Languages
Every character in The Domains of Dread understands Common—known as the “the trade tongue” fictionally—unless forfeited at character creation. Those who forfeit this knowledge must learn Common as they would any foreign language, per below.
Allocating Languages
Player characters allocate known languages using the !language learn chat command, short alias !l l. Speak Language is a deprecated skill not present on The Domains of Dread. Instead, a character has bonus language slots made available depending on race, chosen origin and background, feats and positive hard INT.
For example, a Wizard beginning play with +3 INT will have 3 bonus languages slots to allocate and, should during play achieve +4 INT from ASIs, will have 1 more bonus language slot to allocate. Should their origin state they are a native from Barovia, they will receive Balok without expending a bonus language slot. Bonus language slots cannot be less than 0 for cases of negative hard INT.
Bonus language allocation must be done inside the out of character experience, not in the world.
Using Languages
Any character who speaks will do so in Common unless they do not understand Common, have had their language default changed, or have a different language selected. The language default may be changed using the !language default [shortname or opcode] chat command, short alias !l d [shortname or opcode].
To change a character’s spoken language, use the !language speak [shortname or opcode] chat command, short alias !l s [shortname or opcode]. Using !language standalone will invoke an NUI window to select these options graphically. When speaking another language, any text enclosed in the chosen emote escape characters or otherwise escaped by enclosing with <> will render it in plain text, useful for single words in Common or proper nouns. <> is culled from the text at render. Those who wish to return to speaking Common or their default may use !language speak default, !l s default, or !l s standalone. Common may specifically be called with !language speak com or !language speak 000.
Selecting the emote escape character style may be done from the NUI menu. There are three available options:
A: Emotes in the asterisk style, eg*action* Dialogue.B: Emotes in the bracket style, eg[action] Dialogue.C: Emotes in the narrative style, egaction “Dialogue.”
All text renders in C or narrative style regardless of style selected. The renderer performs best effort checks to add capitalization and punctuation even if the source did not, eg hello becomes “Hello.” This behavior may be escaped with <>.
Languages foreign to the listening character are cipher scrambled at render. The cipher does not alter with the specific foreign language.
Learning Languages
It is still possible to learn languages even after a character’s bonus language slots are exhausted, if they had any. By invoking the NUI menu, a player may opt the character into studying any language which they have heard or read at least once. By choosing to study a foreign language the character receives periodical updates to their understanding of the language IRT. This duration may be shortened by having a positive hard INT and/or exposure to the language by fluent speakers.
As a foreign language becomes learned, sentences will be cipher scrambled less and less until no more words are scrambled, the listener then becoming fluent in that language and able to speak it through normal means. It should not be assumed that being conversationally fluent represents complete mastery as the character may still make mistakes or misunderstand at the player’s discretion.
Unsupported and Homebrew Languages
Five language groups are supported at this time for The Domains of Dread: Ravenloft, Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Krynn and agnostic (racial languages). Official support implies most if not all major languages from those settings or races are available as they are from the NUI menu.
Languages from homebrew or unsupported settings must be mutually intelligible with a supported language. For example, a character from a homebrew world may allocate Darkonese/High Cordovan to represent their native language from that setting as a separate but intelligible dialect.
A Note About Real-World Language Allegories
Many languages in The Domains of Dread take heavy inspiration from real world languages. For ease of player intuition these allegories have been included where appropriate in the list of supported languages. These allegories are provided as inspiration—no language in The Domains of Dread is literally and without modification the language of a real world group or people. Gothic Earth is not an available setting for any character. Exercise restraint and respect for these allegories when included.
