and shapes affect the glyph, and we categorize these groupings into thirds or halves (so three equal parts for thirds, and in two halves for halves). The grouping is decided by how thoroughly the glyph can be split OR if it can’t be split in half/thirds at all. If a glyph isn’t split well enough (like if 18 was split in half instead of thirds), the glyph is going to be unstable. You must split glyphs that are divisible by three into thirds, essentially. So if we were dealing with a 27-layered glyph, it’d be grouped like this:
layer 1-9
layer 10-18
layer 19-27
What if you’re dealing with a prime-numbered glyph? One, you won’t learn about them in class because it’s just too hard for beginners to learn how to deal with prime glyphs (no professors will teach you formally, at least, about mirrored glyphs), and two, let an experienced glyphscribe deal with it. Do not tamper with glyphs if you don’t know how to unwind them; some are made to sense tampering, especially with super complex ones like primes, so it could alert whoever made the glyph that someone’s trying to fuck up their shit.
Glyphs are typically drawn with aura; either you’re etching it into something, or you’re warping your aura into the glyph itself. You can also draw them regularly. Since glyphs have layers, all you’d be drawing each layer over itself (if that makes sense) like drawing w only one layer in an art program.
𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒔 & 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒚
Bases are where the symbols, linography, and spells reside. Linography is the art and concept of lines within a glyph’s base, and symbols are just that— symbols! The most common symbols are the sun, the moon, and stars. Spells are etched into glyphs that require a spell to be used with them, those glyphs are the hardest ones to conjure. Sub-bases are smaller circles within a base, or balancing on the side of a larger base.
The only base without linography is 1; it has a symbol of a dot inside of it instead of any lines.
There are 12 main bases, they’re pictured below:
ignore the dookie patching; this is also not AI, one of the earliest posts of this (altered) image is from 9 yrs ago, og image here
𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒔
Not all of these have the linography lines, but excluding linography, these is what symbols typically look like (besides for lettering).
Again, the moon, sun, and stars are the most common. Some others include:
Wings
Compasses
Hearts
Runic language
Dragons
Planet imagery
Phoenixes/Birds
Swirls
Swords
Gems
Liquid
Fire
Vines
Bunnies
Shells
Mermaids
Lace
Eyes
Flowers
𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒔
Their use and meaning really depend on where they are within the glyph. Large symbols usually represent a really large portion of the spell or may serve as a catalyst for other symbols.
To be more specific,
Effect symbols are symbols that provide magical effects, like fire, speed, and the cooler (and simpler) stuff.
Some effect symbols cannot stand by themselves, so they need catalysts to work properly.
Linography also plays a part in being a catalyst, though it’s centered around effect clustering rather than connection
Clustering refers to the containment of spells within a base or collection of lines (like a large triangle).
Catalysts facilitate the connection of effects. The best way I can explain this is with a diagram.
𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒚𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒔
Let the symbols mean:
Blue teardrop = hydration
Purple abstract bird = carrying
Orange flower = vegetation
Yellow four-pronged star = attraction
Besides the square linography, the abstract purple bird symbol acts as a catalyst for the blue teardrop and the orange flower.
The bird allows water to be carried to the vegetation. Because the rain drop is on the left and above the flower, it not only happens first, but it pours water on the plants from above.
Notice that the star isn’t apart of the bird, flower, or tear drop— it has nothing to do with the process of carrying water to plants. Instead, it subtly attracts animals and people to the vegetation.
We’ll revisit this concept again in the glyph example when multiple layers are present.
𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒔
MOONS
Glyphs with all the moon phases, or multiple phases, are usually about the passing of time— anything related to speed has moon phases, including complex mending spells where segments of flesh are healed rapidly. It can also mean transmutation/change.
Spells with crescents ease something into or out of place, but the larger the crescent is, the larger the effect. Glyphs dealing with fine movement use crescents. Crescents can also call upon water in certain configurations.
THE SUN
The Sun tracks daylight. Sun symbols only allow the glyph to activate as long as the glyph is active where it sees sunlight— they are often used as a daylight sensor too.
