Rune

Map of Rune shown in the Japanese Shining Force manual.

Rune (ルーン大陸, ルーンたいりく, Rūn Tairiku, "Rune Continent", transliterated "Lune" in Japanese publications) is a landmass that comprises the setting of Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention. Rune encompasses two major continents referred to as the Eastern and Western Continents, with the Waral atoll occupying the sea between their northern reaches.

The Kingdom of Guardiana is at the southern tip of the Western Continent to the west of the Ancient Gate. Runefaust mirrors this pattern with an Ancient Gate to its west at the southern end of the Eastern Continent.

Geography and Demographics

Page from ASCII's Shining Force Strategy Guide describing Rune's geography and demographics.

The ASCII Shining Force Strategy Guide describes how the ravages of Dark Dragon resulted in significant changes to Rune's geography over the course of the Ancient War.

The population of Rune comprises 26,580 people, 45 percent of whom are human. The rest of the population consists of 25 percent centaurs, 11 percent elves, 8 percent hobbits, and 4 percent dwarfs, with the remaining 7 percent being made up of all other races, presumably including kyantaurs.

An Explanation of the Geographical Features of the Runic Continents (ルーン大陸の地理的特徴に関する解説)

As is made clear by the above map, the Runic continents have an extremely unusual shape that is east-west symmetrical. According to ongoing research into ancient history, at the height of the previous civilization's prosperity, the shape of the Runic continents was very different compared to how it is today. Because of Dark Dragon's destructive power, many peninsulas disappeared, and there's evidence that it even caused small scale movement of the crust.

上記の地図からも明らかなように、ルーン大陸は内海を挟んで東西に対称な、極めて特異な形状をしている。現在進められている古代史研究によれば、前文明全盛の時代、ルーン大陸の形状は現在のそれとは大きく違っていたといわれる。ダークダラゴンの破壊力により、いくつもの半島が姿を消し、小規模ながら地盤の移動まで引き起こされた形跡がある。

Looking from a topographical studies point of view, the differences between the Eastern and Western Continents are very interesting. The comparative differences in geography between the Western Continent, with its many more plains, and the Eastern Continent, with its many more mountainous regions, makes vividly apparent the differences in the development of agriculture, the world's primary industry. Additionally, on the Western Continent with its many plains, it is easy to travel between the different countries, resulting in a foundation on which trade between allied countries can develop easily. If we suppose that an ambition to conquer the Western Continent has always existed on the Eastern Continent due to the difficult lifestyle that was forced onto the countries of the Eastern Continent (starting with Runefaust) from living within such an inhospitable environment, they probably can't unconditionally denounce such a statement.

地勢学的な見地からすると、東西大陸の差異には興味深いものがある。比較的平野部が多い西大陸に比べ、東大陸には険しい山岳地帯が多いその地理的環境の差は、この世界の主幹産業である農業の発展の差に如実に現われている。また、平野部が多い西大陸では国と国の間の移動も容易であり、国同士の貿易も生まれやすい土壌にある。厳しい自然の中、辛い生活を強いられた東大陸の国々 (ルーンファウストを初めとする) に、西大陸制覇の野望が常に胸中にあったとしても、それを一概に糾弾することはできないだろう。

Historical Timeline

Timeline of the countries of Rune.

The following is translated from the ASCII Shining Force Strategy Guide.

