Languages

Language is a means through which individuals communicate—verbally, in writing, or through gesture—with others in their community.

## Low Vostinian

Low Vostinian is the most widely-spoken language in the Vostinian Empire, and is one of two Imperial languages. Low Vostinian was based primarily on High Vostinian, though its incorporation of elements from Imeldunni, Ayfielian, Ceretini, and Wrytollian languages has since eliminated mutual intelligibility between Low and High Vostinian.

Due to the drastic differences between the languages, modern Low and High Vostinian lack the indication of socioeconomic class that originally gave them their names.

Low Vostinian appears as white text in-game.

## High Vostinian

High Vostinian is one of two languages officially recognized by the Vostinian Empire, though it is somewhat rare outside of Vostinia itself. In Wrytoll, High Vostinian is most often used by those of Vostinian descent, or as a means of communication that cannot be understood by the majority of the population.

Due to the lack of mutual intelligibility between Low and High Vostinian, commands given to Enforcers are often spoken in High Vostinian for tactical reasons—though this could also be a holdover, as the original blueprint for Enforcers could only receive commands in High Vostinian.

High Vostinian appears as grey text in-game, which can sometimes make it difficult to read.

## Sraharl

Sraharl (/ʃrɑˈhɑɾl/) is the predominant language in the Storynth, spoken by virtually all Fieli who live there. Record of Sraharl in the World Above was exceptionally rare even before the Vostinian conquest of Wrytoll, making it nearly impossible for humans to learn the language outside of the Storynth (with one notable exception). Due to the demonization of Fiends and lack of mutual intelligibility between Low Vostinian and Sraharl, most humans never attempted to study the Fiendish language—even those attempting pilgrimages in the Cerulosian Order.

Despite not being based on any real-world languages, Sraharl’s phonology shares certain traits with Romance languages (especially Latin and Spanish), including its vowel sounds and the tapped “r” sound.

* Two major deviations from this include the actual name of Sraharl (which features both a voiceless fricative “sh” sound and a less tapped “r” sound in its first half) and Hrekoseriat's name, which begins with a voiceless alveolar tap.

Sraharl appears as red text in-game.

## Spanish

Despite being banned during the Vostinian Empire’s conquest and annexation of Wrytoll, Spanish was eventually re-introduced to the territory during the Wrytollian linguistic zone experiment. Following the destruction of Leónra, the settlement’s occupants dispersed throughout the world—though the public use of their native language remained illegal.

Spanish falls within the category of Romance languages, specifically in the Ibero-Romance group (which also includes Portuguese and Catalan, among others).

The dialect of Spanish used in-game is Mexican Spanish, and appears in message boxes as blue text.

## Universal communication

God-beings and their constructs possess the unique trait of universal intelligibility, which makes their communications understood regardless of the listener’s linguistic knowledge. Universal communication appears in gold text when used in-game.

While not explicitly stated, universal communication actually varies based upon the listener’s native language; while Velziran would hear the communication as Low Vostinian, Dakos would hear it as Sraharl.

## Languages mentioned or implied in-game

* Colkeris is the only known speaker of Wrytollian to appear in-game.
	+ He indicates that he learned a “different” human language in his youth, but has since learned Low Vostinian.
* Ewan’s expanded (but not legally recognized) name, Eóghan an Caillteanach, is Scottish Gaelic. His legal surname (Caill) also follows the appropriate pronunciation for Scottish Gaelic.
* Margherit D’Ayfiel’s surname follows the same contraction pattern as French family names beginning with vowels (e.g. the use of “d’Artagnan” in lieu of “de Artagnan”).