STARS
Stars usually specify time (like it can activate when the stars align in a certain way, usually tuned to constellations). But they can also be used to make certain crystals glow permanently, or to ring similar to a water-filled glass. Stars, if used for instrumental purposes, are typically refined with musical symbols within the glyph itself (like clefs, sharp, or flat symbols). Star-focused glyphs can be found commonly found in instruments and ancient structures.
COMPASSES
Compasses direct information to the glyphscribe. Compasses are the most variable symbol— they have almost 17 different official uses. Moving compasses (a non-static variant of the compass—ones that allow the hands to move) are almost always tracking a target.
WINGS
One wing on the outside of the glyph indicates that there is another glyph— a mirror glyph. These glyphs can be used for transportation, but they’re often hard to maintain.
HEARTS
Hearts show up in healing glyphs, accompanied by vein-like lines, to facilitate circulation. It’s very easy to mess this glyph up if you add certain elements (namely the veins and heart) too early, because they’ll start pulsing when they auto-select a target. Hearts are also found in glyphs regarding bonds of all kinds, like love.
RUNIC LANGUAGE
We’d be here for wayyy too long if I rattled on about the diff kinds of runic lettering and their meanings, Amon can do that for you LOL
The meaning of the runes correlates with their glyph use, but they’re hard to place inside glyphs since they tend to undo lines. Runic language is used sparingly.
DRAGONS
Dragon imagery refers to an ‘apex predator’ if that makes sense. Dragon imagery can be used to instill fear, drive animals to do something, or to protect. Dragons are pretty much always found in ward glyphs.
PLANET IMAGERY
Anything dealing with deep geological movement, like seismic or volcanic activity, involves planet symbols. When paired properly, they can be used to simulate some kind of planet-like movement, so a crescent + a planet can simulate waves.
PHEONIX
Phoenixes, if the focal point of the glyph, use a LOT more mana than most other symbols. Phoenixes act as both a catalyst symbol and an effect symbol. As an effect symbol, phoenixes allow you to breathe in smoke. As a catalyst symbol, it directly carries effect A through effect B. For ex, if effect A is a dragon (for warding) and effect B is the Sun (burning) that ward could burn upon touch or burn everything within the ward.
Another example is (I really don’t recommend doing this) if effect A is fire, and effect B is like a heart (healing), fire will be used to burn the affected wound on a deeper level. 😬
SWIRLS
Swirls represent enhancement, or precise movements. Precise movements are noted with keyframes and a timeline-like lines and dots. For this, the lines would still be arranged in a swirl, but like the lines would be wavy (see image caption for more details). Turmoil can be expressed alongside mask symbols to further ascribe a type of turmoil within the glyph— these combos are typically used when someone is forced to speak the truth, like in court or something. Enhancement is usually done on specific symbols, not the whole glyph, since swirls can link too many incompatible symbols together.
*so the swirl lines would look like the lines and dots shown on the right panel if it’s used for precise movement— keyframes are set with intended movement, then placed on the lines as dots, like the timelines found in after effects. Easing can be implemented too by changing the dot to >, <, or >< for ease in/ease out/ease in out, for those who aren’t familiar w animation software, it makes the action less robotic in a sense
SWORDS
Swords signal offensive actions and allow the glyph to become sensitive to metal. Metal sensitivity refers to the glyph sensing and pulling metal towards it. This is often used for traps.
GEMS
Gems represent rejuvenation. Of course, glyphs with gems can be used for lotions and serums, but they’re also used for flight drops. Flight drops are eyedrops that riders use to ensure their eyes are resistant to the wind, though they are a bit expensive. The rejuvenation effect can also be used for damaged fruit, particularly if they’re somewhat physically damaged.
LIQUID
Liquid usually denotes the state of mass that the glyph is enchanting. If the item that’s being enchanted is not solid, like flight drops, the glyph needs to know that it’s going into the liquid. Liquid could technically also be used for movement, but it’s only really used for easing moment— it’s still not recommended to use it for that purpose due to how finicky this symbol can be for fine movement.
