Plane chart

The image shown in the thumbnail appeared in the opening credits of Slayers TRY.

It shows images representing the Lord of Nightmares, Chaotic Blue, Death Fog, Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, and Dark Star Dugradigdu. Below Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, images are shown representing Hellmaster Fibrizo, Greater Beast Zelas Metallium, Dynast Grausherra, Chaos Dragon Garv, and Deep Sea Dolphin. The chart shows up in the Slayers REVOLUTION ending as a stone carving, with the emblems depicting Garv and Fibrizo destroyed, symbolizing their demise.

Another notable plane chart also exists which depicts the four shinzoku and mazoku leaders of the four worlds.

''Note: Most system fonts do not have support for the Unicode rune characters in this article. If your browser shows meaningless symbols instead of runes below, you should install additional fonts, such as Junicode. No further action is required on your part after installing, your browser should use the fonts automatically.''

Origin
The layout of the diagram bears uncanny resemblance to one seen in the Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians of the 16th and 17th Centuries, and the symbols of the four ma-ō are heavily influenced by the book as well. The diagram also shows images from another book, the Ars Goetia, that correspond to the different mazoku sublords.

Futhark Runes
This diagram was provided by Xelloss of Slayers Universe. Although he did not note his specific source for the image on the WWWBoard, he indicated it is from Slayers NEXT filmbook #6, page 78 in his Mazoku full article. It contains Futhark runes; in theory, these could be translated to provide romanized spellings.

There are a few problems in translating this diagram. The first difficulty is posed by the fact that the runes are not carefully oriented. Specifically, the ᛞ [d] drawn from Dagaz used in Deep Sea Dolphin's name is sideways, and the ᛅ [a] drawn from the Younger Futhork version of Jēran, specifically appearing in Danish Futhork is drawn reversed in several situations, turning it into an "N" in the same alphabet.

Secondly, letters from several different runic alphabets are used, making the alphabet unique to Slayers. In particular, the diagram appears to draw most of its letters from a combination of Elder Futhark, Medieval Futhark, and Younger Futhork, and Anglo-Saxon Futhorc. This poses additional problems in translating, as different characters are drawn in similar ways in different alphabets and over time. The explanation below explains which runes are presumed to be used in this diagram, and in which alphabet the rune originates.

As a further oddity, the runes for Ruby Eye Shabranigdu spell out his name, Shabranigdu, and not his title, Ruby Eye. However, the runes for Dark Star Dugradigdu spell out the title, Dark Star, and not his name, Dugradigdu.

Futhark Runes In This Diagram

 * ᛅ [ä], [ä̃]: drawn from the Younger Futhork version of Jēran, but specifically matches ár in Danish Futhork, pronounced like French patte (paw). The IPA symbol is an [a] with a dieresis [ ¨ ] to indicate the relative articulation is that of a centralized vowel. During the 7th and 8th centuries, the initial j in *jara was lost in Proto-Norse, which also changed the sound value of the rune from /j/ to an /a/ phoneme. The rune was then written as a vertical staff with a horizontal stroke in the centre, and scholars transliterate this form of the rune as A, with majuscule, to distinguish it from the ansuz rune, a. Two versions appeared to be used around 550 AD and when the n-rune had stabilized in its form during the 6th and 7th centuries, its vertical stroke slanted towards the right (ᚾ), which made it possible to simplify the jēra-rune by having only one vertical stroke that slanted towards the left, giving the ᛅ ár-rune of the Younger Futhark, and because this rune is used consistently in places where Katakana versions of names would lead the [ä̃] or [ä] to be expected, it is assumed below that the one version of the rune is intentional and the interpretation of the letter is intended to change. The tide [~] over [ä] is an Extended IPA diacritic for the Nasal fricative of this Nasal vowel from Japanese phonology's Moraic nasal.


 * ᚨ [äː]: drawn from Elder Futhark Ansuz, pronounced like Australian English  car  (station).


 * ᚫ [æː]: drawn from Anglo-Saxon Futhorc Ansuz, but specifically matching Æsc, pronounced like British English  cat , except a long vowel instead of a short one.


