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Languages of Draia
The Speech of The Six Races
The many various races and factions throughout Draia have numerous languages and dialects, some reclusive tribes have tongues known only to themselves. Below is a list of the more commonly known tongues used by the six races.
COMMON
No doubt the most used of all languages, Common is the sole language spoken by nearly every person on Draia. It is the standard for any conversation between different races, sometimes even used instead of a race’s own language if there are dialect conflicts.
Unfortunately, due to its widespread use across so many lands, Common has become a crude language composed of words and phrases from various other tongues as well as its own base. It is constantly added to and reformed, along with the usage of new words. Due to its confusing nature, it is a difficult language to learn, which is why the children of nearly every race are taught Common along with their own language at a very young age.
The origins of Common are vague and often debated by scholars. Who first spoke the language or why it became the most used language still remains a mystery.
HUMAN
Humans perhaps have the most diverse array of languages. Due to their independent nature and easy squabbles with their own kind, they are more prone to developing separate languages. Several different human tongues have attained dominance on Irilion and Seridia. Though more similar in structure to each other than perhaps draegoni and dwarf languages for example, they are still very different languages.
Idalorian (Idal Empire’s language)
The language of the Idal Empire is one of the most widespread across Irilion due to the far reaching influence of the Empire. Idalorian is spoken throughout the regions of Idaloran, Sedicolis, Palon Vertas, and Emerald Valley. Melinis also uses Idalorian often, as it too is part of the Idal Empire, however the port city also has its own distinct dialect, often refered to as Melinese.
Seridian (The Language of White Stone)
As White Stone is the dominant human power on Seridia, its language is the most commonly used human tongue there. Originally Seridian was the language of the village that grew to become Portland, it was picked up by the human faction that founded White Stone, and spread through their trade to the other humans on the continent. Tarsengaard once possessed a distinct language of its own, known as Tarsenian, however the numerous races flooding into the city for the magic school eventually drove the region’s standard language to Common. Tarsenian is still spoken by some local residents whose families have lived in the region for years, but it is not widely used.
>ELF
Elves have two main languages, Valian and Rinmian. However there are several other elvish tongues less known, such as the language of the reclusive Akuen tribe. There is also an old elven tongue that is not used as the language for any faction.
Lidian
Believed to be the original language of the elves, its use declined on Seridia and Irilion following The War of the Gods. Lidian is not used regularly by any faction of elves. It is, however, still widely known by elvish scholars and some elvish bards have been known to compose their work in Lidian for the sake of its beauty and importance to the elves.
Valian
Used by the majority of elves, it is widely spoken in Tirnwood Vale, Irsis, Aeth Aelfan, and parts of Willowvine. Less closely related to Lidian than Tirnymian, Valian’s origins lie in with Tirn, the creator of Tirnwood, the wood became populated many years in the past. It is believed that Tirn created the language that became used in Tirnwood, but has not been proven. Tirnwood is believed to have been in existence since before The War of the Gods and using its own language all that time. For some reason, the War of the Gods brought about the decline of Lidian and Valian was adopted by Irsis and Aeth Aelfan before Seridia and Irilion lost contact.
Rinmian
A language still close to Lidian, it was the language of Tirnym until the decline of the city. The Nightshade Clan still uses the language. Tirnym strove to keep the Lidian language its main tongue, however the other factions of elves grew accustomed to using Lidian only for ceremonial or other special purposes and pressured Tirnym into using another tongue. So they slowly developed an offshoot of Lidian which evolved to be very different over time, but still more closely related to Lidian than Valian is to Lidian.
DWARF
Dwarves could rival humans for their divesity in languages. Nearly every clan has its own language, however known human languages still outnumber those of the dwarves. Dwarves, however, do not have dominant tongues like the humans do. Even in organized regions, such as Zirakinbar, there are many clans in the area which each possess their own language. The study of dwarven languages is tedious and overwhelming, as there are no dominant dialects to research and present as a common dwarf tongue. For this reason, knowledge on their speech is not readily available to anyone and most dwarves communicate with other clans through Common, as they rarely know more then their clan's language.
An attempt was once made to create a uniform language for Zirakinbar, but it was impossible for the many in favor of the idea to agree upon a dialect. Each dwarf wanted his own clan's language to become the one used by all.
GNOME
Gnomes are such a friendly race their own language is not often heard by the other races. Not because of secrecy, but instead because they find it rude to use a language others don't understand. For this reason, gnomes are most often heard speaking Common. The gnomes of Arius City speak Ariush as do the gnomes in Willowvine and Hurquin. The northeast region of Arius has its own distinct dialect known as Kyribane. Most gnomes speak both Ariush and Kyribane for easy communication and many speak numerous other languages as well.
ORCHAN
The orchans of Redmoon are currently the only major colony of orchans known to Draia. Their language is Orchia. It has a distinct northern and southern dialect. If you know one it is sometimes difficult to understand the other, but most orchans seem to manage. Linguists marvel that the two dialects have remained for so long. Many would assume that they would merge together into one orchan language, but they show no signs of any such thing.
DRAEGONI
Of the six races, the draegoni are the only race that have one uniform language and dialect. The draegoni are not a race prone to conflict with themselves. They have of course had some civil war in the past, but their number of conflicts pales in comparison to the constant internal differences of most other races. It is a commonly held belief that the draegoni language is closely related to that of the dragons. Loqui Maegoni is perhaps the strangest of all known languages, few outside the draegoni culture have truly mastered it.
The Speech of Monsters
We all know there are many creatures with some level of intelligence besides the six races on Draia. Dragons most of all are probably the most intelligent species not counted in the six races. Other creatures such as orcs, trolls, cyclops, and giants sometimes have their own languages. Whether or not a group of creatures has their own language changes from species to species. Some speak crude and primitive forms of Common, others do not know Common at all. Dragons, giants, and orcs all have their own specific languages, which are known to have always belonged to their races. Other semi-intelligent creatures have an array of other languages and dialects, depending on their location, factions, and occasionally race. Not much is known of the languages of such monsters and most respected scholars refuse to research them claiming they are vile, distasteful languages that no one from the six races should use.
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