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Bladewind
Master of Realmslore
Netherlands
1280 Posts |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3243 Posts |
 Posted - 06 May 2011 : 18:18:22
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| I believe it was mentioned that Dwarfish Runes are used to write the common script (although, I'm away from my books at the moment and can't confirm). |
I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3740 Posts |
Posted - 06 May 2011 : 18:33:27
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-The FRCS goes into detail about scripts and such. I, also, am not home, so I don't have access to the book. Going on memory, though, I also am remembering something about Dethek runes being used, to some degree.
-Regarding language in the game, period, I'm not a DM in any Forgotten Realms games, but I am a player. I am currently playing a Star Elven Bladesinger (my Calashite Beguiler got blown up in a massive Fireball, sadly), and I have my Elven Dictionary printed out and in the plastic sleeve I keep my character sheet and background story in. When applicable, I pepper Elven phrases in my character's speech. |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)
Elves of Faerūn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerūn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium |
Edited by - Lord Karsus on 06 May 2011 18:34:57 |
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Hawkins
Great Reader
USA
2131 Posts |
Posted - 06 May 2011 : 18:42:04
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quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus
-The FRCS goes into detail about scripts and such. I, also, am not home, so I don't have access to the book. Going on memory, though, I also am remembering something about Dethek runes being used, to some degree.
Page 85 of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (3e) notes the alphabet of Common to be Thorass. |
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Bladewind
Master of Realmslore
Netherlands
1280 Posts |
Posted - 06 May 2011 : 20:25:52
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So are there any other sources that have common written in Dethek; or is it that some regions favor dwarven runes over the ancient human script of Thorass?
Thorass is quite a mystery for me. Have there been theories about where it originated? |
My campaign sketches
Druidic Groves
Creature Feature: Giant Spiders |
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Hawkins
Great Reader
USA
2131 Posts |
Posted - 06 May 2011 : 21:09:20
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quote:
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (3e), page 85
A scribe whose name is lost to history invented the set of symbols that make up the Thorass alphabet. Thorass is the direct ancestor of today's Common tongue as a spoken language. Though no on speaks Thorass anymore, its alphabet survives as the alphabet of Common and many other tongues.
Maybe other scribes know of older sources detailing it more. |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 06 May 2011 : 21:59:57
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| The old FR0 grey box alludes that Thorass ("Auld Common") is an archaic, stilted form of modern common; something akin to Chaucer's or Shakespeare's Middle English ... I think it says the written form borrows from dwarven Dethek and other languages. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Quale
Master of Realmslore
1757 Posts |
Posted - 07 May 2011 : 12:52:19
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| I have Chondathan as Common, it's more realistic. I imported house Sivis from Eberron, changed their subrace. They were responsible for the spread and refinement of the language since the empire's fall. The Mark of Scribing was a ''gift'' from the arcanaloths of the Tower Arcane. Subtly they introduced bits of the Dark Speech into the language, and with a lot of people speaking Chondathan today it has a weak influence on reality (also 'loths are resistant to planar bindings when the language is used in the rituals). |
Edited by - Quale on 07 May 2011 12:52:37 |
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Bladewind
Master of Realmslore
Netherlands
1280 Posts |
Posted - 07 May 2011 : 20:38:42
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When comparing Thorass to Dethek there's definately some similarities noticable. Never caught that before. Thorass takes the blocky script and adjusts it to a more flowing set of symbols; better for scribing on paper with a quill instead of chiselling straight lines into a rocky surface.
Very insidious plotting there Quale, I especially like the reality altering effect of a simplified Dark Speech.
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My campaign sketches
Druidic Groves
Creature Feature: Giant Spiders |
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Mystic Lemur
Seeker
58 Posts |
Posted - 08 May 2011 : 04:10:04
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TBH, I just make sure that all the characters speak at least one common language (besides Common) and assume their regular conversations are in that language. I enforce Common as being a trade argot not really suitable for complex interaction.