 * ᛒ [b] : drawn from the Elder Futhark Berkanan. This rune is oriented correctly and used consistently throughout.


 * ᛞ [d]: drawn from Dagaz, but drawn sideways in some of its occurrences. No other rune looks like Dagaz, however, so all of these will be interpreted as simple errors in rendering the rune. All such errors are noted below.


 * ᛖ [eː]: drawn from Ehwaz, pronounced like German  Klee  (clover), or in English, a long [e], similar to English hey, before the y sets in. This rune is oriented correctly and used consistently throughout.


 * ᚠ [f]: drawn from Fehu. This rune is oriented correctly and used consistently throughout.


 * ᚷ [ɣ]: drawn from Gyfu, pronounced like Arabic غالي ( ghali  [expensive]), similar to French  Paris , said back in the throat, but not trilled. This rune is oriented correctly and used consistently throughout.


 * ᚼ [h]: derived from Haglaz, but specifically matching Hagall.


 * ᛁ [iː]: drawn from Isaz, pronounced like English sea. This rune is oriented correctly and is used consistently throughout.


 * ᚴ [k]: derived from Kaunan, but specifically matches Kaun in Old Norse. It is a form common to three of the Younger Futhork alphabets: Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish-Norwegian Futhork. This rune is oriented correctly and used consistently throughout.


 * ᛚ [l]: drawn from Laguz. This rune is oriented correctly and is used consistently throughout.


 * ᛘ [m]: derived from Mannaz, but specifically matches Maðr in Old Norse. The version used is one from the Norwegian version of Younger Futhork, and the rune is oriented correctly and used consistently throughout.


 * ᚾ [n], [ä̃]: drawn from Naudiz. This rune is oriented correctly throughout. When the n-rune had stabilized in its form during the 6th and 7th centuries, its vertical stroke slanted towards the right (ᚾ), which made it possible to simplify the jēra-rune by having only one vertical stroke that slanted towards the left, giving the ᛅ ár-rune of the Younger Futhark, and because this rune is used consistently in places where Katakana versions of names would lead the [ä̃] or [n] to be expected, it is assumed below that the one version of the rune is intentional and the interpretation of the letter is intended to change. The tide [~] over [ä] is an Extended IPA diacritic for the Nasal fricative of this Nasal vowel from Japanese phonology's Moraic nasal.


 * ᚭ [oː]: derived from Ansuz, but specifically matching Óss, pronounced as like Australian English caught.


 * ᛈ [p]: drawn from Peorð. This character is used once, and is oriented correctly.


 * ᚱ [r]: sometimes drawn from Raido, pronounced as a "Rolled R" like Spanish  carrito  (cart), and written in correct orientation when used.


 * ᛦ [ɻ]: drawn from Yr in Younger Futhork, pronounced like American English  borrow .


 * ᛋ [s], [z]: derived from Sowilo, but specifically matches Sigel in Anglo-Saxon Futhorc. This rune is oriented correctly and used consistently throughout. A more standard version of [z] in Elder Futhark would be ᛉ drawn from Algiz, but in Younger Futhark this is ᛦ and has already been used in the diagram to represent [ɻ]. Two versions of Sigel appeared to be used around 550 AD, and because earlier and later versions are used consistently in places where Katakana versions of names would lead the [z] and [s] to be expected respectfully, it is assumed below that the two versions of the rune are intentional and intended to change the interpretation of the letter.


 * ᛏ [t]: drawn from Tiwaz. This rune is oriented correctly and used consistently throughout.


 * ᚦ ]: drawn from Thurisaz. Thurisaz may have been used correctly in the spelling of Death Fog; if so, it is drawn poorly, and it looks similar to ᚹ [w] drawn from Wynn, however, when Wynn is used in this diagram in the Futhark spelling of Dynast Grausherra, unlike all the other runes in this diagram, Runic Letter Wynn (ᚹ) is drawn so that it looks similar to the Latin Letter Wynn (Ƿ), (ƿ).


