Now, I was reading through the section on Verditius Elder Runes in HoH:MC and thinking of what runes would be suitable for the "missing" three Hermetic Arts.
The obvious first thing to do was check which runes hadn't been assigned an art - and there I ran into a problem.
The runes used for the Verditius Elder Runes do not quite match up to any of the known rune alphabets I could find. The text mentions the futhark and says there are 24 elder runes in total, of which 12 have been assigned matching arts.
So looking at the Elder Futhark seems obvious, since there are exactly 24 runes in that alphabet.
But while several of the runes listed on p127 in HoH:MC match up just fine with runes in the Elder Futhark, some do not.
For example the rune that is supposed to mean "hail" is not found in the Elder Futhark, but can be found in the Younger Futhark. And the elder runes supposed to mean "Man" and "Harvest" do not seem to quite match up with any rune in any of these rune alphabets.
So what rune alphabet is the Elder Verditius Runes based on? Or is it just a hodge-podge of various runes from different traditions?
I've not seen that book but am familiar with the various futhark/futhorc rune rows. My guess is a hodge podge is indeed what you're seeing. Take a look at the Anglo-Saxon futhorc if you haven't already. Its most common form is 28 staves, including some variant sounds (Os, Oak, Ash). You may find some of the others there.
Is the Hail rune you're seeing similar to an asterisk? If so, it also resembles Ior from the Anglo Saxon. Here's the Wikipedia page on the A.S. Futhorc:
Already checked the Anglo-saxon futhorc, as well as all the other variant rune alphabets mentioned in the Wikipedia article on Runes, but thanks anyway.
And yes, the "Hail" rune shown in the list of Verditius Elder Runes resembles an asterisk and matches the hagall rune from the Younger Futhark exactly. As you mention it looks the same as the Anglo-saxon ior rune.
There is a "Hail" rune in both the Elder Futhark as well as the futhorc, but those runes look more like an "H".
I doubt that HoH:MC p.127f Verditius Elder Runes after the adaptation by Verditius and Milo have still much to do with the original Germanic or Scandinavian runes Verditius learned from Wayland Smith.
Both Mediterranean magi were likely actively mixing and matching to make these runes fit the Arts defined by Bonisagus.and the Order of Hermes: so which remaining runes of the 24 taught by Wayland they used may be as eclectic as you wish.
See HoH:MC p.110:
Boethius was also an inventor, and the texts Milo recovered described the construction of an ingenious water clock and sundial, whose unnatural accuracy was based on planetary magic rather than any nascent seeds of logic or science. Sharing these texts with Verditius, the pair discovered that Boethius’s philosophical ideas explained some of the failings of the rune magic Verditius had incorporated into his Mystery. They also discovered a tangible link between the benefit of the carved runes and the intrinsic philosophical understanding of the carver. Seemingly, the better the enchanter understood the philosophical connection of the runes to their symbolic object, the more magical power they could imbue in the item. Just as Bonisagus had denuded ancient magic of its prayers and supplications to pagan gods, Verditius and Milo removed the pagan implications of the runes, connecting them to philosophical principles and dubbing them Verditius Runes.
That text talks about the standard Verditius Runes - whose exact design hasn't been defined and which are indeed most likely an eclectic mix-and-match bunch.
The Elder Runes on the other hand are the ones Verditius and Milo started with when they developed the standard Verditius Runes, i.e. the Verditius Elder Runes are original runes Verditius learned from Wayland Smith.
But these "original runes" were also adapted to new uses by Verditius and his pupils. Knowing the methods they used when designing the standard Verditius Runes, you can imagine the freedoms they took when choosing which runes meant which Arts.
Actually, it was Verditius himself (and not his pupils) who adapted the elder runes to work with his arts.
While the linking of Arts to Runes do show a bit of ... shall we say creative freedom, I do not think he changed the runes themselves at that stage.
But which Arts should match each Rune is not what I am asking about. Nor what trees should match up to the "missing" runes. For those questions there aren't any correct answers since most of it is made up in modern times anyway.
No, I am simply asking which rune alphabet (if any) the Verditius Elder Runes are from - since they don't quite match any of the known rune alphabets.
They appear to be a mix of the Elder Futhark and the Younger Futhark, with a couple of runes being odd variations of the standard runes, and one or two I just can't match with any standard runes at all.
All the twelve Verditius Elder Runes so far known? I wasn't that sure - especially because the remaining three are still Minor Breakthroughs waiting to be achieved by other Verditius magi.
About Verditius and the runes he learned from Wayland Smith. HoH:MC says:
"As he learned each rune, he translated its mystical associations into terms more applicable to his magical craft, linking each rune to a particular tree."
Later on Verditius and his filius Milo adapted these runes into the standard Verditius Runes.
So, no, it might not have been Verditius who adapted all the twelve known Verditius Elder Runes, but there is no indication of anyone else having done it.