Languages of the Channel Cities & World of Ærnth

Just like in our own world, there is not a “common language” that everyone in the World of Ærnth speaks. Instead, there are several different languages that are widely spoken (much like English or Spanish in our world), as well as numerous others that are not very widely spoken based off of the many Races that exist within the World of Ærnth/Channel Cities setting. Many of these languages are also built from one another or several current languages being built from some long dead language, thus knowledge of one language may allow at least a very rudimentary understanding of some others (as explained below). These languages include racial, cultural, and professional languages.
Due to the Channel Cities and the World of Ærnth that it is a part of being intended as a very broad and expansive setting and trying to make it as immersive and flexible as possible, combined with more than 4 decades of using the Rolemaster system (with its extremely flexible systems and mechanics), the "complexity" of the language indicates the maximum number of ranks that a particular language has for a speaker to be truly fluent and graps even the most miniscule nuances of the language. As such, the higher the number the more complex the langauge tends to be and the more difficult it is to truly master. Likewise the Similar Languages column indicates languages that have strong similarities or that share some of the same lexicon, with the fraction provided next to the symbol indicating how similar the specified (based on the symbol for the language that is similar) language is to the one that the row on the table covers. It should also be noted that in a few cases, there are limits to speakers of some languages who are not part of the race that normally speaks it, due to unability to make certain sounds or create certain types of phonetic stresses on various sounds that are part of the language.

