Known Languages

Common Languages

Dwarvish

The coarse language of the Dwarves has remained unchanged for millennia. Forever ingrained in the stone of their mines, mountains, and forts, each character is said to represent epic tales of fallen heroes long before the human presence in Trinen.

Distribution: Typically spoken in northern Trinen or Dwarf strongholds. Language is rarely exchanged with local communities.
Script: Each character is rigid, never including rounded details. Likely a result of the stone medium.
Dialects: No known variant dialects, though rudimentary systems of brail have been developed by different clans.
Scholarly Influence: Minimal

Goblin

Little is understood about the goblin language, though they often emulate sounds of nature (perhaps to hide their presence from passersby). Few written examples of the language exist, but there seems to be no overarching connection between written scrips of different goblin bands. While the spoken word is relatively phonetically consistent, the written language diversity makes linguistic or cultural research difficult.

Distribution: Rarely exchanged outside of goblin bands. Most speakers are in forests of Fjordstrond or Eldurgrund surrounding densely populated regions.
Script: Inconsistent, often found written in mud, upon walls, or carved into trees. No use of accents.
Dialects: Five distinct goblin dialects can be found throughout Eldurgrund and Fjordstrond, with at least a dozen different scripts.
Scholarly Influence: None

Orcish

Orcish is perhaps the most phonetically foreign language among the common races of Laminarum, likely due to its extraplanar origins. Having been summoned by Kadelkonatl, the linguistic origin of the orcish language leaves it shrouded in mystery. Further, its mystic origin makes it the subject of investigation for research into foreign planes.

Distribution: Spoken throughout orcish communities of Eldurgrund, particularly in Euvurcrest, the Greylends, and the Northlends.
Script: Orcish utilizes a five-character system, modifying each of the 5 "core symbols" to modify the sounds into a plethora of phonetic options.
Dialects: Orcish has seen little variation over time, as the diaspora of its native speakers forced them to fully assimilate other local languages. However, as language exchange with dwarves has increased over time, a slew of variant dialects have appeared beyond the established orcish territory, far into the Northlends.
Scholarly Influence: Moderate

Naga-Tel

The Naga-Tel language is nearly exclusive to the marshes and jungles of Mot D'nir, never reaching the broader usage of their Tara-Jhen neighbors. It shares an abundance of similarities with the lizardfolk language, having the same characters but different vocabulary and grammatical rules.

Distribution: Predominately found in non-imperial Mot D'nir, though it's occasionally spoken among Naga-Tel families in Goldwalk and Newmot.
Script: Rounded characters, often written in mud or clay. No use of accents, unlike the Tara-Jhen.
Dialects: While Naga-Tel dialects within Augury cities of Mot D'nir are typically consistent, tribes deep within the continent tend to have their own distinct dialects, though their scripts remain the same.
Scholarly Influence: None

Elvish

The elvish language has remained consistent for thousands of generations, though not from lack of trying. Thanks to the high degree of literacy among elves, migrating groups have often attempted to shift the language to fit their needs. Further, throughout various conflicts that have destroyed written information, scholarly organizations have attempted to integrate aspects of other languages or otherwise improve the language's efficiency.

Distribution: Dominant throughout the entirety of Silse and the second-most common language in Renad. While rarely spoken in most human baronies, merchants in Caripreet often take it upon themselves to learn the language.
Script: Combination of rounded and angled letters, with inspiration from various other scripts across Laminarum. Common use of assorted accents.
Dialects: Differing dialects can be found in Poueir, Ghei Wyl, and the Eastern/Southern/Western elvish kingdoms.
Scholarly Influence: High

Human

The human language has a prolific spread across other communities thanks to the prolific spread of humanity itself. Thanks to the relatively high number of humans compared to Elves or J'barri, most popular books across Laminarum will eventually receive a human translation. The human languages (particularly those in Caripreet and Fjordstrond) are considered part of the "big three" languages (along with the aforementioned J'barri and Elvish languages).

Distribution: Spoken all across Trinen and the Snow Rock Isles. Generally, human languages are the most common in the Augury territories, regardless of the dominant species. The human languages are occasionally spoken in Renad and Silse, but aren't the first choice.
Script: Various scripts, with angular characters preferred in Eldurgrund and Fjordstrond (as well as a right-to-left reading direction). All others employ a variety of rounded and angular characters with varying degrees of accent usage.
Dialects: Different dialects are present in each barony with increasing degrees of crossover as you travel west.
Scholarly Influence: High

Urr-speak

Urr-speak is a language originating from the various islands of the Fingerless Gulf. Formally discovered and documented long after the native Urrfolk were removed, it now exists in the far reaches of society. As its native speakers are pushed further and further from their lands of origin, most have taken to the human languages of Fjordstrond.

