What is this thing?

These are Runes

Runes are members of a phonetic alphabet called a Futhark. I took these runes from the Old Nordic Futhark. Just as the name alphabet is derived from Alpha and Beta the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, so the name futhark is derived from the first six runes F - U - Þ - A - R - K of the Old Nordic alphabet. The Þ is the th sound. The three runes in the box are equivalent to FIL or Phil.

You can learn more about Runes from these web pages.