 * ᚢ [uː]: drawn from Ur from Elder Futhark, pronounced like Spanish  curable  (curable). This is drawn correctly and used consistently throughout.


 * ᚹ [w]: drawn from Wynn, and apparently used once in this diagram in this diagram in the Futhark spelling of Dynast Grausherra, yet unlike all the other runes in this diagram, Runic Letter Wynn (ᚹ) is drawn so that it looks similar to the Latin Letter Wynn (Ƿ), (ƿ). Note that the single use of ᚦ ] drawn from Thurisaz in this diagram that may have been used correctly in the spelling of Death Fog is drawn poorly, and it looks similar to Wynn.

ᛚᚭᛅᛞᚨᚠᚾᛁᚷᚼᛏᛘᚾᚱᛖ
Lord of Nightmares: This comes out in IPA as loːadäːfniːɣhtmä̃reː or ローアドアーフニーグフツマレー in Katakana, since [ä̃] does not appear before approximants [j] or [w] or fricatives [s], [z], or [h]. If we put the Katakana in English IPA, it renders Loː(ɹ)dəfnaɪghtmeːɹē or LORDOFNIGHTMARE in Latin. Notice oː(ɹ) is an R-colored English diphthong, making the first word syllable LORD, not LOAD. Add common sense spacing and title case, and it becomes Lord of Nightmare. As a translation note, Japanese has no plural forms, and Lord of Nightmare renders as ロード・オブ・ナイトメア (Rōdo obu Naitomea) in Katakana, which is the the name of the Lord of Nightmares in Japanese.

ᚴᚾᚫᛋ
Chaos: This comes out in IPA as kä̃ːæːs, but since only 10% of the Japanese population pronounce [n] in a nasalized vowel, this is カーアス in Katakana. If we put the Katakana in English IPA, it renders kæːaːs or CHAOS in Latin, Chaos in title case, which is カオス (Kaosu) in Katakana.

Clockwise from the top:

ᚴᛅᚭᛏᛁᚴᛒᛚᚢᛖ
Chaotic Blue: This comes out as käoːtiːkbluːeː in IPA or カオーチークブルーエー in Katakana. If we put the Katakana in English IPA, it renders keɪɔːtɪkbluː or CHAOTICBLUE in Latin. Add common sense spacing and title case, and it becomes Chaotic Blue, which is カオチック・ブルー (Kaotikku Burū) in Katakana.

ᛞᛅᛦᚴᛋᛏᛅᚱ
Dark Star: This comes out as as däɻkstär in IPA with two rhotic consonants, [ɻ] and [r], but since the only rhotic consonant Japanese has is an alveolar [ɺ], this is ダルックスタル in Katakana. If we put the Katakana in English IPA, it renders da(ɹ)ksta(ɹ) or DARKSTAR in Latin. Add common sense spacing and title case, and it becomes Dark Star, which is ダーク・スター (Dāku Sutā) in Katakana.

ᛋᚼᚾᛒᛦᛅᛁᚷᛞᚢ
Shabranigdu: This comes out as shä̃bɻä̃iːɣduː in IPA. The first [ä̃] does not appear before approximants [j] or [w] or fricatives [s], [z], or [h], although the second [ä̃] does come before [j], which is [i] when transcribing English to Japanese, so this is シャブラニーグドゥー in Katakana. If we put the Katakana in English IPA, it renders ʃabraniːgduː or SHABRANIGDU in Latin, Shabranigdu in title case, which is シャブラニグドゥ (Shaburanigudu) in Katakana

ᛞᛖᛅᚦᚠᚫᚷ
Death Fog: ᚦ from Thurisaz is drawn poorly, and it looks similar to ᚹ from Wynn, however, when Wynn is used in this diagram in the Futhark spelling of Dynast Grausherra, unlike all the other runes in this diagram, Runic Letter Wynn (ᚹ) is drawn so that it looks similar to the Latin Letter Wynn (Ƿ), (ƿ). Thurisaz is never drawn this way, so this comes out as deːäθfæːɣ in IPA and デーアスファーグ in Katakana. If we put the Katakana in English IPA, it renders deːathfoːg or DEATHFOG in Latin. Add common sense spacing and title case, and it becomes Death Fog, which is デス・フォッグ (Desu Foggu) in Katakana.

