Cipher runes
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Cipher runes are the cryptographical replacement of the letters of the runic alphabet. Several schemes have been in use.
The tent runes are based on strokes added to the four arms of an X shape: Each X represents two runes and is read clockwise, the strokes on the first arm representing the aett (row of eight runes), the strokes on the second arm the number within that aett.
The branch runes are similar, the strokes being attached to a vertical stem and branching upwards. Strokes on the left indicate the aett, and strokes on the right the number within the aett.
There are variants of these two schemes, such as inverting the numbers (counting backwards the aetts, and the runes within the aetts). Tree runes and hook runes are like branch runes, with the strokes pointing downward diagonally and curving downward, respectively.
There are a number of runestones using such devices of obscuring the inscription, especially found on Orkney.
A comparable system of letter modification is that of the Ogham "scales" recorded in the Ogam Tract.
Spiegelrunen (mirror-runes) are runes written in ligature with their own mirror image.
