Jul 25, 2022 9:49 am
Languages
A diverse collection of languages is spoken in the lands of the Amethyst Sea basin. Some trace their roots back to before the Age of Darkness, some originated on other worlds, and still others are modern creations. The following discusses the primary language groups spoken in the region and their relationship to one another.
Alliance Languages
When the Alliance arrived on Aetaltis, the colonists mainly spoke Atlan. This was the native language of the Atlan people, and was the language adopted as the shared tongue of the Alliance. The cheebats and newardin spoke the native languages of their homeworlds as well. The people of the Newardine culture still speak Newardine today. The Warrener dialect of the Common language borrows heavily from Old Cheebatan, but Old Cheebatan has largely fallen out of use. The orog spoke only Atlan and had no language of their own.
Atlan Family
The Atlan family of languages are cultural tongues that evolved from Atlan. These include Agthorian, Calliosan, Freelander, Selenthean, and Valorian. All five are closely related but have diverged enough from the original Atlan to be effectively new languages. Think about them like the Romance Languages of our own world. If you speak one, you can probably puzzle out words and phrases in another, but each is a distinct tongue.
Common
The Common language is a trade language adopted by the people of the Amethyst Sea basin to facilitate trade, diplomacy, and cross-cultural interactions. It is based primarily on Atlan, but it includes a healthy mix of Dalelander and Old Cheebatan words and linguistic structures. It has continued to grow and evolve over the centuries, adopting new words from other languages as needed. It is the unofficial "second language" of everyone in the region, and wherever the characters travel, they are sure to find at least one per- son who can speak Common.
Enari Languages
The Enari Languages include Dalelander, Dwarven, Icewalker, and Scythaan. Although these languages are extremely different from one another today, they may all be traced back to Enooric. Similar morphemes, syntax, phonemes, and other structural elements of language indicate this connection, but they evolved so far away from each other that only an expert could spot the connections. The exceptions are the Dalelander and Dwarven languages, which are related almost as closely as the Atlan Family of languages are to one another.
Endrori
Endrori is a unique language spoken by the creatures of darkness, including the endrori and dark creatures like
the abomonae. In theory, one could classify it as an Enari Language, since its roots are in Enooric, but it has diverged substantially enough from the parent language to be placed in its own category. The language is rife with dialects, including regional dialects, dialects based on how deep in the Deeplands it is spoken, and dialects by dark lineage (orc, goblin, etc.). These are similar enough, however, to allow one dialect of Endrori to be understood by speakers of others.
Enooric
Enooric is the language of the Enaros and their avatars. It is the holy tongue, learned and used by clerics of the Enaros, and it is the mother tongue of the Enari Languages. Com- pared to modern languages it is archaic and formal, like Latin in our own world. Enooric is also the language the Enarosian Scrolls are written in. The languages of dragons and giants have heavily diverged from Enooric but still have enough similarities to be classed as dialects of this ancient tongue.
Feyen
Feyen is listed separately since it has no connections to
any other language on Aetaltis. It is truly unique, and the people of Aetaltis have no explanation for this. Based on writings from the Age of Magic, the version spoken today is relatively unchanged from the version of Feyen spoken since the beginning of recorded history.
A diverse collection of languages is spoken in the lands of the Amethyst Sea basin. Some trace their roots back to before the Age of Darkness, some originated on other worlds, and still others are modern creations. The following discusses the primary language groups spoken in the region and their relationship to one another.
Alliance Languages
When the Alliance arrived on Aetaltis, the colonists mainly spoke Atlan. This was the native language of the Atlan people, and was the language adopted as the shared tongue of the Alliance. The cheebats and newardin spoke the native languages of their homeworlds as well. The people of the Newardine culture still speak Newardine today. The Warrener dialect of the Common language borrows heavily from Old Cheebatan, but Old Cheebatan has largely fallen out of use. The orog spoke only Atlan and had no language of their own.
Atlan Family
The Atlan family of languages are cultural tongues that evolved from Atlan. These include Agthorian, Calliosan, Freelander, Selenthean, and Valorian. All five are closely related but have diverged enough from the original Atlan to be effectively new languages. Think about them like the Romance Languages of our own world. If you speak one, you can probably puzzle out words and phrases in another, but each is a distinct tongue.
Common
The Common language is a trade language adopted by the people of the Amethyst Sea basin to facilitate trade, diplomacy, and cross-cultural interactions. It is based primarily on Atlan, but it includes a healthy mix of Dalelander and Old Cheebatan words and linguistic structures. It has continued to grow and evolve over the centuries, adopting new words from other languages as needed. It is the unofficial "second language" of everyone in the region, and wherever the characters travel, they are sure to find at least one per- son who can speak Common.
Enari Languages
The Enari Languages include Dalelander, Dwarven, Icewalker, and Scythaan. Although these languages are extremely different from one another today, they may all be traced back to Enooric. Similar morphemes, syntax, phonemes, and other structural elements of language indicate this connection, but they evolved so far away from each other that only an expert could spot the connections. The exceptions are the Dalelander and Dwarven languages, which are related almost as closely as the Atlan Family of languages are to one another.
Endrori
Endrori is a unique language spoken by the creatures of darkness, including the endrori and dark creatures like
the abomonae. In theory, one could classify it as an Enari Language, since its roots are in Enooric, but it has diverged substantially enough from the parent language to be placed in its own category. The language is rife with dialects, including regional dialects, dialects based on how deep in the Deeplands it is spoken, and dialects by dark lineage (orc, goblin, etc.). These are similar enough, however, to allow one dialect of Endrori to be understood by speakers of others.
Enooric
Enooric is the language of the Enaros and their avatars. It is the holy tongue, learned and used by clerics of the Enaros, and it is the mother tongue of the Enari Languages. Com- pared to modern languages it is archaic and formal, like Latin in our own world. Enooric is also the language the Enarosian Scrolls are written in. The languages of dragons and giants have heavily diverged from Enooric but still have enough similarities to be classed as dialects of this ancient tongue.
Feyen
Feyen is listed separately since it has no connections to
any other language on Aetaltis. It is truly unique, and the people of Aetaltis have no explanation for this. Based on writings from the Age of Magic, the version spoken today is relatively unchanged from the version of Feyen spoken since the beginning of recorded history.