Languages in Old Night

Well, I'm back from my trip. I'll post a few pictures, just so you know that I actually had a good time...

By "a good time" I mean of course that I spent time outdoors in the American West enjoying fantastic dry, mostly sunny weather and fabulous scenic vistas, or other adventurous things, like me in that slot canyon above. I went with one of my sons, and we had a brief conversation about why we use the word canyon, which comes to American English specifically from Spanish, when we already had perfectly good native English words like ravine, gorge, gully, trench, chasm, etc. ("native" English being used somewhat loosely there. Before we picked up canyon from the Spanish, anyway, they were already part of English.) The last picture is Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, but I also drove to (but didn't have time to stop and see it again) Royal Gorge. While Royal Gorge is perhaps more famous for its suspension bridge than for the gorge itself, why is it a gorge and Black Canyon is a canyon? The two features are, in many respects, essentially identical. In general, I prefer having more words with more nuance than not; the Grand Gorge in Arizona wouldn't sound as good as the Grand Canyon, but in general, I also prefer native English words, followed by Latin and Greek borrowings, followed by Norman French borrowings, and I think superfluous late borrowings from Spanish are... well, superfluous. But linguistics works like that, sometimes; I presume that in spite of the extremely light settlement of the American southwest by the Spanish, that because they had named a lot of features, we picked up their names when we picked up the land from Mexico by treaty after New Spain had retreated. Hence, in America, at least, we're more likely to say canyon for that type of feature, especially in the western reaches of the country.

Which brings us to today's topic, which is the last topic that I left off before leaving too. What languages exist in Old Night? First off, I want to reiterate that I believe in the convenience of Common, which both D&D and Tolkien himself saw, as imperative to good storytelling; it just is frustrating to worry too much about who can talk to whom, and if the answer is "hardly anyone" than the whole game can become somewhat frustrating. That said, that's not always completely true, and in real life as in Tolkien and as in D&D, sometimes having groups that speak a language that not everyone else can, or having texts in ancient languages that not anyone can read, etc. can be interesting, so having the existence of other languages is important that the lack (to date) of them in Old Night is an oversight that needs to be corrected.

I'm strongly reminded of some of my old research into the linguistic situation of the Medieval Tarim Basin, where different languages had different "domains" and most people were multilingual. You probably spoke different languages at home, in the market, in church and when talking to the government—a Tocharian language at home, for instance, Sogdian in the market, a Prakrit in the temple, and Han Chinese perhaps administratively. I don't want a situation quite so exotic (to us) but it's important to remember that this wasn't exactly uncommon in the ancient world. Further west, it could be for instance Aramean at home, Latin in the market at at the government, and Hebrew in the Temple; Old English at home, Normal French for administrative and government affairs, Cumbrian in the Hinterlands, and Latin at church, etc.

First off, let's list the regularly spoken languages and where and by whom they are spoken, that a character could conceivably pick up. 

