Languages

Imperial Common

The most useful language in Loretan and the Empire. This language, native to the Great Rift, is complex and diverse, borrowing much from [#Indigan|Indigan] and [#Essalian|Essalian] atop a foundation of [#Nar|Nar]-[#Austian|Austian]. It is a language well-suited to literature, public discourse, and even poetry. It uses a phonetic alphabet derived from the early Essalian, as well as some characters adapted from [#Nar|Nar] runes to suit phonemes not present in Essalian.

Nar

An ancient tongue, little changed since the height of the Nar empire, this language has a distinct sound to the ears of non-native speakers. To quote one Indigan scholar, "it sounds like Imperial Common spoken by drunk dock-workers". Despite the bitterness still held by some in the wake of the Nar conquest, it is a beautiful language of subtle complexity.

Where Nar is spoken in Imperial territory, the Imperial Common alphabet is used. In the Godhands, the original runic alphabet remains in use. Only in the original runic can the unique artform of Rune Poetry be truly appreciated. Each rune has multiple pronunciations and meanings. Every rune corresponds to an animal, a number, a color, a god (in the ancient Nar pantheon), and many notable individuals, since every Nar in the traditional culture chooses a rune to identify him or herself. In Rune Poetry, poems are written containing frequent double and triple entendres, and the runes are arranged in patterns allowing alternate, entirely different interpretations when the tablet or paper is rotated. Numerous attempts to reproduce this art form using the Imperial Common alphabet have yielded only confusing jumbles of text.

Austian

Derived from the same roots as the Nar language, Austian is a unique language unto itself. It borrows much from Indigan, likely due to the influence of Indigan missionaries in Austland dating back almost 3000 years. It was also influenced by the relative plenty of the Austland compared to the Nar homeland; an ancient saying among Nar is "the Austlanders have a hundred words for grain, but no word for war." (Of course, they do have a word for war, but not the several dozen the Nar do.)

Sandspeak

Referring to the derogatory name for the many tribal tongues and the pidgin Imperial Common spoken by Othurian nomads. It is rarely used, even by Othurians, and is, in fact, illegal in the Empire. Imperial traders don't care to enforce such petty laws when dealing with the nomads for their unique goods.

Knossian

This rare language, spoken by only a handful of die-hards in Knossos, is derived from Nar-Austian roots, yet sounds little like either. In fact, it bears much similarity to various Loretanian Islander tongues. It has no alphabet, but can be approximated well enough in Imperial Common.

Indigan

This most ancient and complex of languages adorns libraries across the world in written form, and can be heard spoken and sung by bards in every corner of the world. The first literature, the first religious texts, and the first written code of laws were all in Indigan.

The Indigan alphabet is unfathomably complex. Originally, it used a set of over 50,000 symbols. The symbol sets diverged after the fall of the First Indigan Empire, becoming an indecipherable mess to non-natives.

With the rise of the Second Indigan Empire, a new alphabet was put into place, containing a mere 250 characters. Over time, this has whittled down to 92, with less than 40 in common use. The old symbols are still used for ceremonial purposes, and for names. Since each symbol has many possible pronunciations, very colorful names can be crafted, given a certain pronunciation, by selecting from thousands of compatible symbols.

The spoken language is equally daunting to foreigners, containing many phonemes not present in most other languages. For example, Imperial Common contains one "R" and one "L" sound; Indigan has 3 of each, with subtle differences readily apparent to a native speaker. The difficulty in mastering the Indigan tongue is forgiven by most natives, who have an equally difficult time approximating a believable Imperial accent.

While it is not spoken in most households outside the Southern League, Indigan is nonetheless an immensely useful language to know. It is spoken and understood by merchants across the world, even when Imperial Common is not; not to mention, the ability to read Indigan, especially ancient Indigan, opens entire worlds of libraries and scrolls chronicling 4,000 years of Indigan history.

Essalian

Famous for inventing the phonetic alphabet, the Essalians were an advanced culture when the various Nar-Austian tribes were still mastering agriculture and hunting. Their language was deliberately tailored into its present form, a sing-song tongue well suited to the vocal music for which their bards are so renowned.

As easy as it is to hear, Essalian is difficult to speak, and some of that is intentional. The grammatical structure is loose, yet sensitive; it is quite common for a non-native speaker to drastically alter the meaning of a phrase with a subtle change of intonation. Where the many homonyms in Indigan are generally so different in meaning as to allow context to readily identify each word, the Essalian tongue is replete with words so similar in sound and meaning as to seem inseparable to outside observers, and yet no Essalian would misuse them.

In modern times, Essalian is considered impractical for objective, precise applications, such as magic and artifice, and Imperial Common is most often substituted.

Verian

The language of the Verians is completely unique. Each clan has their own dialect, unmistakable to other Verians. Each of these dialects has remained almost completely static for hundreds of generations. Despite lacking an alphabet, Verian oral history has remained intact over many tellings. This property of the language has been put to good use, translating otherwise indecipherable ancient Indigan and Essali texts for which oral Verian approximations still existed.

Due to the prolific nature of Verian traders, the language has spread to every port in the known world, making it the de facto language of international trade.

Loretanian Islander

Every village on every island in Loretan seems to have its own language, though many are so similar as to be almost indistinguishable. Uniting them all is a pidgin tongue formed of many years of trade between the islands. Where the native languages could not provide a word, Verian, Indigan, and Essalian words were used instead.

Yadish

The de jure language of the Catfolk, originally specific to the shah'numan. It is scarcely even pronounceable by humans, whose vocal cords are quite different from those of catfolk. The alphabet is a distant variant of an ancient Indigan symbol set, communicated in time immemorial across the Sea of Dragons.

Sethic

The general pidgin tongue of Lizardfolk, the Sethic language is not at all complex. It takes a lowest-common-denominator approach to the varying vocal capacities of lizardfolk. Most mon'hes'seth encountered in civilized lands speak Imperial Common, which is also the language of choice for the more vocally adept Geckoes, so this language is in relatively scarce use.