Tuesday, November 11, 2008

some human languages of Cinder

Vulgar Vanuzian - A degenerate form of High Vanuzian spoken by the majority of the populace in the city of Hautville and the Vanuzian minority cultural group in the city of H'kaag.

High Vanuzian - The language of the long-dead Vanuzian empire. Still used by some temples, guilds, and noble families of Hautville. There may be remnants of the Vanuzian empire in the south where this language is still the tongue of day-to-day discourse.

Ancient Vanuzian - A much more elaborate version of High Vanuzian, many constructions in this tongue are inflected based upon the castes of the speaker and listener. At least two different scripts exists, a flowering alphabetic script with many accents and a hieroglyphic system. Some Vanuzians says their prayers in Ancient Vanuzian, even though they don't otherwise speak the language.

Low Kelno - A precursor to Common, widely used prior to the Adelian conquest and still spoken in backwater areas of the Midrealm. A mish-mash of High Kelno and High Vanuzian. The High Vanuzian elements of Low Kelno and Vulgar Vanuzian developed along radically different lines, so that most speakers would be surprised to know the two tongues had a common ancestor.

High Kelno - A language brought to Cinder from off-world by Space Romans. Still spoken by descendants of the Kelnorian invaders, but following the Adelian conquest its use has become narrower and narrower. Nowadays it serves primarily as a code for various secret societies bent on ousting the Adelians and returning the Kelno nobility to rulership of the Midrealm.

Hemrian - Another High Varuzian descendent, this one spoken by the hillmen descended from the nobles who fled to the northern hills during the Kelno invasion.

Skandahu - The tongue of the Skandahuvians, the local spam vikings.

Adelian - The bastard child of Skandahuvian and High Kelno. The tongue spoken by the campaign's equivalent of the Norman conquerors. I use the conlang Adelic for Adelian vocabulary.

Common - The result of the Low Kelno speaking populace trying to learn the tongue of their new Adelian masters, the conquerors trying to figure out what the stinking Kelnos are saying behind their backs, and members of both ethnic groups trying to figure out smooth ways to hit on foreign lads and lasses.

5 comments:

  1. That's my term for vikings based more upon pop culture than history.

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  2. Space Romans? Did you discuss these guys before?
    Also - are you actually running this campaign, yet?

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  3. Obligatory geekery:

    Did someone say, "Spam Vikings"?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8huXkSaL7o

    I'll slink away now.

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  4. Space Romans? Did you discuss these guys before?

    Maybe just briefly. Basically the Kelnorians are invaders from the Wilderlands of High Fantasy, which is only a Jump-1 or Jump-2 away from my campaign.

    Also - are you actually running this campaign, yet?

    Only sorta. I don't have a regular play group for this stuff, but every one shot I run nowadays I assume is set in Cinder.

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