• Common. I like the use of the word Common, because it's understood by all and is used by both D&D and Tolkien both. For all intents and purposes, Common is the language of the Hill Country, equivalent to English. Because of the presence of Hill-men colonists, traders and more throughout the region, Common has become... well, common. There have been significant inroads of the language as the native language (albeit with different accents, perhaps) throughout much of the region. While clearly not everyone speaks Common fluently, or in some remote places at all, throughout the entirety of the Three Realm+, you can usually get by pretty good if it's the only language you speak.
• Timischer. The native language of the aristocracy of Timischburg. Most of them still learn it, but for various social reasons, their Tarushan subjects have resisted using it natively, and the utility of the language has faded. As more and more trade with the Hill Country has penetrated the region the last several hundred years, most people in Timischburg have learned Common, and because the Tarushans and Timischers have largely resisted using each others languages to a large degree, Common (with a German accent) has largely emerged as the consensus language that both groups already knew and were willing to use to speak to each other. Timischer is on its way to becoming a dead language; well known by the scholarly, but spoken very infrequently, even in the homes of the native Timischer nobles as of the last few generations. However, it retains prestige legal status in Timischburg; signs are written in it, and many documents, especially older ones, are written in Timischer. Timischer nobles also use it to speak with each other when they want to separate themselves by language from those around them. Many Timischers of lower social class use it as well as a kind of insider language; Timischer mercenary companies push it as the official language of their companies (although most speak it as a second language) and some Timischer criminal groups outside of Timischburg have cultivated it as a way to keep their communications more secret.
• Tarushan. Tarushan is the native language of the "aboriginal" people of Timischburg, which largely corresponds geographically with the old kingdom of Tarush Noptii. As noted above, it has no official status, but the Tarushan people still cling to it stubbornly, and many of the old Tarushan people refuse to learn or speak or read Timischer. Tarushan has less official status, but more actual use, and there are people in the rural areas, or among the Tarushan Gypsies who only speak Tarushan, with at best a smattering of Common. There are a number of older documents in a slightly archaic version of Tarushan that predate the arrival of the Timischers as well. Because these are understandable to modern speakers of Tarushan, it is here under this group rather than the archaic or scholarly languages below.
• Tazittan. This is a minority language, distantly related to Tarushan but not mutually intelligible, of a number of primitive, rustic and hostile peoples deep in the wildernesses of the Hill Country, like the Haunted Forest, especially on the eastern slopes of the Sabertooth Mountains, and the Tazitta Badlands, of course. Although it descends from a literate society, there is no written Tazittan that anyone really uses today. For a social analog, you could consider Tazitta to be not unlike the Sioux language spoken in the 1860s or 1870s—except that there is less open conflict between the Hill-men and the Tazitta, mostly due to no resources in Tazitta territory tempting Hillmen settlement at the moment. Tazittan could be a major language in use during the Darkness In the Hill Country campaign, especially column 2, the Tazitta Death Cults. Not surprisingly. Otherwise, it's an obscure language at best, with limited geographical utility.
• Drylander. Spoken mostly on the Baal Hamazi peninsula, this is the native language of the area, and is distantly related to Tarushan and Tazittan, etc. Today, as Baal Hamazi is a broken, Balkanized land of tribes and city-states, its status is questionable. Still spoken in many remote tribes as the only language, and the official language of some city-states such as Baal Hishutash—one of the most conservative of the city-states, or Baal Ngirsu, one of the most isolated. Otherwise, as traders and travelers from beyond have come to the land, their lingua franca, i.e., Common, has largely replaced Drylander in most of the more cosmopolitan or connected city-states.
• Kurushan. The language of the Kurushans and their Northlander cousins. Like Timischer or Drylander, it is more associated with past glories than the current situation; Lower Kurushat is more and more disconnected from "regular" Kurushat to the north, and the Kurushans are left to their own devices in a land where they are not the majority population. While still spoken in some northern cities, especially in old Kurushan noble houses, few indeed could function if this is the only language you speak. It still remains and important administrative language in Lower Kurushat cities, but most people on the street will be speaking Common instead. 
• Pallaran. The final language related to Tarushan is Pallaran, the language of the Corsair Coast. Unlike most other regions in which a Tarushan-related language exists, Pallaran is still a pretty active language, and many people along the Corsair Coast speak it as a first and only language. That said, Common has made inroads here as well as many traders and adventurers have come to this area, or the corsairs—and legitimate traders—from this region have sailed northwards. It is also the most divergent of the various "Tarushan" languages, as the people themselves are heavily admixed with some other population that is now anonymous other than the linguistic and genetic trace that they once existed.
• Orcling. The language of the orcs and goblins from Gunaakt. Still widely spoken amongst that race, especially the most recent arrivals in the area, but not by much of anyone else. There are few written texts in this language, and many orclings who have been in the Three Realms+ for more than a couple of generations have lost this language and only speak it haltingly if at all.
• Nizrekh. The language of the island chain off the west coast that is the remainder of Atlantis; although Nizrekh is an unrelated language spoken by people who arrived after the fall of Atlantis. It is not related to any other language, and since the Nizrekhi are isolationist and remote, few others speak their language either.
• Grendling. The language of the Grendlings, or Wendaks, the actual descendants of Atlanteans who were on the mainland when Atlantis fell. Because the Grendlings are themselves a debased and rapidly devolving population, super xeno-phobic and isolationist, few speak this language other than them, and they teach it to no one. It is—presumably—a distant descendant itself of the language of high Atlantean civilization, but even that is not for sure, and certainly they don't resemble each other much now. 
• Thurse. The bestial language of the Thurses, at least of Thursewood. Because the anatomy of thurses is very different than that of humans and demihumans, it is widely considered impossible to learn to speak this language, although it is possible to learn to understand it... assuming you can do so without being killed and eaten. 
• Nyxian. The language of the minority population in Hyperborean Lomar. The majority Zobnans who founded the city no longer speak their original language, and only speak Common, or whatever other trade language they've learned. 