Supported Languages
Of the Core (Ravenloft)
Balok
bal or 001
The Core’s oldest language and the lingua franca of its central-southern region, having spread from Barovia along the Balinoks. In Barovia it presents as guttural though in Borca a softer, lilting dialect is found. Despite its venerable age Balok receives most of its penetration through trade along the Old Svalich rather than education or literature, as it has a reputation for being unsophisticated. Patois syncretic with Balok and native vernaculars are not uncommon along these mercantile routes, especially following the River Luna. [Middle Romanian]
Luktar
luk or 002
Luktar is the lingua franca of the former kingdom of Gundarak, still spoken by Gundarakites in their now annexed lands held by Barovia and Invidia. Though efforts to assimilate the Gundarakites in Barovia either socially in Krezk or with force in Zeidenburg have provided some success, the Gundarakites have overall proven resilient and stubborn in their insistence to speak their own language especially among “freedom fighters” and their sympathizers. Luktar presents as relaxed and flowing compared to the hard, phlegmatic stops of Balok. [Middle Hungarian]
Darkonese and High Cordovan
dak or 003 (Darkonese) hgc or 004 (High Cordovan)
The twin languages of imperial and the once-imperial Cordova and Darkon are known equally for their structure, precision and syntactic complexity. Though it is unquestionably Darkonese that it is the original in the Core, the Ruination of Darkon and subsequent disappearance of its king Azalin Rex has left the language to wither compared to its upstart, more agile cousin as High Cordovan has begun to supplant it as the language of intelligentsia and trade along the Eastern Core, no doubt aided by the tide of Darkonian refugees eager to escape the hordes of matriculated dead along its northern border. Nevertheless the sheer quantity of Darkonese speakers even with the destruction of Il-Aluk keeps Darkonese relevant in these diaspora communities and those who wish to see the fallen empire saved. [Latin/Byzantine Greek]
Allocating Darkonese allocates, for free, High Cordovan and vice versa.
High and Low Mordentish
hgm or 005 (High Mordentish) lom or 006 (Low Mordentish)
High and Low Mordentish are endemic to all Four Towers nations: Borca, Dementlieu, Mordent and Richemulot. Mordentish, now called Low Mordentish, is thought crass and for “the lowborn” compared to the romantic panache of Dementlieu’s lingua franca, High Mordentish. They are spoken dialects only as written Mordentish is identical. Though Low Mordentish may still be spoken even in these high societies when among family members in private settings the influence of High Mordentish looms large as the language of learning in the Western Core, spoken by countless inventors, merchants and innovators from the region. [Middle French/Middle Franco-English]
Allocating High Mordentish allocates, for free, Low Mordentish and vice versa.
Kartakan
ktk or 007
Romanced in the Core over as the language of poetry and spoken music, Kartakass’s Kartakan lives up to reputation. Marked by melodious vowels and enunciating harmonies, any Bard of respect educates themselves in Kartakan and performs it widely regardless of origin. As Kartakan-speaking singers, travelers and minstrels appear in more domains across the Core, greater premiums are being placed on these performers and especially those capable of singing in the patois intermingling the Sithican dialect of Elven. [Middle Norwegian/Danish]
Falkovnian
flk or 008
If Barovia’s Balok should be taken as unpleasant for the foreign ear, then Falkovnian must be an all out assault. Lingua franca of its fatherland Falkovnia, even the calmest intonation made in this language could be construed as hostile or aggressive by a foreigner—written, its infamy lies instead with the difficulty in untangling its long, ponderous compound words and sentences. A variety of dialects exist but most foreigners, outside of having it shouted at them opposite a battlefield, will only hear the plains Falkovnian spoken by traders along her rolling fields of rye. [Middle High German]
Lamordian
lmd or 009
The lingua franca of Lamordia is one identified with both Mordentish and Falkovnian, taking many aspects from both for grammar and nuances of vocabulary. Yet as a hybrid it cannot be soft like High Mordentish nor harsh like Falkovnian, marrying the two in a manner unusual yet strangely familiar to native speakers of either. The use of Lamordian suffers the taciturn nature of its speakers and a willingness to adopt the mother tongues of her neighbors when forced to conduct business, containing Lamordian to Lamordia. [Middle Swiss French/High German]
Old Tirimisce
oti or 010
