✦ RUNENSTEINE (VOID ALTARS) ✦

“Cold. Heavy. Unimpressed by the passage of time. Whoever finds it finds no refuge, but a test.”

Runensteine (often also called Void Altars) are your physical access to the magic of this world. Without them, all your collected Runen are completely worthless. They serve as an anchor point to link your magical interfaces with your soul.

1. Locations: The Search in the Void

Runensteine cannot be assembled from a few pebbles at the workbench. You must explore the world to find them.

They generate completely randomly in the Overworld. Usually, they stand alone and abandoned in the landscape. It can take a very long time before you encounter your first monolith.

The inactive state: When you discover a stone fresh in the wilderness, it is still completely inactive. It is pitch black, silent, and impenetrable. In this state, it does not show a glowing constellation inside, nor are the ghostly Shadow Guardians present. These phenomena only manifest when a player has linked their fate to the stone.

2. Interaction: The Path to Power

If you have found a stone, there are two fundamental ways to interact with it. (Both mechanics are very extensive and therefore have their own scrolls in our archives):

  • Long Right Click (Hold): This is the first step with an unbound stone. Hold the button and one binds to the stone.

  • Normal Right Click (Short Click): Once the stone is awake and bound to you, a short click opens the interface. This leads to the explanation of the GUI.

3. Dismantling & Relocation: A Risky Harvest

If you have found a Runenstein deep in the wilderness, you probably want to dismantle it and easily re-establish it in the heart of your own base. This is possible, but the stones are extremely massive and react sensitively to crude force.

  • Safe Dismantling (Carefulness): To dismantle the Runenstein as an intact block and add it to your inventory, you absolutely require a Diamond or Netherite Pickaxe with the Carefulness enchantment (Silk Touch).

  • Destruction without Carefulness: If you hit the stone with normal tools, its structure cannot withstand raw force. The shrine shatters irrevocably. You lose the block, but all the Runen socketed within safely drop as items onto the ground.

⚠️ WARNING: CATASTROPHIC DISCHARGE ⚠️

There is a lethal risk when dismantling a shrine: The Curse of Binding. If even a single Rune in the shrine is afflicted with this curse, the stone refuses to give up its place in the world. If you attempt to dismantle the stone in this state (even with Carefulness!), the stored thaumaturgical energy discharges in a massive blast. The shrine explodes, tearing the environment to pieces and destroying itself. Be careful what is socketed in your grid before you start the pickaxe!