Author's Note: Alright, so this isn't completely serious, it actually evolved from something I said to a friend. She knows who she is. But, anyways, I tend to logic away anything she finds annoying about the game and then expand on different topics in an ADD inspired ramble…
To clarify, this is part of a set. There will be this story, more scholarly pursuits. Rambles on different aspects of Thedas, and a separate story that will detail the person behind these pieces.
Chapter One: The First of Many
Entry: The Meaning of Words
Words spoken in haste hold as much meaning to those who hear as those spoken with thought. Are words in anger not the same as those in passion? Both are spoken with little thought. If little thought is placed, are the words not more honest? And yet words in anger are told to be forgotten while those in passion held…
The language of Thedas is as diverse as its culture. It is odd in a way how similar I find them, but how different they truly are. Spelling and grammar rules are altered for those I know of, though Common remains eerily the same, mostly. How it is so similar to English of my home? I am unsure, but I am grateful none the less.
The dwarves were truly ingenious when they created the Common tongue, the King's Tongue, the language of trade. The alphabet is simple, letters for each sound, some combining to create new sounds. Not as simple as Arabic with letter for sound, more like the Phoenician alphabet with rules similar to my native tongue. Perhaps that makes all the harder to get just right, but that is part of the reason I'm writing this down. Practice makes perfect. Or at least more tolerable.
Orlesian is elegant and smooth, lilting in a way Common is not. It is complex and confusing with its tenses and the double meaning those that speak it give everything. It is the language of their land, but it is the high court that uses it best. The words themselves wrap around me in a way they had not since the loss of my dear friend and how it now makes yearn that I had but managed to travel just a little more. The very style of their language makes it difficult to understand in a casual setting, with their blending of words and displacement of consonants. The rarity of it in the land I currently travel makes it all the more difficult to gain proficiency. But it will come.
I have not heard much Antivan, though it seems a slightly more complex form of Italian. But the few phrases here and there hardly a discussion or theory make. Their accent. however, is absolutely lovely. Though I am sure I would find life there odd. Assassins in politics. Always the case wherever you go, but never as open. Maybe one day I will see it for myself.
Dwarven is guttural. Heavy and thick. It rumbles in the throat and echoes in the ground though I can not understand. I wonder if others notice or if it is merely my outside perspective? I have met few dwarves so far, only enough to buy something to write with and little more. Merchants, surfacers. Is their way of speaking different? Do their words flow within their stone halls as they do through the earth above? I can only imagine so.
Elven. So little is known about it, less here than even in my home. The elves in the city speak broken phrases and singular words, holding on to that which is lost and barely attempting more. It is a sad language when they speak, though beautiful all the same. The very words holding history in its grasp, echoing through time, but… Again I wonder into tangents. But, is it different for those who hold to the Dales? Are their words as heart wrenching as their cousins? Or are the words they speak as free as the elves themselves claim to be? I fear I speak more of their tongue than any in this city. Perhaps more than many outside. It is a sad though. Though I have not seen the written form, it would be interesting to puzzle out the rest. Certainly not impossible, all languages have rules and this more than others. After all it is a cypher in truth.
Words are not so much what is said as what is heard. It does not matter the intention of the one speaking so much as the interpretation of those listening. Does it matter what I say if those who hear are deaf to my meaning? Perhaps the words of the mad are just words the majority fails to comprehend.
Enough. I have written enough for now, though I know not what I shall do with this after I am done.
~ T.I.
It is left in the Chantry between the pages of a book, only by chance is it found. Surely there must be some reason for it to be placed there. It's place within the ancient book makes little sense. It is neither Chantry related nor useful. It could barely be considered scholarly or theological. Not to the standards of where it was found at least.
The paper has several blotches of ink, the writing shaking, but eligible. There are words and phrases written in unfamiliar letters, the meaning indiscernible. The content seems to be innocent, if pointless, and small drawings relating to different words mark the edges.
Words flowing through stone? And entire language sad? How could they possibly know more than those who spent a lifetime on it? It was ridiculous.
Perhaps the writer was mad or drunk. If nothing else, it should prove amusing to share at a later date.
It is placed into a pack and no more thought is given to the innocuous document as it becomes lost in the dozens of other notes.
AN: All the chapters will be similarly formatted. The words written and maybe a blurb of the response. Perhaps not all of them will be found. Perhaps some have a hidden meaning. Just know the one writing probably knows more than they should and less than they need. Or is it more than they need and less than they should? It'll be decided in time.
Until then, feel free to review with a guess on who had found the lovely note. Some of them are merely strangers, others characters we know and love. It'll be interesting to know what you think. I'll also accept suggestions on what subjects to cover.