Languages

## Common

**Pidjin** - This languages originated with the Birdfolk, but is now widely spoken by many races as a 'common tongue'. Pidjin is based on Avian, but incorporates loan words from across creation as well as a series of hand gestures. It is commonly learned by anyone with an urge to travel, or a need to trade with other races. No written version.

## Birdfolk

**Avian** - Spoken by Birdfolk across creation. Composed of whistles, chirps, and chuffs, to an observer Avian sounds like more organised and melodic birdsong. Due to the variety of sounds required, many other races find it impossible to speak without either intense training or resorting to whistles and other instruments. Due to a cultural history of migration and talking on-the-wing, Avian relies almost entirely on vocalisations with very little facial expression or body language used to convey meaning. No written version.

## Dwarves

**Sabrak** - Spoken by Anarch Dwarves. The name 'Sabrak' is originally from Khuzdul, the traditional Dwarven language, and means 'broken' or 'flawed'. The more non-traditional Dwarves used it as a joke, and the name stuck. A hodge-podge language of simplified Khazdul with lots of loan words, Sabrak is influenced heavily by the nearest non-Dwarven cultures, often adopting more of their grammar. A rapid-fire attack of consonants, being spoken to by an excited Sabrak speaker is the verbal equivalent of being hit with a machine gun. The written version is scrawly and highly individual, with an emphasis on individuality in forming letters rather than clarity - this leaves lots of room for loopholes based on interpretation.

**Khazdul** - The traditional language of the Dwarves, still spoken in their underground communities. Also used for writing magical Contracts and runemarking magical items. It has very rigid grammatical structures, often based on traditional phrases that must be used in the right order and context. It takes a very long time to say even simple pleasantries in Khazdul. Written Khazdul is much less wordy, and uses a series of runes. In traditional Dwarven settlements, houses, weapons, doors and important public buildings would have messages or blessings inscribed in Khazdul runes.

## Elves

**Siniath** - Spoken by modern Elves. Compared to real world languages, it has a 'Slavic' sound and it is a very regular language with no irregular verbs or concept of gender. Because of this, it is a surprisingly easy language to learn. Intonation and tone make no difference to the meaning, meaning it can sound very 'flat' to other language speakers. Has a simple and clear written version.

**Edhelen** - Found only in Elvish ruins and kept alive by historians. It is a difficult language to translate as it is fluid, with subtle intonations and intricate grammar. Has some commonalities with Sylvan, enough so that a listener could get the gist of what's being said. The written alphabet is called Espruar.

## Humans

**Roth** - Spoken by the Roth people of Amaroth. A lilting, musical language with very few pauses. Intonation is important for conveying meaning, making it not the easiest language for non-speakers to learn. Written version is commonly used by Roth speakers.

## Orcs

**Tribal Orcish** - Spoken by the disparate tribes of Orcs. A relatively limited vocabulary of short, guttural words is augmented by 'loan words' taken from other local languages. While different tribes can communicate, there will often be words and concepts unique to specific tribes. Written version is very limited, usually to key 'glyphs' that tribes use as decoration or for religious purposes.

**Gruumsha'a** - Not spoken by any known tribes. Only found now in old relics from the Orcish Empire, which imploded some 1000 years ago. No known spoken version, written version uses Khuzdul runes.

## Sylvans

**Sylvan** - Spoken by the Sylvans. Fluid and musical language which is spoken with a metre and often a rhyming scheme as well. It has a lot of synonyms and euphemisms, giving the speaker 100’s of different ways of saying something. To a non-speaker, Sylvan often sounds like poetry or spoken singing. Technically uses the same alphabet as Edhelen (Espruar) but in practice is never written down as the Sylvan consider language to be alive, and written word to be dead.