Distribution: Remnants of written script can be found across the Fingerless Gulf, while the language is only actively spoken across the Northlends, Icelends, and Fjordstrond.
Script: Large hieroglyphs, otherwise samples are limited.
Dialects: No variant dialects.
Scholarly Influence: None

Tara-Jhen

Unlike their other marsh cousins, the Tara-Jhen language has spread rapidly in recent centuries (ca. 1947 NG). Thanks to the traumatic events of The Silence    being championed from a seat of Mot D'nir, understanding the local language grew vital to stabilizing society.

Distribution: While initially exclusive to Mot D'nir, the arrival of the humans to colonize and the eventual rise of the Augury has caused a drastic spread of Tara-Jhen into modern-day Goldwalk, Newmot, and Caripreet. Thanks to The Silence, the diaspora of Kaban slaves to the south has resulted in a high presence of the language throughout Kazbur.
Script: The Tara-Jhen script includes accentuation and rounded letters that code to a subtle variety of hisses and hard consonants.
Dialects: There are four main dialects of Tara-Jhen: that of Kazbur. Thiff, imperial Mot D'nir, and independent Mot D'nir. While linguistic evolution was initially slow thanks to the wormhole-like travel made possible by the Quai, cultural osmosis and spiritual uncertainty have caused rapid change in the last 200 years.
Scholarly Influence: previously limited, drastic increase during The Silence.

Gnomish

Gnomish is as much an artifact of the past as its people. Its characters share no clear similarities with the others in Laminarum, implying a completely independent lineage. Its relatively unchanged nature and foreign history have made it valuable for interplanar research (similar to orcish, though there's no direct evidence that gnomes do not originate from Laminarum).

Distribution: Gnomish is mostly present in a small selection of the world's grandest forests (typically untouched by civilization) throughout both Silse and Trinen. The location with the highest density of gnomish speakers compared to non-gnomish speakers is the Nadlewood Strip. At present, the only city with a sizeable population of gnomish speakers is Caripreet.
Script: The Gnomish script has an odd appearance, similar to the rings of a tree trunk. Their writings tend to be a single long line with no spaces between letters, words, or sentences. The only research dedicated to reading the script was an Eldur Monk by the name of Geralt Imalda, who was interested in the topic due to his druidic abilities.
Dialects: The Gmonish language has undergone shockingly little change given the time and distance between Gnome populations. There is only one known dialect, and it is known to be resilient even when native speakers are raised in environments dominated by other languages.
Scholarly Influence: Moderate

J'barri

J'barri language, mathematics, and iconography are considered the most essential for global trade, often serving as a standard among elves and humans as well. It occasionally makes its way to scholarly spheres as well, but still pales in comparison to the domination of human languages due to the limited range of environmental research possible in Renad. 

Distribution: the J'barri language can be found in Trinen (as far east as Jökulstífla), Silse (excluding the west), and Renad.
Script: The J'barri script is composed entirely of angular characters, due to their history of utilizing wax tablets to record information (and many still use them for their ability to erase information). While writing on parchment may take longer than the flowing elvish or human scripts, it is certainly eye-catching.
Dialects: There are only three distinctly recorded dialects, though there may be many more among the wanderers of Renad. The dialects, naturally, vary from Roja, Kala, and Brillé.
Scholarly Influence: Moderate

Nukin

The Nukin language is a rare specimen, only existing on the backhand of Silse, upon the sacred grounds of Mulatar. The languages have seen no books and are hardly known to history due to their forced exodus by the expanding Western Elves.  

Distribution: The Nukin language is only present in the southernmost forest of Bourilia
Script: Lengthy, containing as many as 92 distinct characters (whether these are different dialects is unknown).
Dialects: The possibility of varying dialects is unknown.
Scholarly Influence: None

Kaban

The Kaban language is an artifact of the past, and its original form is yet to be reconstructed. Its modern form has artifacts of both the human and Tara-Jhen scripts due to their history of enslavement.

Distribution: Occasionally present in Augury cities, common around Kazbur.
Script: The Kaban script has symbols that attempt to replicate the movement of the rigid Kaban mouth. Each distinct phonetic sound has its own symbol, most of which consist of guttural, open vowels separated by hard consonants. Over time, several Naga-Tel and human characters have been added, and they are rather distinct when found on a page of Kaban writing.
Dialects: Several dialects exist across Kazbur, while most Kaban in Augury cities assimilate the languages around them.
Scholarly Influence: Low

Exotic Languages

• Douri
• Saaurithalen
• Ohdaufehl 
• Uthuquate
• Quellan
• Primordial
• Invarin
• Melifyn
• Yunbad
• Thanid
• Cacophonetics