Mordeki stood at his familiar ironwood lectern at the forefront of his classroom. The room had quiet idle chatter as the students were allowed a break while he finished grading papers.
"Ah, dammit. Got a paper cut!"
"Oh let me help, I've been wanting to practice my healing spells."
"No way. Healing magic always hurts more than what it's fixing. I'll take a paper cut all day over my hand on fire for an hour."
"Pfft. Suit yourself."
.....
"Did you guys hear that a Naiad moved into the city's water supply the other day?"
"Yeah, it's nice to have some really clean water for once."
"I just hate I have to ask my well for permission before I can take water from it."
.....
"I don't know... He's really cute..."
"I know there's no rules against teacher and student relations, but your barking up the wrong tree, girl."
"Hey now! We should be supportive of our friend's romantic interests. Even if they are silver foxes... or in this case... blue-green lizards."
.....
Mordeki raised his hand in the air to draw a grey rune as it then bursted, casting a silence upon the room. The students were at first confused but caught on quickly to their teacher's usual way of saying "shut up and listen" without actually speaking.
He then moved to the massive wall sized chalkboard behind him and began drawing out the rune on the left side, then again in the middle. This time he pulled out a gold coin that desolved into sparkling flakes that create glistening circles around the rune. Lastly, he draws the rune again in the right but much smaller, and followed by many other repeating runes. Above the three in order from left to right he wrote "Rune, Glyph, Sigil". At this point sound resumed in the room.
"Can someone tell me the difference between these three symbols here?" He questioned the class loudly. A familiar perky dwarf girl raised her hand. "Someone other than Miss Strudag?"
The room was near silent, but not because of a spell. Only anticipating breathing and a student dropping a pen.
"How did you all get accepted into an advanced magic class...?" Mordeki grumbled. He then pointing to the left most symbol. "This is a Rune. The most common way you can see magic constructed. When a spell is cast a rune is always created. Those who are able to cast magic without runes either have a form of Innate magic, or have Acquired a way to cast in instantly and invisibly."
He then moved over to the central symbol.
"This is a Glyph. It is casted in a similar fashion as a rune and will generally always be the same spell, however, glyphs are made to store spells and mana to be used under set prerequisites. A rune is always instantly used, while a glyph can be held for just the right moment. They are however more difficult to cast, and will almost always require some sort of catalyst."
He then steps over to the final, rightmost grouping of symbols.
"Lastly, these are Sigils. Much like the glyph, these take a lot of effort, mana, and a catalyst to create. However, unlike the glyph, sigils can be repeatedly used, and after initially created no longer need to be maintained. If properly constructed they can use the ambient mana in the air to recharge themselves. If they are ever to run out of their mana store the magic will fade and the sigil will never work again. Those of you in the Atificery course will get very familiar with sigils." He then erases the board just to write down three more words. "Curse, Hex, Jinx."
"Can anyone tell me the difference between these?"
Silent once again, with the exception of the student with illusion magic making a cricket's chirp.
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Glossary of the Fundamental Guide to Magic, 6th Edition
Rune: The most basic construction of magic. A simple symbol drawn in the air the guides the direction of mana into magic.
Glyph: An advanced form of rune that can be set on living and non-living surfaces. After the rune is set and a catalyst supplied the caster can set prerequisites for the spell to then trigger.
Sigil: A compact grouping of glyphs, often manufactured with the purpose of repeating itself when triggered without having to be reset. Skilled sigil crafters, also known as Artificers, are able to create wondrous things that most mortals would never be able to dream of.
Catalyst: Also known as "spell components", catalysts give structure to Glyphs and Sigils allowing them to exist past just being a simple Rune. Gold coins are often used as they have strong mana conductivity, but many monster and animal parts can be used as well, and in some cases are mandatory.
Mana Conductivity: Almost every living or unliving thing can store small amounts of mana in them. Things with heightened mana conductivity can store much more than others. Materials such as gold, gemstones, and monster parts have very high mana conductivity.
Painful Healing: There are as many healing spells as there are people to cast them, but one universal aspect of them is that all healed wounds will suffer pain tenfold compared to what it was previously. Usually acceptable for someone in a critical condition, excruciating for someone with a minor cut or bruise.
Curse: An Innate Magic owned by Hags and some Witch bloodlines. Often used to cause misfortune or demise on those who defy them.
Hex: Similar to a Curse, but is instead an Aquired Magic. Can be just as effective as curses and casted by anyone, but has the downside of inflicting the caster with a lesser form of the curse.
Jinx: Sometimes people suffer from strange, curse-like phenomenon. It's unknown what causes Jinxes, and no magic has been recorded cureing such afflictions. Jinxes can ranged from very mild like stubbing your toe on the same piece of furniture once a month, to having a loved one die a horrific death every time you bake a cake. It's rumored that every single person suffers from at least one jinx, they just don't know it.