Each of those runes would be the equivalent of a page of mathematical equations which you would either have to write out each time and empower or you would need to be able to do the math mentally , and even then you ' d still have to empower the runes . Empowering effectively requires that you be able to mentally work through what each rune sequence does as you inscribe it i . e . you do have to know how it works to inscribe it . The net result is that in order to effectively inscribe runes I effectively need to understand most of the chemistry and physics of what I ' m doing as well as understand the runes and their interactions to a degree comparable to a programmer ' s understanding of their programming language . The complexity of your desired effect determines exactly how much of the above you need to know . Now , I can inscribe all these for you and teach you to activate them . But I ' m smart , and a part of the Guild so I ' m going to do that on an extremely limited basis both at my own discretion and in accordance with the rules of the Guild .