Languages in Towerfall
Omniglot is a cool website.
I wanted to make a generic list of human languages that weren't just pastiches of real-world ones. I wanted a fairly small list so you would have a high likelyhood of people in a party sharing a first language. I'm fascinated by how language, class and culture intersect, and while this list is a caricature, I think that will make it more parsible to players.
At some point I'll probably retcon my spellbook posts to use these languages.
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Towerfall is a frontier city founded by Arnesteadi Settlers, built on the ruins of a colossal castle from a long fallen civilization.
Roll 2d6 for each language you know, the first is your native tongue. If you roll a language twice, you have the mastery of a poet or scholar.
Imperial Lakaraami - Language of the rival kingdom. Spoken by merchants and spies. Has an angular runic form used on buildings and proclamations, and a script form with softer, unrelated glyphs used in books and letters. The two writing systems are distinct enough that a non-native speaker will only be able to read one. When Lakarami speakers learn rumours, they learn an extra one
Sagree is the holy language of the wandering forest clans, handed down to them from nature spirits, spoken by woodsmen, herbalists and druids. Never spoken above a whisper, as shouted Sagree draws the ambivalent attention of fey. Written in spirals of waves and whorls using a tool similar to a potter's wheel. Sagree has no relative directional language and native speakers have an innate sense of direction, they always know which way is north while underground, and only have a 1-in-20 chance of becoming lost in the wilderness.
Low Vhita is the trade language of the underground, spoken by miners, cavers and less scrupulous merchants. Uses V and K sounds heavily. Written as a series of knots, either tied into a length of twine or embossed on a tablet. Both allow the language to be read by touch in the dark.
Bahtuko is the common language of the recently-annexed Onyx-Studded Coast, spoken by sailors and migrant labourers. Written in vertical strips of looping, jagged script where emotional intensity is communicated by glyph width. 5-in-6 treasure maps are written in Bahtuko.
Terse Tiagi is the language of the cattle-riding Wregoh-Wre tribes, spoken by leatherworkers, cheesemakers and herders. Each of the language's syllables has an associated treelike rune which are traditionally inscribed in a right-to-left spiral down their length. The language has a high information density, one Tiagi staff can hold as much language as 2-3 standard books. The Wregoh-Wre consider their runes holy, a priest or chief can give up their title to add a rune to the alphabet. The runes have a latent warding magic, native speaker carrying a Tiagi staff only has a 1-in-20 chance of being surprised.
Yorba is the native tongue of the subjugated plain-dwelling Gowny people, spoken by peasants and laborers. Yorba encodes a lot of information in rhythm and tone, allowing fluent speakers to have two separate conversations at once, the second being unintelligible to outsiders. Yorbic script is written in flowing vertical columns that resemble a music staff.
Bayal Handwrit is the gestural language of the Bayal monks, who observe a vow of silence, also spoken by thieves, deaf folk and others who need to communicate without speaking aloud. Bayal runes are stylized versions of hand gestures written in boustrophedon style.
Nesogenic, commonly just "Neso", is the bureaucratic language of the Arnsteadi Kingdom, spoken by aristocrats, guardsmen and lawyers. Nesogenic speech is guttural and mumbling with plenty of loanwords. The dense angular script is nearly impossible to learn for non-native speakers. Arnsteadi officials use Nesogenic exclusively and expect their subjects to do the same. The punishment for speaking other languages in an Arnsteadi city is ten lashes.
Holy Fenjith, the liturgical language of the Arnsteadi lawful church, spoken by priests, scholars and pilgrims. Bright, abrupt syllables, usually spoken rapidly. The script consists of tight, peaked letterforms running right to left. Most lawful religious texts and clerical scrolls are written in Holy Fenjith.
Elder Alwontu, an ancient trade language, now only used by scholars and sages. No native speakers of Alwontu remain and its actual pronunciation is unknown; if this is rolled as a first language, ignore it and roll again. Many ancient monuments and temples have inscriptions in swooping, ambigramic Alwontu glyphs, though the Arnsteadi crown has ordered such inscriptions defaced and replaced with stilted Nesogenic.
Ghoultongue, the language of the long deposed ghoul king's court, spoken by gravediggers and lepers. It has a runic and script alphabet, both with jagged, complex letterforms. Text direction encodes tense and passivity, so lines of Ghoulwrit twist and meander across a page or headstone. All modern necromancy stems from the Ghoul King's work, so the mindless undead have a chance to recognize a Ghoultongue speaker as an ally, making a reaction roll rather than attacking automatically.
When determining the language an NPC speaks, roll 1d6+1 if they are a foreigner or 1d6+6 if they were born in Towerfall's environs.
Listening to: Destroyer's Rubies
Reading: Arm of the Sphynx by Josiah Bancroft
Watching: Babylon 5, Season 1