tabletop-rpgs:

thequantumwritings:

Sometimes i think about the idea of Common as a language in fantasy settings.

On the one hand, it’s a nice convenient narrative device that doesn’t necessarily need to be explored, but if you do take a moment to think about where it came from or what it might look like, you find that there’s really only 2 possible origins.

In settings where humans speak common and only Common, while every other race has its own language and also speaks Common, the implication is rather clear: at some point in the setting’s history, humans did the imperialism thing, and while their empire has crumbled, the only reason everyone speaks Human is that way back when, they had to, and since everyone speaks it, the humans rebranded their language as Common and painted themselves as the default race in a not-so-subtle parallel of real-world whiteness.

In settings where Human and Common are separate languages, though (and I haven’t seen nearly as many of these as I’d like), Common would have developed communally between at least three or four races who needed to communicate all together. With only two races trying to communicate, no one would need to learn more than one new language, but if, say, a marketplace became a trading hub for humans, dwarves, orcs, and elves, then either any given trader would need to learn three new languages to be sure that they could talk to every potential customer, OR a pidgin could spring up around that marketplace that eventually spreads as the traders travel the world.

Drop your concept of Common meaning “english, but in middle earth” for a moment and imagine a language where everyone uses human words for produce, farming, and carpentry; dwarven words for gemstones, masonry, and construction; elven words for textiles, magic, and music; and orcish words for smithing weaponry/armor, and livestock. Imagine that it’s all tied together with a mishmash of grammatical structures where some words conjugate and others don’t, some adjectives go before the noun and some go after, and plurals and tenses vary wildly based on what you’re talking about.

Now try to tell me that’s not infinitely more interesting.

I have humans speak a language of their own and the “common” that everyone speaks is all that is left of a race that now only exists in ruins that dot the landscape and as a mystery to be solved.

Fun fact about me: I hate the idea of a Common tongue and renamed every language.

There are two elven languages commonly spoken: Turamil and Wundu. There was a third, Dwnlyk, but it’s been lost to history with the extinction of Myre Elves (from a homebrew).

Humans typically speak English, Spanish, or French (and usually another language).

Dragons have a complex communication system very few can even guess at (like dogs or cats).

Orcs usually speak Sho'guk. There are other orcish languages, but they’re less common.

Dwarves speak either Durne or Prozhyk (like Russian), which they learned from the Warbears (a homebrew race, I make those a lot).

Genasi speak Henchaw, which has no gendered terms, as the Genasi culture is all about self-expression and one’s sense of self.

Tritons and Danjaks (another homebrew race) spend a lot of time together underwater, and thus both speak Anquil.

Goliath speak Dralg, which is very hard to learn.

All of the other real world languages exist and are spoken by races based on where they hail from on Earth (Gorgons speak Urdu or Hindi, Kobolds speak German, etc.)

This is just me though. I prefer a system like this and the most common language is the one you’re most surrounded by. Puts a language barrier in place that makes the game more interesting and allows more NPC party members because of their languages.

قَلِقَتْ عليه بعد تعرُضه لِوعكَه صحيّة، داوَمتْ على سؤال صديقه عنه، حتّى أنها ذهبت لزيارته بعد كُل ما سببه لها مِن أذى، سأَلها:

- قلقُكِ عليّ و سُؤالكِ عنّي يعني أنّنا عُدنا معاً ؟ هل عُدتِ حقاً ؟

- أنْ أفترِق عنك شيء، و أنْ أقبل تعرُّضك للأذى شيء آخر.

لِتكُن بخير دائماً و بعيد عنّي !

©A.Y

I don’t understand why won’t they open the borders. Wallahi if the governments are مطبّعين the people aren’t. If everyone of us threw a bucket of water on “israel” we would wipe them all dirty occupiers.

Dressing time xxx

Just me xxx

My little collection xxx

Purple mesh dress with high gloss tights xxx

Blue one piece xxx

Blue one piece on the bed xxx

Just me xxx

Little old me pure and natural xxx

Just me xxx

Sorry about the reposting but it keeps getting blocked for some reason.

Happy Christmas everyone.

Thank you to all my followers. I love you all..

Kerry xxx

New black clubbing dress, on the bed.

Kerry xxx

Last night’s selfies xxx

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Merry Christmas Eve eve.. ❤️