Edit: Languages v2.0

[The Mad Professor]

Languages
This article contains a list of the major languages used in Adylheim and some of the less important ones, with notes on their usage and area of influence.

Human Languages
Aramic
Aramic is without a doubt the most spoken language in Adylheim. This owes much to the now defunct Arameian Empire, which ensured the spread of Aramic as the primary spoken and written language of Adylheim, you would need to travel far to find a human in Adylheim without at least a basic understanding of Aramic. The language is generally split into two separate dialects, High and Low Aramic.

High Aramic is generally reserved for scholars and nobility, with a complex system of clauses and genders, it remains a more subtle language than Low Aramic, but it is often considered to be archaic and out of touch with the realities of modern Adylheim, outside of the high courts, High Aramic is generally only used at extremely formal occasions, with many lesser courts often either combining High and Low Aramic or going entirely by Low Aramic.

Low Aramic is by far the more common of the two dialects, in both meanings of the word. It has a simplified system of genders and clauses, which makes it easier to learn. Due to it being more consistently used, Low Aramic has a greater vocabulary than its upper class cousin, having integrated words from Maradin, Threakian and Soilien, though they remain for the most part mutually intelligible. Of course, using Low Aramic in certain settings can be considered a to be impolite, which is reflected in it sometimes being referred to as Vulgar Aramic, or just plain Vulgar. Low Aramic is often used as a trader's tongue, because it is easy to learn it has been the tongue which is most commonly taught to traders from other nations, from which it derives its other name, Tradespeak, or simply Trade. As a result, both humans and races that trade with humans generally have at least a passing knowledge of Low Aramic.

In addition to being the primary human language, the Aramic alphabet, also known as the Symonic Alphabet (after the Arameian Emperor who instituted it as official) is used to transcribe both Threakian and Maradin tongues.

Maradin
Maradin is considered to be the most lyrical of the human languages and poets who have studied languages say that Maradin is the best for writing poetry. This reputation has certainly not hurt the language and there are those who study the language for the sole purpose of being able to understand (and recite) the poems written in Maradin.

For the Maradin who regularly use it as their mother tongue, however, it is above all else a tongue which comes to them from the sea. For them it is believed to be handed down by Erina herself, and when the Empire tried to ban the language to avoid what had happened with the Threakians from happening again with the Maradin, both the cultural elite of Aram and the priests of Erina protested so vigourously that the law died before it was ever put into effect. To this day many operas are written entirely in Maradin, even though the majority do not understand the lyrics.

While Maradin originally had their own alphabet, they have since adapted the Symonic alphabet as it was easier to use than their original alphabet, known as the Sufahn, mainly because the Symonic alphabet proved easier to use. However those among the Maradin who act as priests of Erina often use Sufahn to transcribe Maradin rather than Symonic.

Soilien
Soilien is spoken primarily in Andragoria and Nerin, with a few native speakers in southern Longmoor and Arameia. Unlike Threakian it has managed to regain its status as a formal tongue and is often used both in administration and trade in the southern fiefdoms, as well as every day conversation.

Whereas the other human languages now use the Aramic alphabet for transcription. Soilien avoids this by being written so that every letter represents a word, rather than a phoneme. This has led to an intense interest in caligraphy in Soilien noble circles and often Soilien scholars go through rigourous training to ensure that they're capable of writing down words perfectly.

Soiliens current status can be directly traced back to the lack of trouble the Soilien people gave the Empire, whereas the use of Threakian was stamped on with a hard foot and several Emperors spent most of their reigns ensuring that Threakian would not be spoken again, Soilien was let off relatively easy, with its use being tolerated as no one used it as a rallying point against the Empire.

Threakian
Threakian is a hard language to find these days. Before the Arameian Empire it was spoken all over northern Adylheim and had its own runic alphabet, called the Thornbleak. The Threakian tribes proved hard for the Arameian Emperors to pacify however, and with revolts against the Empire becoming an every day occurrence, the Empire moved to forbid the speaking of Threakian. Rebels often used it as a code which Arameian soldiers could not easily break, allowing them to pass information right under Arameian noses. With increasingly draconic measures being used to stamp out the use and teaching of Threakian it became all but extinct within the Empire itself and even in the barbarian lands you will have a hard time finding people with more than a rudimentary understanding of it. The teaching and use of Threakian remained a crime to the very end of the Empire, although it became largely a forgotten and ignored law after the Frostcrown Rebellion ended in 1991, which largely marked the end of the large Threakian uprisings. Rumours have it that speaking Threakian is still a criminal offence in Arameia, although the Catellus have neither confirmed or denied this.

For the most part, Threakian survives in fragments, words used for conditions and things relevant to the northern parts of Adylheim, these words have migrated into Low Aramic though and can no longer be considered a language in their own right. Some scholars have managed to reconstruct a working knowledge of Threakian and Thornbleak, but it remains a largely extinct tongue.

