Languages

Languages are listed below with typical native speakers in parentheses.

Note: Ancestry does not presuppose known languages since it is possible for an individual to not know the languages of their forebears. Language points must still be spent to learn Kindred languages.

All characters start as conversant in Woldish.

Common Languages

• Woldish (humans): Spoken by the humans of southern Isurholm, it is a dialect of (and mutually intelligible with) the Karska language spoken on Isurholm, which was brought over by the human invaders who came from Karseland. Words from Gaffe and Otani pepper the language, making the dialect distinctive in the rest of Isurholm.
• Liturgic (clergy): The liturgical language of the Pluritine Church, used in sermons and holy scriptures. The language is derived from the lands beyond the Teeth of the Sun. Now imbued with holy power, it is unpleasant to the ears of Fairies.
• Caprice (longhorn breggles): A language spoken by the breggle aristocracy, it combines High Elvish with Gaffe and can be written in High Elvish or Woldish scripts.
• Gaffe (shorthorn breggles): The common language of breggles, it contains some words from Woldish and Sylvan, but it is mostly spoken in bleats.
• Sylvan (fairy-kin): The common language of fairies and woodgrues, it is believed to be distantly related to the Immortal Tongue of Fairy.

Uncommon Languages

• High Elvish (fairy nobility): The language of Fairy nobles, derived from the Immortal Tongue of Fairy. Its grammar is opaque and complex, and its lexicon is extensive. Few mortals ever learn it due to its difficulty and only the rare fairy commoner ever learns it.
• Old Woldish (humans): Identical to Old Karska, the language was spoken by the first Karselander human settlers in Southern Isurholm and Dolmenwood. It is no longer spoken, but scholars still study it and its literature.
• Mulch (mosslings, sentient plants and fungi): The language of most sentient plants, fungi, and mosslings of Dolmenwood. It is difficult to reproduce the language for most other kindreds due to the grinding and squelching consonants.
• Otani (humans): An old human language, long since supplanted by Woldish, spoken by the first human woodcutters and hunters who built their homes among the fairies, breggles, and mosslings of Dolmenwood. It is still spoken in the Otani successor kingdoms in the west, called the Dark Country by Karselander invaders. Words and rhythms are shared with the language of Ruislip. The Otani word for Isurholm is Inis Otan, and it is still called that by the Ruis humans.

Foreign Languages

• Ruis (humans): The language of the people on Ruislip, an island west of Isurholm. Some words are common with Otani and the rhythms of the language are similar.
• Croakish (froglings): The language of the froglings of Hoppland on the Continent. Some words from Ambrinian have crossed over. Most of the language consists of croaks and hums.
• Ambrinian (humans): The language of the Humans of the Kingdom of Ambrine on the Continent. It takes a large swath of its vocabulary from Werriadi.
• Attalander (humans): The language of the raiders from Attaland, a land near Karseland, whence came the ancestors of the Woldish humans. The words of the language are familiar to Karska- and Woldish-speakers, but the rhythms are difficult to parse. Spoken on the coasts in the northeast of Isurholm where small settlements have sprung up. The Attalanders are called Aegerlings by the people of Isurholm, meaning Sea-People in Karska.

Secret Languages

Secret languages are reserved for backgrounds and kindreds where it would be reasonable to know it. Discuss with the referee how your character might know one of these languages.

• Drunic (drunes): The language of the secretive Drunes used in daily conversation in addition to ritual, scripture, and histories. Drunic and its script are closely guarded secrets.
• Mewl (grimalkins, cat-fairies): The secret language of cat-like fairies of Dolmenwood, like Grimalkins, it can also be understood by cats, much to their own surprise.
• Undying Tongue of Faerie: The mythical language of ancient fairies, older than the mortal world itself. All folk understand this language when spoken to them, but no mortal or lesser fairy may speak it. They physically cannot. Any who attempt to study it become accursed.
• Dwarvish (dwarrows): The secret sign language of the dwarrows, who hail from the mountains in the Otani-claimed kingdoms to the west. Closely guarded, it is rarely used outside of the depths of dwarf-mansions.

Lost Languages

• Old Drunic: The sacred language of the first Drunes, samples of which only survive in ancient vaults kept by the Drunes. The language is completely lost, kept hidden by only a few old Drunes.
• Ancient Werriadi: The ancient language of the Werriadi Empire once spoken on the shores of Isurholm. Its descendents on the Continent are numerous, but it is no longer spoken (though it survives in thousands of records), even in old Werriad where the language has been fractured by competing successor states. Even in the Golden Gulf where a rump state of the Werriadi Empire remains, they speak Argolosi, the language of Argot.