I know Common as its own language would be much easier, but I want the players to realize that not everyone speaks the same language. I want them to have to work at interacting with unfamiliar cultures and I want them to take language selection seriously. |
"What mattered our lives now, when our world had been torn from us? Folk wept, or drank, or stood staring out over the land, wondering what new horror each dawn would bring." -A review of the FRCG ;) |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 09 May 2011 : 10:40:28
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| Interestingly, Oghma the Binder is described in Celtic mythology (ours and D&D's) as being the deity who taught humans alphabets and writing ... yet I know of no such tales on Faerūn. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Brimstone
Great Reader
USA
3287 Posts |
Posted - 09 May 2011 : 11:52:26
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Isn't Thorass the language of the Netherese? |
"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep |
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Tyranthraxus
Senior Scribe
Netherlands
423 Posts |
Posted - 09 May 2011 : 12:10:49
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quote:
Originally posted by Brimstone
Isn't Thorass the language of the Netherese?
The Netherese have their own language. |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 09 May 2011 : 12:20:56
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quote:
Originally posted by Brimstone
Isn't Thorass the language of the Netherese?
From Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition:
quote:
Thorass is an old human language, the direct ancestor of Common. It was a pidgin variant of Chondathan that western Faerūnian traders developed to communicate with their counterparts in other lands. The alphabet of Thorass survives as the alphabet used in Common, Alzhedo, Chessentan, Chondathan, Durpari, Illuskan, Midani (in Anauroch only), Rashemi, Tuigan, Turmic and Uluik.
High Netheril's language is Loross. |
Every beginning has an end. |
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Brimstone
Great Reader
USA
3287 Posts |
Posted - 09 May 2011 : 14:03:34
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Loross...Now I remember... |
"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 09 May 2011 : 14:38:04
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Understandable. They kinda sound similar. |
Every beginning has an end. |
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Brimstone
Great Reader
USA
3287 Posts |
Posted - 09 May 2011 : 15:31:15
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"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3740 Posts |
Posted - 09 May 2011 : 18:43:14
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quote:
Originally posted by Arik
Interestingly, Oghma the Binder is described in Celtic mythology (ours and D&D's) as being the deity who taught humans alphabets and writing ... yet I know of no such tales on Faerūn.
-The reason for that, I bet, is because there isn't one particular ethnic group that closely identifies with Oghma. Like a lot of other deities in the "Faerūnian Pantheon", he's worshiped widely, but we don't really have a genesis spot or group for where his worship first arose. If we did, I bet those people would have more myths in which he's prominent in teaching/giving/etc. |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)
Elves of Faerūn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerūn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium |
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Quale
Master of Realmslore
1757 Posts |
Posted - 10 May 2011 : 20:29:19
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| He could be identified with Talfir |
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BEAST
Master of Realmslore
USA
1714 Posts |
Posted - 10 May 2011 : 23:23:43
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quote:
Originally posted by Ashe Ravenheart
I believe it was mentioned that Dwarfish Runes are used to write the common script (although, I'm away from my books at the moment and can't confirm).
You were right, Ashe.
Both the 1E and 2E FRCS say that the written Modern Common tongue was derived from Thorass (Auld Common), and that Thorass is the ancestor of Common.
But literacy in Thorass was rare in these earlier editions, so most people used Dethek "runes" for a time, instead.
Methinks that this little bit of lore gave rise to confusion in Dwarves Deep indicating that Dethek transliterated directly to English, although other scribes have pointed out here on the 'Keep that that information was in error.
At any rate, it appears that Thorass was beginning to take Dethek's place once again in those earlier editions, and had done so completely by 3E. |
"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)
<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works"> |
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Mystic Lemur
Seeker
58 Posts |
Posted - 15 May 2011 : 14:54:51
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quote:
Originally posted by BEAST
Methinks that this little bit of lore gave rise to confusion in Dwarves Deep indicating that Dethek transliterated directly to English, although other scribes have pointed out here on the 'Keep that that information was in error.
Huh. That explains why the player handout in Doom of Daggerdale shows 'Dwarven' that is the English translation with runes instead of letters. |
"What mattered our lives now, when our world had been torn from us? Folk wept, or drank, or stood staring out over the land, wondering what new horror each dawn would bring." -A review of the FRCG ;) |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jun 2011 : 22:49:08
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Almost all of the DM and player handouts will offer straightforward word- and symbol-substitution between fantasy languages (including common Realmspeak) and our English. D&D has never (to my knowledge) officially published any deep Tolkein-style linguistic alphabets and analysis for any of the languages it contains ... although plenty of fandom (non-canon) stuff exists on the internet.
So you can expect most of the fantasy languages of the Realms to simply be convenient twists on English characters, little more than fancy font packages. |
[/Ayrik] |
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In what script is Common written?
