Megara is a world where the spoken word carries a lot of weight, all magic comes from Words of the lingua supernal, the ontologically perfect language from which the One God sung the world into being. If you are a sorcerer then you already speak lingua supernal, albeit like a grunting beast that has been taught to yowl a roughly understandable approximation of it's immaculate beauty. It's not really the sort of thing you use to converse with other mortals though, for its clarity of meaning is so pure that reality - itself merely an echo of its speech - changes to match it. All classes in Megara have a supernatural capstone ability in which they acquire and internalise one Word of the lingua supernal, be it the Soulknife's understanding of the Blade that lets them cut even the immaterial, or the binding oaths and invincible sangfroid that come from a Caste Noble's Blood.
But there are other languages, ones less blasting and unbearable in their clarity but safe for common use. All characters begin knowing one of these mortal tongues, plus another for every point of Intelligence bonus they have. Additional languages can attempt to be learned as a season action, at a cost of 500gp of tuition and books. An already known language can attempt to be mastered, also taking a season action and 1000gp. In either case the chance of successfully learning or mastering the language is 1:6, modified by Intelligence Modifier and number of prior attempts, if any. A starting character may at their choice spend two starting languages to master one.
As all languages are debased forms of the lingua supernal, mastering one has a small supernatural effect. Some languages have a written form that is rarely used or exclusive to the higher caste, and must be learned seperately from the spoken tongue.
Cthond was the mightiest of the great magiocracies that controlled the western continent. The Jet Obelisks that demarked the territories of the Cthondine Autocracy can be found as far to the south as Heraclium and as far to the north as the banks of the Ypra River - and when the Ironmen came south across that river, Cthond was the first to feel their wrath. Yet today the legacy of Cthond is its tongue, spoken even further abroad after its fall than it was at its height. Cthondine has a complex system of conjugations that make it highly accurate, but can lead a novice speaker to stumble into clownish malapropism.
Written: Yes
Mastery: Cthondine is especially suited to giving commands. When NPC's under your command fail a Morale check, you may reroll one of the dice - the second result stands.
Emmanican
A land plagued with a surfeit of philosophers, Emmanica is the archipelago home to a people of omnivorous intellect that has stood largely untroubled by either sorcery or barbarians for centuries and is only now beginning to stretch its muscles and feel its own strength. Emmanican is sybilant and methodical, with a great richness in its description of the World as it relates to the Self.
Written: Yes
Mastery: Your grounding in Emmanican formal logic reduces the duration of mind-affecting evocations and other such magical effects by half. If ordinarily permanent, you are permitted a saving throw to cast off the enchantment once per week.
Kikalese
The Kikala plateu would be unremarkable save for its people; herdsmen who claim the title of King, sorcerers who are considered holy rather than damned, and the only people whose reputation for martial excellence is sufficiently great to deter even the rapacious Tongen Khaganate. Kikalese is rapid and onomatopoeic, containing barked consonants designed to be heard clearly over long distances against the mountain wind.
Written: No
Mastery: You can predict the weather and track herd animals with 85% accuracy. It's probably worth remembering that horses are herd animals.
Sassálid
Ancient rivals of the Autarchs of Cthond, the Sassálid Imperium was a place steeped in the twin scourges of power and luxury. Having long since subjected nearly the entirety of the southern continent to their imperial dominion and reigned unopposed for over a millennium the Sassálid Pashas were free to bask in the reflected glory of their ancestors and invent ever more impressive titles for themselves. Sassálid is an unctuous tongue, drifting from the lips like incense smoke.
Written: Yes
Mastery: You reroll any result of immediate hostility on reaction rolls with demons, and they will be marginally more reasonable in dealing with you, accepting any offered compromise as long as it is not massively favouring you over them, e.g. taking the souls of two captives rather than yours.
Tongen
Tongue of the rising power of the Tong Khaganate, currently the largest and by far the most precocious empire in the world. It has become the lingua franca of the entire eastern hemisphere and is required to use the Lam, the Khaganate's extensive mail system - by imperial decree the Lam will carry no message that is not written exclusively in Tongen. Tongen is a forthright language, filled with plosive consonants.
Written: Yes, must be learned seperately from spoken.
Mastery: You can convey broad meanings to horses and eagles, they will understand and will obey commands as long as they are favourably disposed to you or sufficiently bribed. They can reply to you but only in exclamations of 'Yes!', 'No!', 'Here!' or 'Danger!'
Nuncerian Glyphs
Nobody needs to learn Nuncerian, this eldritch language more than any other carries potent resonance with the lingua supernal, with some calling it the written language of God. First discovered on the plains of Nunceria, when a mighty earthquake unearthed buried steles etched with the history of a long-vanished prehuman people. The contents of the steles were deemed so awfully heretical and in contravention of all decency and truth that they were smashed to pieces and scattered into the ocean. Still, more and more Nuncerian markers are still discovered from time to time and the Cthondine Autocracy was fond of using it to issue proclamations throughout its expanse, so that none could claim ignorance of the law. Words written in Nuncerian Glyphs are automatically understood by their beholders, without having to learn it.
Written: Yes, only.
Mastery: You can now write Nuncerian Glyphs, with all that entails. Nuncerian Glyphs require a third dimension to function, and so must be inscribed upon stone, wood or clay with appropriate tools.
Yrensprecht
The Ironmen are still considered the epitome of the barbarian by all people south of the Ypra, and are viewed as much as boogeymen as they are fellow humans. Still, some small amount of trade and congress does take place along the border of old Cthond, and a cunning merchant does well to learn the rudiments of their harsh, growling tongue if they are to acquire their incomparable tools and arms of Steely Iron in return for the perfumes, silks and wines of the south. Its written form is called Brande, angular runes designed to be carved with a blade or chisel, and is almost exclusively the province of the Ironmen's priest-caste.
Written: Yes, must be learned seperately from spoken - never taught willingly to non-Ironmen.
Mastery: If you spend a round spitting invective at a sorcerer who is casting an evocation you may roll a D6 and deduct the result from the [sum] of their working, on a 4-6 you also deduct 1 [dice] from their working, but cannot perform this trick again until you have rested your voice for 8 hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment