The Languages of the Region and adjacent lands Part I

Introduction

There are a large number of distinct languages spoken in the campaign region, many of which are dialects of the major languages of Telene. This is something which is particularly true in the case of the languages of the human

Human languages

There is a distinct difference between spoken and written languages found in the region but since the clear majority of the human population are as there are as elsewhere in rural Telene illiterate I will consider the spoken languages first. The human spoken languages of the originate mostly from B’Paran or Brandobian and there are no known native speakers of any of the other major languages resident, the residents of the Hidden Dell are an exception but as no one knew of the place outside it until recently the generalization stands in the region thought given that it lies on the major east west trade route they are not unheard of amongst those who pass through

The clear majority language is a sub dialect of the northern Brandobian Dialect spoken throughout much of the kingdom of Cosdol. The main distinguishing marks between it and the parent dialect are the use of a number of loan words from B’Paran or Kalamarian and the presence of some words which seem to be of entirely local origin. As a language it is almost entirely mutually comprehensible to a speaker of more or less any other dialect of Brandobian. Brandobian cultural insularity has made their tongue far less prone to drift than most of the other languages of Telene.

The next most common language is a variation of the dialect of Brandobian now most common in Elador which was bought north by refugees from the civil war during the break up of the Brandobian kingdom. Mostly this is spoken in isolated rural communities south of the area shown on the regional map most of which where settled in this time having been largely wilderness before that. It is also spoken with variations by the Halfling communities in the same area who arrived with the other refugees but whose dialect seems also to contain a few odd words perhaps fragments of a long lost halfling tongue.

The next most is a distinct western form of the Dialect of B’Paran spoken east of the mountains in P’Bapara and the north of the young kingdoms it differs in that it has developed a distinct Brandobian intonation over all and gained a few loan words mostly from Brandobian which are confusingly used fairly interchangeably with and along side the more normal B’Paran word by the native speakers.

Other near by languages and dialects are also listed for the benefit of travellers from beyond the local region

The mutual understand ability of the languages are as follows

Dialect	Cosolen Brandobian	North Eastern Brandobian	Eledoran Brandobian	Halfling Brandobian	Western B’Paran	B’Paran	Kalamarian
Cosolen Brandobian	0	-5	-5	-10	-20	N/a	N/a
North Eastern Brandobian	-5	0	-5	-5	-15	-30	N/a
Eledoran Brandobian	-5	-5	0	-10	-20	N/a	N/a
Halfling Brandobian	-10	-5	-10	0	-20	N/a	N/a
Western B’Paran	-20	-15	-20	-20	0	-20	-30
B’Paran	N/a	-30	N/a	N/a	-20	0	-20
Kalamarian	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	-30	-20	0

The written forms of the language are fortunately easier to deal with as all dialects of Brandobian are identical when written down as the written language retains the classic form it did when Brandobia was whole. Ill educated writers may use dialect words but this can be dealt with by considering them errors rather than a variation on the language.

The situation is a little more complicated with the Kalamarian derived languages as differences in dialect are represented in the way they are written. However even so the written forms of all are much closer with Western B’Paran being effectively identical to B’Paran and B’Paran and Kalamarian being at a -20 penalty with respect to each other