[Prince Charon]

Gabrook had a number of Symbol Drawing styles, a few of which have made it to Yrth.

Symbol Drawing (Abrituk) is an oddly gesture-based artistic style. There are no symbol-tokens, as motion is part of the symbol (likewise, parchment symbol casting is not an option, nor is drawing them in dust). The normal casting method is to simply make the gestures of the symbols one wishes to use; this replaces Finger Tracing, but is done at a rate of one second for Easy symbols, two for Average symbols, and four for Hard symbols; there is no skill penalty, unless the caster rushes. The style likewise has no magic items. The core skill and all the symbols are based on DX, rather than IQ.

Nouns

Beast (Other) - Average - 2
Chaos - Hard - 2
Desert (Nature) - Average - 3
Folk (Self) - Easy - 1
Hope (Food/Rain) - Hard - 2
Light (Lightning/Image) - Average - 2
Lust (Hunger/Sex) - Average - 2
Motion - Average - 2
Order - Hard - 2
Spirit (Mind/Death) - Hard - 3

Verbs

Bless (Feed/Protect) - Hard - 2
Communicate - Average - 2
Control - Hard - 2
Curse (Drain/Weaken) - Hard - 2
Deceive (Hide) - Easy - 1
Sense (Reveal) - Average - 1

The 'Folk' symbol covers the user's own race, and members of any other race that the user identifies as 'people.' 'Beast' not only covers animals, but members of any sapient race that the user regards as 'not people.' This can vary quite widely between individuals, though relatively few goblins fit reptile men into Folk rather than Beast. The Words being translated as 'Bless' and 'Curse' refer to good luck and bad luck, respectively.

This style is fairly rare in general, and some consider it incomplete, due to the few Nouns and limited Verbs. It is slightly less rare among hobgoblins and kobolds than it is among goblins, and has been known to be used by minotaurs and trolls. It has also begun to find favor with a few orcs and ogres, and some humans and other non-Gabrook races. There are rumours that some ghouls have learned this style, though only the GM knows for sure. A variant of this style uses the same Words, but the symbols are instead whole body dance-movements; this version is beginning to be practiced by a few elves and other native races.

The goblins have a number of native styles that are IQ-based, and use the normal sort of flat, carved symbols (and thus the usual rules), but all of the ones that made it to Ytarria are fairly similar to this one in terms of lexicon (apart from usually adding more symbols). The most common style of the goblins of Yibyorak uses the above Words with a few additions:

Nouns

City (Hearth) - Average - 2
Magic (Knowledge) - Hard - 3
Plant (Growth) - Average - 2
Tool (Skill) - Average - 2

Verbs

Create (Heal) - Hard - 3
Destroy (Harm) - Hard - 3
Transform - Hard - 3

The attributes involved in Symbol Drawing (Yibyorak) are IQ for learning and analysis, Per for drawing, and Will for activating.