Linguistics

Avarin
Speakers: All humans speak Avarin; it is generally spoken everywhere in Arcadia, even by creatures of races other than human. Largely spoken in Kyrheim and Ariaheim.

Description: Avarin is the language of Man and is used everywhere in all of Nyxheim, from the darkest corners of Howldon the farthest tundras of the North. It is a language used for trade and for convenience with a hint of concealment. When demons partake in nefarious deeds, when a traveler wishes to hide his lineage, when an assassin takes up a contract, Avarin is used. The phonetics are simple, almost plain when compared to other languages. It is useful in diplomatic discussions or public speeches in prose, though many humans have written numerous tales and poems in Avarin. Due to the widespread nature of the tongue, countless lore and studies written in Avarin; not to mention the language of scientists and technology. It is an essential language for any who doesn't wish to dwell in ignorance.

Restrictions: There are no restrictions for Avarin; use it whenever and wherever you like. Just remember, in a handful of parts in the world known to us as Nyxhem, Man's nature is frowned upon by the native races and so, naturally, Man's tongue is also frowned upon. Such places include Nifredil and Caliwinds.

Noldorin
Speakers: Any demon may speak it, or anyone in particular who have had contact with any general commuting area within the Nightmare Marshes territory. Noldorin is spoken as far as Malekith's hand has once reached.

Description: Noldorin is said to be a language which "creates naught, but corrupts all." It is the language stemming from anger, desire, and hunger for power.

Noldorin is implemented in their spellcasting by independent necromancers and blood mages, as well as Shamans, Gypsy mediums and Summoners in contacting frightening creatures from the depths of the looming darkness in the Nightmare Marshes. This is a great example of Noldorin's power to corrupt; the perversion of both physical and spiritual life. Certain dark elven mages in Malekith still use it, although it is considered distasteful.

Another use is seen in the hypnotic voice of the Incubi that lulls the mind into false security, sounding sweet, almost pure. The subform used by the Dark Elves hints towards a mixture of Eldarin and Noldorin, sounding equally sweet and malicious.

The Vampires' aristocratic nature adds a sophisticated lilt in stark contrast to the anger-filled, guttural growls and harsh whispers of the demons.

Spoken by Demons, Incubi, certain dark elves and any other creature of the night, Noldorin has been structured by each adding their individual ingredients, yet the core remains the same; it is vile to the ears of Non-shadow creatures and more so for the Elves of the North and the Angels of Silim. Pure creatures are able to feel the malice dripping from this demon-tongue and are aware of the terrifying power it has when laced with magick. They find it particularly nauseating, which is why Noldorin is frowned upon in their respective areas.

Restrictions:  ''Only a creature that have ties or constantly are having interactions with the Nightmare Marches may learn this language. Speak with caution, for it is not uncommon for practitioners to be punished in nostalgic places such as Isis.''

Eldarin
Speakers: Elves speak Eldarin, be they Dark Elves, Wood Elves, Moon Elves or any creature with elvish blood. Eldarin is predominant throughout Nifredil with some areas in Malekith where the Dark Elves rule. It is not uncommon for any other creature to learn eldarin; you could find it being spoken anywhere or being understood anywhere.

Description: Many a human has tagged Eldarin as the common elvish tongue. Often, it is said to be the fairest tongue spoken in all the lands, fairer even then Sindarin. At times lofty, at times mocking and at times teasingly flirtatious, Eldarin encompasses most if not all of the elvish traits. It is fluid to sound and pleasing to hear, almost lyrical. Perhaps this is why Eldarin boasts the greatest number of songs - because it comes naturally to it. The songs are most often about love for the Arcadian Goddess, for the land, the animals, the passing of seasons and undoubtedly about the past and of lament such as the songs about the fall of Celestia and the Celestian Goddess.

Elves may have an airy nature towards the passage of time, but one thing they never forget is their past. As the years pile up, they shift towards a union with nature as is shown through their religion, Gaea, and even their appearances. It goes without saying that they use their language for these means. Eldarin is used in rituals involving fertility, growth, prosperity, "softer" earth magick, spells for physical pleasures, for feasting and for comfort, animal magick of all kinds, enchantments and for any magick using the force of nature.

Restrictions: An elf must know Eldarin along with creatures in direct contact with the elves such as the Efferri all over, or perhaps creatures in Malekith who have contact with the Dark Elf kingdom. A creature other than this cannot speak Eldarin unless for specified reasons.

Hexxarin
Speakers: The undead of the Ecclesiarchy speak Hexxarin. Any speaker of Eldarin or Sindarin may learn it without difficulties. Some universities around Nyxheim teach it.

