Language follows homeland, family, education, profession, travel, and life experience more strongly than ancestry.
A person does not automatically know an ancestral language simply because of their people. Multilingualism is common among merchants, diplomats, sailors, scholars, border communities, and residents of major ports.
Language and writing system are not the same thing.
Common
Common is the principal international language of the known world. It is widely used in Aldaran trade, Caeloran government and commerce, diplomacy, shipping, the Shattered Isles, and international ports.
Common is not uniform.
Major dialects include:
- Solvarran Common — formal and strongly shaped by titles, religion, hierarchy, and older vocabulary;
- Ardaren Common — varied across rural, noble, river, and merchant communities;
- Valemerian Common — highly international and rich in borrowed vocabulary;
- Standard Caeloran — deliberately standardized through education, government, transport, public service, and mass communication;
- Shattered Common — flexible maritime speech shaped by extensive borrowing from many cultures.
These are dialects rather than separate game languages.
Aelthiric
Aelthiric is the major surviving elven language associated with the Elderwood.
Modern Aelthiric remains in use.
High or Ancient Aelthiric survives in old texts, ritual, song, inscriptions, and ruins. Speaking modern Aelthiric does not automatically make someone capable of reading ancient forms.
Diaspora elves may speak Common as their first language and possess little or no Aelthiric.
Khordic
Khordic is the broad dwarven language tradition associated especially with Durakhal.
Spoken Khordic varies strongly by Hold, while formal written Khordic changes more slowly because of contracts, engineering records, archives, and long institutional continuity.
Old Khordic survives in ancient inscriptions, records, and names.
Many High Spine dwarves speak Standard Caeloran in everyday life while preserving Khordic in family, religious, archival, or technical contexts.
Tharic and Karthic
There is no universal Beastfolk language.
Tharic is the major traditional language of Tharakai and contains many regional and clan dialects.
Karthic is historically related to Tharic but is a distinct language after centuries of separate cultural development. It contains strong influence from neighboring trade and cultural languages.
A Beastfolk character raised elsewhere may speak neither.
Tsukari
Tsukari is the principal language family of Tsukara.
Imperial Tsukari is the standardized form used in formal education, administration, naval affairs, and national ceremony. Many island and regional dialects remain strong.
Demonkin raised abroad may not speak Tsukari at all.
Writing Traditions
Veyra contains several major script traditions:
- Common uses a widely shared international script;
- Aelthiric writing has strong manuscript, artistic, and inscription traditions;
- Khordic writing favors regularity, durability, carving, contracts, and technical records;
- Tharic and Karthic descend from a related historical script tradition but have diverged;
- Tsukari maintains its own formal and everyday written traditions.
Exact grammars, alphabets, pronunciation systems, and complete naming rules remain areas for later language development.