Phaenese

"It is without a doubt a language, there is a certain repetition to symbols which lends itself to that hypothesis, however deciphering it has proven exceedingly difficulty. Magic does not work upon it and there is the fact that there seems to be hundreds, if not thousands of 'letters' though perhaps words would be the correct term. My erstwhile partner believes it to be a language of words, each symbol meaning a single thing. If it were not so inefficient a method I might consider agreeing with him."

— Ionia Kontos, dark elven Sage

There exists in the world ruins, structures of old long forgotten kingdoms and empires. Places that fell long ago, perhaps having existed before the Breaking, or having rose up after only to have been smote down by time and chaos. Some places are said to have existed only to have then never existed while still leaving behind traces of their being. One such kingdom, or empire, was that of Phaenicia. There are some stories still told of it, having been passed down in other languages, of the great empire of Mages. It is unknown if the empire was even named Phaenicia, only that the Archmage who ruled it all was named Phaenir and scholars have taken to using his name for the place. this tradition has continued to the language which has been left behind and found on various structures, most notably the massive standing stones which dot the lands of various nations in the world.

The language has been indecipherable for as long as it has been known. It is made up of pictograms and symbols both and there are hundreds of them documented, if not thousands of them over the world as a whole. The language appears to be vast and complex, possibly even similar to the draconic language which is largely context based in what the meanings of certain words can be. Magic has proven useless in reading it as it seems to resist such spells or perhaps be beyond the scope of them. Another hinderance in the solving of this mystery is the missing key which sages have been searching for. Somewhere, they believe, there is a key which will allow them to begin translating by comparing Phaenese to another language such a Dwarfish or Draconic or even Elvish. Until then, the language remains opaque and guards its secrets well.