FIRE
Fire, in glyphs, represents instability and heat/warming. The fire needs to be tempered with another symbol for it to regain some stability, typically a catalyst symbol, even when using it for warmth. If the symbol remains unstable in an active glyph, it could set the area on fire.
VINES
Vines act as a trapping element. Vines will specifically act as something that holds a foreign object down; if no material is provided, vines will do the shackling.
BUNNY
Bunnies are a very common symbol for healing, health, and mending. It isn’t uncommon for healer-specialized guilds, sick houses, and infirmaries to include bunnies somehow, simply because bunnies are very often used in deep healing glyphs. The central use of this symbol is healing blunt trauma, specifically crushed/torn blood vessels. Bunnies have different configurations that differ from their central use; like if bunnies + fire are present, cauterization will be facilitated.
SHELLS
Shells can make fabric or other items shimmery, amplify sound from an attached shoreline (though it must be attached to another shell glyph for the glyph to last longer than a few minutes).
MERMAIDS
Mermaids are never used unless glyphmaster is especially knowledgeable in knowing how to tame this glyph. Mermaids are associated with great luck or misfortune, and they require a lot of management to avoid rupturing the glyph. The actual effects of this glyph are debated, since many say that simply ‘luck/misfortune’ isn’t a realistic effect. Mermaid glyphs need a whole other set of glyphs and layers to stay together. Less than a handful of ancient glyphs utilize mermaids. If a mermaid seems distressed or is moving into a more distressed position/expression, you either need to leave immediately or console the mermaid somehow— hints to that can be within the stability glyphs.
LACE
Lace is used to slow a certain process down within a glyph. Lace is best used for this purpose than moon phases simply because lace is much more malleable in this aspect, and it’s generally not a finicky symbol.
Lace can also be used as a repeater. The repeater lace pattern differs from the slowing lace pattern.
EYE(S)
Eyes are not used lightly. The use of eyes in glyphs has been heavily debated due to their use in over-surveillance. Eyes do not only see information, but they also sense certain bits of information as well. Anything you can feel with your eyes (including your eyelashes), the eye symbol can sense. High-risk places, like prisons and the inner chambers of palaces, utilize eyes. Eyes, like mermaids, are not a static symbol; once activated, eyes will look around.
FLOWERS
Flowers allow a glyph to lightly tint fabric and hair (something thin and flexible) the color of a certain flower. With tweaking, this quality can be like some kind of duo-chrome. They can also be used in bonding ceremonies to temporarily change the color of crystals to the color of a petal.
𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕
Glyphs can be moved with spells to rotate constantly, to hide on sight, or to rise at a certain time.
Rotation really depends on the glyph’s contents, especially the symbols, so I can’t really say what it does definitively. Rotation is the easiest kind of movement to apply to your entire glyph— all you’d have to do is cast a rotation spell on the first group. Individual elements are quite a bit harder, but it’s best to integrate rotation manually (with spirals) into the glyph.
Obviously, allowing the glyph to hide on sight allows it to stay hidden, but the con with this is that you may find it hard to find it yourself. Even if you’ve set it to not hide from you, it’s hard to keep the glyph within a certain area. Usually, a ward is planted to keep it within a certain place, but then you’ll get a bunch of false alerts.
Allowing a glyph to rise at a certain time is pretty commonly done for commercially used glyphs. They sink to a room below, where riders power the glyph, then rise when it’s got enough mana/it’s been fixed.
𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔
Reminder that layers contain groups of glyphs, imagine slicing three slices of crepe cake, and then stacking them atop one another— each slice of cake is considered a layer, and each crepe in said cake is a glyph apart of the glyph system!
𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒆
The first layers are referred to as the first third (in three-tiered glyphs) or the base group. All glyphs in this layer must have extremely stable bases since they’ll be supporting the thirds or groups above it. To ensure they’re strong, you’ll need to create a strong enough base. What a strong base is depends on what kind of glyph you want to create. Sometimes, making a base too weighty may trap mana inside the glyph, causing unwanted explosions— so only create super super strong bases for glyphs that actually need it.
