Dwarven Runes

A random idea about Dwarven writing, based on chisels and the golden ratio.

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Given the tropes surrounding fantasy RPG dwarves, it seems likely that their earliest writing systems would be built to write on stone. This page imagines that dwarven letters follow certain rules:

• A primary chisel of a particular width A is chosen as the basis of writing, where A is the height of a letter to be engraved.
• For every width A primary chisel, there is a secondary chisel with width B, where B=A/φ. That is, if A is one "unit" wide, then B is ~0.618 "units" wide.
• All letters are created solely from line segments of width A and B. You can imagine each line as a chisel strike from one of the two widths of chisel, A or B.
• Letters based on intersections at 45°, 60° and 90° angles.
• Classical dwarven writing is done on a grid, where each cell has the following characteristics:
  • A width of A
  • A height of A+B
  • The character is centered both vertically and horizontally in the cell.
• Numbers are base 12.
• For the numeric glyphs, the count of how many times a chisel strike intersects a prior strike equals the value of the number. For example, the glyph for 8 requires six chisel strikes. The first is the vertical A line. Next are the three horizontal B strikes, each of which cross the A line (a count of three intersections so far). The next angled B strike in the center crosses the A line and the central B line (for two more intersections, five total). The last angled B strike in the center crosses the A line, the central B line, and the prior angled B line (for three more intersections, eight total).

Under these rules, the glyphs might look like this, roughly based on some other "dwarven fonts" out on the internet, though these are inconsistent: