Languages

Human Languages

Avarosic

Avarosic is the closest thing to a 'common' tongue among humans. It is the native tongue of the Avarosic people and was spoken widely in the days of the Empire of Avaros. In the present, Avarosic's use has declined as regional languages take hold in former imperial territories. Still, it is useful to know when travelling since most humans know at least a few words of it.
Avarosic is a lilting, flowing language with few hard consonants. It is written using different hexagonal shapes, in which both the number of lines and imagery contained within add meaning to the character. Avarosic surnames always end with the honorific '-aros' (as in the imperial line of Avaros).

Zethi

Zethi is the traditional tongue of the Zethuniri. The Zethuniri are fiercely proud of their language and even while Zethunir was an imperial province, Zethi remained the region's most commonly used language. Nowadays, the only Zethuniri who bother to learn much Avarosic are merchants and tavern owners.
Zethi is a fast-paced language consisting of dozens of slightly different monosyllables, like the jabs of a rapier. Farswamp Zethi, a dialect spoken in the south, drawls these monosyllables together so that even Zethuniri from Selvara have trouble understanding it. Zethi names are accompanied by 'na [maternal grandmother's first name]', e.g. "Anders na Seria".

Yaelish

Yaelish is the main language spoken in the western human territories - Jullandy, Walston and Prust. Each region has made the language their own, but these different dialects are generally understandable to other Yaelish speakers.

Jullandian Yaelish

Jullandian Yaelish has little unique vocabulary but has an unmistakable and strong accent, which even a non-speaker can detect. It often sounds as though Jullandians are yawning through their words, giving them an undeserved reputation for lethargy. Jullandian Yaelish uses simple names and single syllable surnames, e.g. "Jonah Bhurke".

Walston Yaelish

Walston Yaelish, or 'Old Yaelish', is the closest to its original form from the Wandering Years, and therefore sounds old-fashioned to Jullandians. It has two distinct modes of speech based on whether you are speaking to a commoner or a noble. Commoners in Walston do not have proper surnames, but instead use the name of their place of birth. Walston nobles similarly have surnames that reflect their ancestral fiefs - e.g. the Hestorlys of Heston county.

Prustian Yaelish

Prustian Yaelish is one of the youngest languages in Tevastra. After the Ryker Rebellion, part of the Duke's reforms involved updating the archaic Walston Yaelish that Prustians spoke. The updated version removed many unnecessary and overly formal modes of address, and added some approximations of Avarosic words to expand the Yaelish vocabulary. Most Prustians are also taught Avarosic by the Duke's decree, but retain their strong Yaelish accent.

Halfling Language

The halfling language is called Thassian, but most non-speakers simply call it 'Halfling'. Thassian is a thick language challenging to the human tongue, with many cha- and sha- sounds. Thassian is a language designed for a specific purpose, having hundreds of maritime-related words, and phrases and tenses meant to aid negotiation and bartering. For other purposes, the halflings prefer Avarosic.

Languages of the Muzhiri Desert

Cobalan

Cobalan was the infernal language of the Cobalan Empire, likely a corrupted version of whatever language Cobala spoke before her ascension. It is a guttural, brutal language that eschews excessive description or nuance, preferring simple and direct terms. It features many hard consonant sounds like kh- and bh-, and vowel sounds coming from the back of the throat.

Half-orc Cobalan

The half-orc mercenary tribes have, over time, developed their own dialect of Cobalan. It is not especially different, but the accent of the half-orcs significantly changes the pronunciation of most words. For example, the Cobalan word 'bhaal' (meaning fire) becomes 'beerl'. The half-orcs also use physical movements of their jaws and tusks to convey meaning. Slowly moving the jaw back and forth is a highly threatening gesture, while rubbing a tusk between thumb and forefinger is a sign of sexual interest.

Mir-Ghul

While the Mir-Ghul elves were once forced to speak Cobalan as an enslaved people, it has now been purged from their culture and the ancient language of Mir-Ghul has been successfully revived. Despite the harshness of its speakers, Mir-Ghul is generally considered a beautiful language by those who hear it, full of lilting syllables and poetic turns of phrase. One example is their term for a sandstorm, "jesium ay porah", which literally translates to: "the silken veil over the visage of the deceased".

Ilumvir Language

The language of the Ilumvir elves is simply called Ilumvir, but little is known about it. It is regarded as a nonsense language used by the Ilumvir to confuse outsiders, and seems to have no repeated words or sounds to aid in translation. Thus, no outsiders are able to learn or speak it.

Dwarven Language

The dwarven language is called Mountspeak, or the Diamond Tongue. It is spoken by some outside of the Diamond Expanse since dwarves can be found in small numbers across Tevastra, usually as craftspeople or diplomats. Mountspeak has a unique structure among other languages, especially in its written form, as it does not have sentences made of multiple words. Instead, a phrase in Mountspeak consists of one long word, which is modified in different ways to convey vastly different meanings. For example, the word "selyanostovyorg" means "Bring a cart which carries broken rock". By modifying "selya" to "govya", the word becomes "govyanostovyorg" which means "I need a cart pulled by a mule". Modifying "nosto" in that word to "vestra" makes the word "govyavestravyorg" meaning "You are as stubborn as a mule". This system is very confusing at first for those new to Mountspeak, but once its complexity is understood, it becomes very easy to translate and understand almost everything a dwarf says.

Other Languages

The above are not the only languages spoken across Tevastra, but the others are spoken by very small niche groups, or are largely unknown to the majority of people. These include the language spoken by the Tevenar, the language spoken by full-blooded orcs, and whatever language might be spoken by the giant folk of Uranagond.