9-12 are the most common bases found within the first layer and group because of their strength.
𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒐
Layer two generally establishes the main function of the glyph. So if we were making a glyph based on watering crops, this layer would outline the basic procedure of picking up water + dumping it on the plants. Lots of symbols are used here, and it’s probably best if at least one catalyst symbol is used if it makes sense for the function.
5-8 are used more commonly in this layer.
𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆
The last layer always groups the detailed bits of the glyph. Sometimes incredibly detailed bases are used here, other times extremely simple bases are preferred instead— it kinda just depends on how much content layer 2 specified.
Referring back to the watering crops example in layer 2, layer 3 would probably outline how often the crops are watered, along with little particularities like checking water temperature or ammonia levels, and dissuading the glyph from watering the plants with the liquid if it’s not suitable.
Bases 3-4 are used in layer 3 most often.
𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔
You’ll be required to read glyphs, so you’ll be presented with a clear photo of a glyph, and then you’ll have to predict its:
Effect
Complexity
and feasibility (will it work or not, and why, how could you fix it should it not work)
𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆
*for simplicity, symbols and glyphs would look a LOT more complicated than this, this glyph doesn’t rlly have a group 1 layer, and this would technically be layers 2-3
Each base (all of them are just plain circles for simplicity here) contains symbols, but some may overlap over the main base, aka the centerpiece (the largest glyph, usually located in the symbol + carrying the smaller symbols).
There are seven symbols here, two of them are catalyst symbols— can you guess which ones are catalysts?
The catalysts are the lilac blob and the red vine.
It’d be easier if I categorized some of the symbols with effects, so let’s say:
red vine = growth
blob = passing of time
orange flower (not a catalyst) = flowers
green hexagon = abundance
pink heart = preference for pink
yellow four-pronged star = deterrence
blue waterdrop = bleeding (bleeding nutrients in this context)
Other notes:
The small circle on the left and the centerpiece base are within the same layer, denoted by ‘1’
The smaller circle on the right is located on the layer above
This configuration itself is very clearly about growing flowers just based on the notes and symbol definitions alone. The centerpiece consists of a heart, vine, abstract shape, and a flower; as time passes (the blob), flowers (orange flower), are encouraged to grow (the vine). The flower is placed on the lower right side of the triangle to connect the flower with the preference base. The preference base, located in the same layer, has a pink heart, and a green hexagon in it. It notably resides on the other side of the triangle— opposite of the flower— which allows the preference for pink (pink heart) and the green hexagon (abundance) to link to the process of flower growth to the function of preference by chunking each function into a different base. The second layer contains a smaller base with a tear drop and a star. This base represents the process of depleting nutrients (tear drop) from unwanted products, in this case, flowers. (yellow four-pronged star).
Will this work?
One major thing to consider is context. Is there enough context for mana to assume the meaning of a cluster of symbols? I’ll specifically visit the base with the tear drop and the star in it. Is there enough context here? Yes and no, because the presence of a deterrence symbol and a bleeding symbol overlaid (within the same group, but diff layers) on a glyph centered around preferred flowers— in this case, pink flowers. All other flowers will bleed themselves of nutrients… but where will it go? To fix that base, adding a catalyst behind the tear and star, specifically the vine (vine represents growth here), will allow the glyph to assume that depleted nutrients should facilitate the growth of desired flowers.
𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔
NOTE that I’m good at math as I am with narrative writing, so if anything seems realllllly off, do let me know! I did a slight bit of research for this, and this is what I could find for this class.
It is not unlikely that you will be learning more mathematical theorems than what is presented here, but here are the concepts that you will learn for sure. You will, of course, be tested on this.
𝒄𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒎𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆
Ya’ll, for the most part, won’t struggle with this— It’s pretty simple. Just know how to find the circumference of a circle!
𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒚
I fucking HATED trig in high school, but sadly, I do think that we’ll learn this in a LOT of depth in magic theory and glyph systems.