Beginning in the upper right hand corner beneath the symbol for Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, proceeding clockwise, then moving to the center:

ᚷᛚᚫᚹᛋᚼᛖᛦᛅᚼ
Grausherra: ᚹ from Wynn is drawn so that it looks similar to the Latin Letter Wynn (Ƿ), (ƿ), unlike all the other runes in this diagram, so this is comes out as ɣlæːwsheːɻäh in IPA or グラーウシェーラー in Katakana. If we put the Katakana in English IPA, it renders gɹoʊsheːraː or GRAUSHERRA in Latin, Grausherra in title case, which is グラウシェラー (Gurausherā) in Katakana.

ᛋᛖᛚᛅᛋᛘᛖᛏᚾᛖᚢᛘ
Zelas Metallium: This comes out at zeːläsmeːtä̃eːuːm with the first ᛋ from Sigel reversed as discussed above to represent [z], but since only 10% of the Japanese population pronounce [n] in a nasalized vowel, this is ゼーラスメータエーウム in Katakana. If we put the Katakana in English IPA, it renders zeːlasmeːta(ɻ)i̯uːm, with the R-colored vowel [a(ɻ)] and [i̯uː], the only dipthong in English that is not falling, hence the [̯] symbol under the [i], which is how we analyze /juː/. This is ZELASMETALLIUM. Add common sense spacing and title case, and it becomes Zelas Metallium, which is ゼラス・＝メタリオム (Zerasu Metariomu) in Katakana.

ᚷᛅᚼᛦᚠ
Garv: No character exists for [v] in Futhark runes, however a ᚡ does exist in Medieval runes for [v], which is the same character with a dot above, and because earlier and later versions are used consistently in places where Katakana versions of names would lead the [f] and [v] to be expected respectfully, it is assumed below that the one version of the rune intentionally keeps with the Furthark runes and is intended to change the interpretation of the letter. This comes out as ɣähɻv or ガール゙ in Meiji Katakana (ガールヴ in modern Katakana). If we put the Katakana in English IPA, it renders Ga(ɹ)v or GARV in Latin, Garv in title case, which are ガール゙ and ガーヴ (Gāvu) in Meiji and modern Katakana respectfully.

ᛞᛅᛚᛈᚼᛁᚾ
Dolphin: Of all the runes, these are by far the most sloppily written ones. The descender serif of ᛈ from Peorð runs into the base line, making it very dark at its intersection. ᛅ from Jēran and ᚾ from Naudizis are confusing, because we must deduce whether to go by the darker line or longer line being the vertical staff, and to make matters worse, the latter resembles ᚷ from Gyfu. We can deduce the second rune is ᚾ, since the only staff in that rune that touches both the base line and the cap height in that rune is also the thicker staff. Both ᛅ and ᚷ are shaped in the opposite direction, so it can only be ᚾ. This means we can assume the vertical staff for the first rune in question is also the thicker one, so it must be ᛅ. This comes out as dälphiːn in IPA and ダルプヒーン in Katakana. If we put the Katakana in English IPA, it renders dʌlphiːn and DOLPHIN in Latin, Dolphin in title case, which is ダルフィン (Darufin) in Katakana.

ᚠᛁᛒᛦᛁᛋᚫ
Fibrizo: The ᛋ from Sigel is reversed as discussed above to represent [z], so this comes out as fiːbɻiːzæː in IPA and フィーブリーザー in Katakana. If we put the Katakana in English IPA, it renders fiːbɹiːzoː and FIBRIZO in Latin, Fibrizo in title case, which is フィブリゾ (Fiburizo) in Katakana. The runes on this plane chart very clearly translates his name plainly to Fibrizo, so Software Sculptors did indeed romanize his name erroneously as Phibrizzo.