Hello everybody, I think this is my first post in the forum.
Here is my doubt: the Dabus language as presented in "Faces of Sigil" is kind of broken, unless Im missing something. I mean, in those examples they use symbols mixed with english words:
eg: "Do" = [image of a dog]-g
"Loud" = [image of a cloud]-c
etc.
I found this kind of broken because it goes from the premisse that everybody knows the english language, or at least some Alphabetical language ( vowels+consonants).
I think the Dabuses should speak/project a language truly universal and symbolic , something potentially understandable by any being from any part of the multiverse - even by beings from Prime worlds that didnt developed Alphabetical languages.
I was thinking something like pictograms and ideograms, ancient oriental writings ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character ), or something like the runes in Glorantha Runequest ( http://www.glorantha.com/library/corerunes.html ), etc.
So.... am I missing something here? Thanks!
I don't know what Glorantha Runequest is, and I would say that most people would have a hard time deciphering pictograms and hieroglyphs, oriental or not.
The thing about dabus speech is that it appears to each 'listener' as rebuses that make sense in the language said 'listener' is best at. Thus, since the Planescape books are written in English, so are the dabus rebuses. They are, however, first and foremost rebuses. Thus, no simple pictograms will do.
If you can come up with an idea for universal rebuses, though, I would absolutely love to hear it. That would be very useful even outside of Planescape.