The Tongues of This World

The human tongues of this continent are fewer than one might expect. The most widespread is Ætaini, whose nine distinct dialects cover nearly all of the eastern half of the continent. If one pays attention, you can make out similar words and grammar found in each. Unsurprisingly, it arose from Ætaine itself. The great river-city at the continent’s heart, split by the massive waterway that gives both city and tongue their name. Even the dverger use Ætaini as their chief language when communicating with outsiders. Not even my ancient friend Shouglin has provided me with a straight answer as to if the dverger have their own native tongue. To the west, the Drak’nir Empire speaks Drakari, a harsher, more formal language suited to edicts and marching orders. Along the western and southern coasts of that same half, traders, sailors, and fisher-folk use Esuuli, a fluid speech shaped by centuries of maritime exchange. Other human languages certainly exist (I speak eight additional human tongues fluently) but they belong to peoples from beyond our shores: across the Sea of Trade to the south or over the Ocean of Storms to the east. Here, among the elder races that live scattered throughout the continent and my island homeland, only two living aelvar tongues remain in common use: Saelarin, my people’s speech, and Letharin, that of the wood-aelvar. Rarest of all is the true ancestor: A’lárian, spoken now only by a handful such as Isha, though from hearing her whispers, I have been able to figure out it’s speech as I already knew the writing and grammar. Personal Note: To my mild astonishment, Levak and Esriella’s son, young Valin, barely seven years old at the time, once asked me to teach him every language and dialect I know. I agreed, of course. How could I deny one with such hunger for knowledge and understanding? And yet… watching Esriella with her quarter-aelv child, I confess I do not understand how she bears the knowledge that he will age and pass long before she does. I could not choose such a path.