Toaru Majutsu no Index Wiki:Featured articles/This month's featured article/2016

Openers for articles that have been featured monthly in 2016.

March


Runes are a type of character used for both writing and as magical language by Germanic tribes before the adoption of the Latin Alphabet, and used by various magicians in order to cast spells.

Runes can be inscribed using a variety of mediums and surfaces, including carvings, ink, ice crystals, water and blood among others. One particular rune magician, Stiyl Magnus, makes use of mass-photocopied and laminated rune cards in order to cast his magic.

Due to the fact that a single rune can have multiple meanings, different spells can be produced from one rune, even more so with combinations of multiple runes. Multiple copies of the same rune can also be used to bolster the effects of a spell, though in a battle of runic magic, quality can top quantity. If one can read the runes, they can identify the effects of the spell, and if they can erase or interfere with the rune, they can alter or cancel the spell.

As with most languages, runes have changed depending on time and location, and there exist several different runic alphabets with varying numbers of characters, with 24 making up the Basic Futhark. There is also a special Final Rune, said to only be known to the chief Norse god Odin and is a key component in the completion and empowerment of the spiritual item Gungnir.(Learn more...)

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November
With Halloween just past, this month's Featured Article concerns the artificial parasitic lifeform known as Sample Shoggoth.

Named after a type of protoplasmic monster from the Cthulhu Mythos, Sample Shoggoth is an amorphous black mass with colored bubbles that are not quite eyes or suckers, capable of swiftly shifting, extending and hardening into various shapes. It dissolves the body fats of its host and slips into the vacant space, taking over the functions normally carried out by the fat such as the distribution and storage of nutrients, effectively holding the host's life in its tentacles. Though it isn't contagious and won't usually leave its host completely, it will partially emerge in order to attack potential threats. Attempting to extract it risks it lashing out and tearing its host apart, or leaving them a skin-and-bones shell close to death.

Sample Shoggoth was encountered by Patricia Birdway's research team in Antarctica and infested her, leading Leivinia Birdway to turn to dangerous methods in order to cure her sister. With each other at risk, a conflict occurred between the sisters which came to involve Kamijou Touma and Kamisato Kakeru, the bearers of the Imagine Breaker and World Rejecter.

(Learn more...)

Recently featured: Runes