Languages

Every character in The Domains of Dread understands Common - known as "the trade tongue" fictionally - unless forfeited during character creation. Those who forfeit this knowledge must learn Common as they would any foreign language, the mechanisms of which are discussed below.

Allocating Languages

A character may, at any time, allocate knowledge for a language. They will do this by summoning the languages menu using the !m language command, short alias !m l. Speak Language is a deprecated skill and does not exist in The Domains of Dread. Instead, a character will have additional language slots made available depending on chosen background, feats, and permanent positive Intelligence modifier.

For example, a Wizard who begins play with a +3 Intelligence modifier will have three bonus language slots to allocate and, during play gets to +4, will have another bonus language slot made available at that time. The bonus language slot cannot be less than 0, in the case of a negative Intelligence modifier. Should they also choose a background they are a native from Barovia, they will receive Balok, for free, and without expending one of these bonus language slots.

Language allocation must occur inside the out of character experience and cannot be done in the world.

Using Languages

By default, any character who talks will do so in Common unless they do not understand Common, where instead they will speak their default speaking language of choice. The default language may be changed using the !language default [opcode] command, short alias !l d [opcode], by anyone and at any time.

To change the chosen spoken language, use the !language speak [opcode] command, short alias !l s [opcode]. When speaking another language, any text enclosed in the chosen emote escape characters or otherwise escaped by enclosing in "<>" without quotes will print in plain text, useful for single words in Common or proper nouns. The "<>" is culled from the text at render. Those that wish to return to Common or their default may use !language speak default, !l s default, or !l s. Common itself may be called with !language speak com or !language speak 000.

It should be noted that selecting the emote escape character style is also performed in the language 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, eg, action "Dialogue."

All text is rendered in the C or narrative style regardless of actual style selected. The language renderer attempts to add capitalization and punctuation even if the source did not have punctuation, eg, "hello" verbatim would render as "Hello." This may be escaped with "<>", as above.

Languages foreign to the listening character are cipher scrambled at render. The cipher does not change depending on the spoken language.

Learning Languages

It is still possible to learn languages even after a character's bonus language slots are exhausted. By summoning the language menu, a character may choose to attempt to study any language they have heard or read at least once. By choosing to begin study of a foreign language they will receive periodical updates to their understanding of that language IRT. This duration may be shortened through a positive permanent Intelligence modifier and/or exposure to the language by native speakers.

As a foreign language is learned, sentences will be cipher scrambled less and less until no more words are scrambled, the learner becoming conversationally fluent in that language and now able to select it by the normal means. It should not assumed that this is representative of total mastery fictionally, and the character may still be subject to mistakes or misunderstandings at the players' discretion.

Unsupported and Homebrew Languages

Five language families are officially supported at this time for The Domains of Dread: Forgotten Realms, Krynn, Greyhawk, Ravenloft and agnostic (racial languages). Official support implies that most, if not all, languages of those settings or races are available as-is from the languages menu.

Languages from unsupported or homebrew settings must be mutually intelligible with a supported language. For example, a character from a homebrew world may choose to allocate Darkonese/High Cordovan to represent their native language from their setting as a separate, but intelligible, dialect. They cannot however have bespoke languages which they and only they will ever understand.

A Note About Real-World Language Allegories

Many languages in Ravenloft and, indeed, the wider supported settings in The Domains of Dread take heavy inspiration from any given real-world language. For ease of player intuition these allegories have been included where appropriate in the following list of supported languages. It must however be noted that these languages 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. Recall that Gothic Earth is not an available setting for any character. Exercise restraint and respect for these inspirations when they are included.

Supported Languages

Of the Core (Ravenloft)

Balok

bal or 001

The Core's eldest language and the lingua franca of its central-southern cluster, having spread from Barovia along the Balinoks. There it presents as guttural though in Borca a softer, lilting dialect is found. Despite its age Balok receives much of its penetration from trade rather than education or literature, as the de facto trade tongue for merchants following the veins of the Old Svalich east and west. Patois syncretic with Balok and the native vernacular are not uncommon along these routes. [Middle Romanian]

Luktar

luk or 002

Luktar is the lingua franca of the former kingdom of Gundarak, still spoken with defiance by native Gundarakites in these now annexed lands claimed by Barovia and Invidia. Pogroms instituted by the rulers of both domains designed to eradicate Luktar from the Gundarakite palate have proven ineffective, with Luktar growing increasingly associated with the black powder, Gundarakite "freedom fighters" and their sympathizers. Luktar presents as relaxed and flowing compared to the hard stops of Balok. [Middle Hungarian]

Darkonese and High Cordovan

dak or 003 (Darkonese)          hgc or 004 (High Cordovan)

The twin languages of Darkon and civilized Cordova are known for their precision, structure and complexity. Though Darkonese is the original, Darkon's sudden collapse in the wake of the Requiem and subsequent disappearance of Azalin Rex has left it to wither next to its younger, more agile cousin, unable to defend against High Cordovan's meteoric rise for matters of education and writings inside the Eastern Core. Nevertheless Darkonese still clings to association with eastern intelligentsia, occultism and spellcraft. [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 Dementlieu and Mordent. Mordentish, the original, is today considered crassness for the lips of the lowborn compared to the panache of Dementlieu's lingua franca, High Mordentish. They are spoken dialects only as written Mordentish is identical save for regional, but intelligible, differences. The influence of Dementlieu as the center of learning in the Western Core looms large, with High Mordentish spoken by countless inventors and innovators from this region. [Middle French/Middle Franco-English]

Allocating High Mordentish allocates, for free, Low Mordentish and vice versa.