Blackspeak
Named after Robin the Black, who was the one who managed to make it into a standard language used among wizards. It is for the most part invented from bits and pieces of dead languages, and is used as a standard shorthand for writing down spells. As the writing of Prime Words in their true form is somewhat hazardous, Blackspeak is used to record spells without turning every spellbook into a potent magical bomb. Blackspeak, as might be expected, is an entirely written language and sees little use outside wizardry circles.

As might be expected with wizards, what seems to be a standard part of their repertoire rarely is. In order to keep other wizards from stealing their spells wizards often write it in their own version of Blackspeak with varying degrees of modification. Only a very few have abandoned it entirely though, as it remains a handy tool on those few occasions when wizards do share their secrets with each other. Of course, the Magic Academy in Salen also teaches it to all their practitioners, which allows them to read the books in the Library with Wings, the single best protected in Salen. If wizards want to leave warnings or messages for other wizards, they will also often use Blackspeak to keep outsiders from understanding it.

Languages of Other Races
Dae'vol
The language of the Dae'vol is entirely telepathic in origin, it relies on images, feelings and sensations to just as large a degree as sound. Translating it directly to the spoken word is near impossible and while it's hard for Dae'vol to lie to each other, they find the practise of lying to other races (whose communications are not as intimate) almost laughably easy.

For this reason, the Dae'vol have earned something of a reputation as inveterate liars. "Trusting a Dae'vol" has become a phrase meaning to do something which is sure to fail. However, the Dae'vol have developed what they call the Slave Tongue, which is designed especially for their slaves and constructs. Its based primarily in sound and allows them to communicate with their lessers. When Dae'vol is spoken of it is this Slave Tongue which is generally what is being referred to, as no normal human being could hope to comprehend, nevermind use, the true Dae'vol language.

Drakken
For untold centuries the Dragonkin have passed down Drakken to their children. While its origins is lost even to the annals of Dragonkin, it believed to be passed down as a gift from the Dragons, as a way to communicate both with the Dragons and between each other. As such, they are very hesitant to alter it, not to mention teach it to outsiders. Dragonkin traders will learn the tongues of whoever they are trading with rather than share of their language. It carries huge religious significance and though small alterations to the language has been made, it has gone through surprisingly few changes in the past few thousand years.

As a language it contains many whistling sounds, as well as hissing and growls that make excellent use of the agile tongue of the Dragonkin.

Elvish
Spoken by the elvish tribes roaming Adylheim, this tongue is rarely heard in polite company. As most elves have at least a passing knowledge of Low Aramic, it's generally considered to be an unimportant field of study and only those with undue interest in elves tend to learn it.

It is considered to be a highly informal tongue, by those few who have studied it, with very few titles or honorifics being used. One of its features is also that it can easily pair up or combine several words to form new and more elaborate concepts, creating ad hoc words. It has also been noted for having an excellent vocabulary when it comes to words like "disguise", "steal" and "lie".

Afore
Fore is a language which is only known to the most esoteric of scholars. It is the language of those known as Aforemen, a race which inhabited Adylheim before humans arrived on its shores. They are believed to have been slowly displaced till they disappeared from the surface and have not been seen in thousands of years. This is all speculation, however, as they disappeared long before written record and all historians have to base this theory on are various artefacts and ruins that are written in Afore, none of which are believed to have been correctly or entirely translated. Accordingly there is no one left who speaks Afore, since its last speakers died out thousands of years ago, and no one has any idea what it sounds like.

Ghoul
Also referred to as Deadspeak, the Ghoul tongue is not often learned by humans, albeit necromancers sometimes learn it to allow them to communicate with the scavenging beasts. The sound of it being spoken is said to be akin to a singsong whisper. Ghoul has never been written down, so it has no alphabet of its own, though attempts have been made at transcribing it into the Symonic alphabet.

Ogran
Ogran is considered to be very easy to pick up. Its sentence structure and use of tenses and clauses remain very basic. Ogran compensates for this by combining several short and non-specific words into a single, long and very specific word.

Outside of those few daring souls who trade with the ogres, few have picked up the language. Even ogres often forego verbal communication in favour of more direct approaches, with the majority of the conversation being done by the tribe's shaman.

Sidaen
While there are few religious connotations to the Sidaen tongue, it is by and large only known to Ursidaen. This is due, in part, to Ursidaen culture neither being very pervasive nor considered to be very interesting to human scholars and traders. Ursidaen are generally capable of conversing in Low Aramic and generally give traders little reason to learn it. Sidaen is, however, unique in that it is one of the few languages that can be spoken by the Ursidaen both in bear and human form.

[The Mad Professor]

Okay. So, I've generally just added bits and pieces here, mainly to the story behind these languages and their current status.

On a semi-related note:
Dates:
786 - Emperor Alexandrios IX is crowned. Having spent much of his youth being educated in Nander, the young emperor decides to move the capital of the empire to this location, becoming the first of the Jade Emperors.
971 - As a result of many minor uprisings, Emperor Symon III decides that the capital should be moved back to Aram, while the city has fallen into disarray in the absence of its emperors, Symon III begins a range of city renewal projects, including the construction of a new city wall. With the Emperor back in its ideological seat, much of the unrest in the Empire dies down.

