Old Nojgraszian

Old Nojgraszian is, unsurprisingly, the language once spoken in the Dark Lands, when they were still known as the Four Kingdoms.
The language is mostly unknown, except for some sparse words alńe successfully discovered in a way or another. It is unclear even how the language itself was called.
There are only a few documents written in Old Nojgraszian. The most famous, for its cultural implications, is the Royal Gift Letter.

The Evolution

Like all the other languages, Old Nojgraszian evolved in time. The frequent contacts between different communities (and kingdoms, in general) assured a uniform evolution, allowing for mutual understanding.
With the Dark Swan curse everything changed. Kingdoms fell, survivors were scattered and forced to live in a hostile environment, and books became scarce.
With no access to written texts, different communities began evolving local dialects, with increasingly noticeable differences in both grammar and lexicon among them. After a millennium and a half, nowadays, many Nojgraszian dialects, especially from far away folks, have lost mutual understanding.
The most different dialect is the one spoken in the cities since it was heavily influenced by the neighbouring Imperial language. Some point to this contamination as another proof of a relation between the Swan's Army and the Shadow Court

The Decline of Paper

In the four kingdoms, books were common and paper was used to write anything, so where did all the paper go? It was mostly consumed during the first decades after the curse.
The abrupt change in lifestyle, from a prosperous kingdom to the inhospitable woods was shocking for the unprepared survivors. Resources were scarce, and everything that could be of use was destroyed and recycled. People used to scavenge pieces of furniture in city ruins instead of cutting wood in the forest since it was less dangerous.
People found valuable tricks to survive. One was a species of goats. They produced milk and meat and were able (and happy) to eat paper. Since people found to use for the books anyway, they decided to recycle those too, feeding them to the goats.
Or at least, this is the story you get when you ask an alńe why books from before the curse are so rare.