A young language, Hexxarin is a loose derivation of Sindarin and archaic Eldarin, and is the official language of the Ecclesiarchy. It shares the grammatical structure of Sindarin, but due to the predominately Dark Elven heritage and vast age of the Church ruling body, has sustained a heavy infuence of ancient and obsolete Eldarin terms and expressions. The Hexxarin alphabet is very similar to that of Sindarin, but has a number of "unpronounceables"; letters that have no corresponding sound and are ignored in speech, but are vital for a word's meaning in script. Many documents in the higher tiers of Church administration are written using exclusively unpronounceables, making them completely unreadable to people of average brain capacity.

Once the Ecclesiarchy was established as a sovereign state, this language was constructed by the Church to hinder communication between the undead and the living, thus minimizing human influence on the still-forming and fragile Ecclesiastic society. Hexxarin's institution, along with a formal ban on Avarin, has proved quite successful in this regard. Hexxarin is far enough removed from modern Eldarin to be incomprehensible to elves, but educated angels would be able to make themselves understood. Restrictions: a creature with no ties with the Ecclesiarchy must specify a reason for knowing it.

MINOR LANGUAGES
(The languages mentioned below are unique to their races.)

Sindarin
Speakers: Spoken by Angels exclusively. Fallen Angels and heavily privileged scholars that have chosen to learn about this sacred, holistic language.

Description: Sindarin was once considered to be the tongue of the Arcadian Goddess ie the most holiest of languages. Angels believed that the Goddess spoke to them and through them she would act out her will. As a result, the Angels of became the self-appointed saviours of the world, promising salvation to those who joined them and damnation to those who rejected their teachings. Driven by their innate sense of cleansing the lands, or "Purging" as they called it, the Angels drove themselves beyond any purification. They vented their arrogance, their greed, their lust for power, their anger, almost everything sinful within them, out towards the other races and with blatant disregard of the others' feelings. Once the Sacred Empire had been established, they thought all would be well. But they had forgotten one thing; the Sacred Empire did not exist in the stones or walls or the piles of gold they gathered or the number of followers they could convert. The empire existed in their conscience. Love had always been greater than force, self-realisation had always been greater than self-apotheosis. Before they had realised what had happened, their empire crumbled.

The influence of the Sacred Empire still exists within religious teachings of other areas. One may be able to bring down an empire but one cannot bring down a religious body.

Sindarin sounds almost pure, untainted, when spoken by the Angels in recital of their holy verses. The sounds fill the listener with a sense of bliss and a sense of peace. The Angels tended to mix religion with magick, forming a brand of magick called Enchanting. Going further into their secret holy books, they developed their own forms of Thaumaturgy and summoned their sleeping ancestral spirits from Acheron. This is however the highest form of Sindarin.

The common form is certainly not as appealing. Angels are proud creatures by nature, making their language sound lofty, a bit too lofty, and regal. It's a flowery form of speech and stiffly formal even when referring to friends. Sindarin is filled with too many Thee's and Thou's for comfort. The common form is used heavily in political and religious speech, in both prose and verse.

Restrictions: Any Angel may speak Sindarin, regardless of where they derive from. Apart from them, humans have the ability to learn and speak Sindarin. Any creatures other than that need to specify their reasons.

Parsel
[Gorgons only]

Parsel, or parsel-tongue as it is called, is spoken by the Gorgons of Nifredil. These creatures posess an exceptionally long tongue and fangs, as a result, giving their words a constant slur of S's with a flickering of the tongue and a baring of their fangs with a harsh scream if aggravated, followed by heavy, laboured breathing. Non-verbal signs include the strong lithe movement of their coils, hips and wrists with which they ensnare potential prey (Sometimes not for eating. *Winks.*) Some Gorgons are able to cast spells using their eyes and their many dances with continuous uttering of Parsel, perhaps for fertility rituals and magick involving the female autonomy.

Esferin
The language of Efferii. It has several dialects spoken by each of the six major Efferii Tribes. All of them however are mutually intelligible.

Fey
All Faeries speak Fey, and it is a language that is more akin to music than any other, a taste of the different musical sounds of the wild.

Draconic/Dragonic
Draconic is linked back to the great wyrms of Celestia and is split into two: high and common draconic. High draconic is used by the eldest of drakes, and also in spells requiring stronger magick such as the spell to create a dracolich or perhaps summoning fire from the bowels of the earth. Common draconic is just everyday speech. The language itself involves the gnashing of teeth and spewing fiery breath and sometimes displays of power such as roaring, clawing and in most cases, depending upon the dragon, raising or flattening their quills in signs of aggravation. A not-so-common variant of Draconic is Shadic which is spoken by the extremely rare Shadow Dragons that resided in the past, lost and forgotten nation of Lumbren. It may be named different, but it sounds exactly the same, perhaps a bit primitive.