Designation Symbol	Language Name	Complexity Spk/ Wrtn	Native Speakers/Lands and or peoples that use this language	Similar Languages
Æ	Argentum	15/15	Argentum (city-state) and dominant language in the Channel Cities, also known as Merchants Tongue (the closest to a "common" language within the World of Ærnth)	U¼ Ƣ¼
A	Aquinoch	12/12	Aquinoch Empire
B	Balmast	10/10	Martelain, South Shore (native language of western side of channel, prior to founding of Argentum)	G¼
C	Carlend	10/10	Carlend, Calenharn, Gledliven
D	Dark Tongue	8/8	Teghaesudhi / Common Orcs, Móch / Goblins, Haidh / Ogres, Teghaesushúe / Grey Orcs / Shadow Orcs, Teghaemist / Greater Orcs, Teglaichte / Vard Orcs	Ʌ1/2
E	Galthor	10/10	Exilis Kingdoms (N. of Forbiden Plains)	Ƣ½
F	Fangond	10/10	Fangond Tribes (SE Jungles)
G	Gorled	10/10	Gorled Kingdom, Dorgard Federation (petty kingdoms), (native language of eastern side of channel prior to founding of Argentum)	B¼
H	Grenzal	12/12	Grenzal Lands (Half-Dwarves??)	v½ Z¼
I	Algleth	10/10	Algleth, Gilstarn, Delvand, Revlund
J	Jailsahla	12/12	Jailsaha peoples
K	Kentreth	10/10	Kont and Kentor peoples	T½
L	Lougthel	10/10	Gouthel peoples of the far east
M	Mong	10/10	Mong peoples and the Tao-Mong Khanate lands	P½
N	Nordron	10/10	Northern Empire Empire	f¼ ɮ¼
O	Havlen	10/10	Havilend, Thurlund, Knastin, Sclordrach
P	Pathnoi	10/10	Far Eastern lands	M½
Q	Firbulge	10/10	Firbulg Clans (Great Men from RMSS/FRP, Hvasstonn from RMU)	Unique
R	Regoud	10/10	Redgoudbe / Halflings (Five Shires region)	Unique
S	Secháemodh	10/10	Secháemodh & Volgfein / Vulfen) (due to its natue, non-racial speakers can only learn up to 7 ranks Spoken)	Unique
T	Tengond	15/15	Tengond Peoples	K½
U	Argelum	12/12	W. Argentum (Argentum Republic), Stronach, Beladich	Ƣ½ Ƽ
V	Vilsarth	10/10	majority of Vilsarth Tribes	z¼
W	Wesroness	10/10	lands west of the Forbiden Plains
X	Archendurn	10/10	Archendurn Kingdom, Willowdale	ɮ¼
Y	Salinath	10/10	Salinath Clans
Z	Kazend	12/12	@Ra / Dwarves	H¼
Ƣ	Ancient	20/20	some residents of the Forbiden Plains (former Ruglund Empire), used in Arcane Magics and most of the few remaining writings are possessed by the High Tower of Magic (and Isles of Stars??)	ƽ U½
Œ	Low Elven	15/15	Gátholíslo / Sylvan Elves	Ƕ½ Ʌ¼
Ƕ	High Elven	20/20	most Elven Peoples	Œ½ Ʌ¼
Ƹ	Dagondis	20/--	Dragonians, Drakes (non-racial speakers can only learn up to 10 ranks) - no written version exists	Unique
ꟽ
Ǿ	Ogham [o'um]	15/15	Druid [professional language, never taught to outsiders and forbideen to be written on any form of permanent or even semi-permanent media]	Unique
ɮ	Bornheld	10/10	Bornheld Kingdom (Bornard people)	X¼ N¼
Ʌ	Shadowspeak	15/15	Easálíslo / Damned Elvesálíslo (Cursed Elves/Damned Elves/ (Drow Elves for d20 systems))	Ƕ½ Œ¼ D½
ɸ	Silent Tongue	15/--	Thieves, Burglars, Assassins, etc. (no written form, comprised of complex hand signals and covert gestures).	Unique (hand gestures)
	Brale Spots	--/10	Writing system developed by Karven & Brale Sgrichina for use in their school for the blind	Unique (bump or dimple patterns)
a	Archtar	10/10	Archtar peoples	d½
b	Barengol	10/10	Barengol Freehold
c	Centaurian	15/15	Centaurs (very tightly protected racial language)	Unique
d	Dry Tongue	12/12	Sea of Sands (Ughoerly & Choiwerpy peoples)	e¼ a½
e	Burning Tongue	15/15	Argrandi peoples (Sea of Sands)	d¼
f	Frozen Tongue	10/10	Arctic humans	N¼
g	Gnomish	20/20	Dúllse / Gnomes	Unique
h	Hiraz	15/10	Hira’razhir (Avinarc and Avians, non racial speakers can only develop up to 10 Ranks)	Unique
i	Kintiri	10/10	Kintirin Kingdom
j	Jethydoi	10/10	Sethedoi Tribes (SE Jungles)	z½ V½
k	Kralis	10/10	Sea-Krals (unaware of any race equivalent in any of the d20 systems)	Unique
l	Nolrolth	10/10	Dang-kanth-nolrolth tribes
m	Mahaz	10/10	Maazhat (non racial speakers incapable of learning either spoken or written beyond 4 ranks)	Unique
n	Nestor	10/10	Twin Rivers, Nestor, N of Forbiden Plains
o	Obnogo	10/10	Manlobng
p	Pdpeustósthomme	15/15	Pdpeustósthomme / Idiyva Lands (Idyva, non racial speakers unable to learn beyond 8 ranks)	Unique
q	Arquinas	15/15	Mermen, Aquatic Elves	Unique
r	Gratar	10/10	Gratar (unaware of any d20 racial equivalent)	Unique
s	Sstolth	12/12	Sstoi'isslythi (Reptilians, non racial speakers unable to learn beyond 8 ranks)	Unique
t	Sailor Speak	15/15*	Sailors ("spoken" is whistles and "written" is flags)	Unique
u	Sohleug	12/12	Sohleugir (Lizardmen, non racial speakers unable to learn beyond 8 ranks)	Unique
v	Vilin	10/10	Vilindas Kingdom	H½
w	Wilgar	10/10	Wilgar Kingdom
x
y	Nycamerith	12/12	Nycamerith
z	Zelgartha	10/10	minority of Vilsarth Tribes	V½ j¼

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