Runic Year ルーン歴	ルーン大陸年表	Timeline of the Runic Continents
0年	ダークドラゴンにより前文明崩壊。	The Collapse of the Previous Civilization by Dark Dragon.
199年	ガーディアナ、建国。	Founding of the country of Guardiana.
203年	ルーンファウスト、建国。	Founding of the country of Runefaust.
399年	ガーディアナにワイバーン来襲。	Wyverns attack Guardiana.
501年	シェードの城に教会が建立される。	Church built at Shade Castle.
504年	バストーク、建国。	Founding of the country of Bastork.
710年	ルドル村、健村。	Founding of Rudol Village.
797年	鉱石採掘基地としてアルタローンに町ができる。	Ore mining site develops in Altarone.
798年	リンドリンド、建国。	Founding of the country of Lindlind.
838年	ワーラル、建国。	Founding of the country of Waral.
842年	パオトレイン、完成。	Pao Train completed.
894年	アルタローン、建国。	Founding of the country of Altarone.
999年	ガーディアナ、ルーンファウストの攻撃を受ける。　（ゲームスタート）	Guardiana attacked by Runefaust. (Game Start)

The values in the left column represent years after Dark Dragon destroyed the Ancient Civilization.

How the Present Came to Be (現在までの成り立ち)

Records left behind on the present-day Runic continents contain within them [information about] the past nearly 1,000 years. Records concerning the collapse of the previous civilization by Dark Dragon have been almost completely lost. The remaining records are kept for safekeeping in Prompt and Manarina where they continue to be deciphered.

現在のルーン大陸に残された記録は、そのほとんどが過去1000年以内のものである。ダーク ドラゴンにより崩壊した前文明についての記録はほとんどが失われ、残ったものはプロンプト 及びマナリアに保管され、研究解読が進められている。

The main events of the past 1,000 years are shown in the table on the right. The year that the previous civilization collapsed by Dark Dragon is treated as the first year of the calendar used in almost all regions of the Runic continents. Within each country, there is an era name system in which eras are named for the country's ruler (in Guardiana for example, Runic Year 999 is considered Year 28 under the rule of King Alexis). Because many countries adopted this system, the different countries agreed to use Runic Years in treaties.

過去1000年のおもな出来事は右の年表の通りである。ダークドラゴンによって前文明が崩壊した年を元年とするルーン歴は、ルーン大陸のほぼ全域で使われている暦である。各国内ではその国の元首の統治を現わす元号制(ガーディアナでいえば、ルーン歴999年はアレクシス王政下28年になる)を採用しているところも多いが、国と国との条約文書などではルーン歴が用いられる。

Within the past 1,000 years of history, large-scale wars between the countries has never occurred. This was not the peaceful coexistence they had hoped for; each country was dealing with frequent attacks by hordes of legendary beasts, and natural disasters. Only when Dark Dragon is sealed once again during this adventure may there be hope of an era in which the people of the Runic continents are able to ask about their true way of life.

過去1000年の歴史の中で、国同士の大規模な戦は起こっていない。それは望んで手にいれた平和な共存ではなく、度々襲い来る魔獣の群れ、天変地異などへの対処にどの国も忙殺されていたからである。今回の冒険で再度のダークドラ ゴン封印が叶った時こそ、ルーン大陸の人々の本当の生き方が問われる時代が来るのだろう。

Game Development History

Large illustration of a Rune prototype from the November 1991 issue of Beep! MegaDrive.

While Shining Force was still in development, the continents of Rune had differing geography from what appears in the released game. The strait dividing the Bustoke region and Pao Prairie is absent. Waral is either missing in exchange for another island or shaped differently and placed northwest of Runefaust. The Eastern Continent is much narrower south of Rudo, and the river on the Western Continent is much less prominent. Countries and cities are shifted around, and there are labels referencing forests and topography that are not named in the final game.

The following text is translated from the November 1991 issue of Beep! MegaDrive, which is available at Sega Retro.

These are the Runic Continents, the Setting of Shining Force (これがシャイニング・フォースの舞台となるルーン大陸)

The table below corresponds to the location labels printed in red on the prototype map shown here.

