Tree Speak

A result of relearning from the environment

Sometimes, when someone is broken, they're reduced to almost nothing. It takes time to rebuild themselves. They need something to latch on to. That means they'll often take on qualities of the environment around them, as the slowly piece their existence back together.

— Seventh Floor Philosopher

After the final conflicts of the War of the Fracture, the residents of the Fifth Floor were in a sorry state. The tower around the Fifth Floor was broken, damaged, and malfunctioning. Parts of the residents souls had fled, and they were reduced to base versions of themselves, with hardly the capacity to even speak.
When the broken souls moved into the boughs of The Great Tree to flee the clockwork of Stone Castle Invictus, they began to take on mannerisms and figures of speech relating to the massive tree they called home.

Language of the Tree

Pauses

Life in the branches was considerably slower than life in the halls of a castle. Residents took their time, and began to relax. The clockwork from below largely ignored the tree, never choosing to climb it, instead focusing on whatever infernal plans they had within the depths of The Down Deep.
As such, day to day life in The Great Tree was filled with long stretches of silence, broken only by the sounds of branches creaking and swaying in the wind. Those living in the Tree slowly began to pick up these sounds, using them to fill their own smaller, personal silences. Occasionally, these sounds are used in place of "Umm...", "Uhhh..." or "Hmmm" from regular common speech.

Rrrrr.... RRRk.

Sssssshhhhhh....

CrkKSHK... ssssh..

Relearning

After losing most of their language, the broken souls needed to slowly relearn, or reinvent words to suit their day to day lives. Similar to the way the sounds of the tree filled their silences, words relating to the tree replaced their vocabulary.

Fall

The general term used for descending from any location to one lower.

Bark

Often used to describe ones skin, or outer parts of their body.

Gift

Any portion of wood separated from the great tree, whether used for burning or building.

Root(ed)

Root, Rooting, or Rooted is used when referring to staying, moving in, or living in some place -- generally the word is related to a state of not moving.

Liquid

The catch all term for any liquid, from beer all the way to water.

Expletives

Like any group of people, the citizens of the Great Tree have their share of unique curses, insults, and expletives. Like the rest of their colloquialisms, they are all based on trees, or actions related to trees.

Barking

Unrelated to the word "Bark", but used an expletive in frustration most often

Cutter

More of an insult than an expletive. A cutter is someone who takes more than their fair share.

Feller

Even worse than a Cutter; a Feller takes so much it causes irreparable harm.

Holy Fire

A phrase of astonishment or surprise. Often times used in fear as well.

Greenling

Another insult, used to imply someone is stupid, naive, or ignorant.

Metman

A unique word meaning an insult, or curse. Refers to the Clockwork, shortened from "Metal Man"

Gifts from the Tree

Over time, as their language redeveloped, sayings and idioms began to appear in the day to day conversation of the people of the Fifth Floor. These phrases and sayings all came from parts of their life in The Great Tree. As the Great Tree provided safety and life, most of the "good" idioms the Fifth Floor Citizens used were directly related to the Tree; when they praised each other, they did it in such a way that they praised the Great Tree as well.

Now don' go lettin your bark be seen [...]

A general phrase in reference to remaining hidden. Bark in this case refers to ones skin, or hide.

[...] have rooted themselves all over [...]

The usage of "rooted" in this case means to have "moved in" somewhere -- like clockwork taking over a cave in The Down Deep.

Spin it like a leaf.

Often used when playing The Down Deep version of Mowling, but used elsewhere as well. To "Spin like a leaf" is to quickly rotate in place, but with a gentle amount of effort, as if the item spinning was floating downwards like a leaf.

Stands like the Great Tree

A general phrase of approval. Comparison to the way the Great Tree stands tall and strong is a desirable thing.

Hides us in is shade.

A phrase to draw attention to the way the citizens of the Fifth Floor rely on the Great Tree for safety.

Thankful for what we fell [...]

Often said when stripping bark from the branches of the great tree, or collecting sticks, twigs, and roots. The word "fell" is used when taking anything from the tree.

Its shade will ever protect us, its bark will hold us up.

A short prayer, or phrase of thankfulness. Most often said during rituals, or before meals.

Gifts from the Tree

A saying most often uttered when talking about burning or using parts of the Great Tree.

[...] has a hide like thick bark.

Someone who is very strong of mind and strong of character.

[...] has roots among us all.

Someone who has a strong influence.