Aignaoi Pictograms

Excepting shapeshifters, aignaoithe do not speak, not as we humans understand it. They communicate through telepathy, through the unviersal language of emotion, with the occasional snort as the only audible sound. So it is logical that their own language, created by aignaoithe and for aignaoithe, does not have a spoken component.

The Pictograms

Pictograms are essentially simplified drawings that represent a particular "word" or concept. Aignaoi Pictograms are designed with claws in mind and are easily reproducable at varieties of line thickness (accommadating varieties of claw thicknesses). The symbols' complexity tends to increase with the complexity of the idea. An emotion associated with a particular pictogram or group of pictograms is conveyed with certain combinations of wavy or straight lines.
Learning the vast number of pictograms required to translate the Sacred Writings of the Cavern is a difficult endeavor. However, according to my shapeshifter friend Fiachra, it is made easier by telepathically "watching" someone who is more familiar with the language reading a text.

Death

The advent of shapeshifters changed aignaoi communication forever. Shapeshifters can mingle freely with humans and, even more crucially, must touch one another to communicate telepathically. This means that they needed a spoken language.
Instead of developing one of their own, early shapeshifters went to the closest human nation to learn their language and, more broadly, how to be human. The closest human nation was located in what is now Crathlia, specifically the northern mountains of North Lautney in the Duchy of Colbreak. The shapeshifters brought this language (and its naming conventions) back to Inis Baile Mor, and the aignaoithe as a whole eventually adopted it as their primary language due to its ease in learning and expressing when compared to the complexity of learning thousands of pictograms.

Modern Significance

Today, Aignaoi Pictograms are typically learned for historical and religious reasons. The Sacred Writings of the Cavern--the most important sacred text in Aignaoi Creationism and its descendants (such as Crathlian Creationism)--is written in the language, and proper translation is of the utmost importance.

Written by Cordelia Colbreak Evenbrook

Dead Language

Died

Approximately 800 LN, or around 400 years prior to the Colonization

Speakers

None. Not a spoken language.

Readers

Many scholars, historians, and shapeshifters can still read the pictograms.

Writers

New texts are not being created in this language.

Medium

Typically claw on stone or ice.

How Many Were Literate?

Difficult to determine. Likely less than half the aignaoi population.

Related Text

Sacred Writings of the Cavern