Ötenuei

Ötenuei is the ancient language of Autenne, used to cast magical spells. It is formed from the words for "god," *öten*, and "language" or "speech," *nuei*.

Ötenuei within the world of Bastion uses a runic alphabet, but is romanized in the text of the story.

## History

Ötenuei originated when the Old Gods caused The Great Separation, giving humans the ability to speak but creating a rift in communication between humans and the rest of nature. With the ability to speak Ötenuei, humanity was granted an incredible level of power to shape reality. But this power also sparked greed, jealousy, and narcissism, eventually resulting in The Collapse. In an effort to save what she could of the world, the Sage Amelaset created Bastion and used what remained of her power to wipe magic from humanity's memory. What has since been uncovered is largely thanks to the research of Luca Aziron and Ersafel Zagfried.

## **Alphabet**

1 Silent following an "E."

2 Silent following an "E," "y" sound as in "yolk" following any other vowel; "w" sound as in "water" when before a vowel.

## Grammar

### **Word Order**

Sentences are constructed according to the following blueprint:

[origin marker] [subject] [adj]-[object] [verb]-[adv]-[*aj*]

*Götne enan eri keðe gaurer uzen aj.* [from speaker memory] [I + past] [red] [dog] [hug + first-person singular] [gently] [currently]; "I remember I was gently hugging the red dog."

### **Tenses and Being**

Grammatical tense and statements of being are formed by adding an ending to a noun. Only the subject noun is declined for tense. Endings are affixed to proper nouns with a "-" (ex., "Vaelle-ir").

#### Simple Tenses

*"-an,"* past tense ending:

* *ötenan*, "there was a god"
* *Ötenanei*, "the Old Gods"

*"-ir,"* future tense ending:

* *ötenir,* "there will be a god"

The basic form of the noun is used for the present tense:

* *öten*, "god," "there is a god"
* When speaking generally about a noun, the present declension is also used.

#### **Imperfect Tenses**

Imperfect tenses are expressed using the helping verb/adverb *"aj,"* often translated as "currently." This adverb comes last when more than one adverb modifies the verb.

* *Autenan meneta aj.* [tree + past] [grow + third-person singular] [currently]; "The tree was growing."

### **Plurality**

Plurality is expressed by adding the ending *"-ei"* to words ending in consonants or "U," or *"-rei"* to words ending in all other vowels. These endings are affixed after the noun is declined for tense.

* *Iknall*, "fire (presently)," "there is a fire"
* *Iknallei,* "fires (presently)," "there are fires"
* *Iknallirei,* "fires (in the future)," "there will be fires"

### **Conjugation**

Verb conjugation is accomplished by dropping the last vowel (if word ends in vowel) and adding endings as follows:

Basic verbs and their conjugations

\**"-or"* is used when the verb already contains an "Ö

### **Adverbs**

Adverbs are usually placed after the verb they modify, but they can be placed before to add syntactic emphasis. Using multiple adverbs to describe a single verb is grammatically permissible in Ötenuei without need for *"et"* (and). "*Aj*" always comes after verbs.

* *Enir žekniater krezan aj,* [I + future] [blaze + first-person singular] [forcefully] [currently]; "I will be blazing forcefully."

### **Pronouns**

Pronouns can also carry tense endings:

* *Aužadanei,* [You (with respect) + past + plural]; "You guys/they were" (with great respect)
* *Genir,* [He + future]; "He will"
* *Tänan iknažeta menkas,* [They (singular) + past] [start a fire + third-person singular] [manyfold]; "They started many fires."

### **Possession**

Expressed with "*na*," meaning "of" or "belonging to."

* *Keðe na Äniver sareta*, [dog] [of] [Eniver] [pee + third-person singular]; "Eniver's dog pees."
* *Sažorei na Atikera,* [blade + plural] [of] [winter]; "Blades of Winter."

## Sample Sentences

*Auten meneta*. [tree] [grow + third-person]; "The tree grows."

*Autenir meneta.* [tree + future] [grow + third-person]; "The tree will grow."

*Don-ir gakista veneta.* [Don + future] [pie] [make + third-person]; "Don will make a pie."

*Nakje enan vagnzer zag jen, au oža?* [apparently] [I + past] [cause chaos + first-person singular] [intensifier] [here], [is (subjunctive)] [true]?; "It seems I've made quite a mess of this place, haven't I?"

*Enan autergn durmer ögmad et kamvet ver,* [I + past] [forest] [walk + first-person singular] [through] [and] [deer] [see + first person singular]; "I walked through the forest and saw a deer."

*Augötan niveketa laugmid autergn.* [sun + past] [set + third-person singular] [in] [forest]; "The sun set in the forest."

*Žekn gröv durmeta röt žamak-daug.* [man] [fat] [walk + third-person singular] [at] [midnight]; "The fat man walks at midnight."