Phoenician
(Also known as Verus Vox) For the Phoenixes.

Phoenician language is considered within the society built atop wings to be a language of True Words. Naturally known to them as "The True Word". They believe all things have true names aside from the mortal chain names any earthbound parent can give them.

The phoenician language is something special. Certain sounds, syllables, words, or group of words that are considered capable of "creating transformation" - a spiritual transformation. All things that exist have a true nature when being observed or not observed. All things in creation have names, "true" names at that. The language is essentially 'thought forms' representing divinities or cosmic powers, which exert their influence by means of sound-vibrations. At least that's the concept.

Their language can create certain things and cause affects to transpire. Os of Sol solis - "Sight of the Sun"; that phrase, when spoken, could enable a phoenix to see "truth".

It is believed that the Sun God, Kyrieth Sol Invictus speaks this language.

Thyrsar
-Restricted. Needs permission to use.

Thyrsar is another form of the elvish tongue but one uncommon among the Elves let alone other races. Its speakers are scarce, with few among the ranks of the eldest of the Elves who have amassed quite a bit of knowledge, because Thyrsar requires a superior intellect to use.

In essence, Elves call Thyrsar "The Speech" and use it to converse with nature in a telepathic sense. Whether plants, animals or inanimate objects, all are capable of understanding Thyrsar, even the more sentient of creatures. This quality brings out a secondary ability of Thyrsar users called Empathy where they can share feelings, both emotional and physical, or perhaps use this knowledge to heal. Many great things can be accomplished with Thyrsar. The language itself is alive and rewards those who follows its ideals with great power. Those who wish to use Thyrsar for destruction and devastation will face its wrath and in the end will lose themselves. Small exceptions are made if something is destroyed to save a life or for the desire to do good.

Here, "speaking" and "understanding" are two completely different things. To speak one must learn it, but understanding it exists as an inseparable part of an individual.

With Thyrsar, one could tap into the natural flow of the world and manipulate the spiritual plane with the river Elysium and the domain of Acheron, the physical plane involving the energy generated from tectonic shifts and powerful mana from the Lyriums, the dream plane with shattered fantasies and distant memories, or the astral plane with innumerable stars. However, manipulation of each plane requires vasts amount of energy, an amount which an individual may barely possess. For this reason, many have discarded the fruitless labour of mastering the planes and are simply content with using Thyrsar to further their own disciplines of magick.

When used in normal magick, Thyrsar amplifies every drop of mana used, squeezing from it the concentrated quintessence to boost spells. It goes without saying that Thyrsar users are very adept at magick, perhaps the most powerful wizards in Arcadia.

With all good things there comes a drawback to limiting its use or to trial the individual so that only the truly gifted may use it. The language itself holds a great aversion towards killing and spells enhanced with Thyrsar that are used to kill, injure or distort an object will cause the spell to lose its potency or even lash back at its caster. As mentioned before, Thyrsar users are capable of "talking" to many if not all creatures. Those who cannot control this power may be overwhelmed with the millions of voices constantly in their head, taunting, complaining, manipulating; burdened by the deceitful malice, many beginners go mad or develop schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorders. In the extreme cases, their power of empathy may go wrong and they may find themselves riddled with wounds or suffering intense physical and emotional trauma leading to a comatose state. This language, this power, is not to be taken lightly.

THYRSAR USAGE

An example of Thyrsar usage. (Some people asked me this which is why I added it.) This is based upon the belief that Arcadia was made from some form of matter, remnants of which are still present in plants, animals, doorknobs, etc. A Thyrsar user can interact spiritually with others, such as through dreams. Here's an example with an everyday object such as a doorknob: A Thyrsar user can also speak with doorknobs and if one asks politely, they just might open. But doorknobs in Malekith are vicious and will often bite intruders while the ones in Silim are very proud and will not allow anyone other than angels from opening them, thinking of themselves as having a higher worth. This is why humans and dwarves in Silim have problems with their doors. Interesting, no? You could ask a sword of its sharpness, speak with an age-old Oak and find out the secrets within its shady stillness, prevent a bomb from exploding by coaxing it into dormancy, ask a rat to pick up that shiny gold crown you dropped into the sewers, etc. Use it as a tool for your creativity....within reason. Yes, that means no God-modding.

-- Royal Seal 22:25, July 14, 2013 (UTC)