"Well, kind of. It's a touch more complex than that. There aren't really any "base" runes; it's something made for ease of learning. For a neophyte, the existence or nonexistence of such runes is entirely pointless. But things become more complicated when you try to apply that principle. For example, the Sun rune is derived from two "base" runes: Fire, Heavens, and Ball. Simple enough, right? Except Ball is derived from Sun, and Fire is derived from Wood which is derived from Life which is derived from Spark which is derived from Fire. This is true for a lot of "base" runes; they have circular derivations that ultimately mean they're derived from themselves if that principle is true. As such, it can be assumed that it isn't. What Hiro thinks might be the case is that each stroke actually contains a certain amount of potential magic, and that the intersection between two strokes is where the magic wells up. That's why each rune always touches the edge of the circle used to cast it, and why there's always a line running from the circle to the center; it acts as a sort of guideline to concentrate the magic. Each rune just combines the magic in slightly different ways. Therefore, there are no "base" runes, nor derived runes; just runes that happen to resemble other runes.
But, perhaps a bar isn't the best place to discuss highly theoretical, possibly dangerous, and possibly valuable ideas kept close by my employer. Maybe, if you'd like to continue talking about this at some point, we could meet up somewhere more private?"
After a second, Pendle "blushes" yet again.
"That was not at all intended the way it sounds."