High Arnan
High Arnan, or Arnikari, is a highly ritualized language that has since fallen out of common use. During the <Error: Name not Found> Era, the language was used heavily by the Mag'arna in spells and rituals. Letters recovered from the time period, especially those sourced from the recently discovered Lady Vas collection, indicate that even at that time the language was considered, at least by some users, dead.
Most study of the elder language is limited and filtered through surviving Mag'arnan documents. This, in itself, is also limiting due to the near reverence with which the Mag'arna treated the Arnikari. They viewed High Arnan as verbal magic, and ascribed a significant amount of power to the use of it. Very little was actually written in it, but they wrote quite a lot about it.
The most prolific sources are the writings of <Error: Name not found> and <Error: Name not found>, both of whom were employed by the Archmagis and worked within the Spire, though at different times.
Recently, the discovery of the Vas Letters, a collection of letters from a woman thought to be Lady An'ayala Layva of House Vas, have expanded the breadth of contemporary understanding of viewpoints of the day. It is unclear if the beliefs espoused in the Vas Letters (namely, that High Arnan was essentially a constructed language given undue legitimacy by the Mag'arna) were widespread or unique to the letter writer. If others did believe it, they either did not write about it or we have failed to find their recorded opinions. Every other source dated to Lady Vas' time period treat the two languages as identical.
History
The language can only truly be understood by dividing it into two languages: the language spoken by the Arnikari that appears in fragments of documents and engravings, and the language spoken by the Mag'arna centuries later.Most study of the elder language is limited and filtered through surviving Mag'arnan documents. This, in itself, is also limiting due to the near reverence with which the Mag'arna treated the Arnikari. They viewed High Arnan as verbal magic, and ascribed a significant amount of power to the use of it. Very little was actually written in it, but they wrote quite a lot about it.
The most prolific sources are the writings of <Error: Name not found> and <Error: Name not found>, both of whom were employed by the Archmagis and worked within the Spire, though at different times.
Recently, the discovery of the Vas Letters, a collection of letters from a woman thought to be Lady An'ayala Layva of House Vas, have expanded the breadth of contemporary understanding of viewpoints of the day. It is unclear if the beliefs espoused in the Vas Letters (namely, that High Arnan was essentially a constructed language given undue legitimacy by the Mag'arna) were widespread or unique to the letter writer. If others did believe it, they either did not write about it or we have failed to find their recorded opinions. Every other source dated to Lady Vas' time period treat the two languages as identical.
Phonology
<Error: Data not found>Morphology
<Error: Data not found>Sample Texts
<Error: Data not found>"Not even among the Arnans are there true native speakers of High Arnan. It is a dead language, revived for use in ritual and spoken commonly only by those whose egos require constant tending to."
Dictionary
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