Saturday, September 02, 2006

Dhe’nar Language: Various Types

09/02/2006

Dhe’nar have four languages in common. These four languages are:

1) Common

2) Elven

3) Dark Elven

4) Dhe’narsi

The number of languages all Dhe’nar speak raises a few questions:

Why do a people as long-lived and tradition-bound as the elves have so many language variations, over comparitively few generations?

Why do both Faendryl and Dhe’nar speak “Dark Elven”, when both cultures have had no contact, with the exception of a handful of individuals only recently?

I have come up with answers for these, as they relate to the Dhe’nar. The explanations are as follows:

Common - This is the standard trade language, based mainly on the human tongue. All folk who travel through Elanthia are expected to know this. Though likely not needed in the South, it would make sense for Dhe’nar who travel through the areas the game takes place in to know Common. No special explanation is needed for this.

Elven - All elves speak this language, because it is the standard form of communication for all elven cultures, barely changed since they were first created, ages ago. To the Dhe’nar, this is high speech, used for formal discussion. It is the “mother language”, and as tradition-bound as the Dhe’nar are, believing themselves to be the truest branch of elven culture, it would make sense for this to be the most revered of their various forms of speech.

Dark Elven - There is only one thing that both the Faendryl and the Dhe’nar have in common, and so, by process of elimination, it is most probably the reason they share a common tongue. This shared experience is their time spent in Rhoska-Tor.

It has been established that the magical energies of Rhoska-Tor changed the biological makeup of the Elven people who dwelled there, and these morphological variations - such as silver hair, ebon skin, etc. - demonstrate such changes outwardly. As these traits are still passed onto children, obviously the changes were permanent. Even those who look similar to standard elves outwardly are capable of producing children who look distinctly “dark elven”, so it is clear that the changes are permanent, and internal, and simply do not always express themselves in an obvious, external manner.

It is my belief that of these permanent internal changes, one is the ability to communicate with others who have been similarly changed by the energies of Rhoska-Tor. This could be a mental/psychic ability, an innate magical one, an ability to speak at higher frequencies than the normal range of sentient hearing - there are countless possible explanations. The fact remains, however, that even dark elves who have never had contact with each other or their respective cultures are capable of communicating in a manner that only other dark elves can comprehend.

Obviously, part of this communication is spoken aloud in the normal audible range, since non-dark elves can hear and recognize dark elven speech being spoken, even though they cannot translate it. I am of the opinion that dark elven “language” is really just elven or common speech, but with enough of the words being transmitted in a manner that makes deciphering the meanings impossible to non-dark elves.

Thus, dark elven communication would be equivalent to transmitting encrypted data along a path. Others may be able to intercept the data, but they do not have the capacity to decode and understand it, because only the intended recipient has the necessary tools for unencryption.

And that is how two cultures who evolved separately can have a similar “language”, because it is not a true language at all, but rather a proprietary form of communication.

Dhe’narsi - This is the Dhe’nar specific language, newly made universal to the Dhe’nar through game mechanics. It is a form of Elven with a few generations worth of evolution in structure and sound. This is a more conversational language for the Dhe’nar than pure Elven. All Dhe’nar understand it, though some choose not to speak it, preferring the purity of the mother tongue for all dealings with fellow Elves, either Dhe’nar or Fallen. 

Friday, September 01, 2006

Dhe’nar Language Changes

09/01/2006

Due to the fact that all Dhe’nar can now speak Dhe’narsi via game mechanics, my previous post attempting to explain the multiple languages spoken by Dhe’nar will have to change. Keep an eye out for this update in the near future.