Comment by Heather

Wow, so going off the vote incentive, that means Aember was pretty young when she got stuck in that box, and really pretty young as well when she started doing force fields.

It makes me wonder whether miscasts are more likely to happen to little kids, or to beginners, and whether people all start to come into their magic at the same age, or if it's like puberty and happens all over the place, or perhaps if there's differences between the different types of magic. I do recall some discussion about ages regarding Jonan but I can't seem to track it down.

I'm also wondering about whether she can use her powers in any useful way in there- is it possible to cast a squishy force field for a pillow? And about not being able to go anywhere, can she sorta shuffle the force field around? Or slowly (and probably painfully, especially for Chitter) repeatedly knock the cube over to roll it along? So many questions in my head right now...

Reply by Glew

I remember an old vote-incentive which mentioned Jonan's childhood. I'm not sure on the details. But I'm sure Jonan could runewrite when he was a kid - how early he started I don't know.

Reply by Shazzbaa

Here's all the vote incentive sightings of younger Jonan that I can remember!

Little Kid Jonan practicing runes
Young Jonan with his Dad
Teenage Jonan attempting to dye the red out of his hair
Teen Jonan arguing about graveyards
Teen Jonan creates Necropony

Reply by Jade

Okay, Jonan trying to dye his hair is suddenly REALLY INTERESTING. Like...why? Why would you hide something like that? Did something happen to make him ashamed of being a Runewriter? Maybe specifically life magic? Maybe he was trying to blend in with mundanes? WHY?!?!

Reply by Fal

Maybe he just wanted to be left alone, and -if he started with healing magic- he hadn't yet found out how to threaten people with it, and they kept asking him to heal them?

Reply by Lynx-Eye

I had to laugh when I read in that doodle that zombies are actually smarter than Groo the Wanderer, who has zealously guarded the structure of a bridge while allowing enemies to cross it.

Reply by Jade

(I'm a huge nerd when it comes to different types of magic, so I'll prattle on about this.)

Remember what Sev and Jonan said about how people know runes? They're born with an instinctive knowledge of a First Rune, and then experiment from there. It looks like this particular magic system is based on art and language. Kids start drawing from around the age of two. So assuming they start drawing runes from the time they can draw, Æmber and Jonan and Sev could have been slinging runes around as toddlers.

One problem with systems like this is that young kids are much more likely to abuse their abilities. If you know any three-year-olds, imagine giving them powers like Xira's. Kids like Sev and Æmber could have caused serious damage, to others and themselves. This is especially true for a system that relies solely on experimentation. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that Sev got his horns at a young age.

As a side note, when you take that into account, seeing someone like Jonan with no obvious miscasts is mind-blowing. The guy must have been a prodigy! It makes me wonder who that girl is, the one who caused Jonan's miscast. Remember her? http://runewriters.com/index.php?c=84 I wonder what she is...

Reply by Fal

Re-reading that page ("Jonan's spell wears off in less than a week") made me wonder why he didn't just lay low in his house until it wears off. Way less people would have noticed it.

And, kids drawing runes at two? Please, no. Have you ever seen a five-years-old's attempts to replicate on paper something he sees (either drawing from life or practicing writing) ? There would be no runewriters left older than six. Especially since miscasting seems so common including in grown-ups.
Plus what you said about abusing their abilities, it'd be a nightmare (though if their first runes are always very tame, that would be somewhat less of an issue; from the links shazzbaa gave, it seems like Jonan started fiddling with zombies when he was a teen, not a kid, which leads to think he started with healing magic).

Reply by San

That was his plan, until it was pointed out that he'd die of dehydration.

Reply by Heather

Not to mention that this isn't just someone casting his own spell on him- it's a rebound, a miscast, so there's no guarantee that it's going to wear off like they usually do.

Reply by Jade

Runes are fairly simple. I mean, Sev could make one even with his hands messed up. But I do see your point. So, let's bump that up to...six? Seven? Say it takes, oh, 4 years to get relatively proficient (about the level Æmber is at.) That still means there are a lot of kids miscasting themselves. Sev could have gotten horns as young as ten.