Associated with the pagan tribes occupying Cordova’s northwestern demidomain, the Tirimisce Lands, Old Tirimisce is as ancient as it is baroque. Spoken by the unbowed inheritors of her fallen sorcerer-kingdoms, many tribes speak their own dialect yet all pagans understand what they call the tongue primordial. It has an alphabet not seen anywhere else in the Core, with bespoke letters and plosive constants. Those who speak this language do so with resistant pride in the fact of attempted reconquest from imperial Cordova. [Middle Western Slavonic/Polish]
Nymaran
nym or 011
A small language owed to the coastal dwelling, northern indigenous peoples of Cordova, Nymaran shares little texture with either Old Tirimisce or High Cordovan, a testament to the Nymari’s relative solitude among the Core. Warm and sophisticated in timbre, only Kartakan rivals its penchant for melody. Though the overall sum of its speakers is tiny even where compared with Old Tirimisce, Nymaran indentured servants—fleeing famine or attacks from matriculated dead seeping past the border—are resettling across the imperial core of Cordova as house servants and other laborers, bringing their language with them to these hitherto uncharted places. [Finnic/Sámi]
Lakant
lak or 012
To speak Lakant, for many, is to speak the language of seafaring vagabonds and thieves native to the Shrouded Seas. Lakant radiates from the Isles Crescendia in the Nocturnal Sea, where it and its native Lakant people reside. A patois informed from a countless many tongues parleyed and purloined from island to island, Lakant is syncretic to the point of assimilation. Though a relative outsider to mainland use, it is growing in popularity among rogues and anyone else who many benefit from obscurity. [Caribbean Dutch/Creole]
Tepestani
tep or 013
Unrelated to any of Tepest’s neighbors, Tepestani shares instead notes with the southern language of Forfarian though how such a connection came to be given the isolation of the two countries from one another is an incongruence best left to the philosophers. Regardless, Tepestani has only been written in the last generation with the advent of the Tepestani Inquisition, rendering it almost unheard of outside of its host domain save for, perhaps, Cordova. It presents as ululating vowels kept apace by a sing-song cadence. [Irish Gaelic]
Forfarian
far or 014
Though once native to Forlorn, Forfarian’s living speakers are instead found in pockets across other domains of the southern Core due to migrations of Forfarians once the kingdom collapsed to goblyn incursion. The language has managed to survive surprisingly intact as Forfarians have more or less kept amongst themselves with intermarriage among the dominant populations in these domains remaining rare and scandalous. A melancholic energy is impressed onto the listener when Forfarian is spoken, vowels deep and from the diaphragm. [Scottish Gaelic]
Veldtan
vlt or 015
A so called “primitivist” patois of Low Mordentish—least to the ears of a Dementlieuse—reigns in the Killing Fields, the Veldt. Syncretic with the indigenous language of the Valachani now Veldtan, no written records exist of Veldtan in its present form. It is a heady, thumping thing, with many of its sounds difficult to reproduce for even the most spirited foreigner. [Middle Breton]
Sithican
sth or 016
Sithican is derived from Elven, or what Elven was to the elves of Sithicus before the deportation beyond the Misty Border. Reflecting the vengeful and sorrowful nature so common to its borders, Sithican is darkness where Elven is harmonia; aggressive where once elegant. Yet to human ears Sithican remains complex and pleasant where compared to their own tongues, humans that would surely struggle to speak Sithican correctly—save for the Kartakans. [Elven]
Sign Language
sgl or 017
Sign language in the Realms of Terror is derived from the trade tongue and, like it, broadly applies across domains between understanding performers. Unhearing people, nonverbal persons and more all practice this language to express ideas and deliver silent instruction, a quality prized when circumstances require no noise be made lest it attract unwanted attention.
In The Domains of Dread, characters who do not understand sign language see this language as detailed but indecipherable gestures. Single, obvious hand signs (such as for “stop”) may be emoted in Common, instead.
Forgotten Realms
Languages of the Forgotten Realms are categorized by family group rather than by individual language in The Domains of Dread, as to elucidate on every possible human language would bloat the list well beyond what is already available. Therefore, anyone who speaks a selectable language family is assumed to be mutually intelligible with any language normally derived from that language family, listed below. Characters may portray their 'accents' in this way at the players' discretion.
Similarly, regional dialects of Elven and Dwarven have been folded into their mother racial tongue for purposes of intelligibility.