You’d be required to learn the circle theorems. Here’s a chart on all of them, but I will provide some step-by-step guides on each of these theorems. I recommend that you kind of skim all the pages very briefly, you don’t necessarily have to read them— just log them into your subconscious— if that makes sense!
𝒈𝒍𝒚𝒑𝒉-𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔
Many places and people need to utilize glyphs somehow, but since those who typically have the capacity to use and learn glyphs go into fancier jobs (mercenary guilds, healing, knights), not many riders go into this profession since it’s a lot less exciting. Because of this, the glyphscribe arose.
What is the difference between a glyphscribe and a glyphmaster?
𝒈𝒍𝒚𝒑𝒉𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓
A glyphmaster is someone who can activate, form, read, and use glyphs. Only riders can be glyphmasters because only riders can do all these things to create a glyph. By law, glyphmasters must oversee glyph operations due to the constant need for large amounts of mana, so they’re usually the heads. But since there aren’t enough glyphmasters to do public glyph work, human glyphscribes stepped up to fill in this gap.
𝒈𝒍𝒚𝒑𝒉𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆
All glyphmasters will start as glyphscribes since their work is heavily reviewed and reworked, but humans cannot ascend to the title of glyphmaster due to their lack of natural mana. Humans can still learn the art of glyphs and activate them with mana crystals.
Because glyphs are so tediously made, many organizations will almost bribe a rider to become their glyphmaster by ensuring human glyphscribes do all the hard work. Hard work includes inspecting the expected field site, drafting the glyph, etching the glyph into the site, decipher information collected from the glyph, and replacing all low mana crystals used to artificially power glyphs with new crystals.
All a glyphmaster has to do is critique the drafts and power low mana crystals.
𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒓?
Well, it is, and glyphmasters get paid a lot, too. The caveat is the societal dislike of glyphmasters. Your glyphscribes (unless they’re high-tier riders) will hate you because you genuinely do nothing, and even people who don’t know you will dislike you since you are the one listed as the author of the glyph.
This specific situation is particularly bothersome to Traditionalists. While laws and rules have been passed to lessen the workload of glyphscribes + increase the workload for glyphmasters, it’s often met with boycott among glyphmasters. Glyphmasters will threaten to leave their jobs if policies change, and a significant number of them have actively left their jobs enough for laws to change.
Many have argued that glyphscribes don’t need glyphmasters, but because it’s a lot cheaper to have a single rider recharge mana crystals instantly than it is to buy them, it just isn’t so feasible.
𝒎𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊-𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔
Multi-level spells include both a glyph and a regular spell to execute an action with magic. This is also called stacking.
These spells are often created for a very specific purpose, and multiple versions of them may exist.
𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊-𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔
A very good example of this is academy-tailored anti-cheating spells. Typically, only private academies will do this; public ones or less wealthy schools will use a general anti-cheating spell
Aethergarde’s infamous anti-cheating spell differs in its communication network. Of course, everyone is going to know eventually— though, Aethergarde’s spell communicates it not only extremely efficiently, but it also catches cheating quick. If a student is suspected of cheating, the spell will automatically blacken the entire page, and alarm the proctor/professor.
𝒅𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔
Documentation spells, like the one used in Harklorn, may document who/when someone leaves/enters an area and/or alarm wards when someone blacklisted or unidentified tries to enter.
𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍
To call bonded dragons to gather somewhere, a multi-level spell is needed. Note that this is a request, not a demand nor some kind of mind control spell— so it’s entirely possible the dragons won’t show up. It’s courteous to create an identification glyph, and attach it to this spell, so the dragons you’re calling have a full run-down of who you are.
𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏
so um definitely my longest post on record
i will probably take a break on magic for a sec to work on gods (again.. sigh sigh) and then plan out student profiles part two
i have shit ass memory, so this is all i currently remember asking me to tag them? i think? I took these from my last magic post, so if ive forgotten, you can comment here for tags, and I'll reference this when i post next time!
tags(?): @shiftermagicsystemlover08 @mindscapeofthedivine @notoriouslyshifting @reyaint @reverieshifts
