1982- The Frostcrown Rebellion starts, before winter hits, the Gamb Lords and their supporters have defeated two imperial legions and managed to remove the empire's control over a sizeable portion of its northern holdings. Though they have relied solely on ambushes and surprise tactics, the Threakian military success is formidable.
1983 - With the rebels having had all winter to dig in, the imperial legions face an uphill struggle in retaking the imperial lands. With another imperial legion decimated by the Threakian insurgents, Emperor Symon VII faces political mutiny in Aram as his poor leadership has lead to the untimely end of three imperial legions, this coupled with a famine has lead to a lack of belief in Symon VII's right to stay on the throne.
1984 - With the forces of Emperor Symon VII largely concentrated around Aram to keep his own politicians in line, the Frostcrown rebellion is able to expand its control over the northern holdings of the empire, managing to wrest the silver mines, as well as several other important holdings from the Empire. In Aram, the struggle between Symon VII and his opponents come to a head as the imperial legions are let loose into the city to end a popular uprising in the city, when the legions turn on Symon VII the palace steps are said to be coloured red that night by the blood of the emperor's personal guard. While legend states that Symon's wife escaped with her newborn son, Symon VII himself faced a rather more grisly end. The leaders of the rebellion and the legion drag him out into the street where he is burned alive.
1985 - After a lot of politicking in Aram, Emperor Arios I is crowned. However, the many favours he owes to the people who ensured that he got his crown ensures that he has very little political manoeuvring room and for the majority of the first two years of his reign his political role is very limited.
1987 - At the order of emperor Arios II a large part of the imperial council is assassinated, this mass assassination goes down in history as the Night of Daggers, now free to act as he pleases, the emperor turns his eyes on the Frostcrown rebels.
1988 - The imperial legions conduct a series of lightning raids into Frostcrown lands, weakening them for the final invasive push. The Frostcrown rebels, largely unprepared for the sudden ferocity of the imperial attacks and at the battle of Snowcap Pass, the rebel army is routed marking the first major victory against the Threakians in this conflict and the turning of the tide.
1991 - Frostcrown Rebellion comes to an end as Lars Hardken, the last of the Gamb Lords, and the other leaders of the rebellion are executed in Aram. The Frostcrown Rebellion marks the end of the major Threakian uprisings.

^that's for the timeline.

[Vii]

Right, well since you told me the Dae'vol should have their own equivilent to blackspeak I'm taking it upon myself to do just that, and since this is the appropriate thread I shall post it hear;

Dae'volian Rune Script: Used by Dae'vol in order to write down their spells, Rune Script consists of 21 runes each of which is made up of short straight lines designed to be easy to carve into stone, however those 21 runes represent the basic tenents of Dae'volian low magic instead of sounds or even parts of sounds like in other languages, these runes can be combined (litterally combined, like how two Vs would form W) to represent combined tenets, this can go on and on connecting runes to combined runes to more combined runes and so on and so on until an entire page's worth of meaning can be found in one large complex rune. Naturally such a rune would be amazingly complex to read even for a Dae'volian which is where the other part of the script comes in; telepatheticlly ingrained thoughts and feelings ingrained within the rune at the time of writing. By doing this a Dae'volian can easily read even the largest of runes using both feelings and runes as a guide for each other. In contrast when a none-Dae'volian reads one he -won't- automatically be able to figure the spell out but he would have an idea what the spell is about, getting a feeling of dread from a doom spell, or a feeling of peace from a healing spell, of course such feelings are in acurate at best and after spending perhaps years decoding that doom spell he might find out it only causes the target to sprout hideous pimples, a dreadful result to a vain Dae'vol.


Whew, that's that, I hope it works for you.

[The Mad Professor]

Hmm, I'm not sure dae'vol would be able to imbue runes/inanimate objects with feelings without using another spell to help them write the runes, granted, this wouldn't be terribly out of character for the dae'vol, but you might want to mention it or something like it.

[Vii]

Hmmm, maybe I'll just take out the whole instilling emotion thingie, the rest would remain though.

[The Mad Professor]

So... something like:

Dae'volian Rune Script
Used by Dae'vol in order to write down their spells, Rune Script consists of 21 runes each of which is made up of short straight lines designed to be easy to carve into stone, however those 21 runes represent the basic tenets of Dae'volian low magic instead of sounds or even parts of sounds like in other languages, these runes can be combined (literally combined, like how two Vs would form W) to represent combined tenets, this can go on and on connecting runes to combined runes to more combined runes and so on and so on until an entire page's worth of meaning can be found in one large complex rune.

Granted, I'm not sure to what extent the word page makes sense in terms of the dae'vol given I don't imagine they use a lot of paper. I don't really have a good alternative though. Hurm. This is mainly me just picking on minute details mind you.

[Vii]

well, that's more to put it into perspective then out of anything, by the way I got the idea for it out of one of those neo-pagan modern day magic types of books that I browsed through at the library one time.