Illuskan
ill or 018
Spoken in Northeastern Faerun; including Icewind Dale, Luskan, the northern Sword Coast, the Silver Marches, Gundarlun, Ruathym, the Moonshaes (Waelan), and the Uthgardt Tribes (Bothii). The language of the Northmen, stubbornly retaining their own languages and identity in the face of growing homogenization by the Chondathan-speaking nations. if it sails the sea or lingers in the wilderness of the Sword Coast, one speaks Illuskan. It is a complex, unfriendly language, and evolves to its own flavor of unintelligibility when left unattended in a culture. [Proto-German / Scandinavian]
(Waelan, also spoken in the Moonshaes, is held as a dialect of Illuskan due to cultural encroachment. Speakers of Waelan would know either Illuskan or Chondathan, unless they lived under a rock for their entire lives.) [Scandinavian]
Chondathan (Thorass)
cho or 019
Spoken in Eastern and Central Faerun; including Waterdeep, the southern Sword Coast, Najara, Elturgard, Amn, Tethyr, the Border Kingdoms, Cormyr (Cormanthan), Turmish (Turmic), the Dalelands (Cormanthan), the Dragon Coast (Telpi), Aglarond (Aglarondan), and the Great Dale (Auld Cormanthan). Derived from the ancient language of Thorass, one of the farthest-reaching language roots in Faerun. Chondathan is considered the language of trade for all of Faerun, its roots tangled so deeply into the cultures it has touched that its many speakers can often accidentally find their way into understanding one another. Nearly all written correspondence in human lands is done in Thorass script. [Romance]
Damaran
dam or 020
Spoken in Eastern Faerun; including Halruaa (Halruaan), Vaasa (Chardic), the Dalelands, Sembia, the Vast (Easting), Impiltur (Easting), the Great Glacier, Damara, Narfell (Naric), the Ride (Arakic), and Altumbel. Drawn from the mother tongue of Ulou, an artifact of the fallen Netherese Empire, Damaran persistently holds out in its corner of the world, survived in part by its role as a trade language between its many disparate dialects exchanged across the Sea of Fallen Stars and Dragon Coast. It is a frighteningly quick language, which blurs together into indecipherable but somewhat pleasant harmony to the unprepared listener. [Middle Lithuanian]
(Netherese, a long dead language nonetheless beloved by esoteric scholars seeking to one-up each other, is impractical for spoken conversation and not supported.)
Chessan
chs or 021
Spoken in Southeast Faerun; including Tashalar, Sespech, the Shaar (Shaartan), Akanul (Akalaic), Chessenta (Chessentan), and Dambrath (Dambrathan). The Chessan languages are ancient and unlike anything but each other. Tone, inflection, and supposedly even the expression and mood of the speaker can dramatically change the meaning of its free-flowing words, and dialect disputes are commonplace. Chessan's influence wanes with every generation, as the insular cultures that still utilize it make no concerted effort to expand its range. [Hellenic]
(Includes both the Chessentan and Akalaic branches of the language. In the rare event someone actually runs into this interplay and plays out struggling to understand one another, that someone may have a hard candy from the jar on the desk.)
Raumtheran
ram or 022
Spoken in Northeast Faerun, including Rashemen (Rashemi), Thesk (Alessian), Sossal (Sossic), Ashanath, and the Great Dale. An evolution of Halardrim, being the assorted languages of the lost Raumathari Empire. Mistakenly believed to be a brutish language with little room for high concepts, a belief that is often shaken when one attempts to commit the long, entangled syllables into Thorass script. To a native speaker, Raumtheran is flowing, efficient, and without substitute, though the encroachment of Thay to the south and the people of the Hordelands to the East makes it increasingly obscure. [Middle Slavonic]
Chultan
cht or 023
Spoken in Southern Faerun, including Chult and Samarach. A curious language, developed and evolved as a mutual ground for communication between the human and tabaxi groups of these regions. It incorporates a wide range of highs and lows, with deceptively similar sounds that all too easily elude the untrained ear. Thorasta text cannot accurately parse the complex range of Chultan meaning, leading to the adoption of a simplified form of Draconic for their written cipher. [Twi]
Imaskari
ikr or 024
Spoken beyond the Eastern border of Faerun; the Tuigan clans of the Hordelands (Tuigan), Durpar (Durpari), and the nomadic people known as the Gur (Gurri). Uniquely, it also lingers in the language of the remote island kingdom of Lantan (Lantanese). One of the last remnants of the Imaskari Empire on the surface, this language has contributed to the evolution of the Mulhorandi languages, but is distinct unto itself. Imaskari is not held to be a warm language, believed by some to be meant to be spoken through a set jaw -- but this could be an artifact of the historically tense relationship between its modern speakers and the people of Faerun. [Mongolic]
Mulhorandi
mul or 025
