Ethonic

One of Niorath's most ancient languages was Ethonic. This language, that was spoken by a snakelike race called the Selefer, is even older than Avaronian. Since no Selefer are known to be alive on Niorath the language is currently not spoken by anyone. Some languages in Avak'am and the Arek languages are , however, derived from Ethonic.

History

Origin

Very little is known about the origins of the Selefer or their language. What historians do know is that they maintained a large empire in pre Avaronian times. It was long assumed that they started their expansion from somewhere in Avak'am. But recently found ruins near the Arkash Volcanoes has historians believe that their original homeland was located there before moving to Avak'am.

by Kefkejaco with Inkarnate

Expansion and Decline

The Selefer only really appear in other records once they arrived in Farlis. Although it is still heavily debated, they are assumed to have been behind several catastrophies there, causing the creation of the Silent Forest and the Volker Volcanoes. This is supported by the texts found on the walls of Selefer ruins which are often accompanied with murals. However, some historians believe these to be myths rather than true historic accounts.
On Farlis they have mainted a strong control of the south and south-eastern regions for several centuries until the eventual defeat by the Avaronians. Some believe that it was Mackevor who had defeated them and perished during the final battle. The event that defined the start of the Avaronian Era also marked the end of the Selefer. Afterwards the Selefer were never mentioned again in historical records.

Legacy

Although not much is known of the Selefer they have left a lasting legacy. There are several derived languages, of wich most are on Avaka'am, and some say that the Avaronians were able to use the large amount of magical knowledge they left behind. Many ruins can be found in the Volker Desert and some areas of Avak'am from the time they still walked on the planet. Many adventurers have tried to find the treasures they left behind but few have succeeded so far.
The language itself was deciphered pretty easily since the script of current Avak'am lanaguages was still the same. However the sound of the language remained unknown for a long time. It is only after a ruin was discovered with special mural writings that the pronouncation of the language was determined. On touch the murals of this ruin would produce a Selefer voice reading the writings on the walls. This proved to be an invaluable way to gain insight in an otherwise dead language.

Relations

Close relation

• Arek: medium difficulty, uses Pavan script
• Farlian (Elvish): easy to learn, uses Avaronian script

Relatively related

• Asmer: advanced difficulty, uses Celestial script

No close relation

• Avaronian (Elvish): high difficulty, uses Avaronian script

Alphabet

Ethonic used a different kind of alphabet than any other languages on the Planet. Although Arek is a closely related language it has adopted the Pavan script which is more commonly used by Humans.
The aesthetic of Ethonic is rather different from other languages. A sentence typically starts with a curly 'tail' and is followed by a long line. At the end of this line a snake head is placed. Due to this the entire sentence looks like the a snake. The letters themselves are place on top of this line for the entire lenght of the sentece. Space are not commonly used between words.

Unique Letters

• aw : represented as aw
• aj : represented as aj
• pʰ : represented as ph
• dʒ : represented as dj
• tɕ : represented as tsh
• θ : represented as th
• ɕ : represented as sh

Phonetics

Vowels: ɑ ɑ: aj aw ɛ e e: i iː u u:
Consonants: k x ɣ j ʃ p pʰ f v t θ q ħ d dʒ l m n r s z ɸ ɕ tɕ ʃ

Grammar

Plural

In Ethonic the plural does not exist in the traditional sense. Normally the number is just placed before the noun. If the exact number is unknown the word 'Thisashi' is used.

Verbs

In Ethonic verbs can be divided into 4 types depending on how they start.

• eru(pʰi-): (phisash) (to fight)
• ori (dʒaj-): (djajmish) (to buy)
• ori (tɕaj-): (tshajkan) (to sell)
• ori (ʃa-): (shamaj) (to honour)

This form is the present form of the verb and can be used regardless of the subject. For different tenses only the first part is changed while everything after the root of the verb remains unchanged.

Sentence Structure

The sentence structure in Ethonic is also used in Arek. Typically the sentence starts with the subject followed by the verb. The object of the sentence can be found after the verb followed by any additional information. Subject + Verb + Object + Additional Information

Dictionary

8 Words.

Dictionary

Alphabet

Ethonic	Meaning