The Languages of Arcane Magic

The Languages of Arcane Magic
Dissertation
Victrienne Falconheart

Many spells that mages cast are incantational in nature. That is, they involve a series of words which, when spoken in a certain order and combined with mana, will produce a magical effect. Incantations serve many purposes. For basic spells, they are unnecessary but helpful tools for focusing. Much as monks employ mantras to focus the mind, the repetitive nature of an incantation makes focusing on a particular spell easier for a mage. For complex spells, particularly those performed as rituals, the incantation may actually be a necessary component to the spell’s completion. In such cases, tomes and spell-books describe in detail the gestures and accompanying phrases needed to complete the ritual.

This raises a question: if magic is spoken, then in what language does one speak it? The brief answer is that any language can be employed, but that some are more naturally receptive to being used in this way. Such languages are those which have grasped the logic of the arcane and incorporated it into the structures and sounds of their tongue. This makes them more resonant, that is, better able to mirror the rules of magic and thus produce magical effects.

Sadly, the languages common to the races of Azeroth today have fallen from these heights. Over the eons, they have become more suited to non-magical language, but consequently also imperfect tools for verbalizing magic.

In this work, I do not propose to list all those tongues which are precise tools for invoking magic. Indeed, I could not do so – the language of the ancient Highborne, Eredar, or the Old Gods, for instance, are beyond my understanding. I thus confine this work to those languages which are prevalent within the magecraft of the Eastern Kingdoms. These are Draconic, High Thalassian, Kalimag, and Titanic.

I: Draconic
Incantational Draconic is not properly a language. Rather, it is an offshoot of true Draconic as spoken by the various Dragonflights. The two would be only minimally comprehensible to each other, much like Darnassian and Thalassian are alike only in their basic structure and key words. Thus Draconic as mages use it is solely for incantations; it is not spoken in common parlance by any race or creature. It is thought that early sorcerers in service to the Blue Dragonflight adapted the complex and largely incomprehensible tongue into something fit to be spoken and understood by mortal races. Over millennia, the tongue was disseminated to arcanists across the Eastern Kingdoms, particularly to the early human circles of magi.

Today, Draconic is the standard tongue for spellcasting. Apprentices trained in the Kirin Tor tradition (and by extension those of most other human mages) are taught the language as one of the fundaments of their training. It uses the runic script and sharp, non-flowing syllables to form distinct magical sounds.

II: High Thalassian
High Thalassian is an archaic form of the modern Thalassian spoken by Quel’dorei and Sin’dorei. Naturally, it has an unbroken history as the dominant magical language among the elves of the Eastern Kingdoms. It emerged from the language used by the Highborne exiles who founded Quel’thalas, and has continued to be taught and practiced ever since.

Spoken Thalassian is a difficult language to master, and High Thalassian is yet more complex. Consequently, few arcanists trained outside the elven tradition see fit to use it. High Thalassian has a rolling, flowing quality to it, and is often spoken while chanting.

III: Kalimag
Kalimag is the language of the Elemental Lords. Separate dialects exist for each variety of elemental, but they are thought to be mutually comprehensible. From whence the usage of Kalimag as a magical language emerged is unknown, but scholars point to quasi-shamanic cabals of elementalists that formed in the early days of the Stromic magi, or to the Dark Iron dwarves as possible originators.

As a magical language, Kalimag is best suited to producing elemental effects. It provides far more precise language for describing the elements than does any other tongue. When spoken, Kalimag consists of harsh, growled sounds, often with great undulation in volume and pitch.

IV: Titanic
All magical languages are obscure, but Titanic is undoubtedly the most mysterious. It is the ‘purest’ of magical languages, the tongue with which Azeroth’s creators put in place the laws of magic. Unlike other languages where magical rules are discovered, Titanic comes the closest to actually dictating them. It is also immensely complex, possibly beyond our complete comprehension. No mortal race has come close to understanding the full scope of Titanic, though the dwarves of the Hall of Mystics have invested vast resources in doing so. Nevertheless, even the fragments of Titanic which are known are enough to be a powerful tool, though it is used only by a few obscure cults, along with intrepid gnome and dwarvish scholars pursuing their long-lost roots.

(OOC Note: If you’re interested in speaking these languages, you can use the Tongues addon. The relevant languages would be Draconic, Thalassian, Kalimag, and Titan. Alternately, if you’re looking for a decent translation tool that can translate English text directly into something that sounds magical, I recommend this: http://chaoticshiny.com/langreplace.php It has a variety of sounds that you can select to get a different sort of feel.

On a side note, I’d recommend that a character not speak more than a few of these. They’re hugely complex languages, and that feel is undermined if someone can speak all of them with no problem.)