Planar Languages, Law and Chaos especialy

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Darkness_Elemental's picture
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Planar Languages, Law and Chaos especialy

So, yah, a while back I was wondering why Law and Chaos didn't have their own languages, and thinking that they should. This is what I came up with:

Anarchal: Aka, grunt. Anarchal has no written form. It is not a language which lends itself to being recorded things that are said, and if a native speaker wants to say something to someone who's not present, he'll probably go find him. Some of the more stuck-up (lawful) commentators believe the language is exceedingly primitive and is not capable of transmitting complex ideas. In fact, there is even debate on whether it is a language at all, as their is a startling lack of conformity between speakers. That being said, more powerful beings are able to express very complicated ideas indeed, and the lack of conformity is to be expected. The more skilled the speaker, the closer Anarchal is to an audible rendition of their mental state.

Mechanics: As noted, anarchal has no written form. Understanding a speaker requires a Sense Motive check at a DC equal to 10+1/2 their hit dice+Int bonus. A person who does not know Anarchal may still make this check and understand the speaker, but may not reply in kind. Close knowledge of the speaker (friend, family, intimate friends/lovers) grants a bonus on the check.

Axiomin: The language of Law, Axiomin has no spoken form. It is the language of contracts and records, native speakers believe that anything truly important should be written down and remembered. Axiomin is an exceedingly complex language and poses a significant problem for learners. Even the Lawful exemplar seem to have difficulty with this language at times, so a tridrone will use a simpler vocabulary than a Hepton.

Mechanics: Unlike other languages, Axiomin is treated as a skill in which a character must take ranks. The better a writers command over the language, the more their written contracts and such represent their true desires, so the letter of a contract or agreement becomes closer and closer to the spirit of that agreement. Axiomin contracts are universally watched over by a Kolyarut Inevitable. The HD of the Inevitable is determined by the check result used to write the contract and the HD of the author. In general, the Inevitable is advanced enough that it is a threat to a being of equal power to the author.

Angelic: More on this tomorrow.

Celestial: Is the 'Good races each have their own language' thing spelled out as cannon? It seems a good place to reflect some of the critical differences between the alignments. Good Outsiders all sharing the same language, because they place such a high value on being able to talk out differences, Evil Outsiders having a plethora of languages, that kind of thing.

Duckluck's picture
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Planar Languages, Law and Chaos especialy

I like Anarchal and Axiomin to some extent, but I think that Axiomin should be a Decipher Script check, not it's own skill. Let's face it Decipher Script is used so seldom that it isn't a huge change.

Also, I think that Anarchal should have no grammar, syntax, or vocabulary, and instead just be a string of syllables that can theoretically express any concept in the multiverse, but in practice, generally wind up not meaning much. Kind of like "Chaos-speak" but without the punctuation, spaces, and vocabulary.

Axiomin, on the other hand, should basically just be the most perfect language in the multiverse. By which I mean, there should be one term, and only one term, for every concept in the multiverse that the Modrons have ever encountered. Also, it should be a logorithmic language (like Chinese) where symbols represent concepts, not sounds. Every concept, not matter how complex, should have its own character. For instance, the concept of "Falling out of a tree due to ones own incompetance, which results in injury" would have its own symbol.

Darkness_Elemental's picture
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Planar Languages, Law and Chaos especialy

Ok.

Axiomin Mechanics: Unlike other languages, the skill ranks spent to learn Axiomin mearly represent a familiarity with the basics of the language and the huge vocabulary reference volumes the average mortal needs to keep track of all the words. Actually writing anything requires study in the workings of language, as represented by the Decipher Script skill. The better a writers command over the language, the more their written contracts and such represent their true desires, so the letter of a contract or agreement becomes closer and closer to the spirit of that agreement. Axiomin contracts are universally watched over by a Kolyarut Inevitable. The HD of the Inevitable is determined by the check result used to write the contract and the HD of the author. In general, the Inevitable is advanced enough that it is a threat to a being of equal power to the author.

Oops, got to run, be back in an hour or so.

ripvanwormer's picture
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Planar Languages, Law and Chaos especialy

I like this article on planar languages, and this article on the language of Chaos.

Darkness_Elemental's picture
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Planar Languages, Law and Chaos especialy

Very cool.

Part of the reason I started thinking about this was that I was disappointed that the Slaad were listed as simply speaking Slaad, as if the language of chaos was just another monster tounge. I'm strongly tempted to throw out my Anarchal description and just use that one.
_________________________________

Modron Tonal: As clarification, this is the spoken language used by the modrons. Its grammar is actually similar to our machine languages, in that it specifies ways to describe things in an extreamly precise, sequential manner.

Mechanics: I can't remember what book this is from, but you need at least 17 int to learn the language.

Angelic: If an angel of Chaos meets an angel of Law, they don't bust out in Anarchal and Modron Tonal respectively. Angelic is the language of the Powers and their messengers, the angels. It allows its speakers to communicate with each other despite differences in Alignment and without the aid of magic.