Next, the dead languages that still have some scholarly impact on the region:

• Old Culmerian. The original language of the majority of the hill-men settlers, and the direct ancestor of Common. Hasn't been spoken in many centuries, but old texts are still around, and there's a vigorous academic interest in old Hill Country languages and languages from the Old Country before the Colonists came to the Three Realms+. Real world analog: Old English.
• Normaund. While not directly closely related to Old Culmerian, a strata of Normaundish aristocrats ruled Culmer for a time. While they were eventually assimilated and integrated (mostly) their language was distinct for many years, and many old texts in this language still exist too. It also added greatly to the vocabulary and structure of Common, and the dividing line between Old Culmerian and Common is somewhat arbitrarily pinned to the start of the Normaundish influence. Real world analog: Norman French.
• Brynach. A language that existed alongside Old Culmerian, and predates it in what was later called Culmer. In spite of its age and lower prestige, this stubbornly didn't die for a long time; there are still a few older people in rural parts of the Hill Country who speak or read this language, although there's not nearly enough of them to maintain a viable speaking base, and nobody speaks this as their every day language. Real world analog: Gaelic and other British Celtic languages. 
• Skellish. Distantly related to Culmer, but from a neighboring Old Country kingdom called Skelldale, some of the Colonists spoke this language. While all have assimilated linguistically to Common, literature in this language is important because it maintains elements of history and myth that were analogous to what the Old Culmers would have believed, but which they themselves lost. Real world analog: Old Norse.
• Old Timischer. As it sounds, the language of the Timischers, but archaic. As Old Culmerian is to Common, Old Timischer is to modern Timischer. Real world analog: continental early Medieval Germanic languages, such as Low Franconian (Old Dutch) and High Franconian (Old German) which makes sense given the analog of the Timischer Old Country homeland of Carlovingia with the early Medieval Frankish kingdoms of the Carolingian dynasty.
• Kinzassal. The language that stands at the heart of the Tarushan language family. While it only briefly belonged to a single political entity, and always had a variety of dialects, it's importance in the romance of the Kin Twilight, and the semi-imagined legendary Golden Age of all of the splintered kin that later broke off from this brief period of near unity is hard to describe; even the Hill-men, who are not themselves descended from the Kin, are drawn to this romance. That said, although it would seem to be like Latin, and it's various descendants variously like Spanish, Romanian, Italian, French, etc. in reality there's not nearly as much textual evidence for this language as there is for Latin, and Kinzassal was, in reality, a much more savage and primitive place than Rome anyway. Most of the "texts" of this language come from weathered carvings in standing stones and other places. That said, because of the various things that happened in this time, there's intense academic interest in the period of Kinzassal and its artifacts.
• Infernal. This is the primary language spoken by those from the Realms Outside such as daemons and elemental-like creatures, like ifrit, although myriad other tongues exist amongst this diverse breed as well. In addition, this is the language of magic, so a smattering of it, at least, is known by any practitioner of the arcane arts. Perfect fluency in this language, on the other hand, is almost impossible for any mortal to achieve. Despite that, it was always very fashionable in old Baal Hamazi, where the demonic taint of their bloodline was a source of pride to the ruling caste, to speak Infernal natively, and many noble houses took great pains to ensure that their children didn't hear any other language until they were five years of age. Some households still speak Infernal in the home, and it is still a pseudo-living language in some of the successor states to Baal Hamazi, but native speakers are few, and fewer every day.
• Dagonic. This is a bizarre pre-human language, remnants of which float around on isolated and moldy standing stones and other areas. Intriguingly, it appears to have originally been a underwater language. Few people on the surface can even make an attempt to learn it, due to the challenges of speech that an underwater language had to have overcome, and the language itself is only known from very scanty and fragmentary remains, making fluency all but impossible for even the most dedicated scholar. For all intents and purposes, it is a written language only, not a spoken language, since there are no speakers that anyone knows of at all, and how to pronounce the language is anyone's guess.
• Atlantean. Very little is known of this language, which was presumably the distant ancestor of the modern disappearing Grendling (Wendak) language. Because most documents, archives or carvings in this language disappeared under the sea, scholars are forced to try and interpret a very limited corpus of texts that remain, and their interpretations of what is represented is divisive and wildly divergent from each other. 

Because I'm deliberately running a game that is sorta D&D-like mechanically, but which is meant to be played much more like Call of Cthulhu is played, these old languages can be very important when researching the blasphemous secret history of the Three Realms+, but unless the characters are Lovecraftian also in the sense that they are academics, sages, and professors, it's unlikely that they'd know any of those languages; it is more likely that they'd have to utilize the services of an academic contact, such as Drancent Hewe or even Professor Alpon von Lechfeld to help translate anything that they find. Or... in a really, really bad pinch, one of the ancient Heresiarchs.