Languages of the empire and translation magic

Table of Contents

Official languages

Since the empire is so vast, it doesn't have just one official language. Each federal region has its own, or several official languages, with all official documents having to be translated in them. The language of the capital is the de facto lingua franca, but the languages of some regions are also extremely prestigious to speak because of the wealth and culture of those regions. This includes the one from which Hélène and her family are from.
Outside of the empire, the independant countries all have their own official languages that they defend fiercely from all influences from the empire, and they also distrust anyone with an imperial accent. Some of them insist on specific and difficult grammar rules that can easily trip foreigners—and poor people with bad quality education—and so that can be used to unmask spies.

Translation magic

There are some translation magics available, but they are very inconvenient and so very unpopular and only used when there is no other choices. This is because the magics are very complex and very imperfect, require a continuous use of a lot of power, and give a bad headache when used for a few hours. To make matter worse, they also require all participants in the "discussion" to lower any wards and protections they have around their mind to be open to the communication. Since foreigners are even less likely to trust each other, this considerably reduce the usefulness of the magics.
There are also 2 different kinds of translation magic:

One magic to project your feelings, images and concept ideas into the mind of other people. This is similar to how the communication hub works, with the difference that you cannot send words directly. This is both difficult to do and difficult for the other person to interprete properly.

One magic to gather the tiny amount of magic naturally emited by people at all time and to interprete the feelings that are projected through it. If the other people are willing, they can increase the intensity of this magic and those feelings, in a kind of passive version of the first type of magic. What's interested is that it works even if they're not willing, it's just a lot more difficult to get any interesting information from it. This magic is often discretly used by politicians and business people during negotiations, as well as by manipulators and criminals.

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Related articles

The Empire of Arboise

Politics Politicians (The Emperor and his soulmates, The imperial guards) · Events (The Empire Renewal, The Twelfth Sannian War, The Sannian kidnapping announcement) · Institutions (The empire and its political system, The selection and coronation of a new emperor, Curses and the legal system, The imperial curse—the ultimate judgment on traitors) Culture Imperial citizens · Overview of the professions in the Empire · Soulmates · Courtship rituals · Languages of the empire and translation magic · Winners of the neighbourhood wall painting competition Locations Geography of the Empire of Arboise · Ilara—Hélène's home region · Quanahr—Hélène's town · Arboise—Capital of the Empire · The imperial palace · Regions outside of the empire