Mechanics: Speakers of this language have definite accents which can identify their true alignment more precisely than most spells. After listening to someone speak Angelic for one minute, you can attempt a DC 20 Listen check followed by a DC 20 Sense Motive check to learn their exact alignment. If they so chose, they can oppose your Sense Motive check with a Bluff check. If they muff the Bluff check to such a great extent that it is less than 20, you still role against the Bluff result, they just made their accent even more noticable by trying to disguise it. As a side note, so few people know Angelic that it is almost useless as a means of learning alignment. Also, most beings who know the language are fairly up front about their alignment anyway.

The Great Hippo's picture
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Planar Languages, Law and Chaos especialy

I'd expect Modrons to speak in something very similar to binary.

Meanwhile, the Slaadi article was really fascinating and pretty much settled the question for me.

Kestral's picture
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Same here. That Slaad article is brilliant. I agree with Hippo: The language of the Slaadi will probably for a long time be associated with that article in my mind.

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Planar Languages, Law and Chaos especialy

I'd call the language of Law Logos.

I like the idea that it has no spoken form. I came to the same decision when engaged in a similar project.

Vaevictis Asmadi's picture
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I agree, the Slaadi article is amazing and brilliant. At first none of it made sense, and then the Unset idea sort of clicked in my mind. Whew!

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I agree with the idea that calling the language of creatures of Law Logos and having it be entirely written is a good one. Especially if it's the essential counterpoint to the Slaadi language, which, if you go by that 'article' can only be spoken.

I dunno what you might call the Slaad language, then. Motley or Jumble might be a good name for it, with it's connotation that it is essentially thrown together out of anything that seems handy.

I think that if you have Logos have a requirement like "INT 15+ or be an outsider of the Law subtype" requirement to learn, then the Slaad language should have some other requirement, like "Cha 15+ or be an outsider of the Chaotic subtype" Likewise, Celestial and a language that would be something like a common fiendish tongue (I'll call it "Fiendish" for the future, in this thread, if there isn't one.) should have a requirement like "Wis 15+ or be an outsider of ____ subtype." If most of the Planar languages have unusual requirements, then suddenly it characterizes them slightly and shows which groups are more likely to understand each other. Planar Cant and Planar Trade might function as 'ordinary' languages, to show how common they are in usage, as well as how similar they are to Prime languages. In places where the alignments/elements bleed together a bit, you would get 'pidgin' languages that aren't quite one language or another but bits of both (this would be the origin of Abyssal and Infernal, obviously, as well as any possible languages that typify lawful-good outsiders and chaotic-good outsiders)

A sorceror might get along well with a Slaadi, but most wizards might not be able to understand them well, because they simply don't 'get' how the Slaadi thinks. Likewise, a high-Wis priest will certainly be able to learn the language of his deity's servants, but the warrior not in tune with his religion certainly won't be able to figure it out.

Vaevictis Asmadi's picture
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Kestral that's a great idea.

I think that in counterpoint to the Slaadi described in that article, the Law or Modron language should be set up the way that computers "think." All of it would be in categories and sequences, without any of the associative thinking that humans are capeable of.

Kobold Avenger's picture
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Planar Languages, Law and Chaos especialy

I remember the earlier editions of D&D had alignment languages.

Kestral's picture
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'Vaevictis Asmadi' wrote:
Kestral that's a great idea.

I think that in counterpoint to the Slaadi described in that article, the Law or Modron language should be set up the way that computers "think." All of it would be in categories and sequences, without any of the associative thinking that humans are capeable of.

That's kinda what I thought Logos should be best characterized as. It's Planar LISP.

(PS: I figured the Cha requirement for the Chaos language would be good because it's basically using force of personality to get others to realize what you're thinking of. Wis is to associate it with priests and being 'in tune' with one's deity. I dunno what you would do with LN or CN deities though.)

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Planar Languages, Law and Chaos especialy

'Duckluck' wrote:

Axiomin, on the other hand, should basically just be the most perfect language in the multiverse. By which I mean, there should be one term, and only one term, for every concept in the multiverse that the Modrons have ever encountered. Also, it should be a logorithmic language (like Chinese) where symbols represent concepts, not sounds. Every concept, not matter how complex, should have its own character. For instance, the concept of "Falling out of a tree due to ones own incompetance, which results in injury" would have its own symbol.

That sounds like a good idea. Actually, it might also be good to expand on the idea of every concept having a symbol, made of up lesser complex symbols relating similar thoughts. The slaadi article made me think about the Lawful concept of Catergorization. So you'd have symbols for the general concept of "fall" a general concept for "tree" and eventually piece it together to what you said, and perhaps even more specific.

Ack...and here I thought the concept of mind flayer writing seemed baffling. Sticking out tongue

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