Ostrov (ˈos.trəf)

Once, Ostrov was spoken across the entire northern arc of the Great Ring, as the Tugarin were the greatest and most populous of the Zmei. That was before the Nakaal foolishly brought the Clarati among us, and then enraged them against us. Now, Tugarin is almost absent from the world, save for upon the vanishing island of Buyan. - Bożena Gniazdosłoński, a scholar from the Smok community on Selig.

Ostrov is the language of the Tugarin ethnic group of the Zmei, who today live only on the island of Buyan. It is the official language of the Chudoruhs Empire. Ostrov is inspired by Russian.

Dialects

Most of the dialects of Ostrov were lost when the Clarati destroyed Muria, but a few survived and a few more have emerged in the centuries since. The most prominent is the Chudo dialect of southern Buyan, which is strongly favored by the elite of the Chudoruhs Empire. They consider the other dialects which are found in the rural regions north of the capital to be provincial and uncouth.

Interesting Features

Ostrov has the ability to express the temporal aspect of verbs in ways that other languages do not. Given the odd relationship the island of Buyan has with time and space, the Tugarin have found ways to indicate temporal relationships that are non-linear. For example, they have a verb aspect that describes an action that is repeated indefinitely due to a time loop. They can also easily express when a causal relationship is distorted in time, either because a delay was created or the sequence occurred in reverse order.

Related Languages

All the remaining languages of the Zmei are related in some way to Ostrov, and share a common ancestral Zmei language. The most closely related is Daco, and native speakers of Ostrov and Daco can usually get their meaning across to each other. Other related languages include Jezik, Językdym, and Mytesya. These are more distant relations, and are not mutually intelligible with Ostrov.

Naming Traditions

The Tugarin have the habit of accumulating many names over their lifetime, and use them interchangebly depending on mood and context. This can be confusing to outsiders, who may not realize that a single person has a dozen or more names and nicknames that might be applied to them.

At hatching, each Tugarin hatchling is given at least three names. The first is a personal name (which frequently has several common nicknames associated with it). The second is the nest name, which indicates which communal nest their egg was laid in. The third indicates the Glavnyy or chief of the nest at the time they were hatched, who is legally responsible for their upbringing and well-being. A typical name might be Zlata Temnyynik Dobryvich, which would mean that Zlata was hatched in the Temnyy nest, which was led by Dobry when they hatched. Nest names will almost always have the suffix -nik, and Glavnyy names the suffix -vich.

Writing System

The writing system of Ostrov is known as Kogtishka. According to legend, the god Gorynych who is now known as Reginn wrote the first words in Ostrov upon boulders with his claws. Kogtishka can roughly be translated as "little dragon claws".

Geographical Distribution

Ostrov is spoken on the island of Buyan in the Northern Region by the Tugarin portion of the population.

Spoken by

• Tugarin

Common Female Names

• Bogdana
• Dobroslava
• Miroslava
• Nadezhda
• Radmila
• Svetlana
• Vladislava
• Yaroslava
• Zlata
• Zoryana

Common Male Names

• Boris
• Gleb
• Igor
• Mstislav
• Oleg
• Radoslav
• Svyatoslav
• Vladimir
• Vsevolod
• Yaroslav

Common Unisex Names

• Bogdan
• Dobry
• Milan
• Radostin
• Svetozar
• Vladislav
• Yaropolk
• Zoran
• Lyubomir
• Vseslav

Common Nest Names

• Temnyynik
• Skalistonik
• Ognenik
• Lesnonik
• Ledyanonik
• Vetrenonik
• Zvezdnonik
• Solnechnonik
• Gromonik
• Rechnonik