Sometimes, when someone is broken, they're reduced to almost nothing. It takes time to rebuild themselves. They need something to latch on to. That means they'll often take on qualities of the environment around them, as the slowly piece their existence back together. — Seventh Floor Philosopher
After the final conflicts of the
War of the Fracture, the residents of the Fifth Floor were in a sorry state. The tower around the Fifth Floor was broken, damaged, and malfunctioning. Parts of the residents souls had fled, and they were reduced to base versions of themselves, with hardly the capacity to even speak.
When the broken souls moved into the boughs of
The Great Tree to flee the clockwork of
Stone Castle Invictus, they began to take on mannerisms and figures of speech relating to the massive tree they called home.
Language of the Tree
Pauses
Life in the branches was considerably slower than life in the halls of a castle. Residents took their time, and began to relax. The clockwork from below largely ignored the tree, never choosing to climb it, instead focusing on whatever infernal plans they had within the depths of
The Down Deep.
As such, day to day life in
The Great Tree was filled with long stretches of silence, broken only by the sounds of branches creaking and swaying in the wind. Those living in the Tree slowly began to pick up these sounds, using them to fill their own smaller, personal silences. Occasionally, these sounds are used in place of "Umm...", "Uhhh..." or "Hmmm" from regular common speech.
Rrrrr.... RRRk.
Sssssshhhhhh....
CrkKSHK... ssssh..
Relearning
After losing most of their language, the broken souls needed to slowly relearn, or reinvent words to suit their day to day lives. Similar to the way the sounds of the tree filled their silences, words relating to the tree replaced their vocabulary.
Fall
The general term used for descending from any location to one lower.
Bark
Often used to describe ones skin, or outer parts of their body.
Gift
Any portion of wood separated from the great tree, whether used for burning or building.
Root(ed)
Root, Rooting, or Rooted is used when referring to staying, moving in, or living in some place -- generally the word is related to a state of not moving.
Liquid
The catch all term for any liquid, from beer all the way to water.
Expletives
Like any group of people, the citizens of the Great Tree have their share of unique curses, insults, and expletives. Like the rest of their colloquialisms, they are all based on trees, or actions related to trees.
Barking
Unrelated to the word "Bark", but used an expletive in frustration most often
Cutter
More of an insult than an expletive. A cutter is someone who takes more than their fair share.
Feller
Even worse than a Cutter; a Feller takes so much it causes irreparable harm.
Holy Fire
A phrase of astonishment or surprise. Often times used in fear as well.
Greenling
Another insult, used to imply someone is stupid, naive, or ignorant.
Metman
A unique word meaning an insult, or curse. Refers to the Clockwork, shortened from "Metal Man"
Comments
Author's Notes
Header image made by Stormbril, with patterns via Patterncooler.com Tree image made by Stormbril.