ボーホー山脈（パオ平原を囲む）(Bōhō Sanmyaku)	Bouhou Mountain Range (Surrounding Pao Grassland) [TL Note: Bouhou could also mean "unreasonable" from a term originating in Buddhism, which meant "to slander the Buddha or the teachings of Buddhism."]
パオ平原 (Pao Heigen)	Pao Grassland
カイエンの森 (Kaien no Mori)	Cayenne Forest [Editor: Between Manarina and Bustoke.]
ビーグル山塊 (Bīgaru Sankai)	Beagle Massif [North of Altarone]
リンド湾 (Rindo Wan)	Lind Gulf
導きの山 (Michibiki no Yama)	Guiding Mountain [East of Guardiana on the coast by a structure that likely became the Ancient Gate.]
キプロス海 (Kipurosu Umi)	Cyprus Sea [This label is south of where Waral would be in the released game. Further south of this label is an island that does not appear in the final game.
ドラゴニア山脈 (Doragonia Sanmyaku)	Dragonia Mountain Range
コンガ盆地 (Konga Banchi)	Conga Basin [North of Runefaust.]
クレセント山脈 (Kuresento Sanmyaku)	Crescent Mountain Range [Southeast of Runefaust.]

The paragraph printed in black to the top right of the map:

The world of Shining Force is incomparably wider than that of Shining in the Darkness. There are mountain ranges, cities, great oceans, and islands. It is thought that you start this adventure on the southern tip of the Western Continent in the country of Guardiana and go clockwise north, toward the Eastern Continent that contains hidden mysteries. Could Runefaust be at the southern tip of the Eastern Continent?......

「シャイニング・フォース」の世界は、シ ャイダクに比べ比較にならないぐらい広い。山脈あり都市あり、大きな海洋、そして島まで存在する。冒険の旅は、西大陸の南端ガーディアナ国から始まり、時計回り西大陸を北上し、謎を秘めた東大陸に移動して行くと思われる。東大陸南端部が、ルーンファウストなのだろうか?･･････。

Eastern Continent and Western Continent (東大陸と西大陸)

The following paragraph is printed in the blue box in the bottom right corner:

Both the Eastern Continent and Western Continent, together with the Cyprus Sea, compose the Rune Continent. These two continents are far to the east of where the Kingdom of Stormsang [ストームサング王国, Sutōmusangu Ōkoku, renamed "Thornwood" in the English localization] will be founded hundreds of years later.

東大陸と西大陸の2つの大陸とキプロス海をひっくるめてルーン大陸とよばれているが、この2つ大陸は、数百年後「シャイダク」の舞台となるストームサング王国ができるはずの地の、はるか東に位置している。

In-Game Maps of Rune

The file girl's map has been turned around to face the viewer and skewed to reduce distortion caused by the perspective of the artwork.

Several instances of maps appear in the game, most noticeably in Simone's the file girl's book on the title menu, but also at headquarters on the Ulan Bator ship and on a wall in Karin's house in Rudol. These maps do not correspond to any known landmass in Rune.

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  Map in the Ulan Bator ship's headquarters.

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  Map in Karin's house in Rudol. A similar map appears in Prompt.

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  The map in Prompt. The two center landmasses are mirrored, resulting in two extra islands than appear on Rudol's map.

Scans of Published Materials

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  One of many photographs depicting Rune in the Shining Force Encyclopedia. The spelling "Lune" is used in Japanese publications.

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  Large map of Rune shown in the Shining Force "Attack Manual" in Mega Drive Fan magazine. Unlike similar illustrations, this map does not include the lighter spot of blue in the sea between Runefaust and Guardiana that would otherwise hint at the location of the submerged Ancient Castle.

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  Prototype illustration of Rune found in Mega, a Thai video gaming magazine.

Shining Setting and Story Directory

Locations
Endias[disputed]	Storm	Stormsang・Ancient Temple
	Rune	Guardiana・ Altarone・Yurt・Runefaust
	Parmecia	Granseal・Ark Valley
	Valleria	Crantor・Shieldia・Runevale
Erd	Tatsumi	St. Luminous
	Alfheim	Astoria・Lombardia
World Concepts
Constructs		Legacy of the Gods・Metaphaluna
Metaphysics		Magic・Great Intention