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warlockco
Master of Realmslore

USA
1695 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2005 :  05:56:56  Show Profile  Visit warlockco's Homepage Send warlockco a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
Just noticed that for Tethyr the automatic human language is Chondathan instead of Tethyrian, and Tethyrian isn't even listed as a bonus language.

This don't make sense at all.
Am I missing something?

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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore

Australia
6688 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2005 :  06:10:40  Show Profile Send George Krashos a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by warlockco

Just noticed that for Tethyr the automatic human language is Chondathan instead of Tethyrian, and Tethyrian isn't even listed as a bonus language.

This don't make sense at all.
Am I missing something?



Yep, you are.

There is a Chondathan race and a Chondathan language (derived I believe from the old Thorass). There is a Tethyrian race but no Tethyrian language. Hope that helps.

-- George Krashos

"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus
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warlockco
Master of Realmslore

USA
1695 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2005 :  06:51:58  Show Profile  Visit warlockco's Homepage Send warlockco a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos

quote:
Originally posted by warlockco

Just noticed that for Tethyr the automatic human language is Chondathan instead of Tethyrian, and Tethyrian isn't even listed as a bonus language.

This don't make sense at all.
Am I missing something?



Yep, you are.

There is a Chondathan race and a Chondathan language (derived I believe from the old Thorass). There is a Tethyrian race but no Tethyrian language. Hope that helps.

-- George Krashos




But there is a Tethyrian language per the Player's Guide to Faerun.

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Kajehase
Great Reader

Sweden
2104 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2005 :  07:05:30  Show Profile Send Kajehase a Private Message  Reply with Quote
So there is, in the Western Heartlands region, and it's also mentioned in at least one of the sample-NPC descriptions in the LEoF prestige classes. Someone's been snoring on their continuity-watch it'd seem.

There is a rumour going around that I have found god. I think is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist.
Terry Pratchett

Edited by - Kajehase on 12 Sep 2005 07:05:53
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore

Australia
6688 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2005 :  07:16:01  Show Profile Send George Krashos a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Ah that's what I get for writing answers on the fly from work. This languages stuff has become something of a lernean hydra! There simply shouldn't be (IMHO) a Tethyrian language - there quite rightly should be a Tethyrian dialect of Common (incorporating alzhedo terms and some of the Talfirian language) but Tethyrian just doesn't go. Hmm, I'll have a look at the PGtF tonight ...

-- George Krashos

"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus
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warlockco
Master of Realmslore

USA
1695 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2005 :  07:20:35  Show Profile  Visit warlockco's Homepage Send warlockco a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos

Ah that's what I get for writing answers on the fly from work. This languages stuff has become something of a lernean hydra! There simply shouldn't be (IMHO) a Tethyrian language - there quite rightly should be a Tethyrian dialect of Common (incorporating alzhedo terms and some of the Talfirian language) but Tethyrian just doesn't go. Hmm, I'll have a look at the PGtF tonight ...

-- George Krashos




I just took a quick look at all the Human Regions.
Only the Western Heartlands has it listed.
So I'm inclined to thinking it is one of the infamous WotC mistakes....

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3catcircus
Acolyte

32 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2005 :  17:20:38  Show Profile  Visit 3catcircus's Homepage Send 3catcircus a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Is Thomas M. Costa's "Speaking in Tongues" considered canon, even though 3.x was dumbed-down?

If so, then the languages of the Western Heartlanders is Thorasta while the language of Amnians, Tethyrians, and Erlkazarans is Thorass. There are four primary dialects of Thorass: Amnian, Old/Court Tethyrian, Zazzesspurian/Western Tethyrian, and Erlkazaran/East Tethyrian.

Chondathan (true Chondathan) is the language of Chondathans and Blade Kingdomers.

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webmanus
Learned Scribe

Sweden
338 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2005 :  20:45:45  Show Profile  Visit webmanus's Homepage Send webmanus a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Hi,

According to Races of Faerūn (RoF), most Tethyrians speak Common as their primary language (usually a singsong dialect known as Calant), but they speak also Chondathan. Furthermore, there is no ancestral "Tethyrian" tongue as Talfir and other languages of the original western tribes vanished long ago.

For more details, see the Tethyrian ethnic group section, and specially the Language and Literacy entry in page 104.

"Table 7 - 1: Human Ethnic Groups, by Nation or Region" in RoF (page 110 - 111) lists Chondathan as the primary language for the following heavely Tethyrian-populated regions: Amn, Tethyr, Waterdeep, Western Heartlands.

Please note that I do not have Players Guide to Faerūn.

/Webmanus

Link to my homepage: http://user.tninet.se/~bsu242v/

Edited by - webmanus on 15 Sep 2005 15:29:22
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TomCosta
Forgotten Realms Designer

USA
1020 Posts

Posted - 15 Sep 2005 :  15:10:26  Show Profile Send TomCosta a Private Message  Reply with Quote
My old Speaking in Tongues article is circa 2E. Sean Reynolds said he started with it when he worked up the 3E language list, but the decision was obviously made to simplify -- which probably was a good decision. Most of the dialect references in my article are probably still fine -- in fact, many of the dropped languages could easily become dialects. All that said, the languages were changed so much, I don't know that I would reference my article for too much. That is to say, it was canon. It clearly ain't now.
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