The Languages of Man
Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 9:03 pm
Long time no post...
Im beginning a new game with a different system but that will be set in the Palladium Fantasy world, as we are finishing a long overdue campaign. This got me thinking about the different Mannish Cultures present in the game world, and the languages that they speak. So I decided to write this as a discussion on language and culture that I have assumed into the setting. Let me know what you have played/think. All of this is certainly opinion and up for discussion, this is just my take on it.
Western Human: The Empire of the West in Palladium has always reminded me to some degree of the early Ottoman Empire. This has probably, mostly been influenced by the artwork in the book but if we break it down a bit, I think there's other evidence to support this. The Ottoman Empire was always a 'melting pot' of cultures and beliefs where Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together. It was a place of art and science, and was an intercontinental empire with heavy trading powers in the mediterranean. All of these things coincide with the Western Empire as well. As one of the oldest places of civilization and with every mix of religion abounding. Alchemists, scientific scholars, etc. - For this reason Im suspecting that Western Human - the language of the West is probably a Turkish/Arabic/Persian (Farsi) type of language.
Southern Human: The lands of the Yin-Sloth Jungles and Land of the South Winds are very mysterious places in the Palladium world. Barely explored but highly populated. We have some to go on with Yin-Sloth but hardly anything to reference for Land of the South Winds. For some reason I believe I had heard the Land of the South winds had a sort of oriental flare to it, but Im not sure. From the descriptions that we do have in the canon -once again heavily influenced by the art and O.C.C.'s of the book, I've always imagined the lands of Yin-Sloth and to a lesser degree Land of the South Winds (because they share a single language), to be very Austronesian and or Malayo-Polinesian. Like the indigenous peoples of Malaysia, Indonesian, and the Philippines.
Northern Human: Its said in the book that Northern is the least spoken of the groups of the Mannish Languages, and basically only lists Bizantium as speaking the language. I then would pose the question as to what the Mannish peoples of the Wolfen Empire speak? (as its also written that Wolfen is very difficult to speak as it requires sounds that Man cannot or has a hard time producing) The Kingdom of Havea is actually the particular place that Im referring to. Being so far north and for nearly ever cut off from the original colonists to the east, I have a hard time believing they would speak Eastern. But then again they have no real connection to Bizantium either. Thinking though that the original peoples probably traveled to the islands from the Northern Wilderness I would suspect that they both speak a form of Northern, though probably different dialects. Or maybe something akin to Spanish vs Catalan. I think that would do.
A little more back on point I've always seen the culture (probably only through the AotHS book as I don't have Bizantium) as very Briton. An island nation in the north sea segregated from the mainland, but with stern noble houses, and an incredible power at sea. So I've kind of always seen Bizantium as England - War of the Roses time period.
and that leaves...
Eastern Human: This one is a tricky one. By the eastern territories book, the eastern Mannish population seem very English to me as well, as their culture doesn't seem to be very different from one another. Whereas Bizantium would be the upper nobility of medieval english culture, I've always seen the East as more of the serf population of english culture. However this is certainly and clearly not correct. - or maybe more urban vs rural. They both are heavily mercantile and are both sea powers however, yet they speak a different language? This is kind of what I needed help on.
Where did the 'new settlers' in the east originally settle from? Is it that Eastern as a language predominantly encompasses Timiro's main language (although the native languages spoken by the npc's in the Timiro book speak about a 50/50 mix of Southern and Eastern, though the Core Rules say that Timiro is an Eastern speaking language.)
So then guys and gals this is what I need help on. Can you help me finish? Tell me more about the peoples of the east, and about their language.
Im beginning a new game with a different system but that will be set in the Palladium Fantasy world, as we are finishing a long overdue campaign. This got me thinking about the different Mannish Cultures present in the game world, and the languages that they speak. So I decided to write this as a discussion on language and culture that I have assumed into the setting. Let me know what you have played/think. All of this is certainly opinion and up for discussion, this is just my take on it.
Western Human: The Empire of the West in Palladium has always reminded me to some degree of the early Ottoman Empire. This has probably, mostly been influenced by the artwork in the book but if we break it down a bit, I think there's other evidence to support this. The Ottoman Empire was always a 'melting pot' of cultures and beliefs where Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together. It was a place of art and science, and was an intercontinental empire with heavy trading powers in the mediterranean. All of these things coincide with the Western Empire as well. As one of the oldest places of civilization and with every mix of religion abounding. Alchemists, scientific scholars, etc. - For this reason Im suspecting that Western Human - the language of the West is probably a Turkish/Arabic/Persian (Farsi) type of language.
Southern Human: The lands of the Yin-Sloth Jungles and Land of the South Winds are very mysterious places in the Palladium world. Barely explored but highly populated. We have some to go on with Yin-Sloth but hardly anything to reference for Land of the South Winds. For some reason I believe I had heard the Land of the South winds had a sort of oriental flare to it, but Im not sure. From the descriptions that we do have in the canon -once again heavily influenced by the art and O.C.C.'s of the book, I've always imagined the lands of Yin-Sloth and to a lesser degree Land of the South Winds (because they share a single language), to be very Austronesian and or Malayo-Polinesian. Like the indigenous peoples of Malaysia, Indonesian, and the Philippines.
Northern Human: Its said in the book that Northern is the least spoken of the groups of the Mannish Languages, and basically only lists Bizantium as speaking the language. I then would pose the question as to what the Mannish peoples of the Wolfen Empire speak? (as its also written that Wolfen is very difficult to speak as it requires sounds that Man cannot or has a hard time producing) The Kingdom of Havea is actually the particular place that Im referring to. Being so far north and for nearly ever cut off from the original colonists to the east, I have a hard time believing they would speak Eastern. But then again they have no real connection to Bizantium either. Thinking though that the original peoples probably traveled to the islands from the Northern Wilderness I would suspect that they both speak a form of Northern, though probably different dialects. Or maybe something akin to Spanish vs Catalan. I think that would do.
A little more back on point I've always seen the culture (probably only through the AotHS book as I don't have Bizantium) as very Briton. An island nation in the north sea segregated from the mainland, but with stern noble houses, and an incredible power at sea. So I've kind of always seen Bizantium as England - War of the Roses time period.
and that leaves...
Eastern Human: This one is a tricky one. By the eastern territories book, the eastern Mannish population seem very English to me as well, as their culture doesn't seem to be very different from one another. Whereas Bizantium would be the upper nobility of medieval english culture, I've always seen the East as more of the serf population of english culture. However this is certainly and clearly not correct. - or maybe more urban vs rural. They both are heavily mercantile and are both sea powers however, yet they speak a different language? This is kind of what I needed help on.
Where did the 'new settlers' in the east originally settle from? Is it that Eastern as a language predominantly encompasses Timiro's main language (although the native languages spoken by the npc's in the Timiro book speak about a 50/50 mix of Southern and Eastern, though the Core Rules say that Timiro is an Eastern speaking language.)
So then guys and gals this is what I need help on. Can you help me finish? Tell me more about the peoples of the east, and about their language.