• Linguistics

There is a language called ‘Pangeac’. It was developed as a universal language during the Exhaustive Reconstruction in order to help make the gargantuan task of rebuilding the world easier.

Following that time period, the people split off into five separate countries, which had developed cultural slangs, separate pronunciations, and incorporated words from older languages until there were noticeably different dialects.

As certain as wars were to come, so, too, did new languages. Back then, it was considered high treason to teach a local language to an outsider or to learn a foreign language. Which is one of the many reasons the gates system was developed. (The gates system makes sure everyone is identifiable by a card they carry, and they must present it every time they enter a major city.)

So everybody, basically, is bilingual. They speak their local language and a form of Pangeac.

People who move from one area to another can usually pick up on a third. For instance, the main character speaks Bastokian and Pangeac. He has lived in Aydomar, but not long enough to learn more than the basics of Aydomarian.)

There is Aydomarian, Shiir (or freespeech), Isbokan, Bastokian, and Estrianu. (I plan to “con-lang” ((the art of constructing an original language)) all of these, AS NEEDED, so far as phraseology goes ((and it’s easier than it sounds, thanks to Holly Lisle’s Create-a-Language Clinic)). But I do not plan to make any fully-working languages unless I’m really, really, REALLY bored.)

Smaller towns all have their own dialects. And smaller groups sometimes have added pseudo/meta-languages (For instance, the MC can speak in ‘thieves cant’).

Gargues-pula has a completely separate language structure. (Luckily, it’s not visited during the first book. xD)

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