Spoken in far Southeastern Faerun, between the nations of Thay and Mulhorand. It is a flowing language, heavy on vowels and lacking in brevity. Outsiders whisper behind their hands that this 'droning and wailing' is well suited for the many undead and countless slaves that are incorporated into the cultures, but Mulhorandi is also known to possess one of the most creative arsenals of insult and curses in the Realms. [Middle Egyptian]
Untheric
uth or 026
Spoken in Southeastern and Southwestern Faerun; Calimshan (Alzhedo), Unther, and Zakhara (Midani). Many languages thrive on their use in trade, and the Untheric language family is no exception. Midani and Alzhedo do much of the legwork keeping the tongue alive, and are keen to insist they are the core of the dialect, the seemingly immortal nation of Unther has unquestionable coherency with both. Sharp, high vowels and sibilant consonants persist in all dialects, and it is beloved for its use in oration, song, and poetry. [Babylonian]
Shang-Chou
shc or 027
Spoken in Kara-Tur, beyond Faerun. There is, in fact, a great number of countries, with their own distinct languages, beyond the reaches of the Faerunian states. However, Shang-Chou, or quite literally, 'Trade Tongue' in Midani, is accepted between all of them. It is a hybrid language, evolved over the many years, rises, and falls of the peoples of Kara-Tur. Across a hundred tongues and conflicting accents, it is an accepted hazard of the language that two speakers may have to shout the same sequence of syllables at one another until commonality is found. This is still more efficient than attempting to teach one another their disparate tongues, and far preferable to caving to speaking High Shou for most traders and itinerants. [Middle Chinese]
(The range of Kara-Turan dialects is vast, and its many nations are not fully supported at this time. Shou, Wa, and Kozakura'abchang-Chou unless, as previously stated, they live under a rock. An extremely large, extremely dense, and practically immovable rock.)
Krynn
Abanasinian
abn or 028
The common language of Abansinia, it sounds quite mild with little tonal shifts. Its speakers are a resilient people who have had to rebuild their communities every generation as war has swept through the region.
Ergot
erg or 029
Making up the alphabet of most modern human languages on Ansalon, Ergot was once the tongue of the Ancient Empire of Ergoth, a bastion for humans. It was torn asunder during the cataclysm, and though Ergot lives on in pieces in many languages, it is only spoken in its entirety in Northern Ergoth, one of the remaining pieces of land from the old empire. The language has evolved though, now spoken by seafaring people.
Karolian
krl or 030
A regional language used in the nation and city of Tarsis, Karolian has been dying out for a long time. Named for nearby Karolis mountains, the people of this area were once notoriously wealthy, living in a trade center for all realms. After the cataclysm, Tarsis became landlocked and cut off from all other civilization.
Khur
khu or 031
Spoken only by the nomads belonging to the unified seven tribes of Khur, the language is highly localized and not well known. Using short and few words for ease of communication, but with flowing syllabes and rolled r's, the language is pleasant to the ear, if foreign to most of the inhabitants of Ansalon. When written, it utilizes the ancient Istarian alphabet, rather than the human Ergot alphabet.
Nerakese
nrk or 032
The language spoken in the dark city that once hosted the Queen of Darkness and its surrounds. It utilizes an Istarian alphabet, a mix of the ancient language of Istar with the influence of Dragons and Draconians. It is guttural, and borrows several words and concepts directly from its cousin language of Draconic.
Nordmaarian
ndm or 033
A language regional to a group of nomadic humans who live in the northermost province on Ansalon, a tropical land. The language is the only thing that unifies the nomads in the area, who are split into different factions and beliefs.
Saifhum
sfh or 034
A language known only to those residing on the island on the Blood Sea which the language is named for. The people who live there are descendents of the freed slaves and criminals fleeing the Empire of Istar following the cataclysm. Many are still pirates to this day. The language is know for its long vowels and sharp sounds.
Solamnic
slm or 035
The language of Solamnia, commonly spoken among human populations of Ansalon. Full of distinctive and strong consonants, the language can sound harsh, but it is spoken most commonly by those wishing to further the decaying legacy of the Knights of Solamnia.
Greyhawk
Old Oeridian
oer
Ancient Suloise
sul
Ancient Baklunish
bak
Flan
fla
Agnostic (Racial Languages)
Elven
elv
Dwarven
dwv
Halfling
hlf
Orcish
orc
Draconic
drc
No character is conversationally (spoken word) fluent in Draconic in The Domains of Dread. It is assumed that by taking this language, the character hails from a setting where Draconic is the language of spellcraft, such as Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms. In this way they would know enough Draconic to recite incantations and read relevant scripture. In the Realms of Terror, spellcraft is performed in the vernacular language, a cultic patois or precursor by native individuals.