Kartakan

ktk or 007

Romanced the Core over as the language of poetry and music, Kartakass's Kartakan lives up to reputation. Marked by melodious vowels and enunciating harmony, any self-respecting bard educates themselves in Kartakan and perform in it widely regardless of origin. As Kartakan-speaking singers, travelers and minstrels appear in more domains, greater premiums are being placed on performers and especially performers capable of singing the patois that mingles the Sithican dialect of Elven. [Middle Norwegian/Danish]

Falkovnian

flk or 008

If Barovian Balok is taken as unpleasant, then Falkovnian must be an all out assault for any delicate ear. Lingua franca of its fatherland Falkovnia, even the calmest intonation in this language could be construed as 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 though the one most likely for a foreigner to ever hear outside of being shouted at on the battlefield is plains Falkovnian spoken by traders, associated with her fields of rolling wheat and rye. [Middle High German]

Lamordian

lmd or 009

The lingua franca of Lamordia is one oft identified and almost intelligible to Mordentish or Falkovnian speakers, taking from them many artifacts and nuances of vocabulary. It is neither soft like High Mordentish nor harsh like Falkovnian, marrying the two in a manner unusual yet strangely familiar to either. Nevertheless Lamordian use suffers as the taciturn nature of its speakers and a willingness to adopt the mother tongues of her neighbors when conducting business constrains Lamordian to Lamordia. [Swiss Middle French/High German]

Tirimisce

tir or 010

Associated with the "savage" northwest demidomain inside Cordova, the Tirimisce Lands, Tirimisce is as ancient as it is baroque. Spoken by the inheritors of her fallen kingdoms, many tribes speak their own individual dialect yet every Tirimisce understands what they call the tongue primordial. It has an alphabet not seen elsewhere in the Core, with bespoke letters and plosive consonants. Those that speak this language do so with resistive pride, sharing their outlook with the Luktar speaking Gundarakites in Barovia. [Middle Western Slavic/Polish]

Nymaran

nym or 011

A small language owed to the coastal dwelling, northern indigenous peoples of Cordova. Nymaran shares little texture with either 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 grand sum of its speakers is tiny even when compared to Tirimisce, Nymaran indentured servants - fleeing famine of their ancestral ymna - are resettling across Cordova as house servants and other laborers, gathering their language to hitherto uncharted places. [Finnic/Sámi]

Lakant

lak or 012

To speak Lakant, for many, is to speak the language of seafaring vagabonds and thieves. Lingua franca across the shores of the Nocturnal Sea, Lakant radiates from the Isles Crescendia where it and its native Lakoi reside. It is altogether a patois formed from a countless tongues parleyed and purloined from island to island, syncretic to the point of assimilation. In the Eastern Core, Lakant is associated with rogues and anyone else who may benefit from obscurity. [Caribbean Dutch/Creole]

Tepestani

tep or 013

Unrelated to any of Tepest's neighbors, Tepestani instead shares notes with the southern language Forfarian though how such a connection might have been made given their distance and disparate geography is an incongruence better left to the scholars. Regardless, Tepestani has only been written in the last generation with the advent of the Tepestani Inquisition, with so little penetration into any domain not Tepest save, perhaps, Cordova. It presents as ululating vowels kept apace by a sing-song cadence. [Scottish Gaelic]

Forfarian

far or 014

Though native to Forlorn, Forfarian's living speakers are instead found in pockets in other domains due to the migration of Forfarians once the kingdom collapsed to the goblyn tide and descendants. The language has managed to survive surprisingly intact as Forfarians have, more or less, kept amongst themselves, intermarriage with their hosts 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. [Irish Gaelic]

Veldtan

vlt or 015

A so-called "primitivist" patois of Low Mordentish - at least to the ears of the Dementlieuse - reigns in the Killing Fields, the Veldt. Syncretic with the indigenous language of the Valachani now Veldtan, no written records of Veldtan language in its present form are known to exist. It is a heady, thumping thing, with many sounds difficult to reproduce for even the most spirited foreigner, sibilant and hissing. [Saxon]

Sithican

sth or 016

Sithican is derived from Elven, or what Elven was to the elves of Sithicus before their deportation to beyond the Misty Border. Reflecting the vengeful and sorrowful nature these elves are now imbued, 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 of neighboring Kartakass. [Elven]