Languages of the river kingdom
All characters know Ur, the common tongue of the river kingdom, and [breath] other languages from the following list.
Urban
Formal dialect of Ur, the tongue of sycophants and diplomats. Incorporates Lemur loan-words. This doesn’t make Lemur any more intelligible. Has no first-person pronouns.
Yoke
Near-incomprehensible dialect of Ur spoken by the slaves of the city. Poetic and allusive to the great songs, but topsy-turvy. Potent hatred sounds like sycophantic praise, to the uninitiated.
Upriver
Near-incomprehensible dialect of Ur spoken by the wall-folk. Extremely status-oriented, with two distinct grammatical modes: one for the home, in which every sentence begins with “I,” and one for the hunt, with no word for the individual.
Tangled
Near-incomprehensible dialect of Ur spoken by the forest-folk. Laid-back and quiet, with long pauses between ideas. Interruption is a potent faux pas; the uninitiated do it constantly. Spoken properly, each sentence takes a turn.1
Islander
Near-incomprehensible dialect of Ur spoken by the island-folk. Abbreviations and slang abound. Islanders think it extremely funny for someone to speak a word longer than four letters long.
Nomad
Near-incomprehensible dialect of Ur spoken by the Lu Tiket. A song-language, sung best in groups. Everyone speaks all at once in a jumble of registers.
Quench
The hissing dialect of master craftsmen in their private deals with each other, used to keep techniques secret and prices fixed. Properly spoken seated near a flat surface, the rhythmic strike of the palm or fist replacing spoken numbers.
Pearlescent
Modern language of the Vesperides, having incorporated Ur loan-words. Spoken more with gestures than words.
Chthonic
The tongue of Erebos-beneath-the-earth. Tonal and singsong, equally intelligible in silence or above a raging river. Does not echo when spoken.
Tracks2
Written unknowingly by those who walk through the wilderness. No spoken component.
The following languages can only be learned under special circumstances.
Lemur
Spoken only by Obligators. A mythic ancestor to Ur, almost intelligible to a modern speaker. Rumored to be Lugal’s native tongue. But who could have known this to start the rumor?
Lament
Song-language of the Graces in their temple, reminiscent of Pearlescent. Composed entirely of coded hymn-fragments and dance moves, intelligible only during performance. Best expressed during sex.
Abyssal
The rumbling tongue of Monstrosity. Words can be understood in any order; its sentences are poems and its paragraphs novels. Strangely reminiscent of Pearlescent. Heretical to learn.
Serpentine
Roundabout and sibilant, until it isn’t; abruptly, suddenly, intentions are made clear with a single phrase. Cannot be spoken by creatures with lips and single tongues. Heretical to learn.
Empyrean
Reviled language, known by Urukites only as “writing.” The moon, hanging low over the city, is said to be one vast tome. Heretical to learn.
Divine3
Language spoken by Lugal, and unable simply to be learned; it must be given or stolen. Simultaneously understandable by all and truly terrifying. While speaking, you are immune to interruption or stuttering.