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A World of Gods... And Devils
- TMK -
Second to Nassian in its age and Common in its spread, Dominar is the word of the Alder race. The Alders, a race whose closest relative includes toads, speak quickly and fluidly. Most words seem to have open syllables and the language is spoken in a stress-timed manner. The undisputed masters of the west, the Alders of the Conglomerate have spread their language to much of the far seas and even the borders of Arrcus and the Holy Land itself.
A nomadic language sequestered to steppe and wastelands of the Asylent tribes, Ybechin can be both melodic and harsh in equal measure. It is characterized by a mixture of fronting vowels and hard consonants. Though many Asylent have difficulty learning Common due to extreme linguistic differences, missionary schools from the Holy Land have begun the process of disseminating the language to the nomads of the Divide.
Originating in the former Vampire Empire, Odovan is now known as “Common” among much of the cosmopolitan world. Following a basic constituent order of subject-verb-object, Common is characterized by dozens of dialects and accents. One of Common’s main characteristics is the presence of rhotic pronunciation. It is the linuga franca of Saironia, the Holy Land, Maedan, Arrcus, and many other nations across Alteris.
The spoken word of the Skald and dwarven tribes of Harralheim, there is no uniform language of the northern continent. In the tundra lowlands, the presence of “q” and “k” heavy words abound. In the subterranean mountain dens of the Skald, voiceless plosives and rhotic pronunciation dominate. A land of a thousand peoples, mutual intelligibility only goes as far as a few miles, making it easy for foreign powers to divide and conquer.
Cath has the honor of being a total language isolate. Much like the origin of the Cath people, it is an oddity in just about every aspect. It has a somewhat of an alien quality, with chopped consonants and rolling r’s. Cathlod, being the epicenter of trade across Terjorh, has a unique relationship with the foreign languages that surround the city. All citizens can speak Common, yet they often choose their native language as a means of intimidating visitors.
Banadi is spoken among the fertile valleys of the Banad peninsula, far to the west of Terjorh. Taking influences from the bestial Gredicar, Common, and Tamílauan, Banadi is one of the few languages that can be easily learned. As the Lau Banadi have grown in wealth and prestige, so too has the spread of their language, even disseminating into the borderlands of the Greddoc.
Among the oldest language in the world, Nassian is the mother tongue of the Salamander race. Characterized by the inordinate use of hissing “z” and “h” sounds, Nassian is virtually impossible for races without a forked tongue to master. It uses a pitch accent and is isolated to Eastern Terjorh. There is virtually no overlap between Common and Nassian, with the Nassian Salamanders disdainfully refusing to accept Common as the lingua franca of Alteris. In the Kingdom of Halicarnassus, Common is exclusively referred to as Odovan and is only taught to the upper echelons of the eugenic castes.
More a mishmash of Old Saironian, Nassian, and Ybechin, Salujan is the native language of the Salujan desert’'s Humans. However, after nearly a century of Saironian occupation, Common has begun to seep into the vocabulary of Saluja. It has many denti-aveolar consonants and has become more rhotic with Saironian occupation. While all Salujans speak Common, they hold their native tongue dear as a reminder of their proud identity.
To many beyond the Volkan continent, Gredicar isn’t a language at all. Suited mainly for the hulking bestial race for which it is named, Grecicar has more in respects to the roar of a bear than to the sophisticated syntax systems seen throughout Alteris.
Barely spoken except by the Human aristocracy of Saironia, Old Saironian is a dying language. While rare, Old Saironian names abound within the borders of the growing Saironian Empire. While in Odovan, letter combinations such as (gi) or (ge) would normally produce a soft “g” sound, in Old Saironian, these typically form a hard “g”. For the most part, it is non-rhotic, a pronunciation which was mostly wiped out during the Odovan rule of Saironia.
Much like Skaldic, Tamílauan languages are no more united than the thousand islands of the Archipelago. Even the name is misleading, with the great isle of Tamílau divided among multiple separate language families. The only true commonality of these languages is they are spoken by the Lau race occupying Talmílau, Peja, Zama, and the Archipelago. If needed, the only place translators can be found for said languages is in the great city of Khost.
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Intro
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