Astran Language in The Sea of Starlight | World Anvil

Astran

Astran is believed to be the ancient language of the first gods who came into existence in the Sea of Starlight. After the divine left the material plane, the language died out and faded into obscurity. Ancient Astran inscriptions can be found in ruins of lost civilizations throughout the entire world. The language is still studied by scholars and specifically by arcanists, who have derived a great wealth of knowledge from stone inscriptions and tablets pertaining to divination magic.

Written in the Stars

Written Astran looks like dots that have been connected by stripes, forming intricate constellations. Astran is not written horizontally, but in an inward spiral. A section of Astran text starts on the outside and ends on the inside of a spiral. In the world there have been uncovered a few examples of these types of these spiral sections being placed in another spiral fashion, each as a sort of chapter in a story. Astran texts often pertain recollections of the past and prophecies of the future. Scholars have noted that recollections of the past written in Astran could pertain events that would have yet come to pass at the time of writing. Because of this, Astran is also known as: 'The Script of the Past and Future'. How spoken Astran would have exactly sounded like has been lost in time. Because it is perceived as the language of the divine, it has been theorised that being able to speak Astran might unlock the secrets of ancient magic only available to the gods themselves.

Divine Names

There are several cultures who have found that some of the constellations in stone match those in the night sky. This writing would often speak of incredible powers or beings that walked the material plane. The translation of the Astran script was used as a name for these beings, which is where many names of deities originate from.
Alternative Names
Div
Script of the Past and Future
Starspeak
Successor Languages

Comments

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Jul 15, 2021 17:17 by Avalon Arcana

I really like this. My only question is if it's written from the outside in then don't they run out of space often? does that ever happen? all in all, great article : )

You should check out the The 5 Shudake, if you want of course.
Jul 29, 2021 11:06 by Tim de Roos

Great question! That was actually an intentional detail, as it is a language that's is about divination and knowing the future, the original users and writers would probably know exactly how much space they'd need. :)

Jul 30, 2021 16:40 by Avalon Arcana

Oh, that's such a cool detail

You should check out the The 5 Shudake, if you want of course.
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