Elven Languages

In the world of Esria, Elves spoke a variety of different languages and dialects. As one of the most common races in the world next to Humans and Orcs, these languages often varied greatly and changed over time due to the cultural influences of the many regions they were spoken in.

## Ancient Elven

### Vandryl-ei (Ancient Elven Language)

**Vandryl-ei** was the ancient language of all Elves, born and spoken in Arcadia during the years of the Alvyri Vandryl. It became extinct in 381 A.E following the Fire Ritual of Londorwyn and the destruction of the entire Elven empire. All of the modern Elven languages were derivatives of this tongue, carried by traders, exiles and those who escaped across the sea to the other continents prior to the destruction of the Empire, but over time most had changed beyond recognition.

#### Vyr-ei (Ancient Elven Dialect)

A close derivative of Vandryl-ei, the colonists of Elyn Vyr unwittingly escaped the Fire Ritual of Londorwyn by sailing westwards to find new land. As traditionalists, they despised the industrialisation of the lands, and found the lands of Asevia, which they called the blossoming lands, or the Blaudyir. There they settled Elyn Vyr, until their ambitions got the better of them.

Awakening the mighty Mountain Tyrant, a gigantic red dragon, their civilisation and the land of Asevia were destroyed, and the lands there were irrevocably changed thereafter. Although Asevia saw regeneration in the early years of the Blessed Era, the damages caused by the event were catastrophic, and the world far too damaged for the passage of time alone to remove. The language of Elyn Vyr largely died with the destruction of the city itself, although elements of it lived on in the native human tongue Asevos and in those few elves that managed to escape the destruction.

### Noêl-ê (Dark Elven Language)

The ancient and arcane sounding tongue of the Dark Elves, known as **Noêl-ê**,was developed in the caverns under the mountains of the Aryns and the Aubers after the departure of the Dark Elves from Arcadia during the Era of Discord. It was spoken by the Fey, even after their corruption by the druidic goddess Arioch.

## Modern Elven

### Estel-ei (Elven Language)

**Estel-ei** was the modern language from which most Elven dialects stemmed, making it a common tongue among Elves who spoke a dialect based upon it.

The language itself originated in ancient times, born from Elves emigrating from the Alvyri Vandryl to the Astran Isles. Such travellers came as early as 250 A.E, prior to the foundation of the Kingdom of Vesryn by Vulwyn Venhorn. The ancient elven tongue they spoke, however, was never committed to books, and the spoken language was modernised by contact with native humans.

Over time, Estel-ei began to emerge in its current form. It was unique in that it was passed on through instinct and self-learning at a young age, and Humans seeking to learn the dialect would have always done so through an Elf already versed in it.

Due to its differences from Vandryl-ei and its widespread reach across Western Astria, it was soon classified as a new language. It was associated with modern Elven cultures, as all other modern Elven dialects shared far more with it than with the language spoken by the ancient Elves of the Alvyri Vandryl.

### Illara-ei (Elven Language)

Illara-ei was the language spoken by the Elves who inhabited the Kingdom of Caralan. Despite itself being a relatively modern tongue, it was shaped by the traditionalist values of the nation from which it originated. It sounded much closer to the ancient language of Vandryl-ei than any other Elven tongue, and therefore sounded tremendously archaic.

The travellers who originally had journeyed back to Arcadia to found a kingdom, long after the devastation caused by the Fire Ritual of Londorwyn, did so in 943 H.E speaking a range of conventional dialects that were modern at the time. Illara-ei was a dialect that deviated very little from the Elven of the time, and only began to change after the rediscovery of the Isle of Calavyr and the incredible wealth of history found in its ruined vaults.

Over time, the dialect deviated sufficiently from the modern tongue of Estel-ei for most scholars to classify it as a new language of its own.

## Summary

A brief outline of the Elven languages and their respective regions can be found below:

* Western Astria
	+ Estel-ei
		- Esari-ei
		- Anore-ei
		- Vanora-ei
		- Ayla-ei (Leoben)
	+ Maer-ei (Vesryn)
	+ Noêl-ê (Ostia)
* Eastern Astria
	+ ---
* Arcadia
	+ Vandryl-ei (Alvyri Vandryl)
		- Vyr-ei (Alvyri Vandryl)
	+ Illara-ei (Caralan)
* Eliya
	+ Othram-ei (Hareen)
